Sheikh Ahmad Qomi

Sheikh Ahmad Qomi (; ; ; c. 1543–1631), also known as Ahmad Qomi or Ahmad Kuni , was a Persian-born merchant who settled in the Ayutthaya Kingdom in the early 17th century. He rose to prominence as a powerful official at the Siamese court, receiving the name and title Chao Phraya Boworn Rajnayok . He is recognised as the progenitor of the influential Bunnag family.

Origins and early life Ahmad was born in Persia about 1543, and is sometimes said to be from the city of Qom, south of Tehran. However, this is disputed by his descendant Tej Bunnag, Thailand's Minister of Foreign Affairs, who claimed his ancestor hailed from a town called Guni in the Mazandaran/Astarabad region south of the Caspian Sea. He had a brother, Muhammad Said, who would later immigrate along with him to Siam. They may have arrived in Siam as early as 1595 or possibly in the early years of the 17th century.

Shaykh Ahmad crushed and defeated Japanese merchants who attempted a coup against the Thai king in 1611.

Descendants

Some of Ahmad's Muslim descendants continued to hold the position of Chula Rajmontri until as late as 1945, but the bulk of his descendants converted to Buddhism.

One of Ahmad's descendants, Bunnag, married a sister of Queen Amarindra, the consort of King Rama I of the Rattanakosin era. His descendants, who took Bunnag as a surname, held powerful positions within the Thai government and cultural establishment from the 19th century to modern times. Among these descendants were Tish Bunnag (Prayurawongse), regent for King Mongkut, Chuang Bunnag (Somdet Chaophraya Sri Suriwongse), regent for King Chulalongkorn, Kham Bunnag (Chaophraya Thiphakorawong), Minister of State and Minister of the Treasury for King Mongkut, and Marut Bunnag, Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1992 to 1995. This dish, along with others inspired by Persian dishes, is among the recipes in the funeral cookbooks of the Bunnag family.

Ahmad founded the Takiaayokin Mosque (granted its current name by Mongkut) in Ayutthaya in the 1620s.