Mahmud Ghazan (5 November 1271 – 11 May 1304) (Persian: غازان خان, Ghazan Khan, sometimes archaically spelled as Casanus by the Westerners) was the seventh ruler of the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate division in modern-day Iran from 1295 to 1304. He was the son of Arghun, grandson of Abaqa Khan and great-grandson of Hulagu Khan, continuing a long line of rulers who were direct descendants of Genghis Khan. Considered the most prominent of the Ilkhans, he is perhaps best known for converting to Islam and meeting Imam Ibn Taymiyya in 1295 when he took the throne, marking a turning point for the dominant religion of the Mongols in Western Asia (Iran, Iraq, Anatolia and Transcaucasia). One of his many principal wives was Kököchin, a Mongol princess (originally betrothed to Ghazan's father Arghun bef