“Little Finger” Qutub-ud-din Aibak was born of humble origins in remote Turkistan to Turkic parents. As a boy, he was bought by a slave merchant and sold to a Qazi named Fakhr-ud-din at Nishapur. The Qazi took pity on him and educated him along with his sons in reading the Quran, horse riding and archery. When the Qazi died an untimely death, his sons sold Aibak to a wealthy merchant who in turn sold him to Muhammad of Ghori in the city of Ghazni.
