Ala al-Dawla was born in Herat in June/July 1417, the eldest son of Baysunghur Mirza, as well as the only one born of a free wife. His father was himself a son of the Timurid Sultan Shah Rukh. His mother, Jan Malik Agha, a daughter of the Timurid officer Amir Chulpan Qauchin, had been previously married to Baysunghur's cousin Iskandar Mirza.[1][2][3] Unlike his younger brothers, Ala al-Dawla was raised at the royal court alongside his cousin Abdal-Latif Mirza by their grandmother, the empress Gawhar Shad.