Abaqa Khan was the leader of the Ilkhanate at the time of the birth of his grandson, Ghazan, whose father Arghun was viceroy (crown prince) in Khorasan for Abaqa.

Ghazan was the eldest son of Arghun, and Qutlugh of the Dorben clan, though he was raised in the Ordo (nomadic palace-tent) of his grandfather Abaqa's favorite wife, Buluqhan Khatun, who herself was childless.

Ghazan had been baptized and raised a Christian, as was his brother Oljeitu.

The Mongols are traditionally tolerant of multiple religions, and during Ghazan's youth, he had been educated by a Chinese monk, who taught him Buddhism, as well as the Mongolian and Uighur scripts.

After Abaqa's death in 1282, Ghazan's father Arghun had been crowned as Ilkhan, the eleven-year-old Ghazan became Viceroy, and he moved to the capital of Khorasan with the others of Bulughan's Ordo.

Conflict with other Mongols ensues in 1289 when a revolt is led against Arghun by Nawruz, a young noble of the Oirat clan, whose father had been governor of Persia before the arrival of Hulagu.

When Nawruz is defeated, he flees the Ilkhanate and joined the alliance of Kaidu, another descendant of Genghis Khan who is the ruler of both the House of Ögedei and the neighboring Chagatai Khanate.

Ghazan will spend the next ten years defending the frontier of the Ilkhanate against incursions by the Chagatai Mongols of Central Asia.