ORIGION AND BRIEF HISTORY OF PASHTUNS

Arts & Culture Culture, Arts, Literature & Linguistics
1

To render sacrifices for the sake of a glorious cause, irrespective
of selfish motives is the spirit of the Pakhtuns. Pakhtunkhwa in
itself is a code of life irrespective of policies, rules or
regulations set by government in the tribal territories. The tribal
people rarely commit dacoity, robbery and adulterations and are ospitable to guests and strangers. They respect ladies; no matter
how long their enmity, ladies from the enemy side are respected and
exempted from revenge. If any of the enemies violate these codes it
is blamed and accused of dishonouring Pukhtunwali. Are you not a
Pakhtun to do such wrong? If a stranger seeks shelter in a tribal
Pathan’s house, hewould rather sacrifice his life than let any harm
befall him. He does so with great pride and says I am a Pakhtun. I
would give my life for my guest if need be. If one does not fast in
the month of Ramazan or miss prayers, he is asked: are you not a
Pakhtun to observe the sanctity of Ramazan or miss prayers?

Pakhtu itself is a code which a Pakhtun does not want to deviate
from. A nations history plays a key role in its rise and fall. It is
in this way that it becomes obligatory up on the followers to omit
or commit, to own or disown to make or mar their own history. The
followers are often supposed to own their ancestors great
achievements. Like any history making nation in the world, Pakhtuns
too, have a brilliant and proud history. This history is spread over
a vast span of time and almost all non-Pakhtuns columnist know the
history of Pakhtun but due to prejudice, they try to overshadow this
glorious history by presenting distorted facts. They don’t realise
that by distorting facts, they leave so many people disgusted.

The first reference to Pakhtun nation was Made in the books Ragvan
Pakht and Pakhta and supposed that Pakhtuns were Aryan by caste.
Later in 500 AD, Roman historians referred to Pakhtuns as Pakhtwan
and their abode as Pakteen. All these indicate that the history of
pakhtuns and Pakhtunkhwa is older than 500 AD. The word Pathan has
Arabic roots and is derived from the word Batan meaning the front
of a warship that faces all odds if any in the water flow. It was
for these martial qualities, that the Arabs gave the Pakhtuns the
name Batan, which latter became Pathan in the course of time.

Similarly before the advent of Islam, the Armenians called the the
tribal people Pakhtuwan which is the early form of Afghan
Pakhtuns/Pathans comprising Afridi, Mohmands, Yousafzai, Bangash,
Khattak, Orakzai, Wazir-Masud and Kakars.

these different tribes are Pakhtuns by origin. The arrival of
Pakhtuns in Hind is spread over two periods. One is right after the
death of Muhammad Ghauri in 1206 when Qutbuddin Aibak established a
new dynasty as Ghulaman. He enlisted majority of Pakhtun soldiers
into his Ghulaman army. He did so because of the bravery and loyalty
of Pakhtuns.

The Pakhtuns proved their worth by defending the subcontinent from
the onslaught of enemies. Due to their devotion and dedication, this
period is called the Afghan period. Afterwards , the rule of Mughal
started in 1526 and lasted upto 1857,when theEnglish took over the
sub continent.
In this latter period, Pakhtuns spread over the whole India. Many
Pakhtuns ruled various parts of India including Delhi, the capital
of India. Amongst them were Ahmad Shah Abdali, Nadir Shaha nd Amir
Abdur Rehman.
The Pakhtuns have fought bravely against the English, the Sikhs, the
Marhatas and the Mughals.They have always preferred death over
disgrace for the sake of country.

Urdu poetry was introduced in the 19th century in the subcontinent
while that of Pakhto dates back to 139 hijra. The first Pakhtu poet
Amir Kror wrote a Pashto poem saying I see no man like myself in
Hind, Sindh and even in Kabul. Khushal Khan Khattak born in 1022 is
said to be the author of 72 Pashto written books.

His vigorous national poetry reflects an everlasting aspiration for
the unity of Pakhtuns and is praised in golden words by Allama
Iqbal. The masterpiece of Khushal Khan Khattak Baznama has been
translated as Shaheen by Allama Iqbal in Urdu and Persian. Similarly
Khushal Khan Khattak is the contemporary of Abdul Rehman Baba whose
mystical and religious poems are read all over the world.

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fakeer, Thanks for your insightful article. Do you have any links to this?

And if you have links to any other articles regarding the people of Afghanistan & back where do they trace their ancestry, then please post it here.

I am also interested in knowning a little more about Hazaras.

3

Fakeer jan. There is no historic reference to any pakht in ragvan etc..I dont even know what the f ragvan is.
The only things that come close in the ancient vedic literature is that there is referrence to a tribe called paktha in area of what is wardak, lowgar and paktia in afghanistan in eastern afghanistan right next to the khyber pass.
There is no referrence to any pakhtun people in any roman chronicles. Romans did not have much to do with this region except during the kushan period when they were both wrld hegemons.
There is refference to a people called paktyes in the roman chronicles, a people they said lived on the eastern frontier of Persia and by paktye they meant "the frontier people".
The paktye were a scythic or sakoi or saka people who ventured from their original home in central asia and made way south into Persia (Persia then included afghanitsan) at 130 B.C and reached drangiana (iran's seistan) they were still nomadic and then reached their home in Alexandria Arachotan (kandahar), and taxila in the region of gandhara in northern Pakistan (which extended to gardez in afghanistan) at 100 B.C.. And their other allied clans took a different path in to balochistan and to what is today central punjab and upper sindh regionin Pakistan. However, it is dubious if their nomadism was of such character as to give rise to numerrous identities. There had been earlier migration of scythians into the region as well before.
The paktyes were closely followed by the tocharians(pronounced tokharian) called kushans who were of more importance and established themselves at 100 AD in the region of northern Pakistan Gandhara and eastern afghanistan followed by the hepthalite (white huns) people of anthropoligists says emerged from the hindukush region. Needless to say it is exactly this region where pakhtuns are most found ( Pakistan and southern and eastern afghanistan) then say northern afghanistan or western afghanistan.

[This message has been edited by Sultan Toora (edited May 31, 2002).]

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i have also heard people in pakistan saying pashtuns have jewish ancestory, by saying that afghana was the son of one of the jewish kings...which is illogical when u look at the history, there was no such thing as afghanistan until 18 centuary..funny.

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Israelite Afghans ? http://magog.web-site.co.il/gog/e_tribes.shtml

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[quote]
Originally posted by reza khan:
*i have also heard people in pakistan saying pashtuns have jewish ancestory, by saying that afghana was the son of one of the jewish kings...which is illogical when u look at the history, there was no such thing as afghanistan until 18 centuary..funny. *
[/quote]

It doesnt matter whether we r converted from any faith..important thing is what we r now.. I would certainly regard a muslim who converted from jew more than any other as jews are traditionally very hard to convert.. important thing is taqwah.. all muslims were converted as Islam is relatively new religion compared to other major religions in the world..

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so that makes me a converted jew - muslim.

8

A hindi never misses to push a hindu or a Jewish agenda …

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/eek.gif

We know jewish & Hindu came from Adam & Eve & all religion from Abraham whose name is plagarised by Hindu as BRAHMA !!!

That makes more sense than Jewish Afgfhan & Hindu Aga Khani …

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/hehe.gif

“One of the characteristics of healthy cultures is that they can poke fun at themselves.”

9

btw i forgot to tell ya that loads of sh it this jew is talking about is bullcrap, ive never heard of pashtuns doing all that crazy **** apart from a brother marrying his late brothers wife,…anti islamic propaganda

10

question
what language group pashtun belongs?
what script they used before adapting arabic?
whay religen they belong to before islam?

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1): indo iranian=> eastern iranian.
2): old persian/greek in the north and mid parts some may be using indian script after the buddhist preachers.
3): zoroastrianism, buddhim, greek relegion, animist..

12

reza,

Its no insult to have Jewish ancestry. They were Allah’s chosen people once. :slight_smile:

Just wanted to point out that there are numerous genealogists who believe that not only the Afghans but the other ethnicities local to the Persian/Afghan/Pakistan peninsula are the scattered Jewish tribes that were taken from Babylon.

Here is search on Google with words lost tribes Afghanistan

The tribes not necessarily cling on their heritage, and converted to other faiths. Just like people of many other faith do when they convert to Islam.

Here is a URL I found pertically interesting The Virtual Jewish History Tour- Afghanistan - by Alden Oreck

13

i read these similar articles before, but most if not all of the stuff i read here is not correct, other pashtuns may enlighten as well. there isno such marriage ceremony as chupah where they drink wine and all. while there may be pashtuuns who might have been jewish but not the majority of em. that would make 20 million pashtuns as worlds largest jewry in the whole world even israel hasnt got 20 million jews..

14

first of all, I have no idea what the hell and where the hell did that guy collect his data from. Yom kippur among pathans? what yom kippur? And there is no such thing as circumcision on 8th day...(hey I would know).
and what the hell is 15 million pathans?
here are more than 26 million in NWFP alone and 12 million in current afghanistan. The pathans in India are the ones who got there along with other muslim groups during the delhi sultanate period.
There is no record from the persian historical archives from any king of any jewish tribes in the area or any other markings of jewish civilization in the area. The legend of pathans as descended from hebrews is not heard of OR spoken of b4 the period of Lodhi or b4 16-17th century. There is no mention anywhere in any tablets either assyrian or Roman or hebraic or other wise of any guy named afghana.
Surely there could be quite a few hebraic people living in the area of afghanistan and Iran and mixed with the population. But then it does not follow that persian (who comprise aprox. 50% of Iran's population) etc or the Kurd's or Georgians who residemore in the area of hebrew dispersal are hebrew in origin or extraction.

Ive read similar bull without any historical backing that some japanese are also jeiwsh and so are the ntive americans and the kashmiris and blah. Its remarkable how everyone can come come with a theory. Just like smelly indians have quite a few astonishing claim to their brahmanic religion as well.
And this is nice racist B.S about that pathans having lighter fetures and eyes are similar to jews. What a monkey. Hebrews (jews after dispora from judea) are a semitic people and are more similar with other semitc peoples in labguage and culture. that would be the Arabs and assyrians, lebanese etc.
There even lighter and blonde blue eyed folks called the nuristanis or kafiristanis in pakistan/afghanistan. I dont think there jewish.
Present day jewish who look european in theoir features is primarily because they are so much mixed with the europeans.

BTW has any pathans her heard ever ever of any sabbath among the pathans? or any thing called tallit? surely there is thing called mosallah or jai namaz (mosallah is arabic word. This "joy" namaz is all persian/pashto word. Joi or jaai means the "place of" and "namaz" is the zoroatarian word for the worship in old persian.

Even the hebrews themselves are probably not of any single clan. The very first time hebrew appears in history is in the sumerian tablets, where the sumerians used the word "kheebrew" designating the nomads of the north western part of the arabian peninsula. By kheebrew they meant anyone who was a nomad, not any particular people. But the hebrews of the old testament designate a people who by the time of old testament had a sense of self and identity, and there domains were the ancient komrin, judea samaria etc...
Similarly, Arabs appear in the history, not as particular people but the term arabha meant literally "desert dweller".

Nothing would give more pride to people to have jewish or arab or syed ancestory since for muslims it wil have more sentimental value. But why impose it? why not be proud of who we actually are.

15

type in oogle.ca in your address box and write down pashtun history u’ll get lots of websites plus info

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif

.

hazara are the shi’ite and mostly ismaeli ethnic group of afghanistan with nearly 20 % sunni muslims.
they are beleived to be in afghanistan since at the time of changez khan when he tried to conquer afghanistan .than mongols( later) who became muslim most of them stayed here .and now they are called the hazaras .basically from mongolian back ground .

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And there is no such thing as circumcision on 8th day…(hey I would know).

Yes there is. And I don’t know why you would know or wouldn’t, but the practice is there because it is practiced with some people that I know.

This whole thing is nothing new, it’s not the Jews that have claimed the Pathans to be their kindred, but it’s the Pathans that claimed such. Some Pashtuns/Pakhtuns call themselves “bani-Israelis” (original Israelies). This term is very famous amongst Pashtoons/Pakhtuns. If Pashtoon do come from Persian ancestry, then I like to remind you guys that a whole lot of Persians were Jews, especially Northern, the one with blue-green eyes.

There has been made extensive research on this subject. Matter of fact, some went as far as DNA testing, but wasn’t allowed from some unknown reasons.

Note: People must remember that Pashtoons come from many different backgrounds, including Arab, Mongol, Persian, Indo-European etc… Their tribal affairs are no different then the tribes of Shzam/Quraysh. i.e., when the Malik says to go burn in hell, the entire tribe does it, no questions asked! One member of the tribe is assaulted then the entire tribe has to fight for his honor. The ethic code of “Ghayraat” (Arab use “Ghaira”) is something on which one must be willing to sacrifice everything if one has to. Millmasta, Badla, Tura etc.. is all similar to Arab tribes of Shaam, esply Yemeni tribes.

Many Pashtoon/Pakhtuns carry the name Sayed and Bukhari, claiming to be direct descendants from the Holy family of the Prophet (pbuh). One of the reasons why many Afghans believe that Ali (RA) is resting in Masar-e-sharif. There are up to 60-70 known Shahaabs in Afghanistan. Abu Haanifa and very famous Hadith scholar Bukhari are believed to be also from Afghanistan. People will say that Bukhari was from Bukhara, but some will argue that Bukhara is no other then Bactria (Afghanistan, Khurrasan)

Afridi
Ghilzai
Utmanzai
momand/momandzaat
Yusafzai

These tribes are then made into sub-tribes. Plus, there are Pashtoons/Pakhtuns that belong to no tribes at all, only to their family linkage.

And here is a link that puts to doubt the Pashtoon Semitic linkage. :slight_smile:
http://www.geocities.com/rehmandagreat/pashtoon_history.html

17

Hmm of the topic guys I have, a file showing all the pashtun tribes from Qais,
e mail me if you want it, another thing is I posted on general forum, I am looking for people to join my pashto mp3 exchange forum on audio galaxy, if anyone wants to join, it's free and only objective is to promote pashto music exchange.
Download audio galaxy and join zma kor
or e mail me if you hav any problems

18

[QUOTE]
Originally posted by Yemeen:
Yes there is. And I don’t know why you would know or wouldn’t, but the practice is there because it is practiced with some people that I know.

No there isnt. I dont which some people you are talking about. There is no pakhtun custom of circumcision of 8th day etc ever.

*This whole thing is nothing new, it’s not the Jews that have claimed the Pathans to be their kindred, but it’s the Pathans that claimed such. Some Pashtuns/Pakhtuns call themselves “bani-Israelis” (original Israelies). This term is very famous amongst Pashtoons/Pakhtuns. If Pashtoon do come from Persian ancestry, then I like to remind you guys that a whole lot of Persians were Jews, especially Northern, the one with blue-green eyes. *

Yes. You have to understabd then that, many people from Punjab with jat rajput last names claim decent from Arabs and turks and afghans...in the real dochotomy of things, we knoew they are not. Persians are persians and iranian jews are iranian jews. There are jews in Iran and there have been a few families in Khorasan (afghanistan), but there have been greater in other regions of europe and russia. Russians are russians and russain jews are russian jews. As said before, the current askenazic jews are hardly in their physical original form. A jews is a jew if his/her mother is a jew. Though some may originally have light eyes, but as such blue/green eyes are not the trademark of jews. Afghans jews, still refer to themselves as afghan jews not pashtuns.

*There has been made extensive research on this subject. Matter of fact, some went as far as DNA testing, but wasn’t allowed from some unknown reasons. *

I dont know when did this conspiracy theory of your too place. DNA testing is fickle thing nowadays. You should go and take DNA testing in the afghan refugee camps or wherever. There is no question of any coverup, it would be very easy data collecting.

Note: People must remember that Pashtoons come from many different backgrounds, including Arab, Mongol, Persian, Indo-European etc... Their tribal affairs are no different then the tribes of Shzam/Quraysh. i.e., when the Malik says to go burn in hell, the entire tribe does it, no questions asked! One member of the tribe is assaulted then the entire tribe has to fight for his honor. The ethic code of “Ghayraat” (Arab use “Ghaira”) is something on which one must be willing to sacrifice everything if one has to. Millmasta, Badla, Tura etc.. is all similar to Arab tribes of Shaam, esply Yemeni tribes.

No the "Afghans" come from different background. Some afghans are arabs, turkic, mongol (hazara) etc., but not all of afghans are pashtuns. Afghan has now become a nationality and politically unifying term. I beleive I have already explained on the emergence of ethnic groups and how people emerge in history. In that I have been quite thorough as to the pashtun identity which stem primarily from those of the tokharian peoples and so does their language. The term hindu shahi was used by later muslim historians. Other wise the SHahi dynasty had nothing to do with hindus. It came from the Kushans when they employed the term Shahanshahi (similar to ther sassanian title and iranian in its origin) meaning king of the kings and was also adopted by the successor of the kushan: the iranian hephthalites. The last of this vestigial shahi kingdom was regrouped in kashmir b4 the complete islamization of the region.
As regards tribal structure, it is more of a territorial hall mark: bakhtiaris, kurds, turkmens, kazakhs etc have even more organized tribal structures than pashtuns. It is to this credit, that mongols would wreak havoc on the world. As regards the incorporation of Arabic words into the culture it shouldnt surprise us. As virtually all languages of the region are influenced by arabic, because of the fluidity of the isalmic empire. Modern persian is very different from medeival persian precisly because it is interlaid with arabic words. Afghan dari is more closer to original form. Incorporation of words into any language is hardly any indication of racial continuity. If anything, pashto is way different then hebraic.

Many Pashtoon/Pakhtuns carry the name Sayed and Bukhari, claiming to be direct descendants from the Holy family of the Prophet (pbuh). One of the reasons why many Afghans believe that Ali (RA) is resting in Masar-e-sharif. There are up to 60-70 known Shahaabs in Afghanistan. Abu Haanifa and very famous Hadith scholar Bukhari are believed to be also from Afghanistan. People will say that Bukhari was from Bukhara, but some will argue that Bukhara is no other then Bactria (Afghanistan, Khurrasan)

Again, it would be the case that many "Afghans" carry syed names this is not synonymous with calling them pashtun. As most afghan are pashtuns, but some afghan are descended from arabs. Imam Abu Hanifa was an native afghan not of arab descent. Bukhari was also a native of afghanistan who was not arabic. The equivalent of bactria is balkh. Fluidity in the Islamic empire is the reason of muslims of various regions being buried in others. Saladin is kurdish but buried in egypt.
May Allah unite the ummah.

[This message has been edited by Sultan Toora (edited June 09, 2002).]

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No there isnt. I dont which some people you are talking about. There is no Pakhtun custom of circumcision of 8th day etc ever.

It’s done and it has been done in my family. Now don’t tell me who and what I am because I know that myself very well. Kha te ghawaray, nu stata bo zewayam che ze sook yum.

Not all Pakthuns are alike. There are tribes, and there are sub-tribes. All these people have their own unique ways of dealing with on another. A very good example is that Pashtoons in Afghansitan celebrate nayaroos, but Pashtoons in Pakistan don’t. If you go to Dara, you will notice the difference between them and Tirawal. From Ga-dhar to Kadghar, you will notice the difference also. I have in my family people who don’t even look like me. I myself look like an Arab, while my cousins look like white boys, with their green blue eyes, when sometime both of their parents have no such complexions. Heck there is even the difference in the language spoken and written. Some call themselves Pashtoons, and other Pakhtuns. That is because they are tongued with “sha” in their dialogue. The Pakhtuns; they are used to say “kha” all the time. Pashtoons are soft spoken, on the other hand, Pakhtuns are rough spoken. Same difference though. The more you go toward Afghanistan; you will see the soft version of Pashto being used. The more you go towards the NWFP side of the land; you will notice the change in tone and dialogue. Where it becomes Pakhto from Pashto.

And as far as Punjabis are concerned, some do look like us, especially the Sikhs. Not because of their beards, but also their built and customs. There are also Pashtoon Sikhs and Hindus. You can meet them in Tera, they are well known for their TURA (honor, greatness) as Pakhtuns. Can you believe it, some even went to fight for the Taliban?

I dont know when did this conspiracy theory of your too place. DNA testing is fickle thing nowadays. You should go and take DNA testing in the afghan refugee camps or wherever. There is no question of any coverup, it would be very easy data collecting.

I didn’t make that up, I read it in an article. For your information, all this is old news to me. Even my grandfather, the grand son of Sayed Saifal Maaluk Shah, told me that our people are linked with Jews and Arabs. Especially our family, when we happen to carry both Sayed and Bukhari as our names.

Mu phiraan yu phiraan peera, sam sha. ;-)

20

[QUOTE]
Originally posted by Yemeen:
**It’s done and it has been done in my family. Now don’t tell me who and what I am because I know that myself very well. Kha te ghawaray, nu stata bo zewayam che ze sook yum.

Not all Pakthuns are alike. There are tribes, and there are sub-tribes. All these people have their own unique ways of dealing with on another. A very good example is that Pashtoons in Afghansitan celebrate nayaroos, but Pashtoons in Pakistan don’t. If you go to Dara, you will notice the difference between them and Tirawal. From Ga-dhar to Kadghar, you will notice the difference also. I have in my family people who don’t even look like me. I myself look like an Arab, while my cousins look like white boys, with their green blue eyes, when sometime both of their parents have no such complexions. Heck there is even the difference in the language spoken and written. Some call themselves Pashtoons, and other Pakhtuns. That is because they are tongued with “sha” in their dialogue. The Pakhtuns; they are used to say “kha” all the time. Pashtoons are soft spoken, on the other hand, Pakhtuns are rough spoken. Same difference though. The more you go toward Afghanistan; you will see the soft version of Pashto being used. The more you go towards the NWFP side of the land; you will notice the change in tone and dialogue. Where it becomes Pakhto from Pashto. **

dear, zu da dey parwa na laram, che to so kay sa kaway da zaroori shay da dey che su mutaliq ma soch soday. even if I had doubts as to who you say you are…it would be irrelevant. Perhaps circumcision is done in your family on the 8th day, but there is no such custom found anywhere ever among paskhtuns or afghans at large. Pakhtuns are an ethnic group and while things may vary from geography to geography, on the whole one can generalize about their customs as much as one can about any other ethnic group. And ofcourse paskhtuns dont exaclty look alike. Even in the same family of say zhaka kheli afridi, one can find difference, this is all beside point. One was discussing the origin of pakhtun people and their place in history.

And as far as Punjabis are concerned, some do look like us, especially the Sikhs. Not because of their beards, but also their built and customs. There are also Pashtoon Sikhs and Hindus. You can meet them in Tera, they are well known for their TURA (honor, greatness) as Pakhtuns. Can you believe it, some even went to fight for the Taliban?

http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/smile.gif

I dont know why you brought in sikhs and how they look as I didnt even touch on them and we are primarily discussing the pakhtun-jewish connection here. I dont care if some sikhs look like pakhtuns or how they look like at all. And yess there a few hundred afghan hindu and sikhs in afghanistan. It is possible some of them are the natives, but it is probable that most came as business community or part of garrisons way after the islamization of afghanistan. And by the way, I dont know if Tura means honor, It means Sword. The equivalent of honor is ghairah in pashto.

**I didn’t make that up, I read it in an article. For your information, all this is old news to me. Even my grandfather, the grand son of Sayed Saifal Maaluk Shah, told me that our people are linked with Jews and Arabs. Especially our family, when we happen to carry both Sayed and Bukhari as our names.

Mu phiraan yu phiraan peera, sam sha. ;-)**

ok perhaps you did. Unfortunately, many things are written without any substantiation or backing up especially on unacredited internet sites. It is very easy for any curious soul to go right now and do DNA testing on pathans. And I would like some info on syed saif-ul-malook dear. All I know is that he is a fictional character in pathan folk literature.
Let me try to make the point more clear. After the arab muslim settled in persia, they adopted themselves in the larger culture, however, as a matter of academia those folks are not persian. They would still refer to themselves as Iranian than persian. There are people with last names of gilani in afghanistan, and they refer to themselves as “afghan”. They may speak pashto, however they are aware that they are originally arab. I was talking of pakhtuns exclusivley as the pre-islamic people of the region and you are equating the term pakhtun = afghan. Or like persian = Iranian.
Anyways the defination of a pathan is ever evolving. I say this: if you “feel” like a pathan on the inside no matter who you are: you are one. period.

[This message has been edited by Sultan Toora (edited June 14, 2002).]