Pathans in retrospect

Pathans are men of guns but simultaneously they are men of love and romance. They love others and want to be loved by others. Pakhtunwali is their dearest value - dearest even than their lives.It conducts and control their lives, behavior and discipline from times immemorial. The uniqueness of their customs, traditions and folk-tales have attracted a horde of writers, both local and foreign, to write books about them.
Who are Pakhtuns, Pathans or Afghans, is a question answered by different ethnologist, historians and scholars at different times and with different viewpoints.
Up till now, two main theories, apart from some minor ones, have come forward to attract the readers regarding the origin, the genesis and the history of the other is Aryan.
According to sir William Jones, the Afghans are one of the lost ten tribes of bani-israel mentioned by the prophet isdras that escaped from captivity of bakhth nasr and took refuge in asarah; identical with the modern hazarajat in Afghanistan. Sawal was the descendant of Yahuda s/o Hazrat Yaqub alaihis-salam in 5th generation who had six sons, two of them being Armia and barkhia. After their marriages, Afghan was born to Armia and Asif to barkhia. After the death of Sawal, the kingdom came into the hands of king Dawood who appointed Afghan as commander of the army and Asif, as consultant for the state affairs. They maintained these posts under king Suleman also. A few centuries after the death of Sawal, bakhth nasr captured Palestine, and resultantly the children of Israel, including Afghan and Asif, left the territory of Palestine and setting in Ghor (Afghanistan) and over-powered the locals of Ghor. The children of Israel speared towards Kabul and Kandahar and then permanently settled in the kohistan-i-ghor, koh-i-feroz koh-i-khorasan and Kabul etc.
It is said that the decedents of Afghan and Asif who filed from their homeland in Palestine and lost their way, were ten in number. One of the lost Afghan tribes proceeded towards Mecca where they met Khalid bin-Walid who belong to the same tribe of bani-israel, as did the Afghans. He was a renowned Islamic warrior and the most famous of prophet's companions and the first Arab great conqueror. He being their fellow tribesman either proceeded personally or sent a letter to his Afghan kinsmen settled in Ghor, to bring them tidings of new faith and an invitation to join the prophet's religion. Led by Qais (a decedent of king Sawal in thirty seventh generation), a delegation met the holy prophet at medina and was greatly impresses by the new faith. The Qais and his comrades then waged was most gallantly on the prophet's behalf and won many battles against the infidels.
The account as given above is written by namiatullah haravi in 'makhzan-i-Afghani' during the times of emperor jehangir. It is also referred to by Olaf caro in his book "the Pathans" as under:
"The prophet lavished all sort of blessings upon them and having ascertained the name of each individual, and remarked the Qais was a Hebrew name, whereas they themselves were Arabs, he gave Qais the name of Abdur Rashid and observed further that being the posterity of Malik, it was quite proper and just that they should be called Malik likewise... And the prophet predicted that god would make the issues of Qais so numerous that they would outlive all other people, that their attachment to the faith would in strength be like constructing a ship which seamen call 'Bathan'. On this account he conferred upon Abdur Rashid the title of Bathan ('b' converted to 'p' later on) ".
Tradition goes that Khalid bin-Walid wed locked his daughter' Sara' with Qais Abdur Rashid and it is from his loins that the whole nations of Pakhtuns or Pathans is derived. Qais Abdur Rashid returned to Ghor successfully to propagate the new faith and died there in the 41st year of Herat, aged eighty seven, leaving three sons, the eldest Saraban, the second bithan, the third Ghurghustan. These three sons of Qais Abdur Rashid are the ancestors of the various branches of Pashtuns or Pakhtuns. There is, however, one other ancestor, namely Karlanr or Karlanri whose genealogy is not exactly known. "makhzan-i-Afghani"puts his descendant separately from the progeny of the other three sons of Qais. According to the scribe, Karlanri is linked with the Saraban branch as a foundling. Other genealogists link him with the Ghurghausth branch.
Saraban, the eldest son, had two sons namely sharkhbun (or in some records sharkbuns or shariyun) and kharshbun (or in some records kharishyun). Sharkhbun is the ancestor of the western Afghans, namely the Abdalis now known as the Durranis and the kindred tribes, while kharshbun, of the eastern Afghans tribes of the Peshawar valley and the adjacent mountains to the north, are known as the Yusafzais (including the mandanr branch), the Muhammadzais.
The above story is also given "tareekh-e-Peshawar" written by Gurdas Pal.
Another etiology of the world 'Pathans' is stated to be that race, after entering hind at the advent of Arab conquest of India, first settled at Patna. Pat'an in the language of Patna means to root out, to annihilate, to expel. This race therefore was called Pathan i.e. (or patanr) who expelled the original inhabitants of Patna.
The etiology also finds its name from the bet s/o Qais Abdur Rashid whose off springs in India, were called betan or pataan.
The word is also derived from a place 'pushth' in Ghor Afghanistan where Qais first settled. His off springs were later called Pushtun with reference to pushth.

Aryan view
A large group of historians believe that the Afghans are Aryans. About 1500 BC, they laid the foundations of a new culture- fairly advanced historians differ about their early homeland. Some considered them northern European people, while some are of the opinion that the northern bank of black sea was their original homeland. Some traced their origin to the southern territories of Russia while others consider Mongolia and Chinese Turkistan as their birthplace. However, most of the modern researchers agree on their birthplace lying in between the pamirs and Oxus, which is known as bakhtar.
In the fields of bakhtar, they breaded slowly and gradually. When their number increased, they started moving out of the green fields of bakhtar. One of their main groups, which is know as indo-Aryana, crossed Hindukush and settled in the valleys of Laghman and slowly and gradually reached up to the valleys of swat and the Indus river. They crossed the Indus and settled in the Punjab. Some of them crossed the Khyber Pass and joined hands with their kinsmen in Punjab. They spread further and reached the valleys of Ganges and Jumna. The inhabitants of the area-the Dravidians-were subjugated by the Aryans and most of them left their lands and migrated to other parts of India. Second part of the same Aryans, crossed Herat areas and formed the present day Iran. When two of the large parts of the Aryans had migrated from bakhtar, the lands were then in plenty for the remaining ones, who were known as the central Aryans or Aryans of bakhtar.
According to the historians, the same Bacterian Aryans were the ancestors of the Pashtuns, they had settled in the areas of Balkh, Herat, Kabul and Gandhara. They gave it the name of Aryana. In the hymns of reg Veda, there was a clear-cut indication of sindho (inus) , kubha (Kabul) , kurrma (kurram) , gumati (gumal) suvastu (swat) and other rivers of the area. Above all, according to bakhtar shah zafar, the philologists agree that Pashto joined hands with the Aryans group of languages. Abdul hye habibi, the most eminent scholar, has given a list of Pashto words, which resemble other languages of house of Aryans. Aryans were white and with a stout physique. The Afghans are also stout and are mostly fair complexion.
Various scholars have presented a new theory on scientific lines about the origin of Afghans. Fraser tytler pleaded for the mixed race theory according to which the Pashtuns are Aryans by origin, but have intermingled with elements of Turkish, Mongol and other strains. He is supported by Charles miller, saying that they had been on the scene for centuries, by a bubbling ethnic stew of Persian, Greek, Scythian, Turk and Mongol to mention only a few of the invading and migrating peoples who contributed their racial ingredients to the Afghan stock. Abdul Ghani khan, a Pashto poet and philosopher (late) also share the same opinion. He considers the Afghans as a mixture of many races that came through their areas from central Asia. Suddum (mardan) , Khyber (Peshawar) and elum (swat) are the places, which resemble in names those of bani Israel. Mir afzal khan Jadoon is of the opinion that the features as well as the habits of the Afghans resemble those of the Jews. Apart from the clans of Karlanr and mati, tannulis, swatis and Jadoons are similar to the Jews in their dwelling and clothes.
Many relics of syriac language were found during the excavations at taxila, laghman, gandhara and kandahar. As the evidences show all of the syriac people ruled Aryana at a time. With the passage of time, they had mixed with the indigenous population. In the fifth century a. D. , hind was invited by a wild race known as the "white huns" or 'epthalites. Though they had not firmly established themselves, yet one can easily find their remnants in the gujars of the hilly areas. In ummayad reign, the Arabs came to Afghanistan and with the passage of time, they absorbed themselves in Afghanistan. In the beginning of the 13th century, changez khan invaded Afghanistan and therefore, yellow race mixed with the Afghans. There is a great similarly in the hazarajat tribes of Afghanistan and the mongols.
Some people believe that the Afghans belong to caucasia. Mounstuart elphinstone was informed by an armenian that the Afghans belonged to their race. Elphinstone compared vocabulary of Pashto with georgian and other languages of caucasian tribes but found no resemblance between them.
Some are of the opinion that the Afghans descended from bibi qatoora, the wife of hazrat ibrahim alihis-salam. Hazrat ibrahim a/s distributed his belongings among his six sons (according to bible their names were; zumran, yugsan, medan, madyan, asbaq and sookh) and said goodbye to them. He sent all of them towards the east. They settled in turan-a place in the north-west of Iran where they were joined by their brethrens, expelled by king talut. All of them established themselves in pasht. The same pasht, according to them was parthia which was know as tabaristan in Islamic times. Slowly and gradually they were termed as pashthis and lately as pashtun and pashtana.
By the muslims of the Asia minor and the western countries, the Afghans are usually called sulemanis, apparently from the supposition that they dwelt on the sulaman range of mountains. If so, the name is misapplied, for there are no Afghans settled on that range. To some, they originated from the albanians of Asia, who were exiled from persia and moved as far as khorssan.
To conclude, there is clear evidence that the pashtuns are aryans but with the passage of time many foreign strains mixed with them. The pashtuns of hilly areas are considered purer as compared with their brethren of the plains because of the inaccessibility of the mountains to the invaders.Pathans are men of guns but simultaneously they are men of love and romance. They love others and want to be loved by others. Pakhtunwali is their dearest value - dearest even than their lives.It conducts and control their lives, behavior and discipline from times immemorial. The uniqueness of their customs, traditions and folk-tales have attracted a horde of writers, both local and foreign, to write books about them.
Who are Pakhtuns, Pathans or Afghans, is a question answered by different ethnologist, historians and scholars at different times and with different viewpoints.
Up till now, two main theories, apart from some minor ones, have come forward to attract the readers regarding the origin, the genesis and the history of the other is Aryan.
According to sir William Jones, the Afghans are one of the lost ten tribes of bani-israel mentioned by the prophet isdras that escaped from captivity of bakhth nasr and took refuge in asarah; identical with the modern hazarajat in Afghanistan. Sawal was the descendant of Yahuda s/o Hazrat Yaqub alaihis-salam in 5th generation who had six sons, two of them being Armia and barkhia. After their marriages, Afghan was born to Armia and Asif to barkhia. After the death of Sawal, the kingdom came into the hands of king Dawood who appointed Afghan as commander of the army and Asif, as consultant for the state affairs. They maintained these posts under king Suleman also. A few centuries after the death of Sawal, bakhth nasr captured Palestine, and resultantly the children of Israel, including Afghan and Asif, left the territory of Palestine and setting in Ghor (Afghanistan) and over-powered the locals of Ghor. The children of Israel speared towards Kabul and Kandahar and then permanently settled in the kohistan-i-ghor, koh-i-feroz koh-i-khorasan and Kabul etc.
It is said that the decedents of Afghan and Asif who filed from their homeland in Palestine and lost their way, were ten in number. One of the lost Afghan tribes proceeded towards Mecca where they met Khalid bin-Walid who belong to the same tribe of bani-israel, as did the Afghans. He was a renowned Islamic warrior and the most famous of prophet's companions and the first Arab great conqueror. He being their fellow tribesman either proceeded personally or sent a letter to his Afghan kinsmen settled in Ghor, to bring them tidings of new faith and an invitation to join the prophet's religion. Led by Qais (a decedent of king Sawal in thirty seventh generation), a delegation met the holy prophet at medina and was greatly impresses by the new faith. The Qais and his comrades then waged was most gallantly on the prophet's behalf and won many battles against the infidels.
The account as given above is written by namiatullah haravi in 'makhzan-i-Afghani' during the times of emperor jehangir. It is also referred to by Olaf caro in his book "the Pathans" as under:
"The prophet lavished all sort of blessings upon them and having ascertained the name of each individual, and remarked the Qais was a Hebrew name, whereas they themselves were Arabs, he gave Qais the name of Abdur Rashid and observed further that being the posterity of Malik, it was quite proper and just that they should be called Malik likewise... And the prophet predicted that god would make the issues of Qais so numerous that they would outlive all other people, that their attachment to the faith would in strength be like constructing a ship which seamen call 'Bathan'. On this account he conferred upon Abdur Rashid the title of Bathan ('b' converted to 'p' later on) ".
Tradition goes that Khalid bin-Walid wed locked his daughter' Sara' with Qais Abdur Rashid and it is from his loins that the whole nations of Pakhtuns or Pathans is derived. Qais Abdur Rashid returned to Ghor successfully to propagate the new faith and died there in the 41st year of Herat, aged eighty seven, leaving three sons, the eldest Saraban, the second bithan, the third Ghurghustan. These three sons of Qais Abdur Rashid are the ancestors of the various branches of Pashtuns or Pakhtuns. There is, however, one other ancestor, namely Karlanr or Karlanri whose genealogy is not exactly known. "makhzan-i-Afghani"puts his descendant separately from the progeny of the other three sons of Qais. According to the scribe, Karlanri is linked with the Saraban branch as a foundling. Other genealogists link him with the Ghurghausth branch.
Saraban, the eldest son, had two sons namely sharkhbun (or in some records sharkbuns or shariyun) and kharshbun (or in some records kharishyun). Sharkhbun is the ancestor of the western Afghans, namely the Abdalis now known as the Durranis and the kindred tribes, while kharshbun, of the eastern Afghans tribes of the Peshawar valley and the adjacent mountains to the north, are known as the Yusafzais (including the mandanr branch), the Muhammadzais.
The above story is also given "tareekh-e-Peshawar" written by Gurdas Pal.
Another etiology of the world 'Pathans' is stated to be that race, after entering hind at the advent of Arab conquest of India, first settled at Patna. Pat'an in the language of Patna means to root out, to annihilate, to expel. This race therefore was called Pathan i.e. (or patanr) who expelled the original inhabitants of Patna.
The etiology also finds its name from the bet s/o Qais Abdur Rashid whose off springs in India, were called betan or pataan.
The word is also derived from a place 'pushth' in Ghor Afghanistan where Qais first settled. His off springs were later called Pushtun with reference to pushth.

Aryan view
A large group of historians believe that the Afghans are Aryans. About 1500 BC, they laid the foundations of a new culture- fairly advanced historians differ about their early homeland. Some considered them northern European people, while some are of the opinion that the northern bank of black sea was their original homeland. Some traced their origin to the southern territories of Russia while others consider Mongolia and Chinese Turkistan as their birthplace. However, most of the modern researchers agree on their birthplace lying in between the pamirs and Oxus, which is known as bakhtar.
In the fields of bakhtar, they breaded slowly and gradually. When their number increased, they started moving out of the green fields of bakhtar. One of their main groups, which is know as indo-Aryana, crossed Hindukush and settled in the valleys of Laghman and slowly and gradually reached up to the valleys of swat and the Indus river. They crossed the Indus and settled in the Punjab. Some of them crossed the Khyber Pass and joined hands with their kinsmen in Punjab. They spread further and reached the valleys of Ganges and Jumna. The inhabitants of the area-the Dravidians-were subjugated by the Aryans and most of them left their lands and migrated to other parts of India. Second part of the same Aryans, crossed Herat areas and formed the present day Iran. When two of the large parts of the Aryans had migrated from bakhtar, the lands were then in plenty for the remaining ones, who were known as the central Aryans or Aryans of bakhtar.
According to the historians, the same Bacterian Aryans were the ancestors of the Pashtuns, they had settled in the areas of Balkh, Herat, Kabul and Gandhara. They gave it the name of Aryana. In the hymns of reg Veda, there was a clear-cut indication of sindho (inus) , kubha (Kabul) , kurrma (kurram) , gumati (gumal) suvastu (swat) and other rivers of the area. Above all, according to bakhtar shah zafar, the philologists agree that Pashto joined hands with the Aryans group of languages. Abdul hye habibi, the most eminent scholar, has given a list of Pashto words, which resemble other languages of house of Aryans. Aryans were white and with a stout physique. The Afghans are also stout and are mostly fair complexion.
Various scholars have presented a new theory on scientific lines about the origin of Afghans. Fraser tytler pleaded for the mixed race theory according to which the Pashtuns are Aryans by origin, but have intermingled with elements of Turkish, Mongol and other strains. He is supported by Charles miller, saying that they had been on the scene for centuries, by a bubbling ethnic stew of Persian, Greek, Scythian, Turk and Mongol to mention only a few of the invading and migrating peoples who contributed their racial ingredients to the Afghan stock. Abdul Ghani khan, a Pashto poet and philosopher (late) also share the same opinion. He considers the Afghans as a mixture of many races that came through their areas from central Asia. Suddum (mardan) , Khyber (Peshawar) and elum (swat) are the places, which resemble in names those of bani Israel. Mir afzal khan Jadoon is of the opinion that the features as well as the habits of the Afghans resemble those of the Jews. Apart from the clans of Karlanr and mati, tannulis, swatis and Jadoons are similar to the Jews in their dwelling and clothes.
Many relics of syriac language were found during the excavations at taxila, laghman, gandhara and kandahar. As the evidences show all of the syriac people ruled Aryana at a time. With the passage of time, they had mixed with the indigenous population. In the fifth century a. D. , hind was invited by a wild race known as the "white huns" or 'epthalites. Though they had not firmly established themselves, yet one can easily find their remnants in the gujars of the hilly areas. In ummayad reign, the Arabs came to Afghanistan and with the passage of time, they absorbed themselves in Afghanistan. In the beginning of the 13th century, changez khan invaded Afghanistan and therefore, yellow race mixed with the Afghans. There is a great similarly in the hazarajat tribes of Afghanistan and the mongols.
Some people believe that the Afghans belong to caucasia. Mounstuart elphinstone was informed by an armenian that the Afghans belonged to their race. Elphinstone compared vocabulary of Pashto with georgian and other languages of caucasian tribes but found no resemblance between them.
Some are of the opinion that the Afghans descended from bibi qatoora, the wife of hazrat ibrahim alihis-salam. Hazrat ibrahim a/s distributed his belongings among his six sons (according to bible their names were; zumran, yugsan, medan, madyan, asbaq and sookh) and said goodbye to them. He sent all of them towards the east. They settled in turan-a place in the north-west of Iran where they were joined by their brethrens, expelled by king talut. All of them established themselves in pasht. The same pasht, according to them was parthia which was know as tabaristan in Islamic times. Slowly and gradually they were termed as pashthis and lately as pashtun and pashtana.
By the muslims of the Asia minor and the western countries, the Afghans are usually called sulemanis, apparently from the supposition that they dwelt on the sulaman range of mountains. If so, the name is misapplied, for there are no Afghans settled on that range. To some, they originated from the albanians of Asia, who were exiled from persia and moved as far as khorssan.
To conclude, there is clear evidence that the pashtuns are aryans but with the passage of time many foreign strains mixed with them. The pashtuns of hilly areas are considered purer as compared with their brethren of the plains because of the inaccessibility of the mountains to the invaders.