Pashtunwali is a code of life for the Pakhtuns , these values are about 3000 years old and are the basic criteria of a Pakhtun.

Melmastia (hospitality) - Showing hospitality and profound respect to all visitors, regardless of distinctions of race, religion, national affiliation as well as economic status and doing so without any hope of remuneration or favour. Pashtuns will go to great extents to show their hospitality.

Nanawatai (asylum) - Derived from the verb meaning to go in, this is used for protection given to a person who requests protection against his/her enemies. The people are protected at all costs, in many cases even people running from the law must be given refuge until the situation is clarified. It can also be used when the vanquished party is prepared to go in to the house of the victors and ask for their forgiveness. (It is a peculiar form of "chivalrous" surrender, in which an enemy seeks "sanctuary" at his enemy's house). A more famous example of this code is of Navy Petty Officer First Class (PO1) Marcus Luttrell, the sole surviving member of a US Navy SEAL team that was ambushed by Taliban fighters. PO1 Luttrell evaded the enemy for days before stumbling upon members of the Sabray tribe who realized the wounded SEAL needed assistance. He was taken to the village and protected by the tribal chief, who even sent word to nearby US forces of PO1 Luttrell's location.

Badal (justice) - To seek justice or take revenge against the wrongdoer. This applies to injustices committed yesterday or 1000 years ago if the wrongdoer still exists. Justice in Pashtun lore needs elaborating: even a mere taunt (or "Paighor") is regarded as an insult - which can only usually be redressed by shedding of the taunter's blood (and if he isn't available, then his next closest male relation). This in turn leads to a blood feud that can last generations and involve whole tribes with the loss of hundreds of lives. Normally blood feuds in this all male dominated setup are then settled in a number of ways.

Tureh (bravery) - A Pashtun must defend his land/property, family and women from incursions wherever he or she might reside. A Pashtun should always stand brave against tyranny and he should always be able to defend his property, family, women and the honour of his name. Death can follow if anyone mistreats these traits.

Sabat (loyalty) - Loyalty must be paid to one's family, friends, and tribe members. Loyalty is a must and a Pashtun can never become disloyal as this would be utterly shameful towards themselves and their families.

Imandari (righteousness) - A Pashtun must always strive towards thinking good thoughts, speaking good words and doing other good deeds. Pashtuns must behave respectfully towards all creations including people, animals and the environment around them. Pollution of the environment or its destruction is against the Pashtunwali.

Isteqamat - Trust in God (known as "Allah" in Arabic and "Khudai" in Pashto). The notion of trusting in the one Creator generally comports to Islamic idea of belief in only one God (tawheed).

Ghayrat (self honour or dignity) - Pashtuns must maintain their human dignity. Honour has great importance in Pashtun society and most other codes of life are aimed towards the preservation of one's honour or pride. They must respect themselves and others in order to be able to do so, especially those they do not know. Respect begins at home, among family members and relatives.

Namus (Honor of women) - A Pashtun must defend the honor of Pashtun women at all costs and must protect them from vocal and physical harm

Lol because i mentioned you, you felt the need to reappear for clarification. You disappeared after your intro thread when i asked you a very deep question about politics of multan.

Sir i answered your question day after in that introduction see it. I have never given clarifications before so why now brother.

It was documented by our forefathers long time ago, how about that? Long before colonial times, maybe during times of Ahmad Shah Baba. How many wars did we fight since then, civilizations have been destroyed. Thousands of historical documents were destroyed by enemies. Have yall forgot even in most recent times, ten years ago we have seen Taliban burning books..
Ahmad Shah Baba was king and didn't have historians at court? Come on.. Not one single Pashtun was able to grab a pen and write down fundamentals of Pashtunwali, his culture and traditions, so his children could preserve it? I don't buy it.

luffy could you try not arguing like women all the time?

Bushido was also unwritten
The Knights Code of honor was also unwritten

with all due respect, the last few posts are irrelevant to my original post, seems like some of us only respond to the title of the post.

your own interpretation is irrelevant.

When the author writes "unwritten law" it does not imply that your forefathers were illiterate but that the law is a part of social conventions and customs.

There is no written hand book on "how to serve your guests" for Afghans but if you go to any Afghan's house, the customs are pretty much the same. Insisting to pour tea into your guests cup nonstop, for example...where as in some cultures only if your cup is half empty would they offer to fill it for you, and in other cultures, only if your cup is empty.

So when it is said that such a mode of behaviour is "unwritten" it means that the people of that society don't need to have it written down, it is something obvious and understood as it is constant, pervasive and oft repeated.

This is not a negative connotation...

you started off a bit harsh but we are all different in how we interact. Yes you are right "unwritten" law does not mean that our previous generations were not able to document it but Pashto being more of a spoken language than written in its history one could think of documenting it at least for a tribe. We've all learned Pashtunwali through our elders verbal teachings or our own observations but the question is would it be feasible to document it now? My understanding is that no its not. Not because we have many tribes and every tribe has their own version of the same code. You gave the example of serving your guests and insisting on pouring tea for them. Pashtunwali is unique to every Pashtun not only a tribe. Pashtunwali has an element of personal interpretation of a code. If you think pouring tea nonstop into the guest's half empty cup is melmastia, some might pour tea and then keep the tea pot next to the guest so he can feel comfortable and some might hold on to the teapot handle so that they can get the previlige of serving the guest but its all personal interpretations of serving the guest as long as you are "serving" the guest, making him/her comfortable you are doing your job. If you pour less tea or more or if you don't pour tea at all (maybe the person is too shy to eat/drink while others are not and having your speengerai plar sitting right in front of him) as long as he doesn't complain the next day to your relatives/neighbours you've done your job. So yes when it comes down to a personal opinion then it's very hard to document it and as I said in the beginning Pashtunwali like morality is relative and not absolute so it's not possible to document it. In fact it'll be safe to say that YES we can document it but it can not be considered a standard that every Pashtun should follow.

Good point Khostai saib.