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This is not an attack. Once again, it’s a post meant to stoke think tank style discussion. I hope I achieve this. A dismissive attitude that the nationalists will take, after reading this, will be to say that that was then, and this is now… different times call for different measures and men designed differently. I ardently disagree and call that answer out for what it is, a canard meant to diffuse something they cannot answer. Also, I request that the Islamists not weigh in by saying the equivalent of “who cares, Ahmad Shah Abdali need not be our role model.” These sorts of rejoinders just shut down discussion and offer nothing new. This article is for those Pashtuns that seek to distill down history and find the quintessential Pashtun character that we strive to be loyal to. Specifically, this ought to stoke some discussion amongst the sons and daughters of Kandahar regarding the character of our province and city and how true we shall remain to our great forefather, Ahmad Shah Abdali.
I have met quiet a few Pashtun nationalists since I have moved here to the northeast and had a chance to pick at their brains and hear their oratory. In fact, one of the most prominent ANP chapters appears to be located just across the border in New York City. Canada appears to also be their bastion, having elected a family member of Bacha Khan to parliament. The other day I perused a local ANP chapter website linked to Malakand University and saw a list of recognized Pashtun heroes. In fact, hero worship, in the manner of Thomas Carlyle, appears to be a prominent aspect of Pashtun nationalism. One name I see repeated on the heroes list time and again is Ahmad Shah Durrani (Baba or Abdali or Sadozai depending on where you were raised).
From early in our youth, most Qandaharyaan are raised on the stories of Ahmad Shah Baba and his exploits. We revel in the enchanting tales of a young hero who was wise beyond his years and seized the Persian treasury while sending a decoy force to throw the remnants of Nadir Shah’s army off his scent. One can learn much about him from a careful analysis of his poetry. In his verses, there are all the makings of a romantic hero therein. He calls for unity, demands for respect apart from tribal heritage, shows humility, and of course, references historical figures he emulated.
One of the reasons why the broad appeal in his personae persists was his accomplishment of at least nominally unifying the Pashtun tribes into an effective confederation. Pashtun power appears to have reached its zenith under his rule. Moreover, the capital of his very pashtun empire was in Qandahar, and persianization had not seeped into the kingdom.
Yet, unlike Khushal Khan Khattak, or Rehman Baba, or Pir Roshaan, Ahmad Shah Baba receives respect from the likes of Talib, Mullah, Poet, Royalist, and Nationalist alike. So then, who is the real Ahmad Shah Abdali and who does his memory belong to? More importantly, what would Ahmad Shah Baba think of today’s struggle and where would his sympathies lie? These are key questions I asked myself at the outset of the 2001 struggle. What made answering them all the more important was an event at our ancestoral village in Sher e Surkh, where Karzai attempted to lay claim to Abdali’s mantle by reenacting the famous crowning event at the shrine of Pir Surkh. What was most sinister about this reenactment was that the stories all afford, the then Ahmad Khan an air of dignity; he sat silent and gave his primary competitor, Haji Jamal Khan Barakzai, the respect a mishr deserved. When Pir Sabir noted this trait, amongst other key qualifiers, he selected the young sadozai khan to become Shah and all present acceded to this wish. Karzai, on the other hand, demanded a reenactment, without the dignity of offering a choice or the mutual respect that Ahmad Shah showed the tribes, except in having the ham fisted and meat brained Gul Agha Sherzai be present for the Barakzai. He even had the descendent of Pir Sabir Shah tie the turban, further soiling the history of that event.
So then, let us delve into the lesser known credentials and history of Ahmad Shah to understand his psyche and stake a claim. There may be debate about Jamaluddin Afghani, but mutual respect for Abdali is a given.
I am going to make a statement that may ruffle a few feathers, but I think the proofs are in Ahmad Shah Baba’s biography itself: Ahmad Shah Durrani Abdali would have identified with a struggle on the behalf of Islam. Here are some interesting decisions he made in his reign:
1) He united on multiple occasions with the non-pashto speaking Rohillas to partake in a jihad against hindus, Marathas, juts, and Sikhs. *The key point of distiniction is that he did not do this in the manners of Ghaznavi or Timurlane, neither of who had a fatwa. Rather, he executed this move only upon being invited through a fatwa. It was at the behest of Shah Waliullah Dehlavi, a fiery Indian cleric, who, in his letter to Ahmad Shah Baba, wrote, "... Draw the sword and do not to sheath it till the distinction is established between true faith and infidelity..." His friendship and mentorship from Shah Waliullah is another important consideration. A common criticism of the nationalists against Pashtuns, Tajiks, Urdo speakers, Chechnyans, etc under the banner of Islamism is that they are simultaneously submitting to Arabism. They claim that this trait has risen anew in the modern era to drive forward Arab imperialism. However, Shah Waliullah appears to contradict them regarding this being a new phenomenon: “I ought to conform to the habits and customs of the early Arabs and the Prophet himself as much as I can and to abstain from the customs of Turk and habits of Indians.” Another key facet that cannot be ignored is that Ahmad Shah himself referred to this struggle as a jihad that involved Pashtun, Persian, and Indian Muslims as a jihad against the Marathas.
2) I note above, that a pertinent tradition regarding his election as the Shah of the Afghans is the selection by Pir Sabir Shah, the local sunni cleric. It was Pir Sabir that open and closed the famous jirga and it was Pir Sabir that made the key decision.
3) For those that criticize Omar Hotak for his attack on the Buddhas, consider that Abdali sacked the Harmindir Sahib/Golden Temple at Amritsar of the Sikhs. He did this, not in a state of war, but rather on his return from India. To add insult to injury, and go beyond what Omar Hotak did, the Sikhs still tell the tale of Ahmad Shah filling the sacred pool with the blood and carcasses of cows. I am not advocating this act be redone anywhere; I am merely asking those that withhold support from the Kandahar shura for its action regarding the Buddhas to condemn Abdali in equal, or perhaps stronger terms if they dare to.
4) Per Elphinstone and Raverty, who wrote over a century ago and are too dead to be involved in the struggle of secularism versus religionism: Ahmad Shah himself was a Molawi and held the Majlis e ulema regularly. Molawi has no other context, except within the confines of Islamic law.
The above may all be ineffectively criticized and dismissed as not even representing a tincture of pan Islamism within Ahmad Shah Abdali’s character. However devastating blows are dealt to the nationalists with two key actions of his while he was king:
5) The Emir of Bukhara of had rebelled time and time again against Ahmad Shah. Many resources were devoted to unseating him and then reseating him. However, the key lies therein. Even after Bukhara appear subdued, and he revolted for the third time, Ahmad Shah refused to heavily bombard and fight Bukhara for the stated reason that the Uzbeks there were his Muslim brethren. In fact, he gently admonished and replaced the blind Emir on the throne thrice.
6) **An extremely important element of his character appears to be his concern for his Muslim brethren in all areas, not merely where it tactically suited him.** There are sources cited under Wikipedia that I need to read into, but they appear textual and reliable and note that Ahmad Shah Abdali actually sent dignitaries to the Beijing regarding the plight of the Xuighar Muslims in Xinjiang. Their plight continues to this day. This act alone is perhaps the nail in the coffin against the nationalistic view of Ahmad Shah Abdali, and shatters it wholly. They may chafe at this historical move because it mirrors the movement of jihadi pipelines that funnel Pashtuns into Kashmir, Dagestan, Chechnya, and yes, even to this day, Xuighar territories. Below is an example of this continued relationship between Pashtun insurgents and Uighars:
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_...ash=7d010f44db
7) He went one step beyond diplomatic overtures and sent troops to back up his concerns for his fellow Muslim in Xinjiang.
8) The references for the last two points that shall be confirmed are:
Holy War in China, By Ho-dong Kim, pg. 20
L. J. Newby The Empire and the Khanatep34
John K. Fairbank(1968) China and Central Asia, 1368-1884 In The Chinese World Order pp. 206–224, 337–68. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
*I predict that the Nationalists will say that points 5-7 are easily construable as Ahmad Shah’s shrewdness in checking all incursions into his kingdom. However, they will be hard pressed to explain how Herat, much less Kabul was able to be incorporated into his emirate, without a local emir being left in place, in the manner of his dealings with the Emir of Bukhara. They will be equally hard pressed to prove Qing incursions ever took place into Ahmad Shah’s Afghanistan. As a result, these will be straw man responses devoid of being able to explain Ahmad Shah’s Islamist concerns and dealings. They may even note that he did not bequeath a proper emirate become caliphate and instead made Timur Shah his heir. Once again, this is in no way a proof that the man himself was not a devout, but fallible Muslim in the fashion of his predeccessors like Umar bin Abdul Aziz, who also did not resurrect a majlis for electing the caliph. *
If we liken Khushal Khan to a John the Baptist or an Isaiah-type figure, who was a forerunner to the great Ahmad Shah Abdali, this would be an appropriate comparison. After all, it was Khushal Khan who advocated and chafed for a Pashtun independent state with a unity show by the tribes. Like those two prophetic figures of old, he was a forerunner, and The Baptist, he met with massive worldly failure. Where Khattak could not, Ahmad Shah would succeed and his victory reverberates through the ages. We must analyze where Khattak failed and realize that his personal vendetta, and the wrongs done to him, translated to “badal” fueled action against Aurangzeb Alamgir. One might conclude that Ahmad Shah might have seen this act as tantamount to war against a fellow Muslim for personal gain. His actions toward the Emir of Bukhara demonstrate his clear antipathy to this route of Pashtun domination. His service to the sunni Iranian Emir, Nadir Afshar, and inherent desire to not rock the throne out from under his chief, further cements where he and Khattak likely parted ways in action and thought. Moreover, he says in one of his famous poems: “Da Farid au the Ashraf daur ba byaa shee” or “The era of Farid and Ashraf shall return in [my reign].” We must remember that it was Hussain Hotak, a cousin of Ashraf Hotak and Mehmud Hotak, and a relative of Mir Wais Neka, that imprisoned Ahmad Shah Abdali and his brother in a fort in Qandahar. Yet he applauds Ashraf Hotak in his verse. Abdali's imprisonment mirrored the imprisonment of Khattak by Delhi. Yet their responses to their imprisonment diverge and contrast like day and night. Khattak chose badal, a key ingredient of Pashtunwali, and Abdali chose an Islamic route and took not a single act of revenge against the (Ghilzais)/Khiljiaan. This single verse from his poetry showed that Abdali was unwilling to be treasonous to this Ghilzai predecessors, in word and deed. This is a 180 degree difference from the badal approach that Khattak took against Aurangzeb. He subsequently would write of a show of unity he wanted from the Abdalis and Ghilzais as an added measure of reconciling with the Ghilzais.
*I concede a lack of as much historical familiarity with Khattak and seek the pardon of anyone that finds what I write offensive. My assessment of Khattak’s strategies and actions regarding the Mughals and Aurengzeb are from textual works put out by the Pashto Academy, and from his poetry. Others may be far more familiar with possible Islamic tints that underlay his insurgency.*
Therefore, the nationalistic agenda of today may find its roots in the manner and strategy of Khushal Khan Khattak, a great Pashtun leader. However, the deep devotion to an Islamic character supplemented by a Pashtun tribal identity were the formula components that combined to create a far more successful Ahmad Shah Abdali.
Finally, as we wade into the waters of discussion, and throw out these intellectual arrows, we will end with a quote from the man himself. He, like Alexander before him, led his men from the front and waded into the Jamanu River, and into battle, and blew on a bundle of arrows:
“Bismillah, Allah hu Akbaar!” - Ahmad Shah Abdali, before leading his men into the great war against the Marathas.
I have met quiet a few Pashtun nationalists since I have moved here to the northeast and had a chance to pick at their brains and hear their oratory. In fact, one of the most prominent ANP chapters appears to be located just across the border in New York City. Canada appears to also be their bastion, having elected a family member of Bacha Khan to parliament. The other day I perused a local ANP chapter website linked to Malakand University and saw a list of recognized Pashtun heroes. In fact, hero worship, in the manner of Thomas Carlyle, appears to be a prominent aspect of Pashtun nationalism. One name I see repeated on the heroes list time and again is Ahmad Shah Durrani (Baba or Abdali or Sadozai depending on where you were raised).
From early in our youth, most Qandaharyaan are raised on the stories of Ahmad Shah Baba and his exploits. We revel in the enchanting tales of a young hero who was wise beyond his years and seized the Persian treasury while sending a decoy force to throw the remnants of Nadir Shah’s army off his scent. One can learn much about him from a careful analysis of his poetry. In his verses, there are all the makings of a romantic hero therein. He calls for unity, demands for respect apart from tribal heritage, shows humility, and of course, references historical figures he emulated.
One of the reasons why the broad appeal in his personae persists was his accomplishment of at least nominally unifying the Pashtun tribes into an effective confederation. Pashtun power appears to have reached its zenith under his rule. Moreover, the capital of his very pashtun empire was in Qandahar, and persianization had not seeped into the kingdom.
Yet, unlike Khushal Khan Khattak, or Rehman Baba, or Pir Roshaan, Ahmad Shah Baba receives respect from the likes of Talib, Mullah, Poet, Royalist, and Nationalist alike. So then, who is the real Ahmad Shah Abdali and who does his memory belong to? More importantly, what would Ahmad Shah Baba think of today’s struggle and where would his sympathies lie? These are key questions I asked myself at the outset of the 2001 struggle. What made answering them all the more important was an event at our ancestoral village in Sher e Surkh, where Karzai attempted to lay claim to Abdali’s mantle by reenacting the famous crowning event at the shrine of Pir Surkh. What was most sinister about this reenactment was that the stories all afford, the then Ahmad Khan an air of dignity; he sat silent and gave his primary competitor, Haji Jamal Khan Barakzai, the respect a mishr deserved. When Pir Sabir noted this trait, amongst other key qualifiers, he selected the young sadozai khan to become Shah and all present acceded to this wish. Karzai, on the other hand, demanded a reenactment, without the dignity of offering a choice or the mutual respect that Ahmad Shah showed the tribes, except in having the ham fisted and meat brained Gul Agha Sherzai be present for the Barakzai. He even had the descendent of Pir Sabir Shah tie the turban, further soiling the history of that event.
So then, let us delve into the lesser known credentials and history of Ahmad Shah to understand his psyche and stake a claim. There may be debate about Jamaluddin Afghani, but mutual respect for Abdali is a given.
I am going to make a statement that may ruffle a few feathers, but I think the proofs are in Ahmad Shah Baba’s biography itself: Ahmad Shah Durrani Abdali would have identified with a struggle on the behalf of Islam. Here are some interesting decisions he made in his reign:
1) He united on multiple occasions with the non-pashto speaking Rohillas to partake in a jihad against hindus, Marathas, juts, and Sikhs. *The key point of distiniction is that he did not do this in the manners of Ghaznavi or Timurlane, neither of who had a fatwa. Rather, he executed this move only upon being invited through a fatwa. It was at the behest of Shah Waliullah Dehlavi, a fiery Indian cleric, who, in his letter to Ahmad Shah Baba, wrote, "... Draw the sword and do not to sheath it till the distinction is established between true faith and infidelity..." His friendship and mentorship from Shah Waliullah is another important consideration. A common criticism of the nationalists against Pashtuns, Tajiks, Urdo speakers, Chechnyans, etc under the banner of Islamism is that they are simultaneously submitting to Arabism. They claim that this trait has risen anew in the modern era to drive forward Arab imperialism. However, Shah Waliullah appears to contradict them regarding this being a new phenomenon: “I ought to conform to the habits and customs of the early Arabs and the Prophet himself as much as I can and to abstain from the customs of Turk and habits of Indians.” Another key facet that cannot be ignored is that Ahmad Shah himself referred to this struggle as a jihad that involved Pashtun, Persian, and Indian Muslims as a jihad against the Marathas.
2) I note above, that a pertinent tradition regarding his election as the Shah of the Afghans is the selection by Pir Sabir Shah, the local sunni cleric. It was Pir Sabir that open and closed the famous jirga and it was Pir Sabir that made the key decision.
3) For those that criticize Omar Hotak for his attack on the Buddhas, consider that Abdali sacked the Harmindir Sahib/Golden Temple at Amritsar of the Sikhs. He did this, not in a state of war, but rather on his return from India. To add insult to injury, and go beyond what Omar Hotak did, the Sikhs still tell the tale of Ahmad Shah filling the sacred pool with the blood and carcasses of cows. I am not advocating this act be redone anywhere; I am merely asking those that withhold support from the Kandahar shura for its action regarding the Buddhas to condemn Abdali in equal, or perhaps stronger terms if they dare to.
4) Per Elphinstone and Raverty, who wrote over a century ago and are too dead to be involved in the struggle of secularism versus religionism: Ahmad Shah himself was a Molawi and held the Majlis e ulema regularly. Molawi has no other context, except within the confines of Islamic law.
The above may all be ineffectively criticized and dismissed as not even representing a tincture of pan Islamism within Ahmad Shah Abdali’s character. However devastating blows are dealt to the nationalists with two key actions of his while he was king:
5) The Emir of Bukhara of had rebelled time and time again against Ahmad Shah. Many resources were devoted to unseating him and then reseating him. However, the key lies therein. Even after Bukhara appear subdued, and he revolted for the third time, Ahmad Shah refused to heavily bombard and fight Bukhara for the stated reason that the Uzbeks there were his Muslim brethren. In fact, he gently admonished and replaced the blind Emir on the throne thrice.
6) **An extremely important element of his character appears to be his concern for his Muslim brethren in all areas, not merely where it tactically suited him.** There are sources cited under Wikipedia that I need to read into, but they appear textual and reliable and note that Ahmad Shah Abdali actually sent dignitaries to the Beijing regarding the plight of the Xuighar Muslims in Xinjiang. Their plight continues to this day. This act alone is perhaps the nail in the coffin against the nationalistic view of Ahmad Shah Abdali, and shatters it wholly. They may chafe at this historical move because it mirrors the movement of jihadi pipelines that funnel Pashtuns into Kashmir, Dagestan, Chechnya, and yes, even to this day, Xuighar territories. Below is an example of this continued relationship between Pashtun insurgents and Uighars:
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_...ash=7d010f44db
7) He went one step beyond diplomatic overtures and sent troops to back up his concerns for his fellow Muslim in Xinjiang.
8) The references for the last two points that shall be confirmed are:
Holy War in China, By Ho-dong Kim, pg. 20
L. J. Newby The Empire and the Khanatep34
John K. Fairbank(1968) China and Central Asia, 1368-1884 In The Chinese World Order pp. 206–224, 337–68. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
*I predict that the Nationalists will say that points 5-7 are easily construable as Ahmad Shah’s shrewdness in checking all incursions into his kingdom. However, they will be hard pressed to explain how Herat, much less Kabul was able to be incorporated into his emirate, without a local emir being left in place, in the manner of his dealings with the Emir of Bukhara. They will be equally hard pressed to prove Qing incursions ever took place into Ahmad Shah’s Afghanistan. As a result, these will be straw man responses devoid of being able to explain Ahmad Shah’s Islamist concerns and dealings. They may even note that he did not bequeath a proper emirate become caliphate and instead made Timur Shah his heir. Once again, this is in no way a proof that the man himself was not a devout, but fallible Muslim in the fashion of his predeccessors like Umar bin Abdul Aziz, who also did not resurrect a majlis for electing the caliph. *
If we liken Khushal Khan to a John the Baptist or an Isaiah-type figure, who was a forerunner to the great Ahmad Shah Abdali, this would be an appropriate comparison. After all, it was Khushal Khan who advocated and chafed for a Pashtun independent state with a unity show by the tribes. Like those two prophetic figures of old, he was a forerunner, and The Baptist, he met with massive worldly failure. Where Khattak could not, Ahmad Shah would succeed and his victory reverberates through the ages. We must analyze where Khattak failed and realize that his personal vendetta, and the wrongs done to him, translated to “badal” fueled action against Aurangzeb Alamgir. One might conclude that Ahmad Shah might have seen this act as tantamount to war against a fellow Muslim for personal gain. His actions toward the Emir of Bukhara demonstrate his clear antipathy to this route of Pashtun domination. His service to the sunni Iranian Emir, Nadir Afshar, and inherent desire to not rock the throne out from under his chief, further cements where he and Khattak likely parted ways in action and thought. Moreover, he says in one of his famous poems: “Da Farid au the Ashraf daur ba byaa shee” or “The era of Farid and Ashraf shall return in [my reign].” We must remember that it was Hussain Hotak, a cousin of Ashraf Hotak and Mehmud Hotak, and a relative of Mir Wais Neka, that imprisoned Ahmad Shah Abdali and his brother in a fort in Qandahar. Yet he applauds Ashraf Hotak in his verse. Abdali's imprisonment mirrored the imprisonment of Khattak by Delhi. Yet their responses to their imprisonment diverge and contrast like day and night. Khattak chose badal, a key ingredient of Pashtunwali, and Abdali chose an Islamic route and took not a single act of revenge against the (Ghilzais)/Khiljiaan. This single verse from his poetry showed that Abdali was unwilling to be treasonous to this Ghilzai predecessors, in word and deed. This is a 180 degree difference from the badal approach that Khattak took against Aurangzeb. He subsequently would write of a show of unity he wanted from the Abdalis and Ghilzais as an added measure of reconciling with the Ghilzais.
*I concede a lack of as much historical familiarity with Khattak and seek the pardon of anyone that finds what I write offensive. My assessment of Khattak’s strategies and actions regarding the Mughals and Aurengzeb are from textual works put out by the Pashto Academy, and from his poetry. Others may be far more familiar with possible Islamic tints that underlay his insurgency.*
Therefore, the nationalistic agenda of today may find its roots in the manner and strategy of Khushal Khan Khattak, a great Pashtun leader. However, the deep devotion to an Islamic character supplemented by a Pashtun tribal identity were the formula components that combined to create a far more successful Ahmad Shah Abdali.
Finally, as we wade into the waters of discussion, and throw out these intellectual arrows, we will end with a quote from the man himself. He, like Alexander before him, led his men from the front and waded into the Jamanu River, and into battle, and blew on a bundle of arrows:
“Bismillah, Allah hu Akbaar!” - Ahmad Shah Abdali, before leading his men into the great war against the Marathas.
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