Pashtunwali is unwritten?

[Alchemist]

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

[Aryob]

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.

[Alchemist]

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...

[Aryob]

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.

[Aryob]

Pashtunwali=afghan cultuur, and I don't know any civilisation on this planet who have writen down there cultural habits and rules. Peopel are forgeting that Pashtunwali is like every culture it is ment to change if the world changes, its not like din that is written and you can not change it. I think that is the reason way it is not written.

Good point Khostai saib.

[R3SISTANC3]

Many martial races/people had unwritten laws = customs and rules that were unwritten.

The Japanese Bushido http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushido,
The Albanian Kanun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanun, and
Pashtun Pashtunwali http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashtunwali.

They didn't need to be written down before the arrival of outsiders because the locals were brought up with it and there wasn't a need to. Generations passed it on from birth. Once outsiders came into contact with these groups it had to be written down so they can be communicated efficiently with these foreigners.

[Aryob]

many martial races/people had unwritten laws = customs and rules that were unwritten.

The japanese bushido http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/bushido,
the albanian kanun http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/kanun, and
pashtun pashtunwali http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/pashtunwali.

They didn't need to be written down before the arrival of outsiders because the locals were brought up with it and there wasn't a need to. Generations passed it on from birth. Once outsiders came into contact with these groups it had to be written down so they can be communicated efficiently with these foreigners.

مننه وروره

[R3SISTANC3]

مننه وروره

Brother just want to add one more thing. When historians say unwritten, it is actually to emphasize on the importance of these laws. These laws are so important and part of the social structure that they don't need to be written. They are part of life and expected of everyone.