Tweet
Pashtoons always decieved in the name of religion......Syed Ahmad Bareli and Afghans
Jodigul
Over the last 40 years a lot of Pashtun blood
has been spilled in the name of religion. So much so,
that their name today is considered synonymous
with religious extremism. This threatens to malign
the entire Pashtun history, destroy our culture, and
corrupt our values and completely besmirched the
Pashtun identity. The fact that this religious
extremism is injected from outside is seldom
understood and at times purposefully played down by
vested interests. Even many educated Pashtuns themselves contribute to this
stereotyping of Pashtuns by championing the religious cause which is almost
always motivated by vested political interests. The exploitation of the deep
religious sentiments of Pashtuns by the foreigners is not a new phenomenon.
A very identical parallel exists in the recent history to the current Al-Qaeda’s
and other foreign power’s use of Pashtun’s religious sentiments, illiteracy and
tribal structure to pursue their own political interests. There is always a lesson
in this example for the foreigners as well as the Pashtuns- that the resilience
of Pashtun culture, perseverance of Pashtun people and the very strong value
system of Pashtunwali will eventually triumph over religious extremism and
resurrect itself. Syed Ahmad Shaheed's activities in the early 19th century in
the present day Pashtunkhwa region form an important part of the Pashtun
Afghan history. It is very pertinent to analyse Syed Ahmed Shaheed’s attempt
to establish an Islamic Emirate in the Pashtun region in the 19th century to
understand the current attempt of another foreigner: Osama Bin Laden.
Just like Osama Bin Laden and his accomplices who are mostly foreign
or foreign sponsored, Syed Ahmed Shaheed and his followers were outsiders,
who came from India to exploit the Pashtuns for his own political interests.
Syed Ahmed Shaheed belonged to Rai Braille, a small town close to Lukhnow
Sayed Ahmed Bareli
SAHAR August 2009 11 | Page
and not an Afghan by himself as most people believe.
He was a religious fanatic, who was impressed from
the ideas of Abdul Wahab of Najd.
He tried to enforce his Wahabi beliefs in the
Subcontinent especiallypresent day Pashtunkhwa.
The purposes of his arrival in the Pashtun region can
be summarized as follows:
a. To establish an Islamic state comprising of Pashtun areas of
present day Pastunkhwa and use it to launch attacks on Sikhs
and capture Punjab from them. Later they wanted to bring the
whole of India under a Wahabi Islamic rule. Thus he meant to
use the Pashtuns love of religion and martial character for his
political dreams.
b. To bring reforms and changes in Pashtun's way of life and
modify them according to his Wahabi ideology.
c. To have an elite force of Pashtun warriors by which he wanted
to defeat the Sikh and British occupation of India.
Syed Ahmed Shaheed had already served in the army of the Yousafzai
state of Tonk in India so he had made up his mind to come to Yousafzai areas
to fullfil his dream of political control and establishing of an Islamic Emirate.
He had concluded that Afghans were enthusiastic Muslims and thus greatly
influenced by mullahs. He thus planned to use religion to achieve his political
aims using the Pashtun nation. He, thus, decided to migrate to Pashtun areas
across Indus River along with a group of his Indian followers. To avoid
confronting Sikhs, he adopted a long route and passed through Sindh,
Balochistan and then Kabul and finally arrived at Nowshera.
He presented himself as a devout Muslim and promoted his cause as a
fight for the supremacy of Islam, just as Osama Bin Laden does today. Local
Pashtuns, naturally welcomed him and assured their help to his cause of
serving Islam. The influence of Mullahs in Pashtun society helped him attract
Abdul Wahab Of Najad
SAHAR August 2009 12 | Page
a good number of Pashtuns to be enlisted in his ranks for jihad. After having
satisfied himself that he had gained sufficient power to challenge Ranjit Singh,
the ruler of Punjab. He sent a message to him to either accept Islam or pay
jiziya or prepare for war. Ranjit singh refused the message and decided to
crush the newly emerging power in the west of his state. He sent a powerful
army under Hari Singh and Badi Singh to defeat Syed Ahmed Shaheed’s
forces. At the batlle at Akora Khattak fought in 1826, Syed Ahmed Shaheed
and his Mujahideen were victorious and Sikhs suffered a huge defeat. The
next year i.e. 1827, the Sikhs were again defeated at Hazro on the eastern
band of River Indus.
These two successive victories increased the popularity of Syed
Ahmad and more people joined him. With two successive victories under his
belt and thousands of mujahideens fighting under him, he declared areas
under his influence as an Islamic state and titled himself as "Amir-ul-
Momineen". He arranged for his name to be mentioned in Friday’s sermons.
He implemented his version of Islamic Sharia and appointed Qazis and
Aamils from amongst his Indian followers. Thus he and his band of Indian
followers began to rule the Pashtuns just like the Al-Qaeda supported
Talibans of Afghanistan, only here Osama Bin Laden ruled covertly where as
the overt rulers were Pashtuns.
As mentioned earlier, the Pashtun loves his religion, but he loves his
culture as much, if not more. After establishing himself as Amir-ul-Momineen,
Syed Ahmed Shaheed and his clique of religious followers started fiddling with
the Pashtun culture and social values. This was the beginning of the turn of
tide for Syed Ahmed. As a consequence the two prominent Sardars of
Peshawar, Sardar Yar Mohammad Khan and his brother Sultan Mohammad
Khan rose against the self styled Amir-ul-Mominin, Syed Ahmad and fought a
battle against him. The Sardars were defeated in the ensuing battle. Yar
Mohmmad khan was killed and Sultan Mohamed Khan was captured but later
he was released and was appointed as Sardar of Peshawar by Syed Ahmed
as part of his Emirate as a compromise.
SAHAR August 2009 13 | Page
The current Pakistani text books, in their eagerness to glorify Syed
Ahmed and his religious movement falsify the truth, when they state that that
the two sardars took bribe from Sikhs to fight against Syed Ahmed. The reality
is different and easy to understand if you are a Pashtun yourself. The actual
story behind the scene is that Syed Ahmed had in fact demanded the
daughter of Yar Mohammad Khan in marriage which was taken as an insult
by Yar Mohammed Khan. Thus the Sardars turned against Syed Ahmed.
Sultan Mohammed khan after his release from the captivity of Syed Ahmed,
did not forget the defeat and death of his brother. He made a plot for revenge
and killed over 150 Aamils, Syed Ahmed’s Indian followers and his assistants
to control the areas, in just one night. This broke Syed’s authority in the
region.
Most of Syed's Indian followers were young and unmarried, just like the
current day Talibs. Those who were married had left their wives back in India.
These so called mujahids were greatly attracted by wordly desires of women,
after getting some power. They demanded Syed Ahmed for permission for
marrying local Pashtun women. Syed Ahmed assured them that they will get
what they want. He called the local Pashtun elders and demanded to give
their girls to his Indian followers in marriage. At that time giving girls in
marriage to the Indiian people was considered taboo by Pashtuns so they
naturally refused. Syed Ahmed did not bother about their refusal and instead
pressurized them more; using force as in his thinking it was un-Islamic not to
give their daughters to his men. This infuriated the Yousafzais across the
region and they rose in defence of their cultural values. In the ensuing battles,
the Pashtuns almost killed each and every Indian follower of Syed Ahmad.
In the 19th century, Syed Ahmad, just like today’s Al-Qaeda-Taliban
nexus, tried to enforce his wahabi ideas in the Pashtun lands and started
interference in the local Pashtun culture and traditions. He tried to eliminate
the codes of Pashtunwali, which was rejected by Pashtuns. He loathed the
local Sardars /elders and tried to abolish the traditional Pashtun Jirga system.
These actions were sufficient to provoke the Pashtuns and unite them against
Syed Ahmed.
SAHAR August 2009 14 | Page
The ensuing massacre of his men forced Syed Ahmed to run away
from the Yousafzai area with his surviving 600 followers towards Hazara in a
marooned state. Here again, he made a plan to free Hazara and Kashmir by
inciting the locals and after that he planned to take revenge from Pashtuns
and Sikhs. Here he couldn’t muster any support and finally in 1831 he was
surrounded by a large Sikh army and killed at Balakot.
The text books of Pakistan studies have been falsified to blame
Pashtuns for the failure for Syed's attempt to establish an Emirate in Pashtun
lands. They have gone to the extent of even labeling the Pashtuns as traitors,
just to glorify Syed Ahmed. This lack of understanding that anybody who tries
to meddle in the traditional Pashtun culture and tries to impose their brand of
religious and cultural values on the Pashtuns are bound to fail. It was Syed
Ahmed political ambitions which brought him to the Pashtun lands and not his
love for religion. He tried to use the traditional Pashtun’s love for the religion
and his bravery in fighting for his own vested interests just like the Al-Qaeda
of today. However, his folly to meddle in Pashtun's social and cultural affairs,
attempt to pressurize and terrorize them to submission and forcing them to
give their daughters for his hungry Indian men, turned the Pashtuns against
him. His introduction of Wahabism also backfired and he had to face the final
music when he tried to interfere in Pashtunwali , by which the Pashtuns love
to live and which regulates their lives socially, politically and psychologically.
Syed Ahmad and his Indian follower’s story has strong parallels with
the recent events in Pashtunkhwa. There are lessons both for the outsiders
and Pashtuns in this narrative. The one and most important lesson for us
Pashtuns is- Our culture and values are under threat once again. Only by
uniting against the foreigners, just like our forefathers did in the 19th century,
can we hope to defeat them and resurrect our Pashtunwali.
Jodigul hails from Lakki Marwat and is a student of MBBS in Ayub
Medical College, Abbottabad.
SAHAR August 2009 15 | Page
Jodigul
Over the last 40 years a lot of Pashtun blood
has been spilled in the name of religion. So much so,
that their name today is considered synonymous
with religious extremism. This threatens to malign
the entire Pashtun history, destroy our culture, and
corrupt our values and completely besmirched the
Pashtun identity. The fact that this religious
extremism is injected from outside is seldom
understood and at times purposefully played down by
vested interests. Even many educated Pashtuns themselves contribute to this
stereotyping of Pashtuns by championing the religious cause which is almost
always motivated by vested political interests. The exploitation of the deep
religious sentiments of Pashtuns by the foreigners is not a new phenomenon.
A very identical parallel exists in the recent history to the current Al-Qaeda’s
and other foreign power’s use of Pashtun’s religious sentiments, illiteracy and
tribal structure to pursue their own political interests. There is always a lesson
in this example for the foreigners as well as the Pashtuns- that the resilience
of Pashtun culture, perseverance of Pashtun people and the very strong value
system of Pashtunwali will eventually triumph over religious extremism and
resurrect itself. Syed Ahmad Shaheed's activities in the early 19th century in
the present day Pashtunkhwa region form an important part of the Pashtun
Afghan history. It is very pertinent to analyse Syed Ahmed Shaheed’s attempt
to establish an Islamic Emirate in the Pashtun region in the 19th century to
understand the current attempt of another foreigner: Osama Bin Laden.
Just like Osama Bin Laden and his accomplices who are mostly foreign
or foreign sponsored, Syed Ahmed Shaheed and his followers were outsiders,
who came from India to exploit the Pashtuns for his own political interests.
Syed Ahmed Shaheed belonged to Rai Braille, a small town close to Lukhnow
Sayed Ahmed Bareli
SAHAR August 2009 11 | Page
and not an Afghan by himself as most people believe.
He was a religious fanatic, who was impressed from
the ideas of Abdul Wahab of Najd.
He tried to enforce his Wahabi beliefs in the
Subcontinent especiallypresent day Pashtunkhwa.
The purposes of his arrival in the Pashtun region can
be summarized as follows:
a. To establish an Islamic state comprising of Pashtun areas of
present day Pastunkhwa and use it to launch attacks on Sikhs
and capture Punjab from them. Later they wanted to bring the
whole of India under a Wahabi Islamic rule. Thus he meant to
use the Pashtuns love of religion and martial character for his
political dreams.
b. To bring reforms and changes in Pashtun's way of life and
modify them according to his Wahabi ideology.
c. To have an elite force of Pashtun warriors by which he wanted
to defeat the Sikh and British occupation of India.
Syed Ahmed Shaheed had already served in the army of the Yousafzai
state of Tonk in India so he had made up his mind to come to Yousafzai areas
to fullfil his dream of political control and establishing of an Islamic Emirate.
He had concluded that Afghans were enthusiastic Muslims and thus greatly
influenced by mullahs. He thus planned to use religion to achieve his political
aims using the Pashtun nation. He, thus, decided to migrate to Pashtun areas
across Indus River along with a group of his Indian followers. To avoid
confronting Sikhs, he adopted a long route and passed through Sindh,
Balochistan and then Kabul and finally arrived at Nowshera.
He presented himself as a devout Muslim and promoted his cause as a
fight for the supremacy of Islam, just as Osama Bin Laden does today. Local
Pashtuns, naturally welcomed him and assured their help to his cause of
serving Islam. The influence of Mullahs in Pashtun society helped him attract
Abdul Wahab Of Najad
SAHAR August 2009 12 | Page
a good number of Pashtuns to be enlisted in his ranks for jihad. After having
satisfied himself that he had gained sufficient power to challenge Ranjit Singh,
the ruler of Punjab. He sent a message to him to either accept Islam or pay
jiziya or prepare for war. Ranjit singh refused the message and decided to
crush the newly emerging power in the west of his state. He sent a powerful
army under Hari Singh and Badi Singh to defeat Syed Ahmed Shaheed’s
forces. At the batlle at Akora Khattak fought in 1826, Syed Ahmed Shaheed
and his Mujahideen were victorious and Sikhs suffered a huge defeat. The
next year i.e. 1827, the Sikhs were again defeated at Hazro on the eastern
band of River Indus.
These two successive victories increased the popularity of Syed
Ahmad and more people joined him. With two successive victories under his
belt and thousands of mujahideens fighting under him, he declared areas
under his influence as an Islamic state and titled himself as "Amir-ul-
Momineen". He arranged for his name to be mentioned in Friday’s sermons.
He implemented his version of Islamic Sharia and appointed Qazis and
Aamils from amongst his Indian followers. Thus he and his band of Indian
followers began to rule the Pashtuns just like the Al-Qaeda supported
Talibans of Afghanistan, only here Osama Bin Laden ruled covertly where as
the overt rulers were Pashtuns.
As mentioned earlier, the Pashtun loves his religion, but he loves his
culture as much, if not more. After establishing himself as Amir-ul-Momineen,
Syed Ahmed Shaheed and his clique of religious followers started fiddling with
the Pashtun culture and social values. This was the beginning of the turn of
tide for Syed Ahmed. As a consequence the two prominent Sardars of
Peshawar, Sardar Yar Mohammad Khan and his brother Sultan Mohammad
Khan rose against the self styled Amir-ul-Mominin, Syed Ahmad and fought a
battle against him. The Sardars were defeated in the ensuing battle. Yar
Mohmmad khan was killed and Sultan Mohamed Khan was captured but later
he was released and was appointed as Sardar of Peshawar by Syed Ahmed
as part of his Emirate as a compromise.
SAHAR August 2009 13 | Page
The current Pakistani text books, in their eagerness to glorify Syed
Ahmed and his religious movement falsify the truth, when they state that that
the two sardars took bribe from Sikhs to fight against Syed Ahmed. The reality
is different and easy to understand if you are a Pashtun yourself. The actual
story behind the scene is that Syed Ahmed had in fact demanded the
daughter of Yar Mohammad Khan in marriage which was taken as an insult
by Yar Mohammed Khan. Thus the Sardars turned against Syed Ahmed.
Sultan Mohammed khan after his release from the captivity of Syed Ahmed,
did not forget the defeat and death of his brother. He made a plot for revenge
and killed over 150 Aamils, Syed Ahmed’s Indian followers and his assistants
to control the areas, in just one night. This broke Syed’s authority in the
region.
Most of Syed's Indian followers were young and unmarried, just like the
current day Talibs. Those who were married had left their wives back in India.
These so called mujahids were greatly attracted by wordly desires of women,
after getting some power. They demanded Syed Ahmed for permission for
marrying local Pashtun women. Syed Ahmed assured them that they will get
what they want. He called the local Pashtun elders and demanded to give
their girls to his Indian followers in marriage. At that time giving girls in
marriage to the Indiian people was considered taboo by Pashtuns so they
naturally refused. Syed Ahmed did not bother about their refusal and instead
pressurized them more; using force as in his thinking it was un-Islamic not to
give their daughters to his men. This infuriated the Yousafzais across the
region and they rose in defence of their cultural values. In the ensuing battles,
the Pashtuns almost killed each and every Indian follower of Syed Ahmad.
In the 19th century, Syed Ahmad, just like today’s Al-Qaeda-Taliban
nexus, tried to enforce his wahabi ideas in the Pashtun lands and started
interference in the local Pashtun culture and traditions. He tried to eliminate
the codes of Pashtunwali, which was rejected by Pashtuns. He loathed the
local Sardars /elders and tried to abolish the traditional Pashtun Jirga system.
These actions were sufficient to provoke the Pashtuns and unite them against
Syed Ahmed.
SAHAR August 2009 14 | Page
The ensuing massacre of his men forced Syed Ahmed to run away
from the Yousafzai area with his surviving 600 followers towards Hazara in a
marooned state. Here again, he made a plan to free Hazara and Kashmir by
inciting the locals and after that he planned to take revenge from Pashtuns
and Sikhs. Here he couldn’t muster any support and finally in 1831 he was
surrounded by a large Sikh army and killed at Balakot.
The text books of Pakistan studies have been falsified to blame
Pashtuns for the failure for Syed's attempt to establish an Emirate in Pashtun
lands. They have gone to the extent of even labeling the Pashtuns as traitors,
just to glorify Syed Ahmed. This lack of understanding that anybody who tries
to meddle in the traditional Pashtun culture and tries to impose their brand of
religious and cultural values on the Pashtuns are bound to fail. It was Syed
Ahmed political ambitions which brought him to the Pashtun lands and not his
love for religion. He tried to use the traditional Pashtun’s love for the religion
and his bravery in fighting for his own vested interests just like the Al-Qaeda
of today. However, his folly to meddle in Pashtun's social and cultural affairs,
attempt to pressurize and terrorize them to submission and forcing them to
give their daughters for his hungry Indian men, turned the Pashtuns against
him. His introduction of Wahabism also backfired and he had to face the final
music when he tried to interfere in Pashtunwali , by which the Pashtuns love
to live and which regulates their lives socially, politically and psychologically.
Syed Ahmad and his Indian follower’s story has strong parallels with
the recent events in Pashtunkhwa. There are lessons both for the outsiders
and Pashtuns in this narrative. The one and most important lesson for us
Pashtuns is- Our culture and values are under threat once again. Only by
uniting against the foreigners, just like our forefathers did in the 19th century,
can we hope to defeat them and resurrect our Pashtunwali.
Jodigul hails from Lakki Marwat and is a student of MBBS in Ayub
Medical College, Abbottabad.
SAHAR August 2009 15 | Page
Comment