| Ghilzai |

Muhammad Jamil Hanifi

Encyclopaedia Iranica

Ghilzi or Ghilzi (Pashto plural of singular masculine Ghilzai and singuler feminine Ghilzayi) are one of three major Pashtun tribal confederations in Afghanistan. The other two are the Durrani, formerly the Abdali, in western Afghanistan and the Karlani, who straddle the border between Afghanistan and the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan. Although the name of this confederation is often transcribed in Western literature as Ghilzi (or Ghilzai, etc.), the present author holds that the correct transliteration for this Pashtu term is Ghilzi, which will be used throughout this article.

Historical reference is first made to the Ghilzi in the early 16th century chronicles (e.g., Babor-nama, tr. Beveridge, p. 323) as a culturally distinct people in Afghanistan. They constitute about two fifths of the estimated total population of eight million Pashtuns in Afghanistan. They are concentrated in the area between the Durand Line in the southeast and a line stretching from Qandahar via Ghazni to Kabul, and eastwards to Jalalabad in the northeast. Large numbers of Ghilzi were forced to settle in northern Afghanistan by the Durrani government after the Ghilzi rebellion of the 1880s. In Afghanistan they are known for their orthodox adherence to pashtunwaley, i.e., the Pashtun charter for appropriate social behavior, and their insistence on the edicts of having Pashtu, doing Pashtu, and speaking Pashtu (Paxtu larel, Paxtu kawel, and Paxtu wayel), emphasizing the importance of internalizing Pashtun tribal cultural values, social behavior based on these values, and competence in speaking Pashtu in the construction of Pashtun ethnic identity.

Some historians have speculated about the Turkish origin of the Ghilzi. A few consider them the descendants of the pre-Islamic Hephtalites (e.g., Caroe, pp. 81-83, 132); others suggest a historical relationship with the Khalaj (Frazer-Tytler, pp. 11-12; Minorsky), a people who speak an identifiable Turkish language. Chronicles locate the Khalaj near Qandahar and Ghazni in the 10th century C.E. (see Minorsky; Caroe, p. 132). Indeed, Khalaj is the name of a small modern (non-Ghilzi) Pashtu-speaking market town near the city of Lashkargah and the ruins of the 11th-12th centuries royal city of Lashkari Bazar in southwestern Afghanistan. Linguistic data about a number of small Khalaj-speaking communities in Central Persia is available (Doerfer; Minorsky; Bosworth). Some Indian and Western historians and several nationalistically inspired Afghan writers have proposed that the Turkish Khalji and the Lodhi dynasties that ruled northern India during 689-720 Hijri's (1290-1320) and 855-932 Hijri's (1451-1526) respectively were Ghilzi Pashtuns. However, the Ghilzi Pashtuns speak Pashtu, a member of the Iranian branch of Indo-European languages, and exhibit specific socio-cultural and linguistic features that do not resemble those of the Khalaj or any other Turkish groups (see Morgenstierne, in EIr. I, pp. 516-22; Doerfer; Minorsky). There is no known systematic and conclusive ethnological body of evidence to support important Ghilzi and Hephtalite/Khalaj/Khalji/Lodhi cultural, historical, and/or socio-structural relationships.

Ghilzi tribal genealogies in general trace their early descent from the union of either Shah Hussain, a Ghurid prince, and Bibi Mato, a granddaughter of Qays Abdar Rasheed, the putative ancestor of all Pashtuns, or Mokarram Shah; a Pashtun prince from Ghor, and the daughter of a Persian notable (Burton, pp. 1-6). In both versions a son named Ghalzoy, son of Ghal (Pashtu ghal "thief," zoy "son"), ancestor of the Ghilzi, descendants of ghal, is conceived before marriage. With some variation, most genealogical accounts indicate that Ghalzoy had two sons, Borhan, also known as Ibrahim, and Turan. The descendants of Turan are the Western Ghilzi while Borhan is considered the progenitor of the Eastern Ghilzi (Gazetteer of Afghanistan VI, pp. 203-4). The main tribes of the Western Ghilzi are the Hotak, Tokhi, and Kharoti. The Suleiman Khel, Ali Khel and the Taraki are the prominent tribes of the Eastern Ghilzi. Several segments of mostly Eastern Ghilzi are pastoral nomads who traverse between the central highlands of Afghanistan in the summer and the Indus plains beyond the border of Afghanistan in winter.

The Ghilzi have been prominent in the modern history of Afghanistan, the Hotak in western Afghanistan, and the Suleiman Khel in eastern Afghanistan. The Suleiman Khel of the Eastern Ghilzi, especially the Ahmad Zai and Jabar Khel, have played important roles in the political developments of Afghanistan. During the first Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842), it was the Jabar Khel who inflicted the heaviest casualties on the retreating British army between Kabul and Jalalabad in winter 1842. Some Ahmadzai chiefs were noticeable in the British military operations in south-eastern Afghanistan during the second Anglo-Afghan War (1879-80). The Ahmadzai supported Muhammad Nader in capturing Kabul and declaring himself king in 1929. Likewise, during the first and second Anglo-Afghan wars the Western Ghilzi provided widespread military and political opposition to the occupying British forces in their attempts to create or restore various Durrani rulers in Afghanistan. The Ghilzi in general have been the source of regular opposition to the Durrani dominated government of Afghanistan.

During the period of Persian control of western Afghanistan in the 16th-17th centuries, the Abdali, also called Durrani, were the chief local supporters of the Persians, while the Ghilzi provided organized military and political opposition to Persian rule. The struggle for domination in Afghanistan between the Ghilzi and Abdali dates back to this period when the Mughal and Persian empires competed for the control of the province of Qandahar. After Shah Abbas I (997-1039 Hijri (1587-1629)) relocated the Abdali vassals from Qandahar to Herat, the Ghilzi, especially the Hotaks, became dominant in the former city. In 1121 Hijri (1709), Mir Wais, a Hotak chief, overthrew Persian rule in Qandahar and declared independence (Krusinski, I, pp. 183-87; Lockhart, 1958, pp. 86-92). After his death in 1128 Hijri (1715), he was succeeded in Qandahar by his brother, Abdul Aziz, but he was killed by Mir Wais's son, Mahamud Hotak, who succeeded him in 1130 Hijri (1717). Mahamud invaded Persia and captured Isfahan, the Persian capital, in 1135 Hijri (1722). He was, however, overthrown by his cousin, Ashraf, the son of Abdul Aziz in 1137 Hijri (1725). The Ottomans recognized Ashraf as the king of Persia after suffering a defeat at his hand. His reign in Persia soon came to an end in 1142 Hijri (1729), when he was defeated in battle and driven out by the future Nader Shah Afshar. Assisted by the Abdali's, Nader Shah also defeated the last independent Ghilzay ruler of Qandahar, Shah Hussain Hotak, Shah Mahamud's brother in 1150 Hijri (1738). Shah Hussain and large numbers of the Ghilzi were deported to Mazandaran (Marv, pp. 543-52; Lockhart, 1938, pp. 115-20). The remnants of this once sizable exiled community, although assimilated, continue to claim Ghilzi Pashtun descent.

With the fall of Shah Hussain the Ghilzi political domination of Afghanistan declined. From the death of Nader Shah Afshar in 1747 up to 1978 the central government of Afghanistan was in the hands of various Persianized Durrani figures. The Ghilzi opposition to their rule continued, flaring up in large-scale organized armed uprisings in 1801, 1803, 1839-42, and 1886 (Caroe; Elphinstone; Ghobar). These episodes invariably resulted in setbacks for the Ghilzi, including their mass forced deportation, especially in 1880s, to northern Afghanistan. The 1978 Khalq-sponsored revolution in Afghanistan brought an end to the Durrani government and inaugurated what appeared to be a Ghilzi resurgence. Three out of four presidents of post-1978 revolutionary Afghanistan, namely Nur-Muhammad Taraki, Hafizullah Amin, and Najibullah, were from the Taraki, Kharoti, and Ahmadzai tribes respectively. The Ghilzi are also prominent in the leadership of the Taleban movement that has controlled much of Afghanistan since 1996.

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