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Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Are you Pukhtun first or muslim?

I have been asked this question many times in my school days. At the time, born and raised in Isb/Rwp, I did not have much knowledge about my ethnicity. Yet, I was following the strict Pukhtun code of conduct without realising it. By two definitions I am a Pukhtun. Among historians, anthropologists, and the Pukhtun themselves, there is controversy as to exactly who is a Pukhtun. Orthodox pukhtun's does not accept the word Pathan to be associated with them. The fact is that every pathan is not a pukhtun. The definition of a pathan is pretty straight forward, and it includes everyone from the surrounding "greater Afghanistan". Uzbek, Tajik, Baloch, Hazaraa's, Turkmen who setteled in that area are also Pathans, but not Pukhtuns.
By one definition, A person is Pukhtun if his/her father was.
By other, A person is a Pukhtun if he/she follow the code of Pukhtunwali.

Pukhtunwali is said to be pre islamic code of honor that is still in practice proudly. Yet with the time Pukhtunwali has casted its code with the islamic code but it is by no means Islamic sharia.

Few of the main concepts of Pukhtunwali are:

melmastia (hospitality) - to show hospitality to all visitors, regardless of whom they are, their ethnic, religious, or national background, without hope of remuneration or favor.

badal (justice or revenge) - to seek justice over time or over space to avenge a wrong. This applies to injustices committed yesterday or 1000 years ago if the wrongdoer still exists.

nanawatay (settlement) - derived from the verb meaning to go in, this is used when the vanquished party is prepared to go in to the house or hujra of the victors and ask forgiveness.

nang (honour) - the various points below that a tribesman must observe to ensure his honour, and that of his family, is upheld.

jirga - an assembly of tribal elders called for various purposes whether waging war or composing peace, tribal or inter-tribal.

hamsaya
- A group who attaches themselves to a Pashtun group, usually for protection. The Pashtun protector group is called a naik. Any attack on a hamsaya is considered an attack on the protector. The recent example is, Talibans(Pukhtun) provided protection to Al-Qaeda. It is also sometimes binded with melmastia.

rogha
- settlement of a dispute between warring factions.

hujra - a common sitting or sleeping place for males in the village. Visitors and unmarried young men sleep in the hujra.

It is because of Pukhtunwali, Yousafzai's and Khattaks are living peacefully after Yousafzai's gave assylum and shelter to Khushal Khan Khatak when mughal's turned against him.

Indeed Pukhtunwali is very infelxibal, yet it by no means conflict with Islam and all the issues have been carried out smoothly till now. Pukhtunwali has casted it self so perfectly that history has never shown any dispute in the teachings of pukhtunwali and Islam. It maybe because of the fact that 100% pukhtuns are muslims, and any pukhtun rejecting faith in Islam is not considered as Pukhtun. But it is the flexibility of Islam that provide each and every person the way of living life.

This is why when Khan Wali Khan was asked if he considered himself a Pakistani Muslim first or a Pukhtun, by stating that: "I have been a Pukhtun for six thousand years, a Muslim for thirteen hundred years, and a Pakistani for twenty-five."

8 Comments:

Blogger S. Jabbar said...

Thank me, I have increased the bar of your knowledge :)

October 25, 2005 2:03 PM  
Blogger S. said...

my sentiments exactly: i never knew all this, wow

October 26, 2005 4:08 AM  
Blogger Hummus said...

Being Pukhtoon, I never knew what it meant. Thanks for sharing that information.

November 16, 2005 5:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Alaka,

ke te Musalman nawey no his ba nawey. De Islam na makhke ne cha Pukhtun pejano ne cha Pukhtanuh.

Awwal zaan ta Musalman waya, pakhpala ba takra shae.

ALLAH(swt) yaw de aw Muhammad(saws) da Hagha paighambar! Ameen.

November 29, 2005 7:33 AM  
Blogger S. Jabbar said...

Staso khabara pa zay da, bekhe sahi khabara da.
Dalta khabara da dah che Pukhtana khapala pukhtun wali yeere. Nan saba pukhtano khpala pukhto praikhe da aao warsara yai musalmani hum praikhay da.

December 08, 2005 12:02 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

u should also give more details e.g area & population of pushtuns in pakistan if u r interested i will help u .

December 29, 2005 6:36 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wrong question? The question should be:

Are you Arab or Pakhtun?
or
Are you Muslim or non-Muslim?
Islam and Pakhtunwali are two contradictory things. the former is a religion that derive inspiration from otherworldiness while the later is a secular code of life that derive inspiraiton from culture, history and language
Some other fallatic quesitons:

Are you Muslim or Arab?

Are you Muslim or human?

Are you Human or Pakhtun?

I am pakhtun. it is my identity. It is the name of my language. it is the name of my culture. It is the name of my history. It is the name of my desire for national unity. And finally it is my desire to become a member of a nation-state.

The basic purpose of Islam is to prepare oneself for the hereafter and has nothing to do with this "futile world".
Zefar

November 17, 2006 8:36 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

farman khan yousafzai
i will not bother myself to go in the details of whtever the guys are saying...still its natural the couriosity to look into matters...but ZAMA KHOGA RORA,,.MANUM>>ZINDABAD..when it comes to pukhtun i just shut the windows of thinking and AQAL and whtever...just like yousuf (A.S).now whtever you may name it and wht ever comments it follows...ZA BA JANAT TA DA PUKHU SARA ZUM

October 28, 2008 9:49 AM  

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