Akhundzada Family Shrine
The Grave of My Ancestor - Hazrat Akhund Zafar Baba
& Dars Jumaat Ruins
& Dars Jumaat Ruins
Regarding the meaning of my family name, it is a social aristocratic caste name of religious connotation here in Pashtun society and is similarly a family name elsewhere in Central Asia. This name is actually from the Transcaspian and Khorasani region, and has an Iranian background. In Azerbaijan, for instance, it is spelled as "Akhundzade" (or Ahundzade in Turkish) and it has the same spelling in Iran. The Russianised version is Akhundov.
Akhundzada is actually Khorasani counterpart of the term "Khoja", which Muslims in the Balkan region - such as Bosnians and Albanians use; like the name of the Albanian communist leader Enver Hoja (spelled Hoxha)......this name is also found among other Eurasian Muslims such as in Turkey and those in the Russian Federation. Khoja is actually derived from the Arabic term "Khwaja", meaning mystic; the Arabic terms Khwaja, Ghaus and Wali (or Vali as in the Russian Tatar name Valikhan) all mean the same thing: master, teacher, adept, mystic. The equivalent Persian term is "Pir"- also used all over Central and South Asia like those above. All these terms have concurrent usage in these societies...... Akhund is the Khorasani equivalent of them; and "zada" is the Persian suffix denoting "son", as much as the Slavic "vich" or "vic" or "ic" or Germanic/Nordic "son, sson", or "sohn" in any name.
Akhundzada is actually Khorasani counterpart of the term "Khoja", which Muslims in the Balkan region - such as Bosnians and Albanians use; like the name of the Albanian communist leader Enver Hoja (spelled Hoxha)......this name is also found among other Eurasian Muslims such as in Turkey and those in the Russian Federation. Khoja is actually derived from the Arabic term "Khwaja", meaning mystic; the Arabic terms Khwaja, Ghaus and Wali (or Vali as in the Russian Tatar name Valikhan) all mean the same thing: master, teacher, adept, mystic. The equivalent Persian term is "Pir"- also used all over Central and South Asia like those above. All these terms have concurrent usage in these societies...... Akhund is the Khorasani equivalent of them; and "zada" is the Persian suffix denoting "son", as much as the Slavic "vich" or "vic" or "ic" or Germanic/Nordic "son, sson", or "sohn" in any name.
The Autosome is the term given to one's own genome (or "gene" in simple lingo). It is as individual as one's fingerprints are. Providence/The Great Architect can throw anything from your millions of diverse ancestors - from anywhere up your tree - into your individual makeup, when creating you......at the 20 generational level for instance, each of us has 1,048,576 ancestors.....and populations move and mingle too. The Y-Chromosome and its Haplogroup and autosomal analysis are two very different things. Let me illustrate by my own example: My own genome has been analysed as containing the following ethnic material: European (Orcadian) = 51%
S. Asian (Indo-Aryan)* = 22%
S.W. Asian (Indo-Iranian)* = 19%
Onge (Australoid-Dravidian) = 5%
Siberian (Turkic) = 2%
E. Asian (Mongolic) = 1%
W. African, E. African, San/Pygmy, Papuan, Native American = All 0%.
I have been analysed as being 54.5% British and 45.5% Pashtun. (Perhaps the emphasis on me leaning more towards my beloved mother is reflected in the fact that I have a Cancer Ascendant and three personal planets in that sign too)......But my half-Pashtun and half-English reality is beautifully expressed in the above autosomal analysis. The two populations with the asterisks are deemed by experts to be the two main Pashtun/Afghan population markers: Indo-Aryan and Indo-Iranian. So I have 51% European and 41% Pashtun in me, although the Onge and Turco-Mongol components are regular parts of the Pashtun "soup" too, in varying quantities......... It should be noted here also, that 3.5% of my Indo-Iranian "material" was contributed to me via my mother, so that makes my "European stuff" 54.5% not 51% as shown in the analytical breakup. But still, the above defines me exactly as I would be: as "a Pashtun, of Ashina extraction, with an English mother" - when taken together with my Y-Haplogroup Q1b*! The Ashina Y-Chromosome, which traces the Paternal Bloodline........is, in my case -- confined to that teensy Siberian 2% part of my total makeup! So I personally am more British and Pashtun than I am Turco-Mongol, yet my "brand label", with regard to my paternal family line, is still technically and scientifically -- Ashina! Regarding Dragon genes.well, my Ashina Bloodline is restricted to that 2%, but that in no way diminishes its significance, nor its potency...and as my 51% European part is Orcadian (Scottish) - and Orcadians are descended from the mighty Picts, that explains itself; the 41% Pashtun component in me is the joint legacy of the legendary Sakas, Yuezhi/Kushans and Tocharian Scythians.........that too is self-explanatory...and my brand label is still Ashina! THIS is how genetics works! -- Arif Hasan Akhundzada
MY AUTOSOMAL ANALYSIS
(FTDNA)
Continent (Subcontinent) Population Percentage Margin of Error
Europe (Western European) Orcadian 52.85% ±0.00%
South Asia (Central Asian) -- 47.15% ±0.01%
REFERENCE POPULATIONS:
1) Western European:
Basque
French
Orcadian (Orkney Islands)
Spanish
2) South Asian:
Central Asian:
Hazara
Tu
Uygur
Xibe
NOTES:
(1) Only your autosomal DNA results from the Family Finder microarray chip are used. The Population Finder tool does not use Mitochondrial DNA (mtdna), X-chromosome DNA, or Y-chromosome DNA results. Autosomal DNA is DNA that from a non-sex chromosome. Humans have 22 pairs of autosomal chromosomes and a pair of sex chromosomes.
=============================================================
MY HARAPPA PROJECT AUTOSOMAL ANALYSIS (initial admixture results)
European = 51%
S. Asian (Indo-Aryan)* = 22%
S.W. Asian (Indo-Iranian)* = 19%
Onge (Australoid-Dravidian) = 5%
Siberian (Turkic) = 2%
E. Asian (Mongolic) = 1%
W. African, E. African, San/Pygmy, Papuan, Native American = All 0%.
HRP Administrator's remarks: HRP0180 is our first Pashtun even if he's only half-Pathan (the other half being English). I have heard grumblings on the net about the HGDP Pathans not being representative of the Pashtun tribes. If we use the HGDP Pathans and 1000genomes British averages to estimate HRP0180's recent ancestry, we get 45.5% Pashtun and 54.5% British. So it seems that the HGDP Pathan samples are reasonable for at least this individual.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
* Both these constitute the two basic Pashtun Population indices (with the other three also to be found in varying quantities); but 3.5% of my S.W. Asian component has been supplied by my mother. Therefore the proportions 54.5% British and 45.5% Pashtun – even if they are not shown as that in the split analysis above.
http://www.harappadna.org/ http://www.harappadna.org/2011/10/admixture-ref3-k11-hrp0171-hrp0180/
S. Asian (Indo-Aryan)* = 22%
S.W. Asian (Indo-Iranian)* = 19%
Onge (Australoid-Dravidian) = 5%
Siberian (Turkic) = 2%
E. Asian (Mongolic) = 1%
W. African, E. African, San/Pygmy, Papuan, Native American = All 0%.
I have been analysed as being 54.5% British and 45.5% Pashtun. (Perhaps the emphasis on me leaning more towards my beloved mother is reflected in the fact that I have a Cancer Ascendant and three personal planets in that sign too)......But my half-Pashtun and half-English reality is beautifully expressed in the above autosomal analysis. The two populations with the asterisks are deemed by experts to be the two main Pashtun/Afghan population markers: Indo-Aryan and Indo-Iranian. So I have 51% European and 41% Pashtun in me, although the Onge and Turco-Mongol components are regular parts of the Pashtun "soup" too, in varying quantities......... It should be noted here also, that 3.5% of my Indo-Iranian "material" was contributed to me via my mother, so that makes my "European stuff" 54.5% not 51% as shown in the analytical breakup. But still, the above defines me exactly as I would be: as "a Pashtun, of Ashina extraction, with an English mother" - when taken together with my Y-Haplogroup Q1b*! The Ashina Y-Chromosome, which traces the Paternal Bloodline........is, in my case -- confined to that teensy Siberian 2% part of my total makeup! So I personally am more British and Pashtun than I am Turco-Mongol, yet my "brand label", with regard to my paternal family line, is still technically and scientifically -- Ashina! Regarding Dragon genes.well, my Ashina Bloodline is restricted to that 2%, but that in no way diminishes its significance, nor its potency...and as my 51% European part is Orcadian (Scottish) - and Orcadians are descended from the mighty Picts, that explains itself; the 41% Pashtun component in me is the joint legacy of the legendary Sakas, Yuezhi/Kushans and Tocharian Scythians.........that too is self-explanatory...and my brand label is still Ashina! THIS is how genetics works! -- Arif Hasan Akhundzada
MY AUTOSOMAL ANALYSIS
(FTDNA)
Continent (Subcontinent) Population Percentage Margin of Error
Europe (Western European) Orcadian 52.85% ±0.00%
South Asia (Central Asian) -- 47.15% ±0.01%
REFERENCE POPULATIONS:
1) Western European:
Basque
French
Orcadian (Orkney Islands)
Spanish
2) South Asian:
Central Asian:
Hazara
Tu
Uygur
Xibe
NOTES:
(1) Only your autosomal DNA results from the Family Finder microarray chip are used. The Population Finder tool does not use Mitochondrial DNA (mtdna), X-chromosome DNA, or Y-chromosome DNA results. Autosomal DNA is DNA that from a non-sex chromosome. Humans have 22 pairs of autosomal chromosomes and a pair of sex chromosomes.
=============================================================
MY HARAPPA PROJECT AUTOSOMAL ANALYSIS (initial admixture results)
European = 51%
S. Asian (Indo-Aryan)* = 22%
S.W. Asian (Indo-Iranian)* = 19%
Onge (Australoid-Dravidian) = 5%
Siberian (Turkic) = 2%
E. Asian (Mongolic) = 1%
W. African, E. African, San/Pygmy, Papuan, Native American = All 0%.
HRP Administrator's remarks: HRP0180 is our first Pashtun even if he's only half-Pathan (the other half being English). I have heard grumblings on the net about the HGDP Pathans not being representative of the Pashtun tribes. If we use the HGDP Pathans and 1000genomes British averages to estimate HRP0180's recent ancestry, we get 45.5% Pashtun and 54.5% British. So it seems that the HGDP Pathan samples are reasonable for at least this individual.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
* Both these constitute the two basic Pashtun Population indices (with the other three also to be found in varying quantities); but 3.5% of my S.W. Asian component has been supplied by my mother. Therefore the proportions 54.5% British and 45.5% Pashtun – even if they are not shown as that in the split analysis above.
http://www.harappadna.org/ http://www.harappadna.org/2011/10/admixture-ref3-k11-hrp0171-hrp0180/
An Update on Akhund Zafar Baba's History.....by Arif Hasan Akhundzada on Monday, October 31, 2011 at 7:00amAnother version regarding the history of my ancestor was related to me by an elder of our family, Abdul Wadud lala - who is educated and knowledgeable in these matters - and at 81, is one of the surviving repositories of such now obscure family historical information. I would regard his narration as being more accurate than the village "legends" of the peasant populace of the area regarding our family's origins.
According to this, a certain Haji Qasim Ali Khan Alkozai - an Abdali of the Panjpao sept - was the Durrani feudatory (jagirdar) of the Shabqadar-Doaba region during the reign of Ahmad Shah Durrani (1747-1773). His estate's headquarters was in our ancestral village Panjpao which he named after his tribe, just as the adjoining Qasim Baba graveyard derives its name from the fact that he lies buried there, as is also my ancestor Akhund Zafar Baba.
Haji Qasim had expressed his inability to continue in his role as jagirdar and wanted to retire. He therefore requested the Durrani governor at Peshawar to replace him. The governor in turn asked the key Mohmand tribal notable of the area and Durrani ally - Zain Khan, the Khan of Lalpura - to suggest a man suitable for being the new jagirdar of this region. The Khan sent along his young son-in-law, an Afshar Turk by the name of Mir Kamil Shah, whose father was a commander in Nader Shah Afshar's army - and who at that time was residing in Mohmand country in Ningrahar. After Nader Shah was assasinated, many Afshars remained behind, married and settled in the new Afghan state established by Ahmad Shah Abdali - also a key general of Nader Shah. The Khan of Lalpura was also a former ally of Nader Shah, as he was of his Afghan successor, Ahmad Shah Abdali.......
My ancestor Mir Kamil Shah was also known as Akhund Zafar - as he was a pious man, being a disciple of Lahore's main Afghan saint Syed Ali Hajwairi (Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh) - whose shrine he visited, and where he was initiated into sainthood. This saint had pre-deceased my ancestor by about 600 years.
The jagir of Akhund Zafar Baba later diminished with the passage of time, and the waning of Saddozai (Durrani) power.....and also, as the family increased in size and shifted places within the region due to various reasons over the intervening 270 years - and the Mohmand tribes regained control over large swathes of this land.......
This album is about the mausoleum of my ancestor, and the Pashtun tribal graveyard attached to it, which is of unknown age. It is located in the Panjpao area of Shabqadar Tehsil, in the lower part of the Mohmand Tribal Agency.
My ancestor Akhund Zafar Baba's (c.1740 - c. 1820) actual name was Syed Kamil Shah, and he was an Afshar Turkmen who came to India as a toddler with his family, in the armies of the invading Turkmen Emperor of Persia, Nadir Shah Afshar. They first settled in Lahore, where the child Kamil Shah was made a disciple in the shrine of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh (Syed Ali Hajwairy). Upon achieving sainthood as a teenager, he and his family settled in Shabqadar to preach Islam, as part of his mission of being a disciple of the senior saint Hajwairy - where Kamil Shah married the daughter of the Mohmand Khan of Lalpura, who was the chief of the whole region (which presently also includes parts of Afghanistan's Ningrahar Province), being from the Morchakhel Tarakzai Mohmand tribe; and he took the title "Akhund Zafar" (victorious saint) as his name.
My own personal genetic tests have now revealed a primoridal Ashina Turk ancestry for Akhund Zafar, and more hidden leads and surprises regarding his family and its earlier status, including possible associations with the ancient Khazar Empire, that are still in need of exploration and verification....he came from the area that presently covers Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, which was a part of the Persian Empire in his lifetime.....
The Mohmand tribe granted Akhund Zafar an estate of about 5000 acres of land, where he built a large mosque-cum-madrassah (seminary) in which he and later is descendants used to lead prayers, sermonise, and teach the Quran - and also run a "langar" (free kitchen) for the poor people of the area and other hangers-on. This mosque, the ruins of which still exist, was first burnt down by the Sikhs in the 1830s, and later permanently demolished by the British in the 1850s, after my ancestors unsuccessfully declared a local armed uprising against British rule and were defeated.......I will add more photos, of this and other details later on.
My ancestor Akhund Zafar Baba's (c.1740 - c. 1820) actual name was Syed Kamil Shah, and he was an Afshar Turkmen who came to India as a toddler with his family, in the armies of the invading Turkmen Emperor of Persia, Nadir Shah Afshar. They first settled in Lahore, where the child Kamil Shah was made a disciple in the shrine of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh (Syed Ali Hajwairy). Upon achieving sainthood as a teenager, he and his family settled in Shabqadar to preach Islam, as part of his mission of being a disciple of the senior saint Hajwairy - where Kamil Shah married the daughter of the Mohmand Khan of Lalpura, who was the chief of the whole region (which presently also includes parts of Afghanistan's Ningrahar Province), being from the Morchakhel Tarakzai Mohmand tribe; and he took the title "Akhund Zafar" (victorious saint) as his name.
My own personal genetic tests have now revealed a primoridal Ashina Turk ancestry for Akhund Zafar, and more hidden leads and surprises regarding his family and its earlier status, including possible associations with the ancient Khazar Empire, that are still in need of exploration and verification....he came from the area that presently covers Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, which was a part of the Persian Empire in his lifetime.....
The Mohmand tribe granted Akhund Zafar an estate of about 5000 acres of land, where he built a large mosque-cum-madrassah (seminary) in which he and later is descendants used to lead prayers, sermonise, and teach the Quran - and also run a "langar" (free kitchen) for the poor people of the area and other hangers-on. This mosque, the ruins of which still exist, was first burnt down by the Sikhs in the 1830s, and later permanently demolished by the British in the 1850s, after my ancestors unsuccessfully declared a local armed uprising against British rule and were defeated.......I will add more photos, of this and other details later on.
Dragon Cairn - This is said to be the grave of Akhund Zafar's father...
The "Pleiwaan" Tree: this is actually a huge, woody bush, the soft wood of which has a fibrous quality; these trees are found mostly near shrines, in the rocky Pashtun hills of the Suleiman Mountains, and in tribal graveyards such as this one. Their twigs and sticks are used to manufacture a primitive kind of Muslim toothbrush called "miswaak", used at ablution time. In Hindi-Urdu and other Indian languages, this tree is known as "Peelu". The immense, thick and twisted trunk of this specimen shows it is of a considerably great age...
Other ancient "Pleiwaan" trees located next to the mausoleum of Akhund Zafar.
Akhund Zafar's grave, from another angle, with the aforementioned plain graves in the fotreground, and the entrancce to the enclosure visible. All the other graves in the mausoleum are plain and uncemented....and Akhund Zafar's grave was only cemented by my father in 1968, in "honour" of my birth (as was the brick wall built around the mausoleum too)...
This is the "Soma" bush, actually a tree because of its tall woody trunk like stem. It was a plant sacred to the ancient Zoroastrian religion as it has intoxicating qualities for which mystics used it. In Pashtun lands, it is to be found only in graveyards, and is known by the Pashto name "Kirra"(the second "R" being a retroflex consonant)......Many people are also visible in the graveyard. This is because Pashtuns use rural, tribal graveyards as parks and playgrounds: since they lack the proper facilities in this regard, cemeteries are put to use as recreational spaces in which to gather, lounge around, play cricket and football.
The grave of Akhund Zafar Baba is the cemented and whitewashed structure in the foreground, covered in black Quranic shrouds ("Ghilaaf"). Beside him is the plain soil and rocks grave of an unidentified disciple of his. Many others share the mausoleum with him: two disciples, father and son; the last two caretakers ("Gaddi Nasheen") of the shrine - who were also his descendants; and two or three almost leveled graves, said to be of women - most likely his wives...
A closeup of the Soma tree's
leaves shows that they are not actually leaves in the commonly accepted
sense, but more like soft green twigs.....observant people will note
the small orange-pinkish coloured flowers among them.....they bear a
small mauve coloured berry....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haoma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haoma
Ashina-style Burial Monuments
'My ancestor Akhund Zafar Baba was said to teach the Quran and mysticism not only to humans, but also hold Quranic "classes" for Jinns....eyewittness accounts, passed down in the family from 250 years ago, relate how he would be sitting cross-legged on a raised wooden couch in the middle of his mosque's courtyard at high noon, expounding on themes and subjects......whereas in the fields around the mosque, nothing unusual would be visible, save for the fact that the atmosphere would be charged and tense - and the air above the ground would shimmer as if it were giving off heatwaves like a hot desert floor appears in a mirage....even in the dead of winter. During such "sessions", nobody would dare set foot near where Akhund Zafar was lecturing his invisible "brood". These Jinns were said to acknowledge him as their teacher - and obeyed all his commands and wishes, but he never used them wrongly against anybody.'
HUJRA
These are some photos of my grandfather's hujra in our village in Shabqadar. It now belongs jointly to me and my cousins.
The word "hujra" is an Arabic word meaning "apartment", but it is actually much more than that. It is a basic institutional symbol of a family's status in Pashtun rural society - the hujra of a Khan is his roots in society, and symbolises his status and influence. It is where our (male) guests, from all across the social spectrum, come to meet and greet us.....where the family males get together on special occasions such as Eid.....where the family's marriages and funerals are held, and where political or other important social meetings involving the family or village community are held. It is also where the ordinary village peasant men and the Khan's servants, retainers, tenants and cultivators "hang out", and stay the night - amusing themselves by smoking whatever they want (!), and playing their traditional lutes and drums, radios and TVs, usually in a secluded corner at night.
In our hujra, there is one "commoners' section" with verandah, to be used by peasants and for everyday activity - with an adjoining ground to sit outside; one guest apartment to entertain distinguished guests; a lawn, with fruit and other trees (Mango, Lychee, Plum and Walnut); and a mosque where most of the villagers come to say their prayers. Four of my cousins' country houses are also located within its perimeter. It measures about 3 acres in total. There are three servants employed to tend the gardens, act as watchmen and serve the guests. This property has been held by our family for the last 150 years.
Mosque wall, visible from ground....two mulberry trees provide shade.
Guest House
Well
Boundary wall, of the lawn section..... Plane trees are seen in the backdrop. In the foreground is a vegetable patch,
where the hujra's servants and attendants grow vegetables.
where the hujra's servants and attendants grow vegetables.
Electric supply and transformer for our hujra..... My uncle's house can be seen further in the background.
Lawn with lychee trees
Lawn with 60-year old mango trees
The gates of my cousins' houses, adjoining the lawn.....
Dars Jumaat Ruins
The site of the ruins of the "Dars Jumaat" (mosque of instruction), so named because it was built for my ancestor in the mid-18th Century - to disseminate Islamic knowledge, and was subsequently used by our family as its social headquaters.
This mosque is sited 30 miles to the north of Peshawar, in the Panjpao area of the lower Mohmand Agency, inhabited by the Halimzai Mohmand tribe. This crude stone and adobe structure was built for my ancestor, when he first arrived among the Afghans.....and remained until the 1850s, when the newly established British imperial authorities ordered its demolition. This was because they wanted to lay a telegraph line in the area, and our ancestors protested, thinking it was an instrument of the devil, and declared an anti-government religious uprising, which the British put down successfully. My ancestors were sentenced to death, but were forgiven as part of a compromise arranged by local elders, in which they apologised to the British and agreed to cooperate with them in future. In return, the British authorities let them off, but on condition of relocating them to a "safer" area more suitable to British control - as the local population were our religious followers, and the British were afraid that my ancestors might stir up future trouble by inflaming the locals against them again.
The British also agreed to allow our family to keep its original property, but we could not live there as before. Instead, our family was to move to the new location - some two miles to the East, an area commanded by the local British army fort (the present day Shabqadar Fort). They allotted us more lands there in addition - and that is where our family presently lives. The British rulers offered our family a noble title in addition, with more feudal privileges - but our elders refused this politely, telling the government that their religious followers might desert them for appearing too pro-British, and that might in turn affect their social standing...
This mosque is sited 30 miles to the north of Peshawar, in the Panjpao area of the lower Mohmand Agency, inhabited by the Halimzai Mohmand tribe. This crude stone and adobe structure was built for my ancestor, when he first arrived among the Afghans.....and remained until the 1850s, when the newly established British imperial authorities ordered its demolition. This was because they wanted to lay a telegraph line in the area, and our ancestors protested, thinking it was an instrument of the devil, and declared an anti-government religious uprising, which the British put down successfully. My ancestors were sentenced to death, but were forgiven as part of a compromise arranged by local elders, in which they apologised to the British and agreed to cooperate with them in future. In return, the British authorities let them off, but on condition of relocating them to a "safer" area more suitable to British control - as the local population were our religious followers, and the British were afraid that my ancestors might stir up future trouble by inflaming the locals against them again.
The British also agreed to allow our family to keep its original property, but we could not live there as before. Instead, our family was to move to the new location - some two miles to the East, an area commanded by the local British army fort (the present day Shabqadar Fort). They allotted us more lands there in addition - and that is where our family presently lives. The British rulers offered our family a noble title in addition, with more feudal privileges - but our elders refused this politely, telling the government that their religious followers might desert them for appearing too pro-British, and that might in turn affect their social standing...
This group photo shows the landed notables and rural gentry of the Shabqadar-Doaba region of Peshawar District (as it was then) in 1916. They are pictured here with British colonial administrators and their wives, and other Indian officials and soldiers, in the grounds of the Shabqadar Fort. The First World War was on and the British had just quelled a severe tribal uprising in the area with the help of these and other chieftains.
My grandfather Akhundzada Khalilur Rahman (1878-1966) is pictured here - with the black beard and white turban - standing in row 1 (counting from the bottom), fourth from right; the old man seated right in front of him - third from right - is his father-in-law, my great-grandfather Khan Abdul Ghani Khan Bahlolkhel (1856-1953). Being the biggest Khan of the Shabqadar region, he owned 11 villages and thousands of acres of land in Shabqadar. A descendant of Sultan Bahlol Lodi (Lodhi), the 15th Century King of Delhi and Northern India, Ghani Khan's ancestors were installed in Shabqadar in the 1750s by Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder King of Afghanistan.
The gentleman seated first from left - with the cane - was Khan-Bahadur (KB) Khan Mahabat Khan of Matta Mughalkhel. He was my grandfather's first cousin and Chief of the Gigyani Afghan tribe centered on the Peshawar Valley Doaba. In Afghanistan at present, the name Gigyani corresponds to "Khugyani", a branch of the tribe that lives there in Ningrahar province. (Mahabat Khan's family has unmistakeable Tatar features. The name of their ancestor - Mughal Khan - is telling in this regard: "Mughal" means "Mongol". The Gigyanis are one of the standard Afghan (Pashtun) tribes, but this case just goes to show how defective reliance on traditional Afghan genealogies can be. Afghan tribal mythology places the supposed supreme Pashtun ancestor Qais Abdur Rashid as having flourished in the 7th Century AD (concurrent with Prophet Muhammad) - but we know for sure that Pashtuns were around for at least 1000 years before that. Modern genetic approaches will uncover hidden trails and denude the verbiage of hoary and mostly illiterate and confused oral mythologies and pro-Arab/Islam inspired stories that have so far served as the main source for all wishing to explore the enigma of Pashtun/Afghan origins.....)
My grandfather Akhundzada Khalilur Rahman (1878-1966) is pictured here - with the black beard and white turban - standing in row 1 (counting from the bottom), fourth from right; the old man seated right in front of him - third from right - is his father-in-law, my great-grandfather Khan Abdul Ghani Khan Bahlolkhel (1856-1953). Being the biggest Khan of the Shabqadar region, he owned 11 villages and thousands of acres of land in Shabqadar. A descendant of Sultan Bahlol Lodi (Lodhi), the 15th Century King of Delhi and Northern India, Ghani Khan's ancestors were installed in Shabqadar in the 1750s by Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder King of Afghanistan.
The gentleman seated first from left - with the cane - was Khan-Bahadur (KB) Khan Mahabat Khan of Matta Mughalkhel. He was my grandfather's first cousin and Chief of the Gigyani Afghan tribe centered on the Peshawar Valley Doaba. In Afghanistan at present, the name Gigyani corresponds to "Khugyani", a branch of the tribe that lives there in Ningrahar province. (Mahabat Khan's family has unmistakeable Tatar features. The name of their ancestor - Mughal Khan - is telling in this regard: "Mughal" means "Mongol". The Gigyanis are one of the standard Afghan (Pashtun) tribes, but this case just goes to show how defective reliance on traditional Afghan genealogies can be. Afghan tribal mythology places the supposed supreme Pashtun ancestor Qais Abdur Rashid as having flourished in the 7th Century AD (concurrent with Prophet Muhammad) - but we know for sure that Pashtuns were around for at least 1000 years before that. Modern genetic approaches will uncover hidden trails and denude the verbiage of hoary and mostly illiterate and confused oral mythologies and pro-Arab/Islam inspired stories that have so far served as the main source for all wishing to explore the enigma of Pashtun/Afghan origins.....)