History of Arabs in Afghanistan

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Islamic conquest of Afghanistan in Kabul
.

The history of Arabs in Afghanistan spans over one

ancestry
.

First wave

Further information: Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, Siege of Herat (652), and Battle of Oxus River
Names of territories during the Caliphate
The Shah-Do Shamshira Mosque in Kabul

At the end of the 7th century, the

Abdool Ruhman Bin Shimur, another Arab Ameer of distinction, marched from Murv to Kabul, where he made converts of upwards of twelve thousand persons... Saad was recalled in the year 59, and Abdool Ruhman, the son of Zeead, who formerly invaded Kabul, was nominated ruler of Khorassan... Shortly after his arrival in Khorassan, Sulim deputed his brother, Yezeed Bin Zeead, to Seestan. Not long after, Yezeed, having learned that the Prince of Kabul, throwing off his allegiance, had attacked and taken prisoner Aby Oobeyda, the son of Zeead, the late governor of Seestan, he marched with a force to recover that province, but was defeated in a pitched battle. When Sulim heard this news, he sent Tilla Bin Abdoolla, an officer of his court, as envoy to the court of Kabul, to ransom Aby Oobeyda; to obtain which object he paid 500,000 dirhems. Tilla afterwards received the government of Seestan as a reward for his services on this occasion, where, having collected a large force, he subdued Kabul in the short term and Khalid Bin Abdoolla (said by some to be the son of Khalid Bin Wuleed, and by others the son of Aboo Jehl) was nominated to its government.[3]

— Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah
, (1560–1620)

Despite the lack of much written accounts, another famous archaeological legacy of this battle remains standing in Kabul, notably the tomb of the Shah-e Do Shamshira (translated into, The leader with the Two Swords in Persian) next to the Shah-Do Shamshira Mosque. The site, located near Kabul's market district, was built near the area where an Arab commander died.

Despite fighting heroically with a sword in each hand, one of the Muslim head commanders fell in battle. It is his memory that is honored by the mosque today. The two-story edifice was built in the 1920s on the order of King Amanullah's mother on the site of one of Kabul's first mosques.

Following the Arab confrontation, the region was made part of Khorasan with its seat of power in Herat in the west. The Arabs later partially relinquished some of their territorial control though reasserted its authority approximately 50 years later in 750 when the

Soor; who each, subsequently, became head of the tribes which to this day bear their name.[3]

— Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah, (1560–1620)

It was during the reign of the

Samanid rulers of Balkh who in return, assisted the Abbasid Arabs against the defiant Saffarid dynasty
.

Despite maintaining some clothing customs and attire,

Arabic language and instead speak Persian and Pashto.[1] Although the exact number of Arab-Afghans remains unknown, mostly due to ambiguous claims of descent, an 18th-century academic estimated that they number at approximately 60,000 families.[1]

Second wave

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 410–557
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Lawik750-977
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Tahirids 821–873
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Modern
Tanai coup attempt
 1990
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US invasion 2001
Islamic State (reinstated) 2001
Interim/Transitional Administration 2001–2004
Islamic Republic (politics) 2004–2021
Islamic Emirate (reinstated) since 2021
Related historical regions
Related topics
Further information: Arab diaspora and Persecution of Muslims

After the

Bolshevik Revolution, many Sunni Arabs residing in Bukhara and other areas of Central Asia ruled by Russians migrated to Afghanistan where they were better able to practice their religion without fear of religious persecution or discrimination.[6] One estimate indicated that approximately 30,000 Arabs lived in Bukhara during the mid-nineteenth century.[7] The Arabs who entered into Afghanistan during this time still retained some Arabic[8]
in contrast to the Afghan Arabs who came during the first wave.

Some Arabs from the second wave intermarried with the local population as they adopted the languages of northern Afghanistan, namely Uzbek, Turkmen, and Persian language.[9] Many settled in Kunduz, Takhar and Sar-e Pol provinces. Currently, while they still view themselves as Arab, all the Arabs from the second wave have, like those from the original wave, lost their language of Arabic, adopting Persian instead.[6]

Although some tribal names, including

Tamerlane (circa 1400).[11]

The main body of the Afghan Arabs are found in

Mazar-i Sharif, Kholm and Kunduz living in pockets. Their self-identification as Arabs is largely based on their tribal identity and may in fact point to the 7th and 8th centuries migration to this and other Central Asian locales of many Arab tribes from Arabia in the wake of the Islamic conquests of the region.[12]

Third wave

Further information: Afghan Arabs

During the 1980s

Salafist sympathizers as shahid (martyrs).[13]

Regional groups

Balkh

Around 900 families live in Khoshal Abad and Yakhdan villages of Dawlat Abad district of the province, the villagers can trace their lineage back to the third caliphate of Uthman, in the 7th century. These families are mainly engaged in agriculture and carpet weaving. Most Arabs in

Dari as a second language. While some of the older generations had never learned to speak either of Afghanistan's two official languages, Dari and Pashto, many of the younger generation were being taught Dari in school and forgetting their Arabic; about 40 percent can no longer speak Arabic. Many of their customs have been forgotten, or are no longer relevant to a younger generation that identifies more with Afghanistan. Arabs who settled in northern Balkh province are worried that their culture is being wiped out as more people adopt the language and traditions of Afghanistan. Arabs form the smaller minorities in the town and district of Kholm; many identify themselves as ethnic Arabs although no one actually speaks Arabic.[14]

Jowzjan

There are about 1,000 families living in Hassanabad of Shebarghan, capital of Jowzjan province, and in Sultan Arigh village of Aqcha district that identify themselves as Arabs.

Dari
forming their native language.

Nangarhar

There are many Arab families living in the city of Nangarhar, Jalalabad. The majority of the people living in the villages claim to have Arab ethnicity, Either Iraq, Egypt, and any other Arab nation. The majority have had lost their language and speak Dari with Pashto interconnected which has created an accent.

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9783110165784
    . Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  2. ^ Culture and Customs of Afghanistan By Hafizullah Emadi, pg.27
  3. ^ a b Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah (1560–1620). "History of the Mohamedan Power in India". Persian Literature in Translation. Packard Humanities Institute. Archived from the original on 2009-02-11. Retrieved 2010-09-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Afghanistan In A Nutshell By Amanda Roraback, pg. 9
  5. ^ Arabic As a Minority Language By Jonathan Owens, pg. 182
  6. ^ a b c "Arab". Library of Congress Country Studies on Afghanistan. Library of Congress. 1997. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  7. ^ An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires By James Stuart Olson, pg. 38
  8. ^ Arabic As a Minority Language By Jonathan Owens, pg. 183
  9. ^ Arabic As a Minority Language By Jonathan Owens, pg. 184
  10. ^ Islamic peoples of the Soviet Union, by Shirin Akiner, pg. 367
  11. ^ a b Luke Griffin (January 14, 2002). "Ethnicity and Tribe". Illinois Institute of Technology. Paul V. Galvin Library. Archived from the original on December 8, 2006. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  12. ISBN 9780292710665
    .
  13. ^ Dawood Azami (January 17, 2008). "Kandahar's cemetery of 'miracles'". BBC Pashto service. BBC News. Retrieved 2010-09-12.
  14. ^ a b Zabiullah Ehsas (March 9, 2011). "Arabs in Balkh fear language, culture is dying". Pajhwok Afghan News. Retrieved 2015-09-01.
  15. ^ Bakhtar News
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