Pashtunwali

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Pashtunwali (

Islamic times.[3][4]

Overview

Further information:
Pashtun people

The native Pashtun tribes, often described as fiercely independent people,[5] have inhabited the Pashtunistan region (eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan) since at least the 1st millennium BC.[6][7][8] During that period, much of their mountainous territory has remained outside government rule or control. Pashtun resistance to outside rule and the terrain they reside in is sometimes speculated to be why Indigenous Pashtuns still follow the "code of life".[citation needed]

Pashtunwali rules are accepted in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and also in some Pashtun communities around the world. Some non-Pashtun Afghans and others have also adopted its ideology or practices for their own benefit. Conversely, many urbanized Pashtuns tend to ignore the rules of Pashtunwali. Passed on from generation to generation, Pashtunwali guides both individual and communal conduct. Practiced by the majority of Pashtuns, it helps to promote Pashtunization.[2]

Ideal Pukhtun behaviour approximates the features of Pukhtunwali, the code of the Pukhtuns, which includes the following traditional features: courage (tora), revenge (badal), hospitality (melmestia), generosity to a defeated...[9]

— Maliha Zulfacar, 1999

Pashtuns embrace an ancient traditional, spiritual, and communal identity tied to a set of moral codes and rules of behaviour, as well as to a record of history spanning some seventeen hundred years.[10]

Pashtunwali promotes

Pashtuns. We have melmestia, being a good host, nanawatai, giving asylum, and badal, vengeance. Pashtuns live by these things.[12]

— Abdur, A character in Morgen's War
The Pashtun tribes are always engaged in private or public war. Every man is a warrior, a politician and a theologian. Every large house is a real feudal fortress. ... Every family cultivates its vendetta; every clan, its feud. ... Nothing is ever forgotten and very few debts are left unpaid.
Winston Churchill (My Early Life, Chapter 11: "The Mahmund Valley")

Pashtun institutions

Pashtuns are organised into tribal or extended family groups often led by a "Malik" (a wealthy and influential leader from the group). Disputes within clans are settled by a jirga (traditionally a tribal assembly involving all adult males).[13] In times of foreign invasion, Pashtuns have been known to unite under Pashtun religious leaders such as Saidullah Baba in the Siege of Malakand[14] and even under Pashtána female leaders such as Malalai of Maiwand in the Battle of Maiwand.[15]

Main principles

Jamaluddin Badar, Nuristan governor, Fazlullah Wahidi, Kunar governor, Gul Agha Sherzai, Nangarhar governor, and Lutfullah Mashal, Laghman governor, listen to speakers talk about peace, prosperity and the rehabilitation of Afghanistan during the first regional Jirga
in 2009.

Although not exclusive, the following thirteen principles form the major components of Pashtunwali.

The three primary[16] principles:

  1. Pashto: مېلمستيا, romanized: melmastyā́) – Showing hospitality and respect to all visitors, regardless of race, religion, nationality or wealth, without any expectation of repayment. Pashtuns will go to great lengths to show their hospitality.[2][17][18]
  2. US Navy SEAL team ambushed by Taliban fighters, was aided by members of the Pashtun Sabray tribe. The tribal chief Mohammed Gulab gave the soldier refuge in his village, fending off attacking tribes until he was returned to nearby US forces.[19][20]
  3. Pashto: پېغور, romanized: peghor) may count as a mortal insult.[2] Monetary compensation
    can be an alternative to badal, for example to expiate murder.

The other main principles:

  1. Bravery (
    Pashto: توره, romanized: túra). A Pashtun must defend his land, property, and family from intruders, killing them if provoked.[2]
  2. Loyalty (
    Pashto: وفا, romanized: wapā́).[21] A Pashtun must be loyal to family, friends and tribe members.[citation needed
    ]
  3. Kindness (
    Pashto: ښېګړه, romanized: x̌egřh). Pashtuns should act for the welfare of others.[21]
  4. Arbitration (
    Pashto: جرګه, romanized: jergá). Disputes are to be resolved through the Jirga.[21]
  5. Faith (
    Pashto: ګروه, romanized: groh) Trust in Allah.[2] The notion of trusting in the Creator generally equates to Islamic monotheism (tawhid
    ).
  6. Respect (
    Pashto: وياړ, romanized: wyāṛ). A Pashtun man's pride must be respected, and he must respect himself and others, especially strangers. Respect begins at home, among family members and relatives. A man without respect is unworthy of being a Pashtun.[2] In the poetry of Khushal Khattak, “The loss of life and wealth should not matter, what matters is pat."[22]
  7. Female honour (
    Pashto: ناموس, romanized: nāmús). A Pashtun must defend the honor of women at all costs and must protect them from all harm and disrespect.[23]
  8. Honour (
    Pashto: ننګ, romanized: nang). A Pashtun must defend the weak around him.[24]
  9. Manhood or chivalry (
    Pashto: مېړانه, romanized: meṛā́na).[25] A Pashtun must demonstrate courage. A turban is considered a symbol of chivalry.[citation needed
    ]
  10. Country (
    Pashto: هېواد, romanized: hewā́d). A Pashtun is obliged to protect the land of the Pashtuns and the traditional customs.[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ Rzehak, Lutz (2011). Doing Pashto: Pashtunwali also known as Afghaniyat as the Ideal of Honourable Behaviour and Tribal Life Among the Pashtuns. Afghanistan Analysts Network.
  2. ^
    ISBN 0-7787-9335-4
    . Retrieved 29 October 2010. Erinn Banting.
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2020-09-17.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ISBN 9789385714535
    .
  5. ^ Shane, Scott (December 5, 2009). "The War in Pashtunistan". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  6. ISBN 81-7890-056-4
    . Retrieved 2010-09-10.
  7. ^ "The History of Herodotus Chapter 7". Translated by George Rawlinson. The History Files. Archived from the original on 2012-02-05. Retrieved 2007-01-10.
  8. ISBN 90-04-08265-4
    . Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  9. ISBN 9783825836504
    .
  10. ^ "Afghan and Afghanistan". Abdul Hai Habibi. alamahabibi.com. 1969. Retrieved 2010-10-24.
  11. ISBN 3-16-148787-7
    .
  12. ^ Leonard Schonberg, Morgen's War (2005) p. 218.
  13. ^ a b H. Cathell, Major John. "Human Geography in the Afghanistan - Pakistan Region: Undermining the Taliban Using Traditional Pashtun Social Structures" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on August 8, 2019.
  14. ^ Swat), Sir Abdul Wadud (Wali of; K̲h̲ān̲, Muḥammad Āṣif (1963). The Story of Swat. Ferozsons.
  15. ISBN 978-1-5245-7785-8
    .
  16. ISBN 978-1-248-98954-8
    . The three primary pillars of Pashtunwali are badal, or revenge, melamstia, or hospitality, and nanawatia, or refuge.
  17. ISBN 978-1-60239-244-1
    .
  18. ISBN 0-7546-4434-0
    .
  19. ISBN 978-1-5011-1798-5
    .
  20. ^ Yousafzai, Sami; Moreau, Ron. "The Afghan Village That Saved Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell". Retrieved 19 June 2024.
  21. ^ a b c Junaid, Muhammad (March–June 2011). "Poetics of Identity: On Entrepreneurial Selves of Afghan Migrants in Pakistan". Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry. 9 (1–2): 44 – via Research Gate.
  22. ^ Junaid, Muhammad (March–June 2011). "Poetics of Identity: On Entrepreneurial Selves of Afghan Migrants in Pakistan". Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry. 9 (1–2): 45 – via Research Gate.
  23. ISBN 9781780622170.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  24. ISBN 9781474600293
    .
  25. SSRN 2083022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help
    )
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