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Lost Tribe : Pashtoons
Published by admin on July 18th, 2008 | Tagged Afghan Politics, Other Stuff, Random News, Random Thoughts
The Pashtuns are a predominantly Muslim people, native to Afghanistan and Pakistan, who adhere to their pre-Islamic indigenous religious code of honour and culture Pashtunwali. They traditionally claim descent from the Lost Tribes. The Yousafzai (Yusafzai) are a large group of Pashtun tribes. Their name means “Sons of Joseph”.[7] There are also similar names in other areas in the region, such as the disputed land of Kashmir. There are a variety of cultural and ethnic similarities between Jews and Pashtuns.[8]
The Pashtun people have many customs similar to Judaism. Some examples are: they do not shave their sidelocks (peot), in accordance with the Torah command, “Don’t shave the sides of your head,” (Leviticus 19). They observe Saturday as a day of rest, and light candles on Friday, which some then cover with a basket perhaps a custom originally intended to hide one’s Jewishness. They wear a four-cornered garment, to which some attach fringes on the corners. Some pray facing Jerusalem. Also, the Star of David symbol is prevalent in many Pathani homes.[9] A visit by a Western journalist in 2007 revealed that many currently active Pashtun traditions may have parallels with Jewish traditions.[10] The code of Pashtunwali is strikingly similar in content and subject matter to the Mosaic law.
A book which corresponds with Pashtun historical records, Taaqati-Nasiri, states that in the 7th century a people called the Bani Israel settled in Ghor, southeast of Herat, Afghanistan, and then migrated south and east. These Bani Israel references are in line with the commonly held view by Pashtuns that when the twelve tribes of Israel were dispersed, the tribe of Joseph, among other Hebrew tribes, settled in the region.[11] Hence the tribal name ‘Yusef Zai‘ in Pashto translates to the ’sons of Joseph’. This is also described extensively in great detail by Makhzan-i-Afghani, a historical work from the 17th Century by Nehamtullah, an official in the royal court of Mughal Emperor Jehangir. A similar story is told by Iranian historian Ferishta.[12]
This account is also substantiated by the fact that the Bene Menashe of India also have traditions which trace their wanderings as going originally from the Persian Empire to Afganistan. In their case, they then went to China, where they encountered persecution, then pressed on to India and Southern Asia. [5]
Origin theories
The Bani-Israelite theory about the origin of the Pashtun is based on Pashtun traditions; the tradition itself is documented in a source titled Makhzan-i-Afghani, the only written source addressing Pashtun origins. It was written about 1612, by Nematullah Harvi, a scribe at the court of Mughal Emperor Jehangir of Hindustan. Nematullah compiled the book upon the instruction from Khan Jehan Lodhi of the Lodhi dynasty, a Pashtun noble and a courtier of the Emperor Jehangir. [13]
Some sources state that the Makhzan-i-Afghani has been discredited by historical and linguistic inconsistencies. The oral tradition is believed to be a myth that grew out of a political and cultural struggle between Pashtuns and the Mughals, which explains the historical backdrop for the creation of the myth, the inconsistencies of the mythology, and the linguistic research that refutes any Semitic origins.[13] There are also other sources who disagree strongly with the hypothesis of the Pashtun having Israelite origins. [14]
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July 27th, 2008 at 7:14 am
You son of a worthless fariban whore..clearly goes to show that you are anti-Pashtoon asshole. You fucking farsibans always complaining or making shit about us pashtoons..
Zoya dont worry the taliban will come back and will be raping your kind again
July 27th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
What part of the above is anti-pashtoon? It is a well established fact and if you watch documentaries on youtube by BBC and National geographic, you will see how Hebrew scripts were unearthed in Kandahar. Also, the code of pakhtoonwali is the same as that listed in a lot of jewish scripts.
You can turn a blind eye to history and all the evidence that exists, but this has nothing to do with farsiwan or pashtoons…. may be you should do some research. Show us that we are wrong and we will retract above with apologise :-).
July 27th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
My gosh… Pashtoon has no merit in what he said. It didnt even make sense..
Seriously.. where did your rebuttal even stem from? lol
July 27th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
Saddozai: A lot of Afghans suffer from that phenomenon. They do not read, or think about something and blurt out crap. For instance the recent debacle involving Mr. Wasiq on Khorasan TV. He said that in the Quran I could not find a phrase where it says, A muslim girl cannot marry a ‘AHLAI KITAB’ … Surely enough Christians, Jewish are ‘Ahlai Kitab’ .. he concluded that ‘a muslim girl can marry a christian’ …
Next thing you know .. people call and swear at him. He says show me where I am wrong in the Quran. He has it memorized page by page with tafseer and people who have an IDEA…a vague CLUE of Quran…swear at him for what he said.
Stupidity runs like a torrent river within the veins of A LOT OF AFGHANS… perhaps even me … and it is very sad.
July 28th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Myself:
Initially I laughed at Pashtoon’s comment… then became saddened by his retort…
I wonder if we are genetically programmed to always fight and defend our ghairaat (it seems so automatic).. as opposed to stop just for a MERE MOMENT and THINK before we say something.
Pashtoon’s comment was so random it made me reread the article.. thinking I had missed something as subtle as an anti pashtoon statement LOL
July 28th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Saddozai: Ya i do think that its a manifestation of some sort of genetic or perhaps epigenetic phenomenon. You sound educated. I am glad you could comment here.
July 29th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
LOL… I suffer from the same disease. This is so true. I am Pashtoon and proud of it but I do admit that we are very aggressive. I have noticed in my family and myself when compared to others. I did struggle to think first before fighting or I what called speaking at that time.
Since I am learning… I will not argue with the article above since I don’t have any personal knowledge besides reading in few articles similar to yours. I believe all afghans are muslims so I don’t think anyone of us are better than other when compared to our race.
I believe the comparison in race can be shirk to Allahtallah who created all of us from one father and mother (Adam & Awa). Do you know that shirk is the greatest sin in Islam?
July 30th, 2008 at 12:39 am
goodness gracious this is too funny. Its sad that some are so threatend by pashtoons that they resort to comparing them to the jews. It just shows how intimidated some people are by pashtoons. Pashtoons could careless about the ignorant individual that wrote this article.
August 5th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Malena:
This article may not be any different when geneticists and researchers found that we all originated from Africa.
Does that bother you to know that?
Jews and Muslims are “cousins”.. please let me know if you need clarification on how.
Please don’t be offended by my response.. rather use it as a way to gain more insight.
August 5th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Myself:
I’m humbled by your kind words =)
Zinda bashin..
It was an interesting topic to respond to!
I’m looking forward to doing my own research on this.. amazing how we can learn so much about history