Editing Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (section)

==Conversion of Pashtuns==

The name ''Afghanistan'' was first used in a political sense by Saifi Herawi in the 14th century. It was even used during the height of the [[Durrani Empire]]. Only after the [[Durand line]] was fixed, did its modern usage for the land between it and the Oxus river became usual. The people who were mostly responsible for establishing the Afghan kingdom are referred to as ''Pashtun'', who were also called "[[Afghan (ethnonym)|Afghans]]". The name ''[[Pashtuns|Pashtun]]'' (or ''Pakthun'') is the original and oldest name.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i_C4CwAAQBAJ&pg=PR17|title=Government and Society in Afghanistan: The Reign of Amir 'Abd Al-Rahman Khan|author=Hasun Kawun Kakar|page= xvii|publisher=[[University of Texas Press]]|isbn=9780292729001|date=2011-01-15}}</ref>

The tenth-century Persian geography ''[[Hudud al-'Alam]]'' is the earliest known mention of the Afghans. In ''Discourse on the Country of Hindistan and Its Towns'', it states that, "Saul, a pleasant village on a mountain. In it live Afghans." [[Ibn Battuta]] described Saul as being situated between [[Gardez]] and Husaynan along a common trade route, the exact location of Husaynan is unknown. [[Akhund Darweza]] states that their original homeland was Qandahar from where they immigrated in 11th century upon the request of [[Mahmud of Ghazni]] to assist him in his conquests gradually expanding Pashtun settlements. Afghan tradition considers "Kase Ghar" in [[Sulaiman Mountains|Sulayman range]] as the homeland.<ref>{{cite book|title= The transformation of Afghan tribal society: Tribal expansion, Mughal imperialism and the Roshaniyya insurrection, 1450-1600|pages=133–134|author=Joseph Theodore Arlinghaus, Duke University Dept. of History|publisher=Duke University|year=1988}}</ref> ''Hudud al-'Alam'' also mentions that the king of Ninhar ([[Nangarhar]]) had many wives including "Moslem, Afghan and Hindu".<ref name=Ninhar/>

The Pashtun traditions speak of [[Islamization]] during [[Muhammad]]'s time through [[Khalid ibn Walid|Khalid ibn al-Walid]].<ref name=Meel>{{cite book|title= Peshawar: Historic City of the Frontier|pages=64–65|author=Ahmed Hassan Dani|publisher=Sang-e-Meel Publications|year=1995}}</ref> [[Qais Abdur Rashid]], the presumed ancestor of the Afghans, is said to have led a delegation to Mecca from [[Ghor]] after being summoned by Khalid b. Walid and converted to Islam while also distinguishing himself in the service of Muhammad. He adopted the name Abdul Rashid, and his three sons – [[Sarbani|Saraban]], Ghurghust, [[Bettani|Baitan]], and an adopted son [[Karlani|Karlanri]] linked to Saranban, are considered to be the progenitors of the major Afghan divisions.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AAHna6aqtX4C&pg=PA30|title= Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan|page=30|author=Ludwig W. Adamec|publisher= Scarecrow Press|year=2012|isbn= 9780810878150}}</ref>

[[Nimat Allah al-Harawi|Ni'matullah]]'s ''[[Makhzan-i-Afghani]]'' traces their history to an [[Israelite]] called Afghana who constructed the [[Qibli Mosque|al-Aqsa mosque]]. Per it, under the time of [[Solomon in Islam|King Suleiman]], a figure named [[Nebuchadnezzar II|Bokhtnasser]] was responsible for "carrying away the Israelites, whom he settled in the mountainous districts of Ghor, Ghazneen, Kabul, Candahar, Koh Firozeh, and the parts lying within the fifth and sixth climates; where they, especially those descended of Asif and Afghana, fixed their habitations, continually increasing in number, and incessantly making war on the infidels around them." [[Qais Abdur Rashid|Qais]] traveled to Medina to receive Mohammed's blessings and fought against the Meccans. Muhammad himself conferred the title of ''Pashtun'' upon Qais and his people according to the tradition. They returned to Ghor to spread Islam and pledged loyalty to Mahmud.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f6_SCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA11|title= Afghan Modern: The History of a Global Nation|pages=11–12|author=Robert D. Crews|publisher= Harvard university Press|year=2015|isbn= 9780674286092}}</ref> Per Ni'matullah, the Ghurid ruler [[Muhammad of Ghor|Mu'izz al-Din]] had initiated their eastward migration (or settlements) into present-day north-west Pakistan, in course of his military campaigns.<ref name=DostMuhammad1>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mf2cvE5jYrYC&pg=PA160|title=State and Tribe in Nineteenth-century Afghanistan: The Reign of Amir Dost Muhammad Khan (1826–1863)|publisher=[[Psychology Press]]|author=Christine Noelle|page=160|isbn=9780700706297|year=1997}}</ref>

The Arabs, at war with the Kabul Shah, had directed their campaigns in direction of [[Gandhara]]. By the time of [[Mu'awiya I|Mu'awiya]], Sistan's governorship was separated from Khorasan, with the governor looking after the region and keeping a check on Kabul Shah. [[Ahmed Hassan Dani]] considered that the Arab activities may have led to conversion of Afghans as well, and it may have been wholesale because of their tribal nature, i.e., all the Afghan tribes adopted Islam at once.<ref name=Meel/>

Quoting ''Matla-al-Anwar'', [[Ferishta]] states that a man named Khalid, son of Abdullah, stated by some to be a descendant of [[Khalid bin Walid]] or [[Abu Jahl]], was for some time governor of Herat, Ghor, [[Gharjistan]] and Kabul. After being relieved of the charge, he took up residence in Koh Sulaiman, with the [[Lodi (Pashtun tribe)|Lodis]] and [[Sur (Pashtun tribe)|Suris]] being the descendant of his daughter who married a converted Afghan.<ref>{{cite book|title= Peshawar: Historic City of the Frontier|pages=64|author=Ahmed Hassan Dani|publisher=Sang-e-Meel Publications|year=1995}}</ref>

Al-Utbi in ''[[Tarikh Yamini|Tarikh-i-Yamini]]'' states that the Afghans were enlisted by Sabuktigin and also Mahmud. During this period, the Afghan habitat was in the Sulaiman Mountains.<ref name=Ninhar>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AXAABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14|title= A History of Afghanistan: Volumes 1 and 2|page=14|author=Percy Sykes|publisher=Routledge|isbn= 9781317845874|date= 2014-07-10}}</ref> After defeating Jayapala in 988 AD, Sabuktigin had acquired the territory between [[Laghman Province|Laghman]] and [[Peshawar]]. Al-Utbi states that the Afghans and [[Ghaljis|Khaljis]], living there as nomads, took the oath of allegiance to him and were recruited into his army.<ref name=Raza/> Iqtidar Husain Siddiqui citing a 13th-century Persian translation, claims he mentions the "Afghans" were [[pagan]]s given to rapine and rapacity, they were defeated and converted to Islam.<ref>''The Process of Acculturation in Regional Historiography:The Case of the Delhi Sultanate'', Iqtidar Husain Siddiqui, '''Art and Culture: Endeavours in Interpretation''', Vol.1, Ed. Ahsan Jan Qaisar, Som Prakash Verma, Mohammad Habib, (Abhinav Publications, 1996), 7.</ref>

Writing in the 11th century AD, [[Al-Biruni]] in his ''Tarikh al Hind'' stated that the Afghan tribes lived in mountains west of India.<ref name=Vogelsang>The Afghans By Willem Vogelsang Edition: illustrated Published by Wiley-Blackwell, 2002 Page 118 {{ISBN|0-631-19841-5}}, {{ISBN|978-0-631-19841-3}}</ref> He notes, "In the western frontier mountains of India there live various tribes of the Afghans and extend up to the neighbourhood of the [[Indus Valley|Sindu valley]]." He earlier also noted about the mountains, "In marching from our country to [[Sindh]] we start from the country of [[Nimruz Province|Nimroz]], i.e. the country of Sijistan, whilst marching to Hind or India proper we start from the side of Kabul...  In the mountains which form the frontier of India towards the west there are tribes of the Hindus, or of people near akin to them  – rebellious savage races – which extend as far as the farthermost frontiers of the Hindu race."<ref>{{cite book|title= Peshawar: Historic City of the Frontier|pages=62–63|author=Ahmed Hassan Dani|publisher=Sang-e-Meel Publications|year=1995}}</ref>

Mahmud had gone to war against pagan Afghans while campaigning in the Sulayman mountains.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2lrRAAAAMAAJ&q=Mahmud+Ghaznavi+had+to+fight+against+the+infidel+Afghans+in+the+Sulaiman+mountains|title=Studies in Asian History: Proceedings|first=Indian Council for Cultural|last=Relations|date=March 21, 1969|publisher=Asia Publishing House [for] Indian Council for Cultural Relations}}</ref> Firishta states that Afghans fought on both sides during the [[Second Battle of Tarain|war]] between Mu'izz al-Din and [[Prithviraj Chauhan|Pithorai]] in 1192 AD, which [[Encyclopaedia of Islam]] says probably indicates that they were not completely converted yet.<ref name=Wesnick>''E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936 : Volume I'' By M Th Houtsma, [[T. W. Arnold]], A J Wensinck Edition: reprint, illustrated Published by BRILL, Page 217, 1993 {{ISBN|90-04-09796-1}}, {{ISBN|978-90-04-09796-4}}</ref>

In 1519, [[Babur]] mounted an [[Battle of Bajaur (1519)|attack]] on the fort of [[Bajaur]] and sent a [[Dilazak]] Afghan as an ambassador to the Gibri Sultan of Bajaur, Mir Haidar 'Ali, to surrender and enter his services. Gibri, a [[Dardic languages|Dardic language]] of Bajaur, was also spoken by the royal family and nobility of the [[Swat Valley]]. The Gibris decided to resist and Babur's forces stormed it in two days. He ordered a general massacre of its inhabitants on the pretext that they had rebelled against [[Babur#At Kabul|Kabul's regime]] and were infidels who had [[apostasy|forsaken]] Islam.<ref>{{cite book|title= The transformation of Afghan tribal society: tribal expansion, Mughal imperialism and the Roshaniyya insurrection, 1450-1600|publisher=Duke University|author=Joseph Theodore Arlinghaus|pages=191, 200–201}}</ref>

The westward movement of Pashtuns from Sulaiman mountains to [[Qandahar]] and [[Herat]] is thought to have begun in the 15th century. In the 16th century, the area around Qandahar formed a bone of contention between the [[Ghilzai]]s and [[Durranis|Abdalis]]. The latter gave in and moved towards Herat during the reign of [[Safavid]] [[Abbas I of Persia|Shah Abbas I]]. Their settlements displaced or subjugated the indigenous populations, especially the [[Tajiks]] who were also the dominant population in Kabul, [[Nangarhar]] and [[Laghman Province|Laghman]] in east Afghanistan. Before the advent of Ghilzais of the [[Ahmadzai (Ghilji clan)|Ahmadzai]] division in the late 16th century, [[Logar River]] was also a Tajik stronghold. The Pashtuns also displaced the original [[Nuristanis|Kafirs]] and [[Pashayi people]] in [[Kunar Valley]] and Laghman Valley, located south of Kabul in east Afghanistan, to the infertile mountains. Regions to the south and east of [[Ghazni]] were the strongholds of [[Hazaras]] before the 16th century. They also lost [[Maidan Wardak Province|Wardak]] to [[Wardak (Pashtun tribe)|the tribe of the same name]] when the latter invaded in the 17th century. In Qandahar, the [[Farsiwan]]is, Hazaras, [[Kakar]]s and [[Baloch people]] were subjugated.<ref name=DostMuhammad>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mf2cvE5jYrYC&pg=PA161|title=State and Tribe in Nineteenth-century Afghanistan: The Reign of Amir Dost Muhammad Khan (1826–1863)|publisher=[[Psychology Press]]|author=Christine Noelle|page=161|isbn=9780700706297|year=1997}}</ref>