Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Afghanistan: A County Study
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The Society and Its Enzjironment
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Afghanistan: A Country Study
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The Societyand Its Environment
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Afghanistan: A Country Study
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The Society and Its Environment
Population
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Afghanistan: A County Study
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The Societyand Its Environment
Religion
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Afghanistan: A Country Study
Tenets of Islam
In A.D. 610 Muhammad (later known as the Prophet), a
merchant belonging to the Hashimite branch of the ruling
Quraysh tribe in the Arabian town of Mecca, began to preach
the first of a series of revelations granted him by God through
the angel Gabriel. A fervent monotheist, Muhammad de-
nounced the polytheism of his fellow Meccans. Because, how-
ever, the town’s economy was based largely on the thriving
pilgrimage business to the Kaabah shrine and numerous poly-
theist religious sites located there, this vigorous and continuing
censure eventually earned him the bitter enmity of the town’s
leaders. On September 24, 622, he and a group of followers
were invited to the town of Yathrib, which came to be known
as Medina (from Madinah al Nabi-The Prophet’s City) be-
cause it became the center of his activities. The move, or hijra,
known in the West as the hegira, marks the beginning of the
Islamic era and of Islam as a force on the stage of history; the
Muslim calendar, based on a 354.day lunar year, begins in 622.
In Medina, Muhammad continued to preach, eventually de-
feated his detractors in battle, and consolidated both the tem-
poral and the spiritual leadership of all Arabia in his person. He
entered Mecca in triumph in 630 and returned there to make
the pilgrimage shortly before his death in 632.
After Muhammad’s death his followers compiled those of
his words regarded as coming directly and literally from God as
the Quran, the holy scripture of Islam; others of his sayings and
teachings and precedents of his personal behavior, recalled by
those who had known him during his lifetime, became the
hadith. Together they form the Sunna, a comprehensive guide
to the spiritual, ethical, and social life of the orthodox Muslim.
The majority of Afghan Muslims are Sunnis and adhere to
the tenets of the Sunna. The Shia, however, differ in some
respects. The shahada (literally, testimony or creed) succintly
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Early Development
During his lifetime Muhammad held both spiritual and
temporal leadership of the Muslim community; he established
the concept of Islam as a total and all-encompassing way of life
for humanity and society. Islam teaches that Allah revealed to
Muhammad the immutable principles governing decent behav-
ior, and it is therefore incumbent upon the individual to live in
the manner prescribed by revealed law and upon the commu-
nity to perfect human society on earth according to the holy
injunctions. Islam traditionally recognized no distinction be-
tween religion and state. Religious and secular life merged, as
did religious and secular law.
Islam recognizes that the Prophet Muhammad was the last
of the line of prophets that includes Abraham, Moses, Jesus,
and others from the Jewish and Christian traditions. The
Prophet, however, was also the spiritual and secular leader of
the Muslim community (urnma). After Muhammad’s death it
was necessary to select a successor to administer the umma and
to lead prayers and decide questions on which the Quran was
not explicit. The Prophet neither designated his successor nor
decreed how a successor should be chosen, and as a result
there was some difficulty in agreeing upon a new leader. Some
members of the umma felt that Muhammad’s successor should
be a close blood relative of the Prophet, i.e., Ali, who was a
member of the Hashimite line, the Prophet’s father’s brother’s
son, and the husband of Fatima, Muhammad’s sole surviving
daughter. Other Muslims believed such kinship was not a nec-
essary prerequisite and held that the caliph (from khalifi-
successor) should be chosen by the community. A split in the
ideally egalitarian and harmonious umma developed over this
issue; the rift would in time enlarge and generate the two
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The Society and Its Environment
lsmailis
The Ismailis are Shia known as Seveners because for them
Ismail was the seventh Imam. There are fewer Ismailis in Af-
ghanistan than Imami Shia. Afghan Ismailis, in the words of
Canfield, “follow the contours of the Hindu Kush Mountain
range from its southern extremity in Besud northeastward into
the Pamirs, even into Russian Central Asia and Northern Paki-
stan.”
The dichotomously divided Ismaili sect contains the Mus-
talian branch, found primarily in North Yemen, and the Nizari
branch, to which Afghan Ismailis belong. Nizari Ismailis are
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Sufis
In the beginning of the eighth century, bands of mystics,
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The Society and Its Entjironment
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Afghanistan: A Comb-y Study
,
I
While Anderson’s analysis may be unique, the elements he
reports are not. Canfield carried out research in Bamian Prov-
ince, a heterogeneous area with respect to ethnicity and reli-
gion Before the 1978 revolution Sunnis lived in the central
lowlands of the Bamian Valley, and Twelver Shia resided in the
highlands to the west, south, and east of the valley. Ismailis,
Canfield notes, were interspersed among the other Shia in
highland valleys in the east of the region. Canfield found pirs I
and mullahs in opposition in Bamian, and he observes that /
“mullahs all over the Islamic world have opposed or at least
distrusted pirs and the Sufi tradition which provides the con-
ceptual basis for the pir’s authority.”
In Bamian the role of pit-s is very similar to their role
among the Ghilzai, but Canfield adds that pirs have karamat,
“a spiritual or moral essence attributed to people especially
close to God.” He cogently explains the logic behind the pir
figure: “All the sects [of Islam present in Afghanistan] generally
shared the belief that God’s favor was passed to believers
through walis, friends or vice-regents (i.e., the pirs); indeed
without walis there would be no blessing at all in the world
This belief in walis was the ultimate cultural basis for the
pir’s influence.” Pir networks in Bamian are highly politicized
and are simultaneously both political and religious coalitions,
although, as among the Ghilzai, the dyadic tie to the pit- is
preeminent.
The Durrani Pashtun were the subject of research by Brit-
ish anthropologist Richard Tapper. In a 1984 article he de-
scribes Sufism among the Durrani. Like the Ghilzai Pashtun,
Sufism attracts only Durrani who are thwarted within their
social system, for example, barren women and improverished
men. Durrani do not despise Sufism by any means, although it
can be in conflict with mullah and mosque Islam; Durrani reli-
gious and political leaders exercise control over the Sufi form
of Islam so that it is integrated into the broader Durrani reli-
gious and political system. Sufi shaykhs are called aghas by the
Durrani and “are respected by all, [because they] have the
power to curse if authority is flouted.”
Yet another anthropologist, Bahram Tavakolian, worked
with nomadic Sheikhanzai in the northwest of the country.
This group also belongs to the Durrani Pashtun. His descrip-
tions of the role of pit-s, shaykhs, and other such leaders agree
with other accounts. Unlike other researchers, however, he
observed that Sheikhanzai accord mullahs a great deal of re-
spect for their learning and religious participation.
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Distribution
The largest and most powerful ethnic group is the Pashtun
(see fig. 5). The Pashtuns are primarily Pashtu speaking, al-
though those residing in Kabul are often Dari speaking. Both
Pashtu and Dari belong to the Iranian branch of the Indo-
European language family. In 1980 Dupree estimated that
there were about 6.5 million Pashtuns in Afghanistan. This
ethnic group, like most others in the country, is not limited to
the borders of Afghanistan but also constitutes a major ethnic
group of about 10 million in Pakistan. Pashtuns are generally
Sunni, but there are Twelver Shia Pashtuns as well. In Afghani-
stan Pashtuns traditionally have resided in a large semicircular
area following the Afghan border from north of the Darya-ye
Morgab east and southward to just north of 35” latitude. En-
claves of Pashtuns live scattered among other ethnic groups in
much of the rest of the country, particularly in the northern
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The Society and Its Enolronment
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Afghanistan: A Country Study
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The Society and Its Enoironment
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Afghanistan: A Country Study
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The Society and Its Enzjironment
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Afghanistan: A Country Study
Interethnic Relations
Scholars studying Afghanistan quip that if Afghans were
not fighting the soldiers of another country, they would be
fighting each other. Relations among Afghan ethnic groups
have tended to bear this out. Groups that live in close proximi-
ty often have complex and hostile relations, a situation that is
exacerbated by the fact that a multiplicity of ethnic groups may
reside in the same region. Furthermore, when Pashtuns have
trespassed on the property of other ethnic groups, these
groups have been able to do little. The Pashtun-dominated
government generally sided with Pashtuns, regardless of the
merits of the case. Examples of interethnic conflict abound.
Two examples will suggest the complexity of interethnic rela-
tions.
In Nuristan the Kom Nuristanis have been subject to the
encroachments of the Gujars (another ethnic group). The Kom
let some of their pastures to the Gujars in return for payment
in livestock. In the late 1940s the Gujars began to renege on
this agreement, Strand reports that “since then hostilities have
become perennial with occasional shootings and rustlings on
both sides.” Government officials attempting to mediate have
almost always been biased against the Kom. The Kom leaders
feel that this reflected .the desire of the government to pro-
mote disunity among Nuristani tribes so that it could manage
them more easily. This kind of raiding was widespread among
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Afghanistan: A County Study
Tribe
The concept of tribe merges with ethnicity and with kin-
ship groups within the tribe. Before proceeding to a discussion
of tribes in Afghanistan, it is necessary to clarify the meaning of
“tribe.” In theory, tribes view themselves as consisting of the
descendants of a common ancestor, whose name often provides
the name of the group. The internal divisions of the tribe are
seen as consisting of the descendants of intermediate descend-
ants of the founder. Thus an entire tribe may see itself as
descended from a man 10 or more generations in the past.
Smaller segments composed, for example, of the grandsons of
the same grandfather or the great-grandsons of the same great-
grandfather form the units of residence and strongest personal
loyalty. Despite the theoretical importance of genealogy as an
organizing principle, however, authorities believe that tribal
genealogies reflect the reality of politics rather than of history.
And, although they endorse the principle of genealogy,
tribesmen also recognize this fact.
Tribesmen may rally to the aid of ever more distant rela-
tives, forming ever larger segments of the tribe at higher and
higher levels of organization. Thus the grandsons of the same
grandfather might oppose one another on a certain issue but
join together if necessary to oppose the descendants of the
brother of their common great-grandfather.
The concept of tribe is denoted as qawm, the Arabic term
for tribe. Qawm connotes much more than tribe, however.
Canfield defines 9awm in Hazarajat as the “common local term
for a spatially and socially united group of people The
central intent of the word 9awm is that members are united by
agnatic kinship, have a common home territory, and enjoy
warm social fellowship.” Political action is taken by the qawm
as a unit, and it constitutes a unit for religious rituals. The term
may also be used for affinal (related through marriage) kin or
friendly families who may eventually become affines, thus in-
validating the notion that qawmi (members of the same qawm)
are only agnates. “In practice,” he writes, “the word qawm is
applied to a group, whoever they are, who functionally carry
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Family
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Afghanistan: A Country Study
Modes of Subsistence
Pastoralism
Pastoral nomads have long been subject to romantic stere-
otyping. Barfield, in a satiric vein, offers a description of pas-
toral nomads: “In good legendary style, the pure Central Asian
nomads eat only meat, marrow, and milk pyoducts (preferably
fermented). They despise farmers, farming, and grain, and
move great distances with their portable dwellings, wreaking
havoc and destruction everywhere, but always with great elan.
They are always hospitable and never pay taxes.” In fact, few if
any nomadic pastoralists in Afghanistan are “pure” nomads;
pastoralists usually farm for at least a small portion of the year.
Because nomadism is also only one available subsistence strate-
gy and families and groups often move from pastoralism to
agriculture and vice versa, the stereotype is seldom, if ever,
valid. In late 1985 it was unknown how warfare had affected
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The Society and Its Enkmwnent
Agriculture
Anderson details the fully agricultural subsistence pattern
of the Ghilzai. In most areas the Ghilzai water their fields
through an irrigation system dependent upon underground
water channels that are dug and maintained by hand. These
channels carry water from the mountains surrounding the plain
on which the Ghilzai live. Settlements may locate only where
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Gender Roles
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Afghanistan: A Country Study
Health
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Afghanistan: A Country Study
Education
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Afghanistan: A Country Study
Refugees
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Afghanistan: A County Study
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