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University of California Press Oakland, California © 2017 by The Regents of the University of California Suggested citation: Green, Nile (ed.). Afghanistan’s Islam: From Conversion to the Taliban . Oakland: University of California Press, 2017. DOI: http:// doi.org/10.1525/luminos.23 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND license. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Green, Nile, editor. Title: Afghanistan’s Islam : from conversion to the Taliban / edited by Nile Green. Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2016] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016036746 | ISBN 9780520294134 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780520967373 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Islam—Afghanistan—History. | Muslims—Afghanistan—History. Classification: LCC BP63.A54 A39 2016 | DDC 297.09581—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016036746 Manufactured in the United States of America 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 C ontents List of Illustrations vii Preface and Acknowledgments xiii Introduction. Afghanistan’s Islam: A History and Its Scholarship Nile Green 1 part one. from conversions to institutions (ca. 700–1500) 1. The Beginnings of Islam in Afghanistan: Conquest, Acculturation, and Islamization Arezou Azad 41 2. Women and Religious Patronage in the Timurid Empire Nushin Arbabzadah 56 3. The Rise of the Khwajagan-Naqshbandiyya Sufi Order in Timurid Herat Jürgen Paul 71 part two. the infrastructure of religious ideas (ca. 1500–1850) 4. Earning a Living: Promoting Islamic Culture in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries R. D. McChesney 89 5. Transporting Knowledge in the Durrani Empire: Two Manuals of Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi Practice Waleed Ziad 105 part three. new states, new discourses (ca. 1850–1979) 6. Islam, Shari‘a, and State Building under ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan Amin Tarzi 129 7. Competing Views of Pashtun Tribalism, Islam, and Society in the Indo-Afghan Borderlands Sana Haroon 145 8. Nationalism, Not Islam: The “Awaken Youth” Party and Pashtun Nationalism Faridullah Bezhan 163 part four. holy warriors and (im)pious women (1979–2014) 9. Glossy Global Leadership: Unpacking the Multilingual Religious Thought of the Jihad Simon Wolfgang Fuchs 189 10. Female Sainthood between Politics and Legend: The Emergence of Bibi Nushin of Shibirghan Ingeborg Baldauf 207 11. When Muslims Become Feminists: Khana-yi Aman, Islam, and Pashtunwali Sonia Ahsan 225 Afterword Alessandro Monsutti 243 Notes 249 Glossary of Islamic Terms 317 List of Contributors 319 Index 323 vi Contents vii List of Illustrations M A P S 1. Medieval Afghanistan and its regional context ix 2. Modern Afghanistan and its regional context x 3. The legacy of Safiullah and Fazl Ahmad xi F IG U R E S 1. Mausoleum of the Ghaznavid mystical poet Hakim Sana’i in Ghazna. 7 2. Mihrab and stucco decoration from the Ghurid Mosque, Lashkargah. 11 3. Sufi tombs inside a Kabul khanaqah. 14 4. Afghan mendicant dervish, ca. 1890. 19 5. Wooden prayer board from Nuristan. 28 6. Site believed to be the Naw Bahar Temple of Balkh, 2009. 45 7. The Naw Bahar, site of a fifth- through eighth-century Buddhist monastery, Balkh, 2009. 54 8. Timurid mosque and shrine, Torbat-i Jam, 1913. 63 9. Timurid stucco decoration in khanaqah, Torbat-i Jam, 1913. 69 10. Gold-leaf page from a Timurid Quran manuscript, Herat, ca. 1500. 78 11. The Timurid shrine complex of Qusam ibn ‘Abbas (Shah-i Zinda), Samarqand. 93 12. Manuscript seal of Fazl Ahmad Pishawari, 1225/1810. 110 13. Portrait of the amir ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan. 130 14. Cover of Ahmad Jan Khan Alkuza’i, Asas al-Quzzat (Fundamentals for Judges), Kabul, 1303/1885. 141 viii List of Illustrations 15. Afghan postage stamp with official state insignia of mosque, 1909. 148 16. Pashto lithographic book cover of Fawa’id-i Shari‘at, by Muhammad Qasim, akhund of Swat (d. after 1713), printed in Delhi, ca. 1890. 156 17. Interior of modernist Baihaqi bookstore, Kabul. 178 18. Cover of Dari version of Shafaq magazine, showing an Afghan mujahid ambiguously as a superior hajji , 1989. 193 19. Cover of Urdu version of Mahaz magazine, showing young mujahid on Soviet tank, 1988. 204 20. The Bibi Nushin pilgrimage site, 1996. 209 21. Bibi Nushin’s father with pilgrims at her tomb, 1996. 215 22. Bibi Nushin’s shrine, 2008. 223 23. Cover of Ganj-i Ghazal anthology of love poetry. 236 TA B L E S 5.1 Overview of Makhzan al-Anwar, by Khwaja Safiullah Sirhindi-Kabuli 114 5.2 Overview of Risala dar Bayan-i Tasawwuf, by Fazl Ahmad Ma‘sumi Pishawari 114 5.3 A Day in the Life of Fazl Ahmad Ma‘sumi 120 Delhi Lahore Ghazna Peshawar Kabul Bamiyan Gandhara Baghla ̄ n Samanga ̄ n Khulm Tirmidh Kish Nasaf Bukhara Khiva Merv Samarqand Kokand Isf ı ̄ ja ̄ b Kashgar Herat Nishapur Sarakhs Bayhaq Gurga ̄ n Isfahan Desert 0 200 mi 0 300 km Balkh Wakhsh R . I n d u s R . H e lm a n d R. Qunduz R. Jaxartes R. Kokcha Rigistan Desert Margo Desert Lut Desert Kavir Desert Kizilkum Desert Karakum Desert R A r g h a n d a b R Z a r a f s h a n R O x u s R M u r g h a b R B a l k h R K a b u l C H A G H A N I Y A N K H U T T A L S I S T A N S I N D H K A S H M I R HINDUKUSH BADAK H S H A ̄ N F E R G H A N A P A N J A B C H A ̄ C H G H U ̄ R B A ̄ D G H I ̄ S PAMIRS K H W A ̄ R A Z M J U ̄ Z J A ̄ N K U ̄ H I S T A ̄ N Map 1 . Medieval Afghanistan and its regional context (Balkh Art and Cultural Heritage Project, University of Oxford). Global 30 Arc-Second Elevation Data Set (GTOPO30) © 1996 US Geological Survey. Made with Natural E. Courtesy of Arezou Azad. Map 2 . Modern Afghanistan and its regional context. International bondary National capital Elevation point Archaeological site Historic/cultural site 0 0 50 100 150 mi 50 100 150 km Scale 1:6,900,000 Ghaznı ̄ Gade ̄z Bannu Koha ̄ t Peshawar Marda ̄ n Ra ̄ walpindi Jhelum Gujurat Jammu Srı ̄nagar Sia ̄ lkot Amritsar Lahore Gujuranwala Faisala ̄ ba ̄ d Ta ̄ nk Dera Ismail Khan Jala ̄ la ̄ ba ̄ d Asada ̄ ba ̄ d Chitra ̄ l Gilgit Cha ̄ rı ̄kar Pul-i Khumrı ̄ Aibak Termiz Shibirgha ̄ n Sar-i Pul Maimanah Atamyrat Tejen Marv Bayramaly Sarakhs Mashhad Torbat-i Ja ̄ m Ta ̄ yba ̄ d Hera ̄ t Fara ̄ h Zaranj Za ̄ heda ̄ n Za ̄ bol Da ̄ lbandin Quetta Zhob Multan Baha ̄ walpur Qandahar Qal’ah-yi Now Qurghonteppa Kulob Baghla ̄ n Ta ̄ loqa ̄ n Faiz ̄a ̄ ba ̄ d Kundu ̄ z Kholm Mazar-i Sharif Ba ̄ mya ̄ n KABUL ISLAMABAD Dera Gha ̄ zi Kha ̄ n H a r ı ̄ R o ̄ d Fara ̄h Ro ̄d Lu ̄rah Ro ̄d Khash Ro ̄d H e l m a n d R o ̄ d H e l m a n d R o ̄ d G o ̄ m a l R o ̄ d G u m a l Indus Indus Zhob Harı ̄ Ru ̄d T e j e n D e r y a s y M u r g a p D e r y a s y D a r y a - y i M u r g h a ̄ b D a r y a ̄ - y i K u n d u ̄ z D a r y a - y i K a b u l Kabul Jhelum Jhelum Indus Gilgit Indus Chenab Chenab Ravi Beas Sutlej Sutlej Garagum Kanaly A r g h a n d a ̄ b R o ̄ d Nanga Parbat 8,126 m (26,660 ft) 7,885 m (25,869 ft) Khu ̄njera ̄b Pass Khyber Pass Nowshak 7,485 m (24,557 ft) Tora Bora Waziristan Vale of Kashmir Tirah Valley 2,560 m (8,399 ft) Cha ̄gai Hills 3,857 m (12,654 ft) 258 m (846 ft) Wa ̄kha ̄n Corridor 1 9 7 2 L i n e o f C o n t r o l P A K I S T A N I N D IA I R AN I R AN RI ̄GESTA ̄N P A M I R S G A R A G U M H I N D U K U S H S E L S E L E H - Y I S E F I ̄ D K U ̄ H ( P A R O P A M I S U S M O U N T A I N S ) S U L A I M A N R A N G E Bamiyan Valley Kajaki Dam Tarbela Dam Mangla Dam Arghandab Dam A ̄b-i I ̄sta ̄deh-yi Muqur Darya ̄cheh-yi Ha ̄mu ̄n S ̧ a ̄berı ̄ (intermittent lake) Darya ̄cheh-yi Sista ̄n (marsh) Gowd-i Zereh (intermittent lake) Zeyit Suwhowdany Minaret of Jam Map 3 . The Naqshbandi legacy of Safiullah and Fazl Ahmad. (© Waleed Ziad) Khiva Hissar Balkh Khulm Herat Swat Yusufai Sialkot Lahore (printed ed. ca. 1920) Kashmir Peshawar Bajaur Ghazni Qandahar Zakori Hala Tando Saindad Badakhshan Akcha Kabul Sirhind Khoqand Bukhara Samarqand Miankal Tashkent Makhzan al-Anwar of Khwaja Safiullah Mujaddidi Risala of Fazl Ahmad Masumi Peshawari Record of manuscript production I R A N TURKMENISTAN UZBEKISTAN Aral Sea Caspian Sea KYRGYZSTAN TAJIKISTAN AFGHANISTAN PAKISTAN Approximate Patterns of Manuscript Circulation in the 19th and early 20th Centuries I N D I A xiii Preface and Acknowled gments Religion has been one of the most influential cultural, social, and political forces in Afghan history. In premodern times, a variety of different versions of Islam spread through the uneven geography of what later became Afghanistan, echo- ing its ethnically varied demography through similarly variant patterns of reli- gious practice. In modern times, these many versions of Islam served as powerful sociopolitical resources, providing idioms and organizations for both state and anti-state mobilization. Even as religion has been deployed as the national cement of a multiethnic emirate under the Taliban and then an Islamic republic under their recently elected successors, Islam has been no less a destabilizing force in Afghan society. Yet despite the universal recognition of the centrality of Islam to Afghan society in past and present, Afghanistan’s Islam has attracted strikingly little sustained study. Beyond a few monographs devoted to particular moments or movements (predominantly the mujahidin and Taliban), there exists no survey of the developmental trajectories of Afghan religiosity across the course of history. The scholarship becomes particularly patchy for the period before the Soviet inva- sion of 1979, making it difficult to position the fundamentalist movements from the 1980s onward in relation to earlier patterns of religious activity, whether local or transnational. To begin to fill this gap of understanding, this volume brings together interna- tional specialists on different periods, regions, and languages to develop a more comprehensive, comparative, and developmental picture of Afghanistan’s Islam from the eighth century to the present. The aim of the eleven chapters is to collec- tively provide an in-depth, critical, panoptic overview of the major developments and transformations of Islam from the early medieval period to contemporary xiv Preface and Acknowledgments times in the territories that today make up Afghanistan. Given the variety of sources and languages required for such a project—Persian, Pashto, and Uzbek, as well as Arabic and Urdu—the contributors have been selected on the basis of their previous research with both spoken and written testimony in these languages. Since the authors are specialists on a range of different periods and movements, their case studies of a variety of Muslim religious forms will allow us to see beyond the unifying rhetoric of Islam into its disparate and even fissiparous expressions. It is for this reason that the introductory chapter speaks of “versions of Islam,” in the social-scientific plural rather than the theological singular. In part, this us- age is an attempt to move beyond facile and emic notions of the singularity and unity of Islam. Stepping outside such insider discourses helps observers analyt- ically recognize the religious differences that have so often proved a source of, or justification for, social discord and violence. In a volume that brings together scholars from the humanities and as well from the social sciences, this pluralistic formula allows us to recognize also the cultural variety of Afghanistan’s rich reli- gious heritage. The aim, then, is to walk the tightrope between critical distance and sympathetic appreciation of a religious history that, for different groups, has been a source of solace as well as of oppression. There are certainly difficulties with using the rubric “Afghanistan” to bring to- gether studies of the medieval and modern eras. As a nation-state Afghanistan acquired its shape and name only between the later eighteenth and the later nineteenth century. In the period dealt with in the earlier chapters in this book, “Afghanistan” would have been a meaningless term: indeed, the label seems not to have been officially adopted in the region itself till the 1870s. The region had pre- viously been understood as a congeries of different territories, such as Khurasan and Turkistan, which were sometimes governed by the same ruler and more of- ten divided among different rulers. Nonetheless, the collective national label “Afghanistan” is helpful in allowing us to easily conjure the geographical space under scrutiny in this volume and in enabling us to focus on its religious transfor- mations through time. For as the following chapters show, the later nation-state of Afghanistan was heir to the religious institutions, authorities, and practices that emerged in its former fragmentary parts. A further reason for adopting the formula “Afghanistan’s Islam,” rather than the shorter “Afghan Islam,” is that many of the Muslim peoples under scrutiny here would not have identified themselves as Afghans. Indeed, before the early twen- tieth century, when the label “Afghan” became an official state bureaucratic term denoting common national identity, it had for centuries denoted a more narrow ethnic identity, equivalent to what we would now term Pashtun (or Pathan). Even today, the label “Afghan” is a highly contested term among citizens of Afghanistan. For these reasons, this book uses the more inclusive rubric “Afghanistan’s Islam” to bring together (but not merge) the variety of Muslim traditions developed by Preface and Acknowledgments xv the diverse peoples who inherited the territories that came to form the nation- state of Afghanistan. This dual sense of both diversity and inheritance is impor- tant. For in a study devoted to the history of religion, it allows us to grapple with the relations—whether of coexistence or conflict, continuity or change—among a variety of religious forms within the same geographical space. Through competi- tion as much as collusion, the religious institutions, practices, authorities, and tra- ditions founded in earlier periods were handed down to later periods to form the variant versions of Islam that later Muslims in the region we now call Afghanistan chose to respect or reject. The introductory chapter that follows this preface aims to introduce the study of Afghanistan’s Islam to readers with no previous knowledge of the region. It provides both a synopsis of Afghan religious history and a summary of existing scholarship on the subject. Since the book as a whole is intended to collate existing expert knowledge on Afghan Islam into a single volume, the introductory sum- mary of over half a century of scholarship in English, French, German, Italian, and Swedish provides the most comprehensive general survey of the history and anthropology of Afghanistan’s Islam yet available. The introduction structures this précis in chronological terms that follow the emergence, expansion, and diversi- fication of Afghanistan’s various versions of Islam from the eighth to the twenty- first century. In this way, the introduction should enable readers to navigate the more specialist case-study chapters that follow while at the same time drawing attention to the gaps in even expert understanding. As well as state-sponsored religion, the chapters cover such issues as the rise of Sufism, the changing role of Shari‘a, women’s religiosity, and transnational Islamism. The book is the outcome of a three-year project coordinated by the UCLA Program on Central Asia and funded by the American Institute of Afghan- istan Studies (AIAS). Together, these funding sources enabled the international meetings and conferences that gave initial shape to the chapters in this volume by scholars from Afghanistan, Germany, Switzerland, Britain, Australia, Pakistan, and the United States. In turning toward acknowledgments, I would therefore like to thank first the awards committee of AIAS, and particularly the president, Thomas Barfield, and U.S. administrative director, Mikaela Ringquist. At UCLA, I would like to thank Chris Erickson, Elizabeth Leicester, Nick Menzies, Aaron Miller, and Bin Wong for their years of support for the Program on Central Asia under my directorship from 2008–16. I would like to acknowledge also the support of the AIAS in awarding me the John F. Richards Fellowship, which funded my travels in Afghanistan during 2011 that allowed me to inspect a range of religious institutions at first hand. For enabling my access to the varied materials cited in the introduction, I thank the Charles E. Young Research Library at UCLA (especially Dr. David Hirsch), the Afghani- stan Digital Library at New York University (especially Dr. R. D. McChesney), the xvi Preface and Acknowledgments British Library (especially Dr. Graham Ward), and the Arthur Paul Afghanistan Collection at the University of Nebraska, Omaha (especially Dr. Shaista Wahab). I am finally grateful to Eric Schmidt at the University of California Press for his enthusiastic support of the book project, to Maeve Cornell-Taylor for smooth han- dling of the logistics and to Paul Psoinos for his vigilant copyediting. Nile Green Los Angeles, December 2015 1 C HA RT I N G T H E T E R R A I N This introductory chapter provides a survey of major developments in the reli- gious history of Afghanistan. As part of this book’s overall aim to construct a syn- optic vision of Afghanistan’s Islam, it presents a summary of existing scholarship in chronological terms that follow the emergence, expansion, and diversification of Afghanistan’s various versions of Islam through the course of thirteen centuries. In this way, the following pages not only provide a summary of scholarship. They also chart the historical terrain of Afghanistan’s religiosity so as to give a fuller sense of what is and is not known about the authorities, institutions, and practices of different periods. While many of the works cited here will be unknown even to specialists, general readers will find that the survey points to resources for initial research. Summarizing half a century of scholarship on Afghanistan’s Islam, both in the humanities and in the social sciences, reveals both the scope and the lim- its of expertise by way of what is and is not known about Afghanistan’s religious history. The final section of the introduction builds an investigative bridge to the new research presented in this volume by outlining subsequent chapters that range from Afghanistan’s initial conversion to the emergence of enduring institutions in the medieval period and the more recent religious agendas of the mujahidin and Taliban. The following sections focus initially on historical and literary studies of the pe- riods prior to the mid-twentieth century before moving to social-scientific schol- arship for discussion of research focusing on more recent decades. Although this dichotomy does not perfectly echo the division of scholarly labor, it does broadly Introduction Afghanistan’s Islam A History and Its Scholarship Nile Green