Theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

Theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites

The theory that the Pashtun people originate from the exiled Lost Tribes of Israel was first debated by Western historians after the 19th century. Pasthuns are the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and the second largest ethnic group in Pakistan.


Theories and debates on Pashtun origins

The Arachosia Satrapy (modern-day Pashtunistan region) and the Pactyan people during the Achaemenid Empire in 500 B.C.

Those who advocate the theory cite oral history and the names of various clans, which resemble the names of the Israelite tribes that were exiled by the Assyrian Empire 2,700 years ago, as evidence for this claim. Numerous ancient texts, such as the Rig Veda, composed before 1200 BCE, which mentions the "Paktha" as an enemy group[1] (e.g. in 4.25.7c), and Herodotus in his Histories composed circa 450 BCE which mentions the Pashtuns as "Paktyakai" (Book IV v.44) and as the "Aparytai" = Afridis (Book III v.91) in what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan, yet no sources before the conversion of the Pashtuns to Islam mention any Israelite or Jewish connection, nor is the Eastern Iranian language of the Pashtuns taken into account when examining the claims of Hebrew ancestry.

It could be concluded that these claims appear to have emerged amongst the Pashtuns following the Islamic conquest of Afghanistan; it is conceivable that many tribes have created elaborate ancestral lineages to link themselves to prominent peoples mentioned in the Qur'an such as Jews, Greeks (see Alexander the Great in the Qur'an), and Arabs, all of whom have come to the region, but appear to have contributed a very small genetic input into the population rather than drastically altering the demographics of Afghanistan.

Pashtun Medieval texts

Some anthropologists lend credence to the oral traditions of the elder Pashtun tribes themselves. For example, according to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites is traced to Maghzan-e-Afghani, a history compiled for Khan-e-Jehan Lodhi in the reign of Mughal Emperor Jehangir in the 16th century CE. The Maghzan-e-Afghani's Bani-Israel theory has been discounted by modern authorities, due to numerous historical and linguistic inconsistencies.

Some sources state that the Maghzan-e-Afghani, from an oral tradition, may be a myth which grew out of a political and cultural struggle between Pashtuns and the Mughals. This explains the historical backdrop for the creation of the myth, the inconsistencies of the mythology, and the linguistic research that refutes any Semitic origins.[2]

Origin accounts in other sources

Bukhtawar Khan in his most valuable universal history Mirat-ul-Alam – The Mirror of the World – gives a vivid account of the journeys of the Afghans from the Holy Land to Ghor, Ghazni, and Kabul. Similarly Hafiz Rahmat bin Shah Alam in his Khulasat-ul-Ansab and Fareed-ud-Din Ahmad in Risala-i-Ansab-i-Afghana provide the history of the Afghans and deal with their genealogies.

Two of the most famous historical works on the subject are Tarikh-i-Afghana – History of the Afghans – by Nimat Allah al-Harawi, which was translated by Bernard Dorn in 1829, and Tarikh-i-Hafiz Rahmatkhani, by Hafiz Muhammad Zadeek which he wrote in 1770. These books deal with the early history of the Afghans, their origin and wanderings in general. They particularly discuss the Yusuf Zyes (the Yusefzai, "Sons of Joseph") and their occupation of Kabul, Bajoor, Swat, and Peshawar.

European explorers and researchers

Sir Alexander Burnes in his Travels into Bokhara, which he published in 1835, speaking of the Afghans said: "The Afghans call themselves Bani Israel, or the children of Israel, but consider the term Yahoodi, or Jew, to be one of reproach. They say that Nebuchadnezzar, after the overthrow of Israel, transplanted them into the towns of Ghore near Bamean and that they were called after their Chief Afghan they say that they lived as Israelites till Khalid summoned them in the first century of the Muhammadans Having precisely stated the traditions and history of the Afghans I see no good reason for discrediting them... the Afghans look like Jews and the younger brother marries the widow of the elder. The Afghans entertain strong prejudices against the Jewish nation, which would at least show that they have no desire to claim – without just cause – a descent from them. [Sir Alexander Burnes, Travels into Bokhara, Vol. 2:139-141.]

Burnes was again in 1837 sent as the first British Envoy to the Court of Kabul. For some time he was the guest of King Dost Mohammad Khan. He questioned the King about the descent of the Afghans from the Israelites. The King replied that "his people had no doubt of that, though they repudiated the idea of being Jews".

William Moorcroft traveled during 1819 to 1825 through various countries adjoining India, including Afghanistan. "The Khaibarees," he says, "are tall and have a singularly Jewish cast of features." [Moorcroft, Travels in Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Punjab; in Ladakh and Kashmir, in Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz and Bokhara, 12]

J. B. Frazer in his book, An Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia and Afghanistan, which he published in 1843, says: "According to their own tradition they believe themselves to be descendants from the Hebrews... they preserved the purity of their religion until they met with Islam." [J.B. Frazer, A Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia and Afghanistan, 298]

Joseph-Pierre Ferrier wrote his History of the Afghans in 1858. It was translated by Capt. W. M. Jesse. He too was disposed to believe that the Afghans represented the Ten Tribes of Israel. In support of his view he recorded, among others, a very significant fact: "When Nadir Shah marching to the conquest of India arrived at Peshawar, the chief of the tribe of Yoosoof Zyes (Sons of Joseph) presented him with a Bible written in Hebrew and several other articles that had been used in their ancient worship and which they had preserved. These articles were at once recognized by the Jews who followed the camp. So the presence of Bibles among Afghans show their Jewish origin."

Sir Olaf Caroe

The Pathans 55 0BC to 1957 AD [3]:

"This is not to assert that the ethnic or linguistic stock can be necessarily traced through to tribes of similar names today. The case would be rather that these were sub-stratum agglomerations of people who, through contact with later-comers, modified their language and were assimilated to later cultures, but retained in the more inaccessible places sufficient of their older selves to boast their original names. The theory does at least give a starting-point to Pathan history & the stock belief in the Bani Israel."

Writings of explorers

George Moore published his famous work The Lost Tribes in 1861. He gave numerous facts to prove that these tribes are traceable to India. After giving details of the character of the wandering Israelites, he said: "And we find that the very natural character of Israel reappear in all its life and reality in countries where people call themselves Bani Israel and universally claim to be the descendants of the Lost Tribes. The nomenclature of their tribes and districts, both in ancient Geography, and at the present day, confirms this universal natural tradition. Lastly, we have the route of the Israelites from Media to Afghanistan and India marked by a series of intermediate stations bearing the names of several of the tribes and clearly indicating the stages of their long and arduous journey." [George Moore, The Lost Tribes]

Moore goes on to say: "Sir William Jones, Sir John Malcolm and the missing Chamberlain, after full investigation, were of the opinion that the Ten Tribes migrated to India, Tibet, and Cashemire [Kashmir] through Afghanistan." [George Moore, The Lost Tribes]

Moore has mentioned only three eminent writers on the subject. But reference can also be made to General Sir George Macmunn (Afghanistan from Darius to Amanullah, 215), Col. G.B. Malleson (The History of Afghanistan from the Earliest Period to the outbreak of the War of 1878, 39), Col. Failson, (History of Afghanistan, 49), George Bell (Tribes of Afghanistan, 15), E. Balfour (Encyclopedia of India, article on Afghanistan), Sir Henry Yule (Encyclopædia Britannica, article on Afghanistan), and the Hon. Sir George Rose (Rose, The Afghans, the Ten Tribes and the Kings of the East, 26). They, one and all, independently came to the same conclusion.

Another, Major H. W. Bellew, went on a political mission to Kandahar and published his impressions in his Journal of a Mission to Kandahar, 1857-8. He then wrote in 1879 his book Afghanistan and Afghans. In 1880 he was sent, once again on another mission to Kabul, and in the same year he delivered two lectures before the United Services Institute at Simla: "A New Afghan Question, or "Are the Afghans Israelites?" and "Who are the Afghans?" He then published another book: The Races of Afghanistan. Finally he collected all his facts in An Enquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan, which was published in 1891.

In this work he mentions Killa Yahoodi ("Fort of the Jews") (H.W. Bellew, An Enquiry into the Ethnography of Afghanistan, 34), as being the name of the eastern boundary of their country, and also speaks of Dasht-i-Yahoodi ("Jewish plain") (ibid., 4), a place in Mardan District. He concludes: "The Afghan's accounts of Jacob and Esau, of Moses and the Exodus, of the Wars of the Israelites with the Amalekites and conquest of Palestine, of the Ark of the Covenant and of the election of Saul to the Kingdom, etc., etc., are clearly founded on the Biblical records, and clearly indicate a knowledge of the Old Testament, which if it does not prove the presence of the Christians at least corroborates their assertion that the Afghans were readers of the Pentateuch." (Ibid., 191)

Thomas Ledlie wrote an article in the Calcutta Review, which he subsequently elaborated and published in two volumes. He expressed his views on the subject very clearly: "The Europeans always confuse things, when they consider the fact that the Afghans call themselves Bani Israel and yet reject their Jewish descent. Indeed, the Afghans discard the very idea of any descent from the Jews. They, however, yet claim themselves to be of Bani Israel." [Thomas Ledlie, More Ledlian, Calcutta Review, January, 1898]

Ledlie goes on to explain: "Israelites, or the Ten Tribes, to whom the term Israel was applied – after their separation from the House of David, and the tribe of Judah, which tribe retained the name of Judah and had a distinct history ever after. These last alone are called Jews and are distinguished from the Bani Israel as much in the East as in the West." [Ibid., 7]
[edit] Winston Churchill on Afghans
Sir Winston Churchill, 1942.

Sir Olaf Caroe, The Pathans 550BC 1957AD [3]:

"Perhaps it would be fair to conclude the Herodotean argument with the words of Winston Churchill on Fair Rosamond: 24"

    "Tiresome investigators have undermined this excellent tale, but it certainly should find a place in any history worthy of the name. If Pathans themselves are in doubt, or hanker after more traditional forebears, let them remember that Herodotus was the first to call the people around Paktuike the bravest of all the people in those parts."

Modern researchers and writers

Among more contemporary writers Dr. Alfred Edersheim says: "Modern investigations have pointed the Afghans as descendants from the Lost Tribes." [Dr. Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus, the Messiah, 15]

Sir Thomas Holditch in his The Gates of India says: "But there is one important people (of whom there is much more to be said) who call themselves Bani Israel, who claim a descent from Cush and Ham, who have adopted a strange mixture of Mosaic Law in Ordinances in their moral code, who (some sections at least) keep a feast which strongly accords with the Passover,... and for whom no one has yet been able to suggest any other origin than the one they claim, and claim with determined force, and these people are the overwhelming inhabitants of Afghanistan." – Sir Thomas Holditch, The Gates of India, 49.

There are many additional references, recorded incidents, manuscripts and artifacts related to the Hebraic history of the Pashtuns for the dedicated objective researcher who seeks them out.

In his 1957 classic The Exiled and the Redeemed, Itzhak Ben-Zvi, second President of Israel, writes that Hebrew migrations into Afghanistan began, "with a sprinkling of exiles from Samaria who had been transplanted there by Shalmaneser, King of Assyria (719 BC). From the recurrent references in the Book of Esther to the "one hundred and twenty seven dominions" of King Ahasuerus, the deduction is permissible that eastern Afghanistan was among them." [The Exiled and the Redeemed, 176]

Ben-Zvi continues,

"The Afghan tribes, among whom the Jews have lived for generations, are Moslems who retain to this day their amazing tradition about their descent from the Ten Tribes. It is an ancient tradition, and one not without some historical plausibility. A number of explorers, Jewish and non-Jewish, who visited Afghanistan from time to time, and students of Afghan affairs who probed into literary sources, have referred to this tradition, which was also discussed in several encyclopedias in European languages. The fact that this tradition, and no other, has persisted among these tribes is itself a weighty consideration. Nations normally keep alive memories passed by word of mouth from generation to generation, and much of their history is based not on written records but on verbal tradition. This was particularly so in the case of the nations and the communities of the Levant. The people of the Arabian Peninsula, for example, derived all their knowledge of an original pagan cult, which they abandoned in favor of Islam, from such verbal tradition. So did the people of Iran, formerly worshipers of the religion of Zoroaster; the Turkish and Mongol tribes, formerly Buddhists and Shamanists; and the Syrians who abandoned Christianity in favor of Islam. Therefore, if the Afghan tribes persistently adhere to the tradition that they were once Hebrews and in course of time embraced Islam, and there is not an alternative tradition also existent among them, they are certainly Jewish." [The Exiled and the Redeemed]

Dr. Navras Aafreedi, an Indian historian who did a genetic study on the Afridi clan of Pashtuns in Malihabad, India, said that 650 out of the 1,500 members possess genetic material similar to genetic material found in Jews.

    Pathans, or Pashtuns, are the only people in the world whose probable descent from the lost tribes of Israel finds mention in a number of texts from the 10th century to the present day, written by Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars alike, both religious as well as secularists.[4]
    —Navras Aafreedi

    Of all the groups, there is more convincing evidence about the Pathans than anybody else, but the Pathans are the ones who would reject Israel most ferociously. That is the sweet irony..[4]
    —Shalva Weil, anthropologist and senior researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Today, one of the most pre-eminent living Western researchers in this area is Rabbi Eliahou Avichail of Israel (The Israeli Source of the Pathan Tribes).

Genetics

Research into human DNA is a new way to explore historical movements of populations by studying their genetic make-up.

Various Genetic studies have been carried out by different sources. The latest studies indicate a multi match for certain haplotypes that include in particular haplogroups J, G1, G2c and subtypes.


The Gs include G1, G2c (Y-STR haplotype 731),2,3,5 from various studies:

    *  :Table 3 in the study by Sengupta et al. (2006) Pakistani (n=176), Y chromosome lineages.[5] [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=PubMed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=17047675&ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

    * Firasat et al. and Sengupta et al. (2006) [6]

    * The YHRD European forensic database has several haplotypes from Pakistan that are very likely to be G2c[7][8]

Population and
Location    n    Status    DYS393    DYS390    DYS19    DYS391    DYS385    DYS426    DYS388    DYS439    DYS392    DYS389    DYS438    DYS461
= add 2 to DYSA7.2

Ashkenazi Jews
Poland-Lithuania
Western Germany Sicilians 300    confirmed    12
Pathans    1    confirmed    13    23    16    11    13,16    11    12    11    11    13,30       
Pathans    6    confirmed    13    23    17    10       11    12    11    11    13,30       

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_ ... Israelites

[CrackSmokeRepublican]

Some genetic genealogy studies also indicate a minor contribution to the Pashtun DNA from Iranian, Arab, Turkish and Greek peoples.[68]

The theory of Pashtun descent from Israelites is currently being studied by Navras Aafreedi and Shahnaz Ali of India.[69][70]

    "Pathans, or Pashtuns, are the only people in the world whose probable descent from the lost tribes of Israel finds mention in a number of texts from the 10th century to the present day, written by Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars alike, both religious as well as secularists."[71]
    —Navras Aafreedi, academic at the University of Lucknow and member of the Afridis

Israel is planning to fund this rare genetic study to determine whether there is a link between the lost tribes of Israel and the Pashtuns.

    "Of all the groups, there is more convincing evidence about the Pashtuns than anybody else, but the Pashtuns are the ones who would reject Israel most ferociously. That is the sweet irony."[71]
    —Shalva Weil, anthropologist and senior researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Mitochondrial DNA analysis on a 2500 year-old skeleton excavated from a Scythian kurgan at the Kizil site in the Altai Republic casts doubt on the theory of Pashtun descent from Scythians. Results showed the remains to be a member of haplogroup N1a.[72] This haplogroup is spread widely across Eurasia and northeast Africa in low frequencies but is not currently identified in Pashtuns. Precise matches to the Scythian skeleton are found in Yemen, Armenia, Egypt, Germany, and Estonia. Additionally:

    * Mitochondrial DNA extracted from two Scytho-Siberian skeletons (Altai Republic (Russia) dating back 2,500 years) show characteristics "of mixed Euro-Mongoloid origin". ("European" in this context means Western Eurasian).[73] One of the individuals was found to carry the F2a maternal lineage, and the other the D lineage, both of which are characteristic of East Eurasian populations.[74]

    * Maternal genetic analysis (of Saka period male and female skeletal remains, Beral site Kazakhstan) determined an HV1 mitochondrial sequence in the male (most frequent in European populations) and the HV1 sequence of the female to be of an Asian origin. It was suggested that the female may have derived from either mtDNA X or D.[75]

    * Y-Chromosome DNA testing (ancient Scythian skeletons dated to the 5th century BCE, Sebÿstei site) exhibited the R1a1 haplogroup. A search in the YHRD database as well as the researching scientists' own database revealed close matches were found for a haplotype found at high frequency in Altaians & among eastern Europeans and Central Anatolia. Other haplotype matches closely matched types in Poland, Germany, Anatolia, Armenia, Nepal and India.[76]

From these and many other studies it is thus conclusive that genetic makeup of Scythians and Scythian hybrids does not match Pasthun DNA.

Modern era



Zahir Shah became the last King of Afghanistan, reigning from 1933 to 1973.

Hamid Karzai, President of Afghanistan and head of the Karzai administration since December 2001.

The Pashtuns are intimately tied to the history of modern Afghanistan and Pakistan. Following Muslim conquests from the 7th to 10th centuries, Pashtun ghazis (warriors) invaded and conquered much of the Indian subcontinent during the Ghaznavids (963–1187), Ghurid dynasty (1148–1215), Khilji dynasty (1290–1321), Lodhi dynasty (1451–1526) and Suri dynasty (1540–1556). Their modern past stretches back to the Hotaki dynasty (1709–1738) and later the Durrani Empire (1747–1826).[23] The Hotakis were Ghilzai tribesmen, who defeated the Safavid dynasty and seized control over much of Persia from 1722 to 1738.[77] This was followed by the conquests of Ahmad Shah Durrani who was a former high-ranking military commander under Nader Shah of Persia. He founded the Afghan Empire that covered most of what is today Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Indian Punjab, and Khorasan province of Iran. After the decline of the Durrani Empire in 1826, the Barakzai dynasty took control of Afghanistan. Specifically, the Mohamedzai subclan ruled Afghanistan from 1826 to the end of Mohammed Zahir Shah's reign in 1973. This legacy continues into modern times as Afghanistan is run by President Hamid Karzai, who is from the Popalzai tribe of Kandahar.

The Pashtuns in Afghanistan resisted British designs upon their territory and kept the Russians at bay during the so-called Great Game. By playing the two empires against each other, Afghanistan remained an independent state and maintained some autonomy (see the Siege of Malakand). But during the reign of Abdur Rahman Khan (1880–1901), Pashtun regions were divided by the Durand Line, and what is today western Pakistan was ceded to British India in 1893. In the 20th century, many politically-active Pashtun leaders living under British rule in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of colonial India supported Indian independence, including Khan Wali Khan and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (both members of the Khudai Khidmatgar, popularly referred to as the Surkh posh or "the Red shirts"), and were inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent method of resistance.[78][79] Later, in the 1970s, Khan Wali Khan pressed for more autonomy for Pashtuns in Pakistan. Many Pashtuns also worked in the Muslim League to fight for an independent Pakistan, including Abdur Rab Nishtar (a close associate of Muhammad Ali Jinnah) and Yusuf Khattak, among others.[80][81]
Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

Pashtuns in Afghanistan attained complete independence from British intervention during the reign of King Amanullah Khan, following the Third Anglo-Afghan War. The monarchy ended when Sardar Daoud Khan seized control of Afghanistan in 1973. This opened the door to Soviet intervention and culminated in the Communist Saur Revolution in 1978. Starting in the late 1970s, many Pashtuns joined the Mujahideen opposition against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In the late 1990s, Pashtuns became known for being the primary ethnic group that comprised the Taliban, which was a religious government based on Islamic sharia law.[82] The Taliban government was ousted in late 2001 during the US-led invasion of Afghanistan and replaced with the current Karzai administration, which is dominated by Pashtun ministers.[83]

Pashtuns have played an important role in the regions of South and Central Asia, including the Middle East. The Afghan royal family, which was represented by king Zahir Shah, is of ethnic Pashtun origin. Other prominent Pashtuns include the 17th-century warrior poet Khushal Khan Khattak, "Iron" Emir Abdur Rahman Khan, and in modern times Afghan Astronaut Abdul Ahad Mohmand and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad among many others. In Pakistan, ethnic Pashtuns, notably Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and Ghulam Ishaq Khan, attained the Presidency. A number of Pakistani Pashtuns also held high government posts, such as Army Chief Gul Hassan Khan, Abdul Waheed Kakar, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Sherpao, etc. Similarly, one of India's former presidents, Dr. Zakir Hussain, was a Pashtun of the Afridi tribe who came from an upper middle class Pashtun family settled in Farrukhabad.[84][85][86] Mohammad Yunus, India's former ambassador to Algeria and advisor to Indira Gandhi, is an ethnic Pashtun related to the legendary Bacha Khan.[87]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pashtun_people

[Rehmat]

Yes - due to the 'shrinking Jewish population' in the world - the Zionist entity is in desperate need to find more 'lost sheep' of Israelite - so that they can be settled on Arab lands stolen from the Native Muslims and Christians in the Occupied Palestine. Recently they have found those 'Israelite sheep' in Peru and India too.

I remember my Padre at the Catholic school used to say that if one shake his/her family tree, he/she can find a Jew hidding there.

Arthur Koestler in his book 'The Thirteenth Tribe' documents the history of European Jews (the largest group in world Jewry) who converted to Judaism in the 10th century and became the 13th. tribe of Israelite.

Historically, there are more Semite (Israelite) among the Arab Muslims and Christians than the entire world Jewish population (12.7 million).

The Pakhtoon of 'Yousefzai' could trace their ancestory to prophet Jacob's one of the 12 sons - prophet Yousef.

There are far more Pakhtoon in Pakistan than in Afghanistan.

http://rehmat1.wordpress.com/2009/04/12 ... shrinking/