Pashtunwali

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Pashtunwali (Pashto: پښتونولي‎)[1] is the traditional lifestyle of the Pashtun people. Scholars widely have interpreted it as being "the way of the Afghans" or "the code of life".[2] Pashtunwali is widely practised by Pashtuns in the Pashtunistan regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Although many scholars have portrayed Pashtunwali as stemming solely from the tenets of Islam, the code dates back to ancient pre-Islamic times.[3][4]

Overview
Further information: Pashtun people

The native Pashtun tribes, often described as fiercely independent people,[5] have inhabited the Pashtunistan region (eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan) since at least the 1st millennium BC.[6][7][8] During that period, much of their mountainous territory has remained outside government rule or control. Pashtun resistance to outside rule and the terrain they reside in is maybe why Indigenous Pashtuns still follow Pashtunwali, which is a fundamental common law of the land or "code of life".

Pashtunwali rules are accepted in Afghanistan and Pakistan (mainly in and around the Pashtunistan region), and also in some Pashtun communities around the world. Some non-Pashtun Afghans and others have also adopted its ideology or practices for their own benefit. Conversely, many urbanized Pashtuns tend to ignore the rules of Pashtunwali. Passed on from generation to generation, Pashtunwali guides both individual and communal conduct. Practiced by the majority of Pashtuns, it helps to promote Pashtunization.[2]

Ideal Pukhtun behaviour approximates the features Pukhtunwali, the code of the Pukhtuns, which includes the following traditional features: courage (tora), revenge (badal), hospitality (melmestia), generosity to a defeated...[9]

— Maliha Zulfacar, 1999

Pashtuns embrace an ancient traditional, spiritual, and communal identity tied to a set of moral codes and rules of behaviour, as well as to a record of history spanning some seventeen hundred years.[10]

Pashtunwali promotes self-respect, independence, justice, hospitality, love, forgiveness, revenge and tolerance toward all (especially to strangers or guests).[11] It is considered to be the personal responsibility of every Pashtun to discover and rediscover Pashtunwali's essence and meaning.

It is the way of the Pashtuns. We have melmestia, being a good host, nanawatai, giving asylum, and badal, vengeance. Pashtuns live by these things.[12]

— Abdur, A character in Morgen's War
The Pashtun tribes are always engaged in private or public war. Every man is a warrior, a politician and a theologian. Every large house is a real feudal fortress. ... Every family cultivates its vendetta; every clan, its feud. ... Nothing is ever forgotten and very few debts are left unpaid.
Winston Churchill (My Early Life, Chapter 11: "The Mahmund Valley")

Pashtun institutions

Pashtuns are organised into tribal or extended family groups often led by a "Khan" (a wealthy and influential leader from the group). Disputes within clans are settled by a jirga (traditionally a tribal assembly involving all adult males).[13] In times of foreign invasion, Pashtuns have been known to unite under a Pashtun religious leaders such as Saidullah Baba in the Siege of Malakand[14] and even under Pashtána female leaders such as Malalai of Maiwand in the Battle of Maiwand.[15]

Main principles
From left to right: Jamaluddin Badar, Nuristan governor, Fazlullah Wahidi, Kunar governor, Gul Agha Sherzai, Nangarhar governor, and Lutfullah Mashal, Langhman governor, listen to speakers during the first regional Jirga to talk about peace, prosperity and the rehabilitation of Afghanistan.
Hamid Karzai appointed as President of the Afghan Transitional Administration at the July 2002 Loya Jirga in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Although not exclusive, the following twelve principles form the major components of Pashtunwali. They are headed with the words of the Pashto language that signify individual or collective Pashtun tribal functions.

The three primary[16] principles:

  1. Melmastyā́ ( مېلمستيا): Hospitality – Showing hospitality and profound respect to all visitors, regardless of race, religion, national affiliation or economic status and doing so without any hope of remuneration or favour. Pashtuns will go to great lengths to show their hospitality.[2][17][18]
  2. Nənawā́te ( ننواتې ): Asylum – Derived from the verb meaning to go in, this refers to the protection given to a person against his enemies. People are protected at all costs; even those running from the law must be given refuge until the situation can be clarified.[2] Nənawā́te can also be used when the vanquished party in a dispute is prepared to go into the house of the victors and ask for their forgiveness: this is a peculiar form of "chivalrous" surrender, in which an enemy seeks "sanctuary" at the house of their foe. A notable example is that of Navy Petty Officer First Class Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of a US Navy SEAL team ambushed by Taliban fighters. Wounded, he evaded the enemy and was aided by members of the Sabray tribe who took him to their village. The tribal chief protected him, fending off attacking tribes until word was sent to nearby US forces.
  3. Nyāw aw Badál (نياو او بدل): Justice and Revenge – To seek justice or take revenge against the wrongdoer. No time limit restricts the period in which revenge can be taken. Justice in Pashtun lore needs elaborating: even a mere taunt (or "Peghor/پېغور") counts as an insult.[2] Monetary compensation can be an alternative to badal, for example in murder cases.

The other main principles:

  1. Túra (توره): Bravery – A Pashtun must defend his land, property, and family from incursions. He should always stand bravely against tyranny and be able to defend the honour of his name. Death can follow if anyone offends this principle.[2]
  2. Wapā́ (وفا): loyalty[19] – Pashtuns owe loyalty to their family, friends and tribe members. Pashtuns can never become disloyal as this would be a matter of shame for their families and themselves.
  3. X̌egә́ṛa (ښېګړه): Kindness – Pashtun should do act in the welfare of others.[19]
  4. Jergá (جرګه): Arbitration – Disputes are resolved through the Jirga.[19]
  5. Groh (ګروه): Faith – Contains a wider notion of trust or faith in God (known as "Allah" in Arabic and "Khudāi" in Pashto).[2] The notion of trusting in one Creator generally comports to the Islamic idea of belief in only one God (tawhid).
  6. Pat aw Wyāṛ (پت او وياړ ): Respect and Pride - Pashtun's pride [وياړ], has great importance in Pashtun society and must be preserved. They must respect themselves and others in order to be able to do so, especially those they do not know. Respect begins at home, among family members and relatives. If one does not have these qualities they are not considered worthy of being a Pashtun.[2] As per the poetry Khushal Khan Khattak “The loss of life and wealth should not matter, what matters is Pat [پت - respect]”.[20]
  7. Nāmús (ناموس): - Female Honour – Pashtun must defend the honour of women at all costs and must protect them from vocal and physical harm.[2] The killing of women is forbidden in Pashtun culture.[21]
  8. Nang (ننګ): Honour – A Pashtun must defend the weak around him.[22]
  9. Meṛā́na ( مېړانه): Manhood or Chivalry or Courage [23] – Pashtuns must demonstrate courage [مېړانه]. A turban is considered a symbol of a Pashtun's chivalry.
  10. Hewā́d (هېواد): Country – A Pashtun is obliged to protect the land of the Pashtuns. Defense of the nation means the protectection of Pashtun custom "dod" [دود], countrymen, and of the self or "źaan" [ځان]. This principle is also interconnected to another principle denoting the attachment a Pashtun feels with his land or źmә́ka or mdzә́ka [مځکه ,مځکه].[13]

See also

References
  1. Rzehak, Lutz (2011). Doing Pashto: Pashtunwali also known as Afghaniyat as the Ideal of Honourable Behaviour and Tribal Life Among the Pashtuns. Afghanistan Analysts Network.
  2. Banting, Erinn (2003). Afghanistan the People. Crabtree Publishing Company. p. 14. ISBN 0-7787-9335-4. Retrieved 29 October 2010. Erinn Banting.
  3. http://www.uob.edu.pk/journals/takatoo/Volumes/English-Jan-Jun-2012.pdf
  4. Singh, Ms Priya; Chatterjee, Ms Suchandana; Sengupta, Ms Anita (15 January 2014). Beyond Strategies: Cultural Dynamics in Asian Connections: Cultural Dynamics in Asian Connections. ISBN 9789385714535.
  5. Shane, Scott (December 5, 2009). "The War in Pashtunistan". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-29.
  6. Nath, Samir (2002). Dictionary of Vedanta. Sarup & Sons. p. 273. ISBN 81-7890-056-4. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
  7. "The History of Herodotus Chapter 7". Translated by George Rawlinson. The History Files. Archived from the original on 2012-02-01. Retrieved 2007-01-10.
  8. Houtsma, Martijn Theodoor (1987). E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936. 2. BRILL. p. 150. ISBN 90-04-08265-4. Retrieved 2010-09-24.
  9. Zulfacar, Maliha (1998). Afghan Immigrants in the USA and Germany: A Comparative Analysis of the Use of Ethnic Social Capital. Kulturelle Identitat und politische Selbstbestimmung in der Weltgesellschaft. LIT Verlag. p. 33. ISBN 9783825836504.
  10. "Afghan and Afghanistan". Abdul Hai Habibi. alamahabibi.com. 1969. Retrieved 2010-10-24.
  11. Yassari, Nadjma (2005). The Sharīʻa in the Constitutions of Afghanistan, Iran, and Egypt. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. p. 49. ISBN 3-16-148787-7.
  12. Leonard Schonberg, Morgen's War (2005) p. 218.
  13. H. Cathell, Major John. "Human Geography in the Afghanistan - Pakistan Region: Undermining the Taliban Using Traditional Pashtun Social Structures" (PDF).
  14. Swat), Sir Abdul Wadud (Wali of; K̲h̲ān̲, Muḥammad Āṣif (1963). The Story of Swat. Ferozsons.
  15. M.d, Bashir Zikria; Facs, B. a Zikria MD (2017-02-17). Malalai Joan of Arc of Afghanistan and the Victors of Maiwand: The Second Anglo-afghan War 1878-1882. Xlibris Corporation LLC. ISBN 978-1-5245-7785-8.
  16. Amato, Jonathan N. (May 2012). Tribes, Pashtunwali and How They Impact Reconciliation and Reintegration Efforts in Afghanistan (PDF). BiblioBazaar. ISBN 978-1-248-98954-8. The three primary pillars of Pashtunwali are badal, or revenge, melamstia, or hospitality, and nanawatia, or refuge.
  17. Schultheis, Rob (2008). Hunting Bin Laden: How Al-Qaeda Is Winning the War on Terror. New York: Skyhorse. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-60239-244-1.
  18. Hussain, Rizwan (2005). Pakistan and the Emergence of Islamic Militancy in Afghanistan. Aldershot: Ashgate. p. 221. ISBN 0-7546-4434-0.
  19. Junaid, Muhammad (March–June 2011). "Poetics of Identity: On Entrepreneurial Selves of Afghan Migrants in Pakistan". Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry. 9 (1–2): 44 – via Research Gate.
  20. Junaid, Muhammad (March–June 2011). "Poetics of Identity: On Entrepreneurial Selves of Afghan Migrants in Pakistan". Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry. 9 (1–2): 45 – via Research Gate.
  21. Yousafzai,McCormick, Malala, Patrick (2014-08-19). I am Malala. ISBN 9781780622170.
  22. Yousafzai, Malala (2014-11-13). I am Malala. ISBN 9781474600293.
  23. "International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology". SSRN 2083022. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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