The Hazaras of Afghanistan

S. A. Mousavi

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781136800160
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Ethnic Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

Study of the second largest but least well-known ethnic group in Afghanistan that also confronts the taboo subject of Afghan national identity. Largely Farsi-speaking Shi'ias, the Hazaras traditionally inhabited central Afghanistan, but because of the war are now widely scattered.

Chapter 1
Who are the Hazaras?

kharboza az kharboza rang bal mona.

One is bound to be effected by.

A Hazaragi proverb

The frequent reshaping of geo-political borders, which constitutes a determining factor in the evolution and history of human societies, can itself bring about the creation and emergence of new nations and socio-political structures. The most recent examples of this can be seen in the newly formed nations of Africa, which have come into being only during the past half century or so, following independence from European colonial rule. The growth of mercantilism in the West led to the search for new markets in Africa and Asia. This, in turn, led to new patterns of displacement and integration in the social, economic, political, historical and geographical structure of these continents, forming over time the contemporary geo-political map of Asia and Africa.

These changes, referred to as ‘human dislocation and integration’, constitute one of the most significant factors in the socio-historical evolution of peoples everywhere. Afghanistan, often referred to as the ‘crossroads of Asian history’,¹ is a prime example of the historic outcome of this human displacement and integration. In order to facilitate a clearer understanding of society in Afghanistan, I shall use the concept of the ‘Chinese Box’² in sociology. The Chinese Box is made up of a series of several smaller boxes in consecutive sizes fitting inside one another, with the largest box containing all. The Chinese Box of Afghanistan is made up of several smaller ‘boxes’ of different peoples and nations, all forming Afghanistan, such as: the Nuristanis, the Afghans, the Hazaras, the Tajiks, the Baluchis, etc.; with each in turn representing an independent Chinese Box. These boxes which make up the ultimate Chinese Box of Afghanistan are the inevitable outcome of several thousand years of the dislocation and integration of the peoples of south, west and central Asia. In other words, Afghanistan has evolved from the continuous process of the displacement and integration of different peoples and cultures.

It follows thus that any objective and thorough study of Afghanistan necessitates an understanding and study of its constituent peoples. The clearer and more thorough our understanding of the peoples who make up Afghanistan, the more accurate our analysis of Afghanistan as a whole. The various characteristics of the people of Nuristan, such as their religion, language, mode of life, traditions, architecture, even their physical appearance: bone structure, colour of hair and eyes, led to the conclusion by some 19th-century writers that the Nuristanis must be descendants of the soldiers of Alexander the Great from the time of his expeditions into this part of the continent (Abercrombie, 1968: 336).³ But, what is the true origin of the Nuristanis? Similarly, what is the origin of the Afghans? The physical attributes, social structure and traditions of the Afghan people have led some to believe that they are the descendants of the Augana, the lost tribe of Israel who were exiled by Alexander the Great to the Sulaiman Mountains (Bellew, 1891: 11 and 1880: 15–27; Sultan, 1980, Vol. 2: 300; Caroe, 1986: 3–24; Ridgway, 1983: 1–11; Farhang, 1992, Vol. 1: 35–7). According to legend, because of their continued link with the Jews of Mecca and Medina, and the guidance of Khalid Ibn Walid, one of the newly converted officers in contact with the Afghans of the Sulaiman Mountains, the Afghans converted to Islam. How accurate is this? Similarly, who can determine the early history of the Tajiks? According to some the name Tajik is derived from Tazik, which itself is derived from tazi, the Farsi name for Arabs, making the Tajiks the same as the Taziks or Arabs who emigrated to Iran and Afghanistan and inter-married with the native inhabitants of the area.⁴ Thus, they are Tazik or Arab, or more likely a mixed race of Arabs and Persians, who have gradually become, over the past twelve centuries, the people they are today. And what about the Sayyeds? In Afghanistan there are several types, of which the Shi’a: Mousavi, Alavi, Hossaini and Razawi are most notable, while others include the Sunni Hazrat, Ishan, and Khaja.⁵ Which peoples and races do they belong to? Or where do the Pashai come from?

The study of the Chinese Box of the whole of Afghanistan is beyond the scope of this book. My aim here is to study one of these boxes, the Hazaras of Afghanistan. Who are the Hazaras? Where do they come from? How has their particular identity influenced their evolution as a people? What has been their role in the political and historical development of Afghanistan? These are the main questions to be investigated in this study.

Although research on the origin and history of the Hazaras began before the nineteenth century, ‘Hazarology’ has remained static and has made little headway during the past hundred years. This, on the one hand, has been due to conditions in Afghanistan itself, which has remained, for the most part, a closed and feudal-tribal society. On the other hand, the emergence of Afghanistan as a buffer state between two great powers has significantly limited its social, political and cultural development. For more than a century, Afghanistan acted as a buffer state between British and Russian interests in Asia. Consequently there was little change in its social and political structure and it was unable to consolidate itself into a nation-state. These factors have prevented any thorough research from being carried out. At the same time, the sphere has been left open to the emergence of many diverse theories as to the origins and history of the different peoples of Afghanistan. Theories about the Hazaras are no exception and are perhaps a prime example of this diversity of opinion. It is very difficult to arrive at scholarly conclusions in Hazarology, as our knowledge of the subject stands at present.

In this section I shall endeavour to provide a background against which later sections can be set, by dealing with the question of the origin and historical background of the Hazaras. First, I present and summarize theories put forward to date by different anthropologists, ethnologists and historians, on the origin of the Hazara people; and then go on to review, criticize and to draw conclusions from these. Here I should point out that I have classified all the different theories on the origin and evolution of the Hazaras into three categories: the theory of the autochthonicity of the Hazaras, the theory of the Hazaras as descendants of the Moghols, and the theory of the Hazaras as a mixed race. I have come across this classification trinity both among scholars on Hazara, and the Hazara people themselves.

1.1 The theory of the autochthonicity of the Hazaras

This theory was proposed by the French scholar, J. R Ferrier (1857: 221), in the 19th century. According to Ferrier, the Hazaras have inhabited Afghanistan since the time of Alexander the Great. As proof of his theory, Ferrier quotes battle accounts by the Greek historian, Quintus Curtius, of excursions by Alexander into central Afghanistan. By drawing on such accounts, Ferrier seeks to establish that the people mentioned in these battle accounts were in fact the forefathers of the people currently known as the Hazaras.

Ferrier’s theory has been supported by certain Afghanistani scholars, such as Abdul Hay Habibi (1962). By drawing on information provided in Foucher’s Iranian Civilisation, Habibi provides linguistic evidence which he maintains supports the theory of the autochthonicity of the Hazaras. Habibi puts forward three findings which he proposes as proof.

First, he states that the name Hazara was not given only to the people of central Afghanistan; the people of Aba Sin, the foothills of Mahobon to Haripour, Abbotabad, Pakhlai, Kaghan and down to the foothills of the Kashmir Mountains were also known as Hazara. These people, however, are neither Tatars nor Moghols; they are thought to be the descendants of Indo-Aryans and their dialect is derived from an Indo-Iranian dialect (Habibi, 1962: 3). Habibi himself gives no references in support of his views, but among informative sources is Tawarikh-e Molk-e Hazara by Mahtab Singh, himself of the Kayath tribes (1819–49), providing excellent documentation. The writings of Major H. G. Raverty on the Panjabi Hazaras also names two different kinds of Hazaras: the Chhach[a]h Hazaras and the Karluk or Qarluq Hazaras (1888: 280–2, 292). Raverty’s observation, however, fails to provide any explanation for the people known as Panjabi Hazaras.⁶ For it is a fact that Changiz Khan never crossed the Sind river; once Jalaluddin Khawarazm Shah had reached Aba Sin through the Nilab (south of Attock) crossing, Changiz was forced to return because of bad weather (Rashiduddin 1338/1959: Vol. 1: 376–9). Thus, if the Hazaras are the descendants of Changiz’s army, how can we explain the presence of Hazaras on the other side of Aba Sin, where Changiz’s soldiers never ventured?

Second, from an historical point of view, the name Hazara dates back to the pre-Moghol invasion. When Hiuen Tsiang, the famous Chinese explorer, returned from a visit to India (644 ad), to Tsu-Koo- Cha (or Arachozia), he named its first capital Ho-See-Na, and its second capital Ho-Sa-La. Some time later, Saint Martin identifies Ho- See-Na with Ghazni, and Ho-Sa-La with Hazara. Around the same period, Ptolemy writes of a place called Ozala in north-western Arachozia (Habibi, 1962: 4).

According to Habibi, Ho-Sa-La and Ozala are one and the same place, the first being its Chinese name and the latter its Greek name. Both names have three syllables: Ho-Sa-La = O-za-h; the transformation of ‘ho’ into ‘o’, ‘s’ into ‘z’, and 7’ into V is linguistically justifiable and with precedence, e.g. in Farsi diwar becomes diwal, because of proximity in pronounciation. Furthermore, Habibi maintains that the existence of numerous three syllable words such as Hazara in the works of Greek and Chinese pilgrims in the seventh century (of the Christian era) is further proof of the pre-Moghol origin of the word Hazara. Thus, he concludes: ‘The Hazaras have cohabited throughout several centuries with Afghans since the time of Alexander the Great’ (ibid.: 5)⁷

Third, quoting Foucher and Saint-Martin, Habibi recounts the occasion on which while accompanying one of the kings of Afghanistan on one of his regular tax-collecting trips in central Afghanistan, Hiuen Tisang notes with surprise as they travel through Hazarajat, the particular physical characteristics of its inhabitants, namely their Chinese-looking appearance. According to Foucher, while crossing southern Afghanistan towards the mountains of the north some one thousand years before Hiuen Tsiang, Alexander the Great had come across a people unknown to him, whom he had described as more unyielding than any others he had come across.

Habibi does not, however, reject the theory which suggests that Hazara derives from the Farsi translation for the Mogholi word ming (a military term used in the Moghol army for sections of 1000 troops), bazar, but he does suggest that this new post-Moghol Farsi translation of ming has been confused with the ancient word Hazara. According to Habibi the existence of the name Hazara in ancient Chinese and Greek works discredits claims that the name is of Moghol origin coined at the time of Changiz Khan. Habibi maintains that hazara is an ancient Aryan word, meaning ‘pure-hearted’ and ‘generous’, and not in this case hazar (or 1000), the Farsi translation of the Mogholi ming (Ibid:8).

Michael Weiers, the German linguist who is in agreement with Foucher and Habibi, maintains in his lexicostatistical study of the Hazaras that:

information obtained from Moghols of Afghanistan living nowadays within and near the Herat oasis showed on the other hand, that there exists no such original relation between these two groups … By means of this statistical method the author comes to the conclusion, that linguistically the Hazaras and Mongols of Afghanistan have no genetic relation at all. (1975: 102)

1.2 The Hazaras as descendants of the Moghols

Among the first proponents of this theory were Armenius Vambery (1864: 132), Mountstuart Elphinstone (1978: Vol. 2: 249) and Alexander Burnes (1839: Vol. 2: 261). According to this theory, the Hazaras are the descendants of Moghol soldiers who came to Afghanistan with Changiz Khan’s army. After settling in, these soldiers gradually adopted the language, religion, and culture of the Tajik inhabitants of the area and so laid the origins for the people now known as the Hazaras. Many contemporary political scientists confirm this theory and classify it as an example of settler colonialism, according to which the presence of colonial forces, whether temporary or permanent, brings about irreversible changes and developments in the mode of life and social structure of the native society.⁸ More recent and contemporary examples of settler colonialism have been the French inhabitants of Northern Algeria before 1962, the Dutch Afrikaners in South Africa, and European Jews in occupied Palestine.⁹

Hazaragi, the Farsi dialect spoken by the Hazaras, can also be compared with the Afrikaans language spoken by Dutch settlers in South Africa, both being examples of the same socio-political phenomenon, whereby the permanent settlement of a colonial power in a colony leads to the emergence of a new culture and language.¹⁰ Thus, it is by no means far-fetched to conjecture that by settling in central Afghanistan, Moghol soldiers brought about the emergence of a new people.

Another of the proponents of this theory was H. W. Bellew. According to him, Moghol soldiers were

planted here [central Afghanistan] as military colonists in detachments of a thousand fighting men by Changhiz Khan in the first quarter of the thirteenth century. It is said that Changhiz Khan left ten such detachments here, nine of them in the Hazarah of Kabul, and the tenth in the Hazarah of Pakli [Pakhlai] to the east of the Indus. (1880: 114)

Since Farsi had been the language of the indigenous peoples, so it was adopted by the new Moghol settlers. In order to prove this theory, Bellew turns to geographical names. He believes that the existence of Panjabi Hazaras in what is now northern Pakistan is proof of the settlement of Moghol soldiers in this area (ibid.: 13–14). The presence of several place names, such as Dara-ye Hazara, between Laghman and Kapisa in the north-east of Afghanistan today, away from the central areas, also lends support to Bellew’s theory.

Furthermore, the Hazaras were relatives of Moghol warriors, serfs and descendants of Moghol feudal lords, themselves related to Changiz’s commanders. To this day, many Hazara tribal and family names are taken from Moghol leaders and commanders, for example: one Hazara group is named ‘Day Choupan’, after one of the landlords close to Abu Sa’id, known as ‘Amir Choupan’, who led his army into eastern Khorasan and settled there (eastern Khorasan possibly referring to the area known today as Orozgan) (Temirknanov, 1980: 19; Orazgani, 1913: 29).

During the 19th century, R. Leech, the English traveller who met the Day Chopan Hazaras, was taken by them to Gereshk, a nearby town, to visit the tomb of Amir Choupan, whom they regarded as having first brought their ancestors to the area (1845: 333). The Behsudis, another major Hazara tribe, are named after Behsud or Bisud, one of Changiz’s relatives, also known as Jigou Hakou (Faiz, 1912, Vol. 3: 887; Orazgani, 1913: 56).

There is an interesting expression among the Hazaras in Afghanistan, which may be of some anthropological significance: Hazara parents use the term Moghol as an adjective when teaching their children manners, for example: ‘Oh bachah_y moghol beshf or ‘oh bachah, moghol bokhof (‘Sit like a Moghol’, i.e. sit properly, or...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• List of Illustrations
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 Who are the Hazaras?
• 2 Social structure
• 3 Culture and belief
• 4 Socio-economic relations and mode of production
• 5 Socio-political change in Hazara society since the 1890s
• 6 Old people, new societies
• 7 The Hazaras in contemporary Afghanistan
• 8 The Hazaras in the 1980s
• 9 The Hazaras in the 1990s
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Glossary
• Appendixes
• Index