Pakhtunwali and Islamic shariah

The emergence of Afghan political nationalism took time; it evolved over a long historical process of ethnic interaction and tribal warfare. History illustrates how feud, vendetta and warfare continued between tribes and invading races.

The 19th century saw the emergence of modern political Afghanistan. The story of the transformation of Afghan tribes from a disparate profusion of independent or semi-independent ethnic and linguistic units to a nation-state had important lessons. The Afghan had learnt the hard way and at considerable price that a nation is not merely geography. The mere occupation of a piece of land does not make a nation. They must also evolve a national consciousness, a unified state of mind. Hence, forcible usurpation of land and violent assertion that continued through Afghan history dissipated and gave way to an emerging national awareness. The integration of Afghan tribes was far more important than demarcation of geographical boundaries. This was the lesson of history that the Afghans seem to have forgotten today. Pakistanis who demanded a separate geography on the basis of being different must also pay heed.

Afghan tribes rejected the 7th century Arabian imposition of Islam. Much later the local Turkic, Persian and Afghan rulers succeeded similarly in evolving an Islamic society which was built over indigenous culture. This Islam, though universally shared with the rest of the Islamic world, was homegrown. It was a local reality that had culturally very little to do with Arabia. It was also a well-earned reward of trials, tribulations and centuries of experience with communal value systems. The seed of Islam was a 7th century import but the plant now flourished as an indigenous growth. The statesman, the Sufi, the tribal elders, the craftsmen and the bard all played their role in bringing Islam nearer to the masses.

Pakhtunwali, the common code of honour of Afghan tribes, transformed to imbibe Islamic values and practice. Islam was indigenised. It now belonged to the Afghan people in their folkways, their day-to-day practice, and as part of folk sentiment, ballads, tales, legends and lore by which the masses lived.

By the end of the 16th century, Islam was not merely an ideal embodied in Arabic Book or a commandment of an Invisible Divine. Islam became a tangible part of the day to day precept and practice of the Afghan tribesman. Islam became institutionalised in the folkways, social conventions and tribal mores of Pakhtunwali, the tribal code of honour. This was a most significant development in a society that was largely unlettered and a cultural pattern that propagated itself through oral tradition. Hence after, Islam and folklore were aspects of one reality. Islam is heavenly folklore is earthly. Islam was a gift of God, folklore of the people. Islam is universal folklore is local. Islamic ideal became a cultural compulsion inherent in the folkways of the Pakhtun.

Pakhtunwali consists of a remarkable set of principles, precepts and values commonly evolved, voluntarily upheld and rigidly enforced by all Pakhtun tribes who had hitherto fiercely upheld their individualism, freedom and tribal superiority. Islam had the singular honour of transforming the fiercely uncouth Arabian Bedouin into a civilising force. Now the miracle of Islam was at work in Afghanistan that was later to encompass the subcontinent.

This extraordinary code of Pakhtun honour comprises a set of commonly agreed values derived from the Qur'aan based on Islamic vision but socially evolved and enforced through mutual consent and for the achievement of common aspirations. Embedded within the tribal precept of the Pakhtun day-to-day code for honourable living.

'Milmastia', or the Pakhtun code of hospitality, prescribes that anyone who steps into a Pakhtun house is an honoured guest who must be protected and remain under protection under this code. It ensures hospitality and security for the traveler, the visitor, the stranger, even the enemy.

'Badal' is the right of equal revenge. This was practised in consonance with Islamic teachings to ensure a just society. Any disequilibrium must be promptly settled and brought at par, any wrong, any crime, any injustice causes social disbalance and hence a Pakhtun acquires the right to settle the score equally. Badal was a powerful social deterrent. Tribal code of honour gave everyone the equal right to balance injustice. Secure prompt retribution. Hence tooth for tooth, eye for eye. Badal literally signifies revenge even for a trifle.

'Ninevatey' is the tribal practice to end "badal" and redress when revenge is carried too far. Council of tribal elders, the jirga, walks to the doorstep of a Pakhtun to beg forgiveness, to let go and bury bygones. A lamb is slaughtered for thanksgiving and the village elders concertedly plead for forgiveness. It is better always to forgive than engage in an endless bout of revenge with each other is an Islamic value reinforced in the tribal custom of ninevatey.

'Nang' is the pride. It stands for the honour, bravery and valour of Pakhtun. It is his self-esteem, self-regard which restrains him from debasing or shameful conduct. It exhorts the Pakhtun to value self-respect, and above all, to hold his head high and show conduct of which he and his clan are proud.

There are other related social institutions evolved by the Pakhtun to execute Pakhtunwali. Jirga is the tribal council of elders. It is a participatory and consultative body that ensures good governance through discussion, mutual consultation and consent on important issues in line with Islamic teachings. The jirga is also a court of justice that decides on tribal and inter-tribal affairs. It ensures timely justice without delay. Injustice prolonged, endangers society and creates lingering social rifts and inequalities.

'Hujra' is the traditional meeting place. Each village, each tribe may have their own hujra to ensure communal and common interaction. These institutions strengthen communal systems, warrant cooperation, co-habitation and shared responsibility, which makes social life possible in otherwise harsh and inhospitable surroundings. A guest in the hujra is everyone's responsibility.

It is indisputable that Islamic spiritual vision, egalitarian values and ethical teachings of the Qur'aan have nurtured tribal mores and social conventions. Islamic vision was imbibed in the commonly practiced and communally evolved Pakhtunwali. These institutions evolved over time, were founded on Islamic value system and provided the bases for a modern egalitarian Afghan society. Tribal mores and folkways of the Pakhtun exemplify how far the Qur'aanic ideal has been socially integrated and institutionalised.

The ideal of Islam materialised in the social code of the Pakhtun. Yet the key question today perhaps is how far? How far have Qur'aanic teachings been successfully integrated in social custom of the Pakhtun and to what extent. What extraneous factors have been disruptive influences and seditious agents? Also, how much of the prevailing social convention is corrupted in actual conducts and practice of the Pakhtun? Man is the only animal capable of corruption. Corruption creeps in many a subtle way and self-deceptive guile into everything man practices or preaches. The Pakhtun are no exception to this.

Under such human frailty the Pakhtunwali, may often be carried to unhealthy and un-Islamic extremes. Milmastia or the code of hospitality may in actual practice succumb to killing each other with impunity, often with false pride but extending aliens and foreigners the milmastic protection. Many trained foreign spies, even women informers, have been extended hospitality and protection that made their subterfuge of the Afghan a much easier task than it could otherwise have been.

Badal when carried to extreme, this custom of tribal revenge is most un-Islamic of all common practices. Disputes and revenge carry on for generations. Often next generations pay for the misdeeds of their forefathers or near relations. Murder, violence, blood and thunder of the Pakhtun films reflect the popular ethos. It is a reality of our society.

Nang or self-esteem degenerates to mere vanity and false pride, which Islam forbids resolutely. Nang is a state of mind. It depends on the education, ethics and social perception of the tribesman practising the code. How an ethnic, tribal, feudal and patriarchal society interprets and actually executes this code may have nothing at all to do with the self-esteem that Islam upholds for practising Muslims.

Many a form of corruption may have creeped into practice, there have been disruptive cultural influences, seditious agents yet the Islamic ideal is effectively integrated and incorporate in the Pakhtunwali.

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