The Ancient Hebrew Origins of the Pashtuns of Afghanistan

Abstract This chapter examines the purported Hebrew origins of the Pashtuns of Afghanistan (or Pathans, as they are known in Pakistan). At one time they claimed a Jewish origin as members of a migrant tribe descended from King Saul. The various sources of this identity, still claimed in certain circles despite Taliban domination, are explored. While being impossible to prove, these purported origins were instrumentalized for political reasons. In the seventeenth century, the Mughals ruled India but had to face rival native Pashtun pressure groups. Through reference to manuscripts of the time, the Pashtuns used biblical genealogy to legitimize their claim to power because they would then have pre-Islamic monotheistic origins, unlike their Mughal rivals who were supposed to have sullied Islam with Indian idolatrous polytheism. Many Victorian missionaries in what was then British India delighted in the thought that they were meeting “People of the Book” in their nearly original form and lifestyle.