THE HISTORY OF AFGHANISTAN
BY FAYZ MUHAMMAD KĀTIB AZĀRAH

Fayz Muhammad (ca. 1861-1931), known as Kātib (meaning the Writer) was an Afghan historian and devout Shia Moslem whose greatest work, the Sirāj al-tawārīkh (meaning Lamp of Histories) was commissioned by Habibullah Khan, the Emir of Afghanistan from 1901 to 1919, to whom he was secretary. It is thus an official court chronicle reflecting the Emir’s public views. Begun in about 1897, it covers the period 1747 to 1901, but two thirds of it is devoted to the last twenty-one years of that constituting the reign of Amir ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan. 

It was translated by R. D. McChesney as The History of Afghanistan. Fayz Muhammad Kātib’s Sirāj al-tawārīkh, published by Brill in Leyden in 2013, from which the following excerpts, all that is of Greek love interest, are taken. Simple references to (royal) page boys (very numerous) and dancing-boys, likely as these mostly are to have a partially pederastic explanation for their existence, are not included except in instances where something more is said that fortifies this explanation (a reference to their beauty, for example). 

66 

Describing how the discontent arose which soon led to the deposition of the Emir Shah Mahmud:

The Widespread Rioting of the Citizens of Kabul and Its Surrounding Region 

In 1219 [1804–1805], a Qizilbash^[1] rogue lured a young Hanafite boy who lived in Kabul into going home with him. He invited some other pederasts to take part in this loathsome business and they performed a number of obscene acts on the helpless lad. At the end of several days during which they plied him with drugs and alcohol, they threw him out in the street. The boy went home and told his father what had happened. His father, in turn, went to His Highness Shah Mahmud and demanded justice be done. The shah, who looked with a favorable eye on the Qizilbash, referred the matter to the Shariʿah Court. When the accused denied the charge the chief justice, Mulla Muhammad Sa’id Khan Barakza’i called for the evidence. But when the plaintiff was unable to establish proof, there was no other course but for the boy’s family to assemble at the Pul-i Khishti Mosque on Friday, with their heads and feet bared, and their pockets turned inside out. They stood the boy beneath the pulpit and called on the chief preacher to redress the wrong done them. He then declared a pogrom against the Qizilbash. The common folk of the city and the bazaar took his order as a religious obligation and a large mob made for Chandawul. There they killed whoever stood in their path and stole whatever they could lay their hands on. Houses owned by Qizilbash outside Chandawul were set ablaze and burned to the ground. Having given up hope of escape, the Qizilbash of Chandawul mounted a desperate resistance. They barricaded the gates of the quarter with rocks and earth and withstood the siege for several days until news of the pogrom spread and people from the suburbs joined the attack. Twenty thousand men from Kuhistan and Lahugard surrounded Chandawul, climbed Shayr Darwazah Mountain which overlooks the Qizilbash residential district, and made life very difficult for the Qizilbash.

Although His Highness Shah Mahmud tried very hard to quell the uprising, his efforts were in vain.[2]

239  Events of AH 1277 (AD 1860-1)

Sardar ʿAbd al-Rahman Khan’s^[3]  Return from Takhtah Pul to Qataghan and an Incident that Occurred which, by the Grace of God, Caused Him No Injury

[…] Meanwhile, Mir Shah and Mir Yusuf ‘Ali Khan sent as gifts to Sardar ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan six silvery-cheeked young boys, six moon-faced maidens, nine horses with silver trappings, nine leather bags of delicious honey, and five hunting falcons of a rare species. He accepted all the gifts and in return sent the mirs of Badakhshan via their emissaries gifts appropriate to their rank.

272  Events of AH 1281 (AD 1864-5)

Sardar ʿAbd al-Rahman Khan’s Adventures in Bukhara and His Refusal to Become a Vassal of the Amir

After two months had passed, the amir sent a man to the sardar who, after tallying all the kindnesses and favors the padishah had done for him, said, “It would be a good idea if you brought the amir one lak of gold tillas and three of your lovely moon-faced boys and offer them to him.” Sardar ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan replied,

These boys are like sons to me and the gift of one lak of gold tillas is the kind of gift a king would give and not one to be expected from strangers. I have given the amir all I can afford to give and now it is my turn to be hopeful of the amir’s bounty.

279  Events of AH 1282 (AD 1865-6)

Sardar ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan Asks Permission to Return to Afghanistan from Amir Muzaffar of Bukhara 

[…] Meanwhile, Na⁠ʾib Ghulam Ahmad Khan and Commandant Sikandar Khan who had turned their backs on the distinguished sardar and chosen to work for the amir of Bukhara, now reappeared with their followers carrying their beds on their shoulders, and declared, “The amir’s officials wanted us to sign a document of indenture (raqm-i bandagī) but we refused and now have come back.” Things had reached this point when a group of creditors suddenly appeared and demanded money (from the two men). When they totalled up the sum they owed it came to 2,000 misqals of tillas. The sardar paid the entire amount and then asked Commandant Sikandar Khan “Will you go to Balkh with me or not?” The commandant, whose heart belonged to two lovely boys in Bukhara, decided to stay there, despite the favor Sardar ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan had done him by paying off his debts.

569  Events of AH 1304 (AD 1886-9)

Also in these times, Kafirs^[4] near Panjshayr launched a night raid and stole eighteen cows belonging to some Hazarahs living there. Khwajah Muhammad Khan, the governor (fawjdār) of the valley, set out on the path of retaliation with men under his jurisdiction, killed eleven infidels, took six of their sons and daughters prisoner, and brought them back. Siraj al-Din Khan, the governor of Panjshayr bought the four girls and two boys from the ghazis and presented them as a gift to the royal harem.

673-4  Events of AH 1307 (AD 1889-90)

The Murder of Qazi Shihab al-Din Khan Jawanshayr and One of His Nawkars 

During this time, Khurram Dil Khan, the son of Sardar Shirindil Khan^[5], on whose temples and cheeks a first soft down had appeared like a halo around the moon, one night invited Qazi Shihab al-Din Khan Jawanshayr to his house as a guest. The qazi came with one of his nawkars. These two men were subsequently shot and killed by rifles fired by their host and by Mahmud, his tutor. Khurram Dil was then arrested by foot soldiers attached to the police court but his tutor escaped and was not (immediately) found. The noble prince, Sardar Habib Allah Khan, summoned to his justice-administering presence Naʾib Mir Sultan, the kutwal (of Kabul), whose accounts at this time were under investigation at His Majesty’s^[6] order, he having fallen from royal favor and trust. (Sardar Habib Allah Khan) restored his confidence by giving him a khilʿat, a belt, and a sixshot revolver from his own wardrobe and arsenal and ordered him to use every trick he knew to capture and punish Mahmud, Khurram Dil Khan’s tutor. In accordance with the laudable order of the noble and celestialdwelling prince, he captured him, put him in chains, and threw him in prison. He interrogated him as to the reason for the killing of the qazi and then, from his statements, wrote to the bountiful and sublimely capable sardar (Habib Allah Khan) that the qazi had performed an indecent act of sodomy on his master (Khurram Dil Khan) and because of that filthy business deserved to be killed. Khurram Dil Khan likewise declared that this act was the reason for killing (the qazi). But he also added to his statement that the qazi—God forbid—was killed because he had cursed the great Companions of the Lord of Mankind (Prophet Muhammad).^[7] The celestial-dwelling prince sent the heirs of the murdered man and his murderers to the Shariʿah court and referred the resolution of the case to the Holy Law. Jalal al-Din Khan, the eldest son of the slain qazi, along with the other heirs, both young and old, in light of the fact that for generations the ancestors (of Khurram Dil Khan) had served the dynasty of this state and enjoyed its favors, deemed the shedding of (Khurram Dil’s) blood unworthy, despite the fact that it was perfectly legal to do so under the legal category of retaliation (qiṣāṣ), forgave him, thereby not staining their hands with the blood of the royal tribe. Both these matters (the murder and its forgiveness) were reported by the sublimely capable prince to the benevolent ears of the sovereign of celestial gravity and he then wrote these words to the prince:

The statements of both the master and his nawkar are very well-founded, proper, accurate, and correspond with what must certainly be the case because anyone who comes as a guest and in recompense for the favors of the host and as gratitude for his kindness feels obliged to curse the great Companions and the host in return for the honor and kindness that is the custom of people of the world and is conferred on the guest, must of necessity be shot and killed! (But) this is also true: any obscene and profane act that involves two people is predicated on the consent of both parties. Of course, in a transaction between two parties there might be some loss (to one of the parties) which could result in a case where the ‘buyer’ is killed by the ‘seller.’ May God damn the qazi and Khurram Dil both! If the qazi abstained from corrupt behavior, idle talk, and inappropriate actions, and day and night did not go from one house to another of his friends and acquaintances, why was he killed in such a fashion? And if Khurram Dil was not accustomed to such unmanly and obscene things, why did he participate in and encourage this? This business is infamous and disgraceful. Whatever happened to the qazi and whatever happens to this unfortunate person, is what their actions justly merit. [pp. 573-4]

692  Events of AH 1307 (AD 1889-90)

During this time, the son of the shah of Munjan who had reached the age of nineteen years, attacked some Kafirs with a party of Munjan men. He captured two boys and a girl and sent them to General Sayyid Shah Khan in Fayzabad, Badakhshan. He treated the three of them, who had all fallen ill from the hot weather and the hardships of the road, and when all three had recovered, sent them to Mazar-i Sharif as a gift for His Majesty.[8]

1084-5  Events of AH 1312 (AD 1894-5)

A digression in which the author describes the Moslem conquest of much of Spain (“Andalus”) in AD 711-4:

In 95 A.H., which corresponds with 714 A.D. Musa: returned from Andalus with Tariq and hurried to Damascus to see the caliph. They brought such fine treasure and so many precious jewels that the fingertips of scribes fell short in describing and counting them. They also had with them 30,000 captives—lovely girls and heavenly young boys—who were so fair and beautiful that whoever saw them would say, “These are fairies, not born of man. Otherwise, where have such girls of milky bosoms and boys of moon-like appearance ever been gathered in one place before?” This was the conquest of Andalus which Tariq accomplished.

1182  Events of AH 1313 (1895-6)

Also on this same twenty-first of Sha’ban/6 February, His Majesty^[9] sent a farman to Awliya Qul Khan, the governor of Lamqan, telling him to come to Kabul with the leaders of the militia force that served under him in Kafiristan.^[10] He was to leave four-fifths of the booty that he and the militiamen had taken but not the boys and girls taken as slaves. These he was to bring with him to Kabul because Kafir people are not to be given as slave boys or girls to anyone other than members of the royal harem. Should anyone conceal a slave boy or girl and this later becomes evident, a fine of 3,500 rupees would be forcibly collected from them. They were not to think that they could treat Kafirs like Hazarahs. With the issuance of this order, not one single Kafir man, woman, girl or boy, was taken as slave boy or girl or as prisoner and in the end they became worthy of the government’s trust and regard.

1214  Events of AH 1313 (1895-6)

Also during these goings-on which have been reduced to writing and permanently recorded, three beardless youths^[11] with faces (shining) like the sun who were bandsmen (mūzīkchīs) in the Herati Regular Infantry Regiment stole the hearts of some of the members of the aforementioned regiment. The heartstruck ones, ardently wishing for attachment to them day and night, got involved in some fighting (over the objects of their affection) and came close to killing each other. Being apprised of the situation and worried lest trouble erupt, Brigadier Muhammad Sadiq Khan transferred those three beardless boys from the band of the Herati Regiment and assigned them to the Nurzaʾi Regular Infantry Regiment’s band. The lovesick soldiers were outraged and used every trick they knew and every ploy they could muster to incite the following people to mutiny against Brigadier Muhammad Sadiq Khan: [a long list of names follows]. [p. 1618]

Husayni edition 122 1896-1901

He [Brigadier Muhammad Amir Khan] sent his cousin, Bahram, into exile in Transoxania, and wrote a letter to the throne saying that on the eighteenth of Rajab 1315/12 December 1897, the governor had summoned him (Bahram), had words with him in secret and then he (Bahram) had run away with a beardless Jewish boy, who had turned Muslim. Contrary to his letter, the governor there sent a letter saying that Brigadier Muhammad Amir Khan had forced (Bahram) to flee and that he himself (the brigadier) is likely to commit some act of wrongdoing as well. The two contradictory letters gave rise to suspicion in the mind of His Majesty^[12] and on the sixteenth of Shaʿban 1315/10 January 1898 he wrote to each about the other’s letter saying that the letters’ contradicting each other was rather strange.

^[1] The Qizilbash were Shia Moslems of Persian descent whose influence at court was resented by many of the Pahtun clans.

^[2] The date of 1804-5 is an error for 1803. This story was also told by J. P. Ferrier in his History of Afghans (London: John Murray, 1858) p. 132, who says it took place when Shah Mahmud had been emir for two years and six months. Ferrier gives the time of Shah Mahmud’s accession as 1800, but it is known from other sources to have been July 1801.

^[3] Sardar ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan was a grandson of the reigning emir and was himself to be emir from 1880 to 1901. Born in 1844 (Sirāj al-tawārīkh 200), he was aged only about sixteen at this time.

^[4] The Kafirs (unbelievers) were inhabitants of an area of north-eastern Afghanistan who still followed a polytheistic religion.

^[5] Sardar Shirindil Khan was Governor of Khost and a minor prince of the reigning royal family, being the great-nephew in the male line of Dost Mohammad Khan, who had established their dynasty on the throne in 1826. See https://www.royalark.net/Afghanistan/barak5.htm

^[6] “His Majesty” in this episode, later called “the sovereign of celestial gravity” was the reigning emir, Abdur Rahman Khan (1844-1901).

^[7] This alludes to the fact that the qazi was a Qizilbash and therefore an Imami Shiʿite and vulnerable to such accusations. [Translator’s footnote]

^[8] Abdur Rahman Khan (1844-1901), reigning Emir of Afghanistan.

^[9] Abdur Rahman Khan (1844-1901), reigning Emir of Afghanistan.

^[10] Kafiristan, land of the kafirs (unbelievers) was an area of north-eastern Afghanistan still inhabited by followers of a polytheistic religion. It was subjugated and its inhabitants converted to Islam in this very year and thereupon renamed Nuristan Province.

^[11] The only other time (1107; p. 1413) the expression “beardless youth” occurs in this translation with any other hint of age, it is applied to a boy stated to be fourteen.

^[12] Abdur Rahman Khan (1844-1901), reigning Emir of Afghanistan.