Nadene Goldfoot
Who are the Pathans? They are people some have called Afghans, or Sons of the Pashtu as their language is Pashtu. They might also identify themselves by their ancient name of SONS OF ISRAEL, otherwise known as Bnei Israel. They are Muslims.
The Pathans number 8-9 million just in Afghanistan. 10 to 11 million live in Pakistan. Altogether an including those in India, they could number 20 million. They live in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. About 2 million of them live as nomads, and are written about in great detail in CARAVANS by James Mitchener. What do they look like? They look like Jews of those regions have looked, though there may be none there now to make a comparison. Many of their customs seem to be quite ancient ones, coming from Jewish customs. Even other data collected show a definite connection to the ancient Jewish people.
Pashto (/ˈpʌʃtoʊ/, rarely /ˈpæʃtoʊ/, Pashto: پښتو Pax̌tō [ˈpəʂt̪oː]), sometimes spelled Pukhto, is the language of the Pashtuns. It is known in Persian literature as Afghāni(افغانی) and in Urdu and Hindi literature as Paṭhānī. Speakers of the language are called Pashtuns or Pakhtuns and sometimes Afghans or Pathans It is an Eastern Iranian language, belonging to the Indo-European family.Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, and it is the second-largest regional language of Pakistan, mainly spoken in the west and northwest of the country. In Pakistan, it is the majority language of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan. Along with Dari Persian, Pashto is the main language among the Pashtun diaspora around the world. The total number of Pashto-speakers is estimated to be 45–60 million people worldwide. Many of them deny any claim to originating from the 10 Lost Tribes, too.
Pathans today generally live between the city of Kabul, Afghanistan and the Indus River area in Pakistan. They live throughout over half of Afghanistan and usually hold some sort of power in the areas where they live. Many live in Pushtunistan on the Pakistani border. Afghanistan backs the Pakistani Pathans' need for independence, and this causes constant tension in the region. Though they are Muslims, they are also Pathans and have their own list of laws they live by.
Afghanistan is one of the least developed countries in Asia. It's vastly beautiful land but hard to support the life with many mountainous areas. It is here that they can continue to live like their ancient forefathers' old tribal life. They keep the practice of having tribal chiefs and the family unit all obey the family elder. This system is "PASHTUNWALI." It's one amazing code of laws with similar part found in the Torah.
Most of the people are illiterate. Most work as farmers or raising sheep and other animals. They live in villages while some are nomadic. Until recently, Afghanistan was governed by Islamic religious law.1 More than 90% are Sunni Muslims. The people are in general very healthy, tall and strong with light skin and a pleasant personality. They are warriors, and actually carry arms from a young age. They are hard working people, wise, truthful and extremely loyal. They also are known worldwide for the "exemplary" hospitality. In fact, a movie has been made about it.
What also makes them so unique in the Middle East is that they don't look like the people around them. People have always wondered about their ethnic origins. Here they exist among the Indo-Aryans, the Turks, the Mongolians and the Persians. Many peoples and nations and tribes have come and gone through this land, so it's been hard to trace their history. However, in their laws, they are not to marry outside their people of Pashtun heritage. Even the British, who ruled Afghanistan for a long period of time, had problems telling Pathans from Jews and would call the Pathans-the Jews.
So here we are, finding out that their tradition of coming from the Ten Tribes of Israel seems to be true. They were people exiled by the Assyrian empire 140 years before the destruction of King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. They do carry on the tradition of their name: the Sons of Israel, and their appearance. Today, a simple autosomal DNA test can identify where a person's genes come from.
My own ethnic heritage from Family Tree DNA in Houston, Texas, USA tells me this:
that 2% of my genes come from Asia (central and South east;), 12% eastern Europe; besides showing I'm Ashkenazi Jewish.
Pathans are still a tribal people. We Jews with grandparents from Europe know we are Ashkenazi Jews, but this is not the name of a tribe. Our tribe would be the tribe of Judah; perhaps even some might be from the tribe of Benjamin, but we don't know; basically Judah since that's the southern land that the tribe was ordained to live in by Moses and Joshua. The northern 10 other tribes have kept their tribal knowledge quite well as asked to do by Moses. They may from the tribe of Reuben; the Shinwari (Shimon), the Lewani (Levi); the Daftani (Naftali); the Jaji (Gad); the Ashuri (Asher); the Yusuf-Zai (Sons of Yosef); the Afridi (Ephraim, etc. The Pathans explain the differences in the tribal names are due to the different dialects of the languages, so that Jaji was originally Gad.
I notice that the Afridi Tribe (Ephraim) is quite large. It happens that the kingdom of Israel was also called the kingdom of "Ephraim."
King Jeroboam( 933-912BCE)was of the tribe of Ephraim.
1 Kings 11:26
And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon's servant, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king.
Jeroboam had been the superintendent of forced labor for King Solomon. Judah had rebelled and broke away from Israel, taking Solomon's son and next king with them, so Israel needed a king, and Jeroboam got the position.
One big tradition of the Afghan royal family is that they trace their family origin to the tribe of Benjamin of which King Saul was a member. This tradition was first published in a book in the year 1635. According to tradition, King Saul had a son, Irmia (Jeremiah) who had a son named Afghana. Irmia died at or near King Saul's death and Afghana was reared by King David. Maybe Irmia was the son of Jonathan, David's close friend. Israelite kings did have many wives in those days who had children. Afghana remained in the royal court during King Solomon's reign.
Descendants of 1st King of Israel- Saul
1 King of Israel- Saul b: in abt 1000 BCE
.. +Ahinoam (wife) had 4 sons, {2 daughters (Michal and Merab) }
. 2 [1] Michal the First, Daughter of Saul
..... b: in 1000 BCE Bethlehem d: in 960 BCE Occupation:
. *2nd Husband of [1] Michal the First, Daughter of Saul:
+Phalti
. 2 King at Mahanaim Eshbaal d: in Murdered at Mahanaim
. 2 Merab (2nd daughter)
..... b: in 1000 BCE Bethlehem d: in 960 BCE
. 2 Jeremiahin Pashtun
400 years later during the Babylonian exile of the southern kingdom of Judah, the descendants of Afghana fled to Gur (Hazarat Jat by todays name which is in central Afghanistan. The tribe settled and traded with the people around it. Then in 662, Khalid Ibn al-Walid, the head of the Kuraiysh tribe, was to spread Islam among the Afghan tribes. He met the SONS OF ISRAEL" in Gur and converted them to Islam. The leader of the SONS OF ISRAEL was Kays or Kish, named after Saul's father. Kish changed his name to Ibn Rashid and was given the job of spreading Islam among his people.
Because of the civil war that has persisted in Afghanistan since 1979, roughly 2 million Pathans have left for Pakistan as refugees.
Jews are told in their Tanakh (Bible) in II Kings, 15:29 "In the days of Pekah king of Israel, came Tiglath-Pileser, King of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-Beth-Maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria". These were names of towns that were attacked.
Then Ten Tribes were cut off, without spiritual leadership or books on Jewish Law and values. Only if they had any Levites among them could any teaching be had, for they were the teachers, but they would have been without materials, such as the Torah. The prophecy is that the Ten Tribes will be reunited with Judah at the end of days.
The Pathans still have the tradition of circumcision on the 8th day, wearing a fringed garment, knowledge of the Sabbath, knowledge of pure and impure foods.
Some even wear amulets with "Shma Israel" in Hebrew.
They still know the names of lost tribes such as Reuvan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher and the sons of Joseph. Pashtu, their language, has many Hebrew words.
Resource: Book: THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL by Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail
https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/anthropology-and-archaeology/people/pathans
http://www.juragentium.org/topics/islam/en/yassari.htm
1: On 27 November 2001, a Conference was held in Bonn, Germany, which brought together representatives of the resistance groups, consisting of the main civil war parties and warlords, pro-Zahir Shah technocrats and intellectuals, and two other small Afghan groups based in Pakistan and Iran (Wardak 2005: 65). Although the present anti-Taliban groups could not be considered to represent the Afghan people, the 'Agreement on Provisional Arrangements in Afghanistan pending the Re-Establishment of Permanent Government Institutions', also known as the 'Bonn Agreement', provided a framework for the process of state formation to create a broad-based, multi-ethnic, and representative government in Afghanistan. Executive powers were vested in Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun, as head of the Interim Administration of Afghanistan on 22 December 2001. Karzai was reconfirmed as the head of the Interim Administration by the 1,550 members of an Emergency Loya Jirga held in Kabul on 10 June 2002.
Who are the Pathans? They are people some have called Afghans, or Sons of the Pashtu as their language is Pashtu. They might also identify themselves by their ancient name of SONS OF ISRAEL, otherwise known as Bnei Israel. They are Muslims.
The Pathans number 8-9 million just in Afghanistan. 10 to 11 million live in Pakistan. Altogether an including those in India, they could number 20 million. They live in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan. About 2 million of them live as nomads, and are written about in great detail in CARAVANS by James Mitchener. What do they look like? They look like Jews of those regions have looked, though there may be none there now to make a comparison. Many of their customs seem to be quite ancient ones, coming from Jewish customs. Even other data collected show a definite connection to the ancient Jewish people.
Pashto (/ˈpʌʃtoʊ/, rarely /ˈpæʃtoʊ/, Pashto: پښتو Pax̌tō [ˈpəʂt̪oː]), sometimes spelled Pukhto, is the language of the Pashtuns. It is known in Persian literature as Afghāni(افغانی) and in Urdu and Hindi literature as Paṭhānī. Speakers of the language are called Pashtuns or Pakhtuns and sometimes Afghans or Pathans It is an Eastern Iranian language, belonging to the Indo-European family.Pashto is one of the two official languages of Afghanistan, and it is the second-largest regional language of Pakistan, mainly spoken in the west and northwest of the country. In Pakistan, it is the majority language of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the northern districts of Balochistan. Along with Dari Persian, Pashto is the main language among the Pashtun diaspora around the world. The total number of Pashto-speakers is estimated to be 45–60 million people worldwide. Many of them deny any claim to originating from the 10 Lost Tribes, too.
Pathans today generally live between the city of Kabul, Afghanistan and the Indus River area in Pakistan. They live throughout over half of Afghanistan and usually hold some sort of power in the areas where they live. Many live in Pushtunistan on the Pakistani border. Afghanistan backs the Pakistani Pathans' need for independence, and this causes constant tension in the region. Though they are Muslims, they are also Pathans and have their own list of laws they live by.
 |
| Pathan girl from Pakistan |
Afghanistan is one of the least developed countries in Asia. It's vastly beautiful land but hard to support the life with many mountainous areas. It is here that they can continue to live like their ancient forefathers' old tribal life. They keep the practice of having tribal chiefs and the family unit all obey the family elder. This system is "PASHTUNWALI." It's one amazing code of laws with similar part found in the Torah.
 |
| Imran Khan, new Prime Minister of Pakistan, Niazi Pathans He is a famous cricket player. The Niazi Pathans mainly live in the areas of Punjab . |
Most of the people are illiterate. Most work as farmers or raising sheep and other animals. They live in villages while some are nomadic. Until recently, Afghanistan was governed by Islamic religious law.1 More than 90% are Sunni Muslims. The people are in general very healthy, tall and strong with light skin and a pleasant personality. They are warriors, and actually carry arms from a young age. They are hard working people, wise, truthful and extremely loyal. They also are known worldwide for the "exemplary" hospitality. In fact, a movie has been made about it.
 |
| Pathan tourists visiting in Jerusalem at the Wall |
What also makes them so unique in the Middle East is that they don't look like the people around them. People have always wondered about their ethnic origins. Here they exist among the Indo-Aryans, the Turks, the Mongolians and the Persians. Many peoples and nations and tribes have come and gone through this land, so it's been hard to trace their history. However, in their laws, they are not to marry outside their people of Pashtun heritage. Even the British, who ruled Afghanistan for a long period of time, had problems telling Pathans from Jews and would call the Pathans-the Jews.
 |
| Malala Yusufzai, Pushtun and a proud Pakistani Do I see the name of Yusuf (Joseph)? |
So here we are, finding out that their tradition of coming from the Ten Tribes of Israel seems to be true. They were people exiled by the Assyrian empire 140 years before the destruction of King Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BCE. They do carry on the tradition of their name: the Sons of Israel, and their appearance. Today, a simple autosomal DNA test can identify where a person's genes come from.
My own ethnic heritage from Family Tree DNA in Houston, Texas, USA tells me this:
that 2% of my genes come from Asia (central and South east;), 12% eastern Europe; besides showing I'm Ashkenazi Jewish.
 |
| Pathans in Kashmir of Northern India |
Pathans are still a tribal people. We Jews with grandparents from Europe know we are Ashkenazi Jews, but this is not the name of a tribe. Our tribe would be the tribe of Judah; perhaps even some might be from the tribe of Benjamin, but we don't know; basically Judah since that's the southern land that the tribe was ordained to live in by Moses and Joshua. The northern 10 other tribes have kept their tribal knowledge quite well as asked to do by Moses. They may from the tribe of Reuben; the Shinwari (Shimon), the Lewani (Levi); the Daftani (Naftali); the Jaji (Gad); the Ashuri (Asher); the Yusuf-Zai (Sons of Yosef); the Afridi (Ephraim, etc. The Pathans explain the differences in the tribal names are due to the different dialects of the languages, so that Jaji was originally Gad.
 |
| Afridis at Jamrūd Fort (1866); photo by Charles Shepherd. Jamrūd Fort was strategically located at the eastern entrance to the Khyber Pass in present-day Pakistan. |
I notice that the Afridi Tribe (Ephraim) is quite large. It happens that the kingdom of Israel was also called the kingdom of "Ephraim."
King Jeroboam( 933-912BCE)was of the tribe of Ephraim.
1 Kings 11:26
And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephrathite of Zereda, Solomon's servant, whose mother's name was Zeruah, a widow woman, even he lifted up his hand against the king.
Jeroboam had been the superintendent of forced labor for King Solomon. Judah had rebelled and broke away from Israel, taking Solomon's son and next king with them, so Israel needed a king, and Jeroboam got the position.
 |
| My father would love this style. He doesn't have to wear a tie! |
One big tradition of the Afghan royal family is that they trace their family origin to the tribe of Benjamin of which King Saul was a member. This tradition was first published in a book in the year 1635. According to tradition, King Saul had a son, Irmia (Jeremiah) who had a son named Afghana. Irmia died at or near King Saul's death and Afghana was reared by King David. Maybe Irmia was the son of Jonathan, David's close friend. Israelite kings did have many wives in those days who had children. Afghana remained in the royal court during King Solomon's reign.
Descendants of 1st King of Israel- Saul
1 King of Israel- Saul b: in abt 1000 BCE
.. +Ahinoam (wife) had 4 sons, {2 daughters (Michal and Merab) }
. 2 [1] Michal the First, Daughter of Saul
..... b: in 1000 BCE Bethlehem d: in 960 BCE Occupation:
. *2nd Husband of [1] Michal the First, Daughter of Saul:
+Phalti
. 2 King at Mahanaim Eshbaal d: in Murdered at Mahanaim
. 2 Merab (2nd daughter)
..... b: in 1000 BCE Bethlehem d: in 960 BCE
. 2 Jeremiahin Pashtun
Because of the civil war that has persisted in Afghanistan since 1979, roughly 2 million Pathans have left for Pakistan as refugees.
Jews are told in their Tanakh (Bible) in II Kings, 15:29 "In the days of Pekah king of Israel, came Tiglath-Pileser, King of Assyria, and took Ijon, and Abel-Beth-Maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he carried them captive to Assyria". These were names of towns that were attacked.
Then Ten Tribes were cut off, without spiritual leadership or books on Jewish Law and values. Only if they had any Levites among them could any teaching be had, for they were the teachers, but they would have been without materials, such as the Torah. The prophecy is that the Ten Tribes will be reunited with Judah at the end of days.
The Pathans still have the tradition of circumcision on the 8th day, wearing a fringed garment, knowledge of the Sabbath, knowledge of pure and impure foods.
Some even wear amulets with "Shma Israel" in Hebrew.
They still know the names of lost tribes such as Reuvan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher and the sons of Joseph. Pashtu, their language, has many Hebrew words.
Resource: Book: THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL by Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail
https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/anthropology-and-archaeology/people/pathans
http://www.juragentium.org/topics/islam/en/yassari.htm
1: On 27 November 2001, a Conference was held in Bonn, Germany, which brought together representatives of the resistance groups, consisting of the main civil war parties and warlords, pro-Zahir Shah technocrats and intellectuals, and two other small Afghan groups based in Pakistan and Iran (Wardak 2005: 65). Although the present anti-Taliban groups could not be considered to represent the Afghan people, the 'Agreement on Provisional Arrangements in Afghanistan pending the Re-Establishment of Permanent Government Institutions', also known as the 'Bonn Agreement', provided a framework for the process of state formation to create a broad-based, multi-ethnic, and representative government in Afghanistan. Executive powers were vested in Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun, as head of the Interim Administration of Afghanistan on 22 December 2001. Karzai was reconfirmed as the head of the Interim Administration by the 1,550 members of an Emergency Loya Jirga held in Kabul on 10 June 2002.
good article ... Nadene ALL Pashtuns tribes are cousins tribes. for example 700 years before 2 tribes now these 2 tribes changed into 25 tribes and from tribes to tribes change into more tribes , this system is continue from long time ... tribes to tribes .
ReplyDeleteOf course, Rooman. You make a lot of sense. That's what has happened. Even in 721 BCE when the 10 Tribes of Jacob were attacked and taken away by the Assyrians, they would have multiplied a lot since entering the land in 1271 BCE and being settled in the Northern part. That means that all the 12 tribes had been living there for 550 years before the Assyrians had attacked them. They've certainly multiplied more since then till now. That's why it's miraculous that some customs have still been practiced, and how such people as Dr. Shalva Weil could identify them as the 10 Tribes lost to Judah (Jews). You all are a strong-willed people.
ReplyDeleteThank you Nadene Goldfoot.
Delete