The Qizilbashes of Afghanistan (Gunnar Jarring, 1939)

The Qizilbashes of Afghanistan

Nadir Shah of Persia, who himself was of Turkish descent¹, originally belonging to the Turkman tribe Afshar, from 1736 onwards invaded Afghanistan and India. Soldiers of Turkish origin were then placed as garrisons in the captured towns of Kabul, Herat and others. According to Bellew² Nadir Shah about 1737 left a detachment of twelve thousand of his Qizilbashes as a chandaul or “rear guard” at Kabul. After the death of Nadir Shah they remained at Kabul as a military colony, and their descendants still occupy a distinct quarter of the city, which is called Chandaul. The Qizilbashes held their own ground there as a distinct Persian community of the Shia persuasion against the native population of the Sunni profession. They constituted an important element in the general population of the city and exercised a considerable influence in its local politics.

These Turkish soldiers of Nadir Shah are the origin of that part of the population in Afghanistan which is still called Qizilbash (qïzïlbaš ‘red-head’).³ They are related to those known to exist in Persia, the Caucasus and Turkey. They are to be found mainly in the towns⁴, especially in Kabul and Herat,⁵ (according to Elphinstone⁶ also about this town). They used to be mirza’s (writers) and employees of the Afghan government and at the royal court of Kabul till the death of Habibullah Khan (1919), but they also occupied and occupy themselves as traders and craftsmen. They are now said to be quite Persianized, but according to Elphinstone they used their original Turki at that time when addressing each other.⁷ This is further confirmed by Vigne,⁸ who says that “if Dost Mohamed addresses an Afghan, he speaks Poshtu. To the Kuzzelbash of Kabul, and visitors from Turkistan, he speaks Turki”.

The Qizilbashes of Persia originally consisted of seven Turkish tribes (no doubt originally of Turkman origin) according to Malcolm⁹ called Oostojaloo (Ustajlu), Shamloo (Shamlu), Nikalloo (Nikalu), Baharloo (Baharlu), Zulkadder (Zulkadar), Kujur (Kajar) and Affshar. Each of these had seven subordinate tribes under them, but Malcolm did not think this referred to real tribes, but to subordinate teerahs (tire) or branches. Among the subdivisions among the Qizilbashes of Kabul Elphinstone¹⁰ enumerates the ‘Chendawuls’ (Chandaul in Kabul) or ‘Jewansheers’ and the ‘Moraud Khaunees’, which have their name from the Durani chief who was their leader once upon a time.

The only indication of Qizilbashes living outside the town is that of Elphinstone¹¹ and of Hackin¹², who found a small number of Qizilbash living in the high valleys of Foladi.

The number of Qizilbashes in Afghanistan

There is great uncertainty about the number of Qizilbash living in Afghanistan. The highest number is given by Bellew¹³ with 200,00, Aristov¹⁴ with 100-150,000 and Keane¹⁵, who has 150,000. Huart¹⁶ gives 75,000, whilst the Imperial Gazetteer of India¹⁷ gives less than 50,000 and Schwager¹⁸ only reckons with 12-15,000. In the Военно-статистический сборник¹⁹ is given 200,000 (the same as Bellew), which is no doubt absurd, but the anonymous author adds that others estimate only 12,000 families. This later statement may be the basis for Schwager’s and others opinion, that they number only 12-15,000.

¹Lochhart, Nadir Shah (1938) p. 17―20 et seq. with valuable information about his origin.

²Bellew, The races of Afghanistan, p. 107; Journal of a political mission, p. 16―17.

³General information about the Qizilbash in E. I., art. Kizil-bash (Huart); cf. further Le Coq, Kyzylbasch und Yäschilbasch.

⁴Gazetteer of India, vol. 5, p. 47; Beck, Das afghanische Strafgesetzbuch, p. 71, n. 1 etc. Markowski, p. 23.

⁵Niedermayer, p. 71; Mohan Lal, Travels, p. 266.

⁶Elphinstone, I, p. 417.

⁷op. cit. p. 417; Huart, E. I.

⁸Vigne, p. 355.

⁹Malcolm, I, p. 502, the forms within ( ) according to Sykes, II, p. 159 but he gives instead of Nikalu Takalu. Huart, Enz. D. Isl, has Ustadjlu, Shamlu, Tekelü, Baharlu, Dhu’l-kadr, Kadjar and Afshar.

¹⁰Elphinstone, I, p. 419.

¹¹cf. p. 76.

¹²Hackin, In Persia and Afghanistan, p. 359.

¹³Bellew, Journal of a political mission, p. 17.

¹⁴Aristov, Англо-индийский Кавказ., стр. 51.

¹⁵Keane, Asia, I, p. 51.

¹⁶Enz. D. Isl.

¹⁷Vol. 5. P. 47.

¹⁸p. 31, n. 40.

¹⁹Вып. 3, стр. 43

Gunnar Jarring — On the distribution of Turk tribes in Afghanistan. An Attempt at a Preliminary Classification (1939)