Qais Abdur Rashid
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Qais Abdur Rashid Khan (575 - 661) (Template:Lang-ps), also known as Kesh, Kish, Qesh and Imraul Qais is a legendary ancestor of the Pashtun race, said to be the first ethnic Pashtun who travelled to Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia during the early days of Islam.[1])Traditional Afghan genealogies list him as the 37th descendent of King Saul (or Malik Talut).[2][dead link][3][clarification needed][4]
In Pashtun tradition, he was born in Zhob, a region of modern-day Baluchistan, Pakistan. Upon hearing about the advent of Islam, his tribe sent him to Medina in Saudi Arabia. He met the Islamic prophet Muhammad and embraced Islam there, and was given the name Abdur Rashid by Muhammed. He then returned to the region of Afghanistan and introduced Islam to his tribe. It is also claimed[who?] that the famous military leader and companion of Muhammed, Khalid ibn al-Walid, introduced Qais Abdur Rashid to the Prophet.
The Afghan historians proceed to relate that the children of Israel, both in Ghore and in Arabia, preserved their knowledge of the unity of God and the purity of their religious belief, and that on the appearance of the last and greatest of the prophets (Mohammed) the Afghans of Ghore listened to the invitation of their Arabian brethren, the chief of whom was Khauled (or Caled), son of Waleed, so famous for his conquest of Syria, and marched to the aid of the true faith, under the command of Kyse, afterwards surnamed Abdoolresheed.[5]
According to Thomas Walker Arnold, however, the account in which Afghans were introduced to Muhammad by Khalid ibn al-Walid is probably without any historical foundation.[6]
Firishta, a 16th century Persian historian, wrote that some of the early Pashtuns (Afghans) may have been Copts before they became Muslims.[7]
Legend says that Qais Abdur Rashid is buried on top of the Qais Mountain in the Zhob (known locally as "Da Kase Ghar"), literally Mount of Qais the Father. Some people visit the place and make animal sacrifices, usually a sheep or a goat, at the tomb of Qais as to help feed the poor. Nearly all major Pashtun tribes are said to be the progeny of his sons and daughters.[8]
See also
- Nimat Allah al-Harawi author of Tarikh-i-Khan Jahani Makhzan-i-Afghani also known as The History of the Afghans
- Saul
- Talut
- Amir Kror Suri
- List of non-Arab Sahaba
- Sunni view of the Sahaba
- Tareen
Muhammad Rehman khattak zhob balochistan pakistan
References
- ^ Meaning and Practice, Afghanistan Country Study: Religion, Illinois Institute of Technology (retrieved 18 January 2007).
- ^ Dawn, The cradle of Pathan culture, by Alauddin Masood, 4 April 2004.
- ^ Pakistan pictorial, Pakistan Publications, 2003.
- ^ Niamatullah's history of the Afghans, Volume 1, Niʻmat Allāh, Nirod Bhusan Roy, Santiniketan Press, 1958, pg. 5.
- ^ Life of the Amir Dost Mohammed Khan; of Kabul, Volume 1. By Mohan Lala (1846), pg. 5
- ^ The Preaching of Islam: A History of the Propagation of the Muslim Faith by Thomas Walker Arnold, pg. 183
- ^ History Of The Mohamedan Power In India by Muhammad Qāsim Hindū Šāh Astarābādī Firištah, The Packard Humanities Institute Persian Texts in Translation (retrieved 10 January 2007).
- ^ Shariat and Tasawwuf