The Tarikh-i Ahmad Shahi is a chronicle, written in Persian, by Mahmud al-Husayni. He had been hired by Ahmad Shah Durrani to mark the achievements of his rule. The Tarikh-i Ahmad Shahi was written during and encompassed the entire reign of Ahmad Shah. It was more than merely an accessible glimpse into Afsharid historiography, it illustrated Persian historiography through the use of dramaturgy that combined prose, rhymed prose, and poetry. [1]
Durrani chroniclers followed an established literary convention, according to a long-standing custom that attained its zenith in Iran and India between the 13th and 15th centuries by selecting the Persian language as their medium. [2] The Uzbek conquest of Central Asia in the early 16th century is credited for making Persian the primary historical language in the region. [2] Therefore, a fixed repertoire of codes, images, and narrative rhythms was provided by the wide literary lineages that allowed the works to be analyzed. [2] Writing history involved more than just capturing the facts; the writers also aimed to amuse their audience and showcase their artistic talents. [2]
Ahmad Shah ordered that his reign be documented so that it could be used as a model for governing rulers in the future. [2] Ahmad gave the order for Muhammad Taqi Khan Shirazi, a former Afsharid official, to send a scribe with the skill to match Nadir Shah's chronicler Mirza Mahdi Astarabadi, especially his most important work, the Tarikh-i Nadiri. [2] Hired c.1754, [3] Mahmud al-Husayni was instructed to write out Ahmad Shah's reign's events in plain, unadorned terms. [2]
Mahmud al-Husayni closes the introduction with a consideration of his sources, his function as a historian, and potential objections from his audience, in keeping with the conventions of the historiography of the period. [4] Although Ahmad Shah's career is credited by proponents of modern nationalism with laying the groundwork for modern-day Afghanistan, this phrase is obviously a creation of later times and is not contained in Tarikh-i Ahmad Shahi. [5]
Al-Husayni utilizes the honorific of "Pearl of Pearls" to introduce Ahmad Shah as a member of the Saduza'i family of the Durrani tribe and emphasizes the role of Ahmad's fellow tribesmen as the new elite that supports the state. [6] He begins the historical account by linking the events of Nadir Shah's reign to the ascent of Ahmad Shah in the future. [6] Al-Husayni highlights the larger Durrani group's deportation from Herat to Nishapur as well as the military services they subsequently provided to Nadir Shah. [6] He creates a linear progression from the Durranis' integration into Nadir Shah's army to their rise to prominence as an imperial elite, the Afsharid warriors. [6]
Al-Husayni's chronicle is structured around accepted historiographic conventions, while describing successive battle scenes. [1] He highlights the meeting between Ahmad Shah and Hajji Bi Khan Ming, stating it occurred in the years 1750–1. [lower-alpha 1] [8] The Tarikh gives insight into the life of Hajji Bi Khan Ming while accusing him of rapacity, cruelty and oppression. [9] He spends the rest of the story detailing Ahmad Shah's military campaigns in chronological order. [10] The regularity of these campaigns indicated a pattern of movement that is essential for obtaining resources and rekindling allegiances. [10] Ahmad Shah concentrated his military efforts on the prosperous eastern territories. [10] He conducted nine journeys to northern India between 1747 and 1767, two of which are considered military achievements: the capture of Delhi in 1757 and the defeat of the Marathas at Panipat in 1174–1761. [10]
The Tarikh-i Ahmad Shahi traces the life and deeds of Ahmad Shah Durrani, with most of the manuscript devoted to events that occurred after 1747. [11] Rather than being a history of a particular region, it was a biography of Ahmad Shah. Ahmad Shah's reign is covered in varied lengths of folios by Al-Husayni. [11] For instance, although four and five folios cover the second and seventh years, thirty-nine and forty folios deal with the first and fourth years, respectively. [11]
Ahmad Shāh Durrānī, also known as Ahmad Shāh Abdālī, was the founder of the Durrani Empire and is often regarded as the founder of modern Afghanistan. In June 1747, he was appointed as King of the Afghans by a loya jirga in Kandahar, where he set up his capital.
The Durrani Empire, or the Afghan Empire, also known as the Sadozai Kingdom, was an Afghan empire founded by the Durrani tribe of Pashtuns under Ahmad Shah Durrani in 1747, which spanned parts of Central Asia, the Iranian plateau, and the Indian subcontinent. At its peak, it ruled over present-day Afghanistan, much of Pakistan, parts of northeastern and southeastern Iran, eastern Turkmenistan, and northwestern India. Next to the Ottoman Empire, the Durrani Empire is considered to be among the most significant Islamic empires of the second half of the 18th century.
Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai, nicknamed the Amir-i Kabir, was the founder of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of Afghanistan during the First Anglo-Afghan War. With the decline of the Durrani dynasty, he became the Emir of Afghanistan in 1826. An ethnic Pashtun, he belonged to the Barakzai tribe. He was the 11th son of Payinda Khan, chief of the Barakzai Pashtuns, who was killed in 1799 by King Zaman Shah Durrani.
Zaman Shah Durrani, or Zaman Shah Abdali was the third King of the Durrani Empire from 1793 until 1801. An ethnic Pashtun of the Sadozai clan, Zaman Shah was the grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani and the fifth son of Timur Shah Durrani.
Shahrokh Mirza, better known by his dynastic title of Shahrokh Shah was the Afsharid king (shah) of the western part of Khorasan from 1748 to 1796, with a two-month interruption. A grandson of the Iranian conqueror Nader Shah, Shahrokh was the son of Reza Qoli Mirza Afshar and his Safavid wife Fatemeh Soltan Begom, who was the sister of Tahmasp II, the penultimate Safavid shah of Iran. Shahrokh's half-Safavid descent made him stand out amongst his Afsharid relatives, and was used to bolster the legitimacy of his grandfather. After the assassination of Nader Shah in 1747, his nephew Ali-qoli Khan, ascended the throne in Mashhad and had all of Nader Shah's descendants in fortress of Kalat massacred. Shahrokh was spared in case his Safavid lineage would come to use, and was instead kept in the fortress as a prisoner. While Adel Shah was battling his rebellious younger brother Ebrahim Mirza, a party of Turkic, Kurdish, and Arab tribal leaders took advantage of his absence and installed Shahrokh on the throne. Both Adel Shah and Ebrahim were eventually defeated and killed, but Shahrokh was not long afterwards overthrown by a party of dissident tribal leaders, who installed the Safavid pretender Mir Sayyed Mohammad on the throne. Shahrokh was soon blinded at the instigation of Mir Alam Khan Khuzayma and other leading nobles, much against Suleiman II's will.
The Hotak dynasty was an Afghan monarchy founded by Ghilji Pashtuns that briefly ruled portions of Iran and Afghanistan during the 1720s. It was established in April 1709 by Mirwais Hotak, who led a successful rebellion against the declining Persian Safavid empire in the region of Loy Kandahar in what is now southern Afghanistan.
Faiz Muhammad Kāteb also known as Kāteb (کاتب) was a writer and historian. He was Afghan court chronicler, a skilled calligrapher and secretary to Habibullah Khan from 1901 to 1919.
The Durrani dynasty was founded in 1747 by Ahmad Shah Durrani at Kandahar, Afghanistan. He united the different Pashtun tribes and created the Durrani Empire. which at its peak included the modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, as well as some parts of northeastern Iran, eastern Turkmenistan, and northwestern India including the Kashmir Valley.
Alakozai is a Pashtun tribe in Afghanistan. They are one of the four tribes of the Zirak tribal confederacy of Durrani Pashtuns.
The Barakzai dynasty, also known as the Muhammadzai dynasty, ruled what is now Afghanistan from 1823 to 1978, when the monarchy ended de jure under Musahiban Mohammad Zahir Shah and de facto under his cousin Sardar Mohammad Daoud Khan. The Barakzai dynasty was established by Dost Mohammad Khan after the Durrani dynasty of Ahmad Shah Durrani was removed from power. As the Pahlavi era in Iran, the Muhammadzai era was known for its progressivist modernity, practice of Sufism, peaceful security and neutrality, in which Afghanistan was referred to as the "Switzerland of Asia".
Kamran Shah Durrani, was a member of the Sadozai dynasty of Afghanistan who ruled over independent Herat from 1829 to 1842. He was the son of Mahmud Shah Durrani, grandson of Timur Shah Durrani and the great grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of the Durrani Empire. He was deposed and killed in early 1842, by his vizier Yar Muhammad Khan Alakozai.
Bārakzai is the name of a Pashtun tribe from present-day Kandahar, Afghanistan. '"Barakzai" is a common name among the Pashtuns and it means "son of Barak" in Pashto. According to the Encyclopædia Iranica, "In the detailed Pashtun genealogies there are no fewer than seven instances of the ethnic name Bārakzī, at very different levels of tribal segmentation. Six of them designate simple lineages within six different tribes located in the Solaymān mountains or adjacent lands... The seventh instance, on the other hand, designates one of the most important Pashtun tribes in numbers and historic role, part of the Zīrak branch of the Dorrānay confederation.
Timur Shah Durrani, also known as Timur Shah Abdali or Taimur Shah Abdali was the second ruler of the Afghan Durrani Empire, from November 1772 until his death in 1793. An ethnic Pashtun, he was the second eldest son of Ahmad Shah Durrani.
Sultan Mohammad Khan, also known as Ghazi Sardar Sultan Mohammad Talaei, and known by his epithet, Sultan Mohammad Khan the Golden was an Afghan chief minister and regent. He was a powerful brother of Emir Dost Mohammad Khan, the eventual ruler of Afghanistan who seized control of Kabul from him. Prior to and during the reign of Dost Mohammad Khan, Sultan Muhammad Khan Telai was chief minister and governor of various regions of Afghanistan, including Kabul, Peshawar and Kohat. He was the first of the Musahiban, a Mohammadzai dynasty that began with him and ruled Afghanistan for more than 150 years, in various forms such as emir, king or president from 1823 to 1978.
The Khanate of Nishapur, also known as the Qara Bayat Amirdom, was a semi-independent state ruled by the Bayat tribe that existed in Khorasan from 1747 to 1800, whose capital was in the city of Nishapur.
The Sadozai Sultanate of Herat was a state in Herat founded in 1716 when Abdali Afghans expelled Safavid forces from the province. They were conquered in 1732 by the Afsharids.
Fateh Khan Barakzai or Wazir Fateh Khan or simply, Fateh Khan, was Wazir of the Durrani Empire during the reign of Mahmud Shah Durrani until his torture and execution at the hands of Kamran Shah Durrani, the son of the ruler of the Durrani Empire, and Mahmud Shah Durrani, and other prominent conspirators such as Ata Mohammad Khan. Fateh Khan was of the Barakzai tribe, and his death led to his tribe revolting and the eventual deposition of Mahmud Shah Durrani.
The Durrani Campaign to Khorasan took place in 1754 and 1755. Ahmad Shah Durrani launched the campaign to avenge his defeat in the first campaign of Khorasan. Ahmad Shah intended to advance on Mashhad and then Nishapur to bring the cities to submission.
Afghan Qizilbash are a Turkic ethnic group in Afghanistan. The Afghan Qizilbash are descendants of the Qizilbash, which were a militant group mostly made up of Turkomans. Their language is Dari. They follow Twelver Shia Islam.