Emir 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 Payendah Khan, chief of the Barakzai Pashtuns, who was killed in 1799 by King Zaman Shah Durrani.
Balkh is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan, about 20 km (12 mi) northwest of the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, and some 74 km (46 mi) south of the Amu Darya river and the Uzbekistan border. Its population was estimated to be 138,594 in 2021–22 by the Afghan National Statistic and Information Authority. Listed as the current 8th most populous city in the country, 2024 estimates set the population of Balkh at 114,883.
Ghazni, historically known as Ghaznain (غزنين) or Ghazna (غزنه), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana, is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategically located along Highway 1, which has served as the main road between Kabul and Kandahar for thousands of years. Situated on a plateau at 2,219 metres (7,280 ft) above sea level, the city is 150 kilometres (93 mi) south of Kabul and is the capital of Ghazni Province. The name Ghazni drives from the Persian word "ganj", meaning ‘treasure’.
The Yusufzai or Yousafzai, also referred to as the Esapzai, or Yusufzai Afghans historically, are one of the largest tribes of Pashtuns. They are natively based in the northern part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to which they migrated from Kabul during the 16th century, but they are also present in parts of Afghanistan, including Kunar, Kabul, Kandahar and Farah. Outside of these countries, they can be found in Ghoriwala District Bannu, Balochistan Sibi (Akazai), Chagai (Hassanzai) and Rohilkandh.
Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name محمود, common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning praise, along with Muhammad.
The Qadiriyya or the Qadiri order is a Sufi mystic order (tariqa) named after Abdul Qadir Gilani, who was a Hanbali scholar from Gilan, Iran. The order relies strongly upon adherence to the fundamentals of Sunni Islamic law.
The Durrānī, formerly known as Abdālī (ابدالي), are one of the largest tribes of Pashtuns. Their traditional homeland is in southern Afghanistan, straddling into Toba Achakzai in Balochistan, Pakistan, but they are also settled in other parts of Afghanistan and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Shams al-Din is an Arabic personal name or title.
Abdul Wahhab is a male Muslim given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words ʻabd and al-Wahhāb, one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which give rise to the Muslim theophoric names. It means "servant of the all-giver".
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 modern day 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. The Muhammadzai era was known for its progressivist modernity in which Afghanistan was referred to as the "Switzerland of Asia".
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.
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 Principality of Herat, the Emirate of Herat, the Herat Khanate or simply Herat was a state in Afghanistan from 1793 to 1863, and one of the 3 main khanates in 19th century Afghanistan.
The Qazi family of Lakhnauti was a medieval Bengali Muslim family who lived in the royal city of Lakhnauti in the Bengal Sultanate. The family was founded by Taj ad-Din an-Nahwi in the 15th century, and has produced numerous influential judges and scholars. The descendants of Shah Manjhan later moved to Gujarat and neighbouring states.
