Islam and Politics in Afghanistan

366 Pages·1995·9.06 MB·English

by  Asta Olesen

ISLAM AND POLITICS IN AFGHANISTAN
NORDIC INSTITUTE OF ASIAN STUDIES
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Islam
and
Politics
•
In
Afghanistan
Asta Olesen
i~ ~~~:~~n~~~up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
Nordic Institute of Asian Studies
Monograph Series, No. 67
First published 1995 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park,
Abington, Oxon, OXl4 4RN
ISBN 0-7007-0299-7 [Hardback]
ISBN 0-7007-0296-2 [Paperback]
All rights reserved
© Asta Olesen 1995
Reprinted 1996
Transferred to Digital Printing 2006
British Library Catalogue in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
Publisher's Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure
the quality of this reprint but points out that some
imperfections in the original may be apparent
Contents
List of Figures .......................................................................................................... vii
List of Maps ............................................................................................................ viii
Preface ....................................................................................................................... ix
Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. xii
Transcriptions from Arabic Script ......................................................................... xiii
Islam -Ideology and Politics .................................................................................. 1
The Concept of Ideology .................................................................................... 3
Islamic Polity ....................................................................................................... 6
The Classic Islamic Model of Legitimacy of Power ....................................... 8
The Concept of Jihad ......................................................................................... 11
Barakat as a Political Factor .............................................................................. 13
The Aesthetics of Reception ............................................................................ 15
Afghanistan Towards the End of the Nineteenth Century ............................. 20
External Forces and the Growth of Afghanistan .......................................... 21
Tribal Forces in the Development of Afghanistan ....................................... 29
The 'Religious Situation' in Afghanistan ...................................................... 36
Summary ............................................................................................................ 56
From Tribal State to Absolute Monarchy (1880-1901) ...................................... 61
Ideology of the State ......................................................................................... 62
Islamization of the Legal System .................................................................... 65
Application of the Doctrine of Jihad ............................................................... 68
Subjugation of the CUlamii ................................................................................ 71
Standardization of Faith .................................................................................. 75
Relationship between the cUlamii and the State ............................................ 81
Summary ............................................................................................................ 89
Pan-Islamism and Anti-Colonialism (1901-1919) ............................................. 94
The Policies of Amir Habibullah ..................................................................... 95
Political Groupings around the Court ......................................................... 100
Pan-Islamism and Anti-Colonialism ............................................................ 102
Summary .......................................................................................................... 107
A New Ideological Paradigm: The Reform Policy of King Amanullah
(1919-29) ................................................................................................................ 111
Pan-Islamism ................................................................................................... 113
Ideology of the Young Afghan Movement ................................................. 116
The Constitutional Monarchy ....................................................................... 120
Islamic Modernism or Secularization? ........................................................ 126
King Amanullah and the Traditional Power Groups ................................ 133
The Loya Jirga of 1924 .................................................................................... 138
The Fall of King Amanullah .......................................................................... 144
Ideological Content of the Revolt ................................................................. 150
The Mullahs and the Rebellion ..................................................................... 160
Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 165
Re-Establishment of the Social Order and Its Transformation (1930-1950s) 172
Relationship to British India ......................................................................... 172
The Constitution of 1931 ................................................................................ 176
The Clergy and the State ................................................................................ 183
Reforming Religious Education .................................................................... 186
The Secular School System ............................................................................ 190
Disappearance of the 'Activist' Mullahs ..................................................... 192
The Struggle for Political Reform (1950s-1970s) ............................................. 199
Socio-Economic Development ...................................................................... 199
Demand for Political Liberalisation ............................................................. 201
'Modernisation' and Nationalism ................................................................ 203
The Constitution of 1964 ................................................................................ 206
The Re-Entry of Islam into Afghan Politics ................................................ 212
Ideological Crisis in Society .......................................................................... 216
The Palace Revolution of Sardar Mohammad Daoud ............................... 219
Summary .......................................................................................................... 224
The Development of the Islamic Movement from the 1960s ........................ 227
Background of the Islamic Movement ......................................................... 227
Development of the Islamic Movement in Afghanistan ........................... 229
Membership of the Islamic Movement ........................................................ 235
Ideological Basis of the Islamic Movement ................................................. 236
The Islamic State ............................................................................................. 240
Jihad and Martyrdom ...................................................................................... 245
The Islamist and Traditionalist ..................................................................... 246
Summary .......................................................................................................... 250
The PDPA and Islam ........................................................................................... 256
The PDPA's Islamic Strategy ........................................................................ 257
Legitimacy of Power ....................................................................................... 263
The Fall of the PDPA ...................................................................................... 268
Ideological Class Struggle and the Aesthetics of Reception ..................... 269
The Mujahidin and Islam .................................................................................... 274
Islam in the Popular Resistance .................................................................... 275
Divisions in the Resistance ............................................................................ 281
The Present Struggle for Power .................................................................... 292
Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 298
Centralization and Islamization ................................................................... 298
Islam and the Legitimacy of Power .............................................................. 299
Aesthetics of Reception .................................................................................. 300
Glossary ................................................................................................................ 304
Notes on the Sources ........................................................................................... 313
References ............................................................................................................. 318
Index ...................................................................................................................... 341
List of Figures
1: The classic model of the legitimation of power ......................................... 10
2: Dost Mohammad, .......................................................................................... 23
3: Afghan royal lineage since 1747 .................................................................. 24
4: Model of the transmission of the legitimation of power 1747-1880 ....... 34
5: The Deoband madrasa .................................................................................... 45
6: Descent of Mujaddidi family from Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi... ................ .49
7: Abdul Rahman, Amir 1880-1901 .................................................................. 61
8: Dichtomy in the legitimation of the transmission of power between
'classic Islamic model' and 'tribal state model' .......................................... 64
9: Habibullah, Amir 1901-19 ............................................................................. 94
10: Obaidullah Sindhi ........................................................................................ 104
11: Amanullah, King 1919-29 ........................................................................... 111
12: Mahmud Tarzi .............................................................................................. 117
13: Duality in the legitimation of the transmission of power in the 1923
Constitution ................................................................................................... 122
14: 1:lazrat $ii/:Lib Fazl Omar ................................................................................ 149
15: King Nadir Khan ........................................................................................... 173
16: Model of the transfer of the legitimacy of power in the 1931
Constitution ................................................................................................... 178
17: Model of the transfer of the legitimacy of power in the 1964
Constitution ................................................................................................... 207
18: Sardiir Mohammad Daoud .......................................................................... 220
19: Model of the legitimation of power in the 1977 Constitution ............... 223
20: Sebghatullah Mujaddidi .............................................................................. 233
21: The Islamist model of the legitimacy of power: ...................................... 241
22: Dr Najibullah, President 1986-92 ............................................................... 256
23: PDPA political poster, Kabul 1981 ............................................................ 261
24: The PDPA model of the transmission of power ...................................... 264
25: Leadership profiles of the main Peshawar (Sunni) groups ................... 284
26: Leadership profiles of the main Quetta (Shi'a) groups .......................... 285
List of Maps
1: Afghanistan today ........................................................................................ xiv
2: Zones of contention between the Safavid and Mughal empires and the
Uzbek Shaibanids in the sixteenth century ................................................ 20
3: The empire of Ahmad Shah Durrani (ruled 1747-72) ................................ 21
4: British and Russian expansion on the Afghan periphery (1800-1900) ... 26
5: Major ethnic groups in Afghanistan and distribution of Pashtuns in
Pakistan ............................................................................................................ 30
6: Conquest and revolt during the reign of Abdur Rahman ....................... 79
Preface
My interest in Afghanistan dates back to the 1970s, when I carried out
anthropological fieldwork in eastern Afghanistan during 1975-76,
and afterwards, during 1977-79, worked in a development project in
northern Afghanistan. I thus witnessed the 'Saur Revolution' of April
1978 (the military coup that overthrew President Daoud and brought
the Marxist PDPA-the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan
to power), the initial bewildered response of the population and the
start of the military and ideological struggle for 'the thoughts and
minds' of the Afghans which developed between the PDPA and
opposition forces and ultimately led to full-scale civil war in 1979.
Even though the PDPAregime was ousted bymujiihidfn forces in 1992,
Afghanistan's military and ideological conflicts continue.
1978-79 were dramatic years throughout the region. The Pahlavi
dynasty was toppled by an Islamic Revolution in neighbouring Iran
and in Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was hanged by the Islamic
military regime of General Zia ul-Haq. This formed the regional
context of the PDPA regime in Afghanistan, which for a time was
rescued from a similar fate by the Soviet invasion of December 1979.
However, in Afghanistan neither the military nor the ideological
struggle ended with the invasion. While the military struggle to a
large extent depended upon such external influences as the level of
superpower commitment on either side, the ideological struggle for
thoughts and minds had a dynamic of its own. This was conditioned
by and played out in terms of the peculiar features of Afghanistan's
history, decisively different from that of its neighbours.
It was precisely this ideological struggle, the struggle over who
should define the dominant discourse of society, which interested me
most, particularly the role which Islam has played in the political
history of Afghanistan from the establishment of the modern state
around 1880 until today.
Afghanistan did not exist as an independent entity until the
establishment of the tribal confederacy of the Durrani empire in 1747,
based upon the militarily dominantPashtun tribes. The state developed
from and was thus dependent upon the tribes, and it was not until the