Pashtunwali

{{Further|Pashtun people}}

The native Pashtun tribes, often described as fiercely independent people,{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/weekinreview/06shane.html|title=The War in Pashtunistan |work=The New York Times|first=Scott|last=Shane |date=December 5, 2009 |access-date=2010-10-29}} who inhabit the Pashtunistan region (southeastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan) follow this traditional code of conduct that governs the social behaviour and values of the Pashtuns, which is called Pashtunwali, and it is described as being ancient, which the Pashtuns follow and predates Islam.{{Cite book |surname1=Brooks, Ezzani |first1=Melanie C. , Miriam D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YdG4EAAAQBAJ&dq=pashtunwali+before+islam&pg=PA293 |title=Great Muslim Leaders: Lessons for Education |date=March 2023 |publisher=Information Age Publishing, Incorporated |isbn=9798887301839 |pages=293 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Pirzada |first= Hafsa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HgxqEAAAQBAJ&dq=pashtunwali+before+islam&pg=PA108 |title=Islam, Culture, and Marriage Consent: Hanafi Jurisprudence and the Pashtun Context |date=April 11, 2022 |publisher=Springer International Publishing |isbn=9783030972516 |pages=108 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Margolis |first= Maxine L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u_qwDwAAQBAJ |title=Women in Fundamentalism: Modesty, Marriage, and Motherhood |date=October 10, 2019 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers |isbn=9781538134030 |pages=49 |language=en}} Because of that, much of their mountainous territory has remained outside government rule or control. Pashtun resistance to outside rule and the terrain they reside in is sometimes speculated to be why Indigenous Pashtuns still follow the "code of life".{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Pashtunwali rules are accepted in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and also in some Pashtun communities around the world. Some non-Pashtun Afghans and others have also adopted its ideology or practices for their own benefit. Conversely, many urbanized Pashtuns tend to ignore the rules of Pashtunwali. Passed on from generation to generation, Pashtunwali guides both individual and communal conduct. Practiced by the majority of Pashtuns, it helps to promote Pashtunization.{{Blockquote|Ideal Pukhtun behaviour approximates the features of Pukhtunwali, the code of the Pukhtuns, which includes the following traditional features: courage (tora), revenge (badal), hospitality (melmestia), generosity to a defeated...{{cite book|last1=Zulfacar|first1=Maliha|author-link1=Maliha Zulfacar|title=Afghan Immigrants in the USA and Germany: A Comparative Analysis of the Use of Ethnic Social Capital|series=Kulturelle Identitat und politische Selbstbestimmung in der Weltgesellschaft|publisher=LIT Verlag|date=1998

|isbn=9783825836504|page=33}}|Maliha Zulfacar|1999}}

Pashtuns embrace an ancient traditional, spiritual, and communal identity tied to a set of moral codes and rules of behaviour, as well as to a record of history spanning some seventeen hundred years.{{Cite web |url=http://www.alamahabibi.com/English%20Articles/Afghan_and_Afghanistan.htm | title = Afghan and Afghanistan |work=Abdul Hai Habibi |publisher=alamahabibi.com|year=1969|access-date=2010-10-24}}

Pashtunwali promotes self-respect, independence, justice, hospitality, love, forgiveness, revenge and tolerance toward all (especially to strangers or guests).{{cite book |first=Nadjma |last=Yassari |year=2005 |title=The Sharīʻa in the Constitutions of Afghanistan, Iran, and Egypt |location=Tübingen |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |page=49 |isbn=3-16-148787-7}} It is considered to be the personal responsibility of every Pashtun to discover and rediscover Pashtunwali's essence and meaning.{{Blockquote|It is the way of the Pashtuns. We have melmestia, being a good host, nanawatai, giving asylum, and badal, vengeance. Pashtuns live by these things.Leonard Schonberg, Morgen's War (2005) p. 218.|Abdur|A character in Morgen's War}}

::The Pashtun tribes are always engaged in private or public war. Every man is a warrior, a politician and a theologian. Every large house is a real feudal fortress. ... Every family cultivates its vendetta; every clan, its feud. ... Nothing is ever forgotten and very few debts are left unpaid.

:::Winston Churchill (My Early Life, Chapter 11: "The Mahmund Valley")

Pashtuns are organised into tribal or extended family groups often led by a "Malik" (a wealthy and influential leader from the group).

Disputes within clans are settled by a jirga (traditionally a tribal assembly involving all adult males).{{cite web |last1=H. Cathell |first1=Major John |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a502894.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808154406/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a502894.pdf|url-status=live|archive-date=August 8, 2019|title=Human Geography in the Afghanistan - Pakistan Region: Undermining the Taliban Using Traditional Pashtun Social Structures}}

In times of foreign invasion, Pashtuns have been known to unite under Pashtun religious leaders such as Saidullah Baba in the Siege of Malakand{{Cite book|last1=Swat)|first1=Sir Abdul Wadud (Wali of|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0x8PAQAAIAAJ&q=swat+war+british+empire|title=The Story of Swat|last2=K̲h̲ān̲|first2=Muḥammad Āṣif|date=1963|publisher=Ferozsons|language=en}} and even under Pashtána female leaders such as Malalai of Maiwand in the Battle of Maiwand.{{Cite book|last1=M.d|first1=Bashir Zikria|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Oc19AQAACAAJ|title=Malalai Joan of Arc of Afghanistan and the Victors of Maiwand: The Second Anglo-afghan War 1878-1882|last2=Facs|first2=B. a Zikria MD|date=2017-02-17|publisher=Xlibris Corporation LLC|isbn=978-1-5245-7785-8|language=en}}

File:Afghan provincial governors front row.jpg, Nuristan governor, Fazlullah Wahidi, Kunar governor, Gul Agha Sherzai, Nangarhar governor, and Lutfullah Mashal, Laghman governor, listen to speakers talk about peace, prosperity and the rehabilitation of Afghanistan during the first regional Jirga in 2009.]]

Although not exclusive, the following thirteen principles form the major components of Pashtunwali.

The three primary{{Cite book|last=Amato|first=Jonathan N.|url=https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/553438/amatojonathan.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|title=Tribes, Pashtunwali and How They Impact Reconciliation and Reintegration Efforts in Afghanistan|date=May 2012|publisher=BiblioBazaar|isbn=978-1-248-98954-8|language=en|quote="The three primary pillars of Pashtunwali are badal, or revenge, melamstia, or hospitality, and nanawatia, or refuge."}} principles:

1. Hospitality ({{langx|ps|مېلمستيا|melmastyā́}}) – Showing hospitality and respect to all visitors, regardless of race, religion, nationality or wealth, without any expectation of repayment. Pashtuns will go to great lengths to show their hospitality.{{cite book |first=Rob |last=Schultheis |title=Hunting Bin Laden: How Al-Qaeda Is Winning the War on Terror |year=2008 |location=New York |publisher=Skyhorse |page=[https://archive.org/details/huntingbinladenh00schu/page/14 14] |isbn=978-1-60239-244-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/huntingbinladenh00schu/page/14 }}{{cite book |first=Rizwan |last=Hussain |title=Pakistan and the Emergence of Islamic Militancy in Afghanistan |year=2005 |location=Aldershot |publisher=Ashgate |page=221 |isbn=0-7546-4434-0}}
2. Asylum ({{langx|ps|ننواتې|nənawā́te}}) – Protection given to a fugitive from his enemies, at all costs. Even those running from the law must be given refuge until the situation can be clarified. Nənawā́te can also be used when the vanquished party in a dispute pleads for forgiveness in the house of the victors, a form of chivalrous surrender. In a notable example, US Navy officer Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of a US Navy SEAL team ambushed by Taliban fighters, was aided by members of the Pashtun Sabray tribe. The tribal chief Mohammed Gulab gave the soldier refuge in his village, fending off attacking tribes until he was returned to nearby US forces.{{cite book |last1=Patrick |first1=Robinson |title=The Lion of Sabray: The Afghan Warrior Who Defied the Taliban and Saved the Life of Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell |date=2015 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-1-5011-1798-5}}{{cite web |last1=Yousafzai |first1=Sami |last2=Moreau |first2=Ron |title=The Afghan Village That Saved Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell |website=The Daily Beast |date=8 November 2013 |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-afghan-village-that-saved-navy-seal-marcus-luttrell |access-date=19 June 2024}}
3. Justice and revenge ({{langx|ps|نياو او بدل|nyāw aw badál}}) – To seek justice or take revenge against a wrongdoer. No time limit restricts the revenge period. Even a mere taunt ({{langx|ps|پېغور|peghor}}) may count as a mortal insult. Monetary compensation can be an alternative to badal, for example to expiate murder.

The other main principles:

1. Bravery ({{langx|ps|توره|túra}}). A Pashtun must defend his land, property, and family from intruders, killing them if provoked.
2. Loyalty ({{langx|ps|وفا|wapā́ }}).{{Cite journal|last=Junaid|first=Muhammad|title=Poetics of Identity: On Entrepreneurial Selves of Afghan Migrants in Pakistan|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334431864|journal=Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry|volume=9 |issue=1–2 |date=March–June 2011|pages=44|via=Research Gate}} A Pashtun must be loyal to family, friends and tribe members.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
3. Kindness ({{langx|ps|ښېګړه|x̌egřh}}). Pashtuns should act for the welfare of others.
4. Arbitration ({{langx|ps|جرګه|jergá}}). Disputes are to be resolved through the Jirga.
5. Faith ({{langx|ps|ګروه|groh}}) Trust in Allah. The notion of trusting in the Creator generally equates to Islamic monotheism (tawhid).
6. Respect ({{langx|ps|پت|pat}}) and pride ({{langx|ps|وياړ|wyāṛ}}). A Pashtun man's pride must be respected, and he must respect himself and others, especially strangers. Respect begins at home, among family members and relatives. A man without respect is unworthy of being a Pashtun. In the poetry of Khushal Khattak, “The loss of life and wealth should not matter, what matters is pat."{{Cite journal|last=Junaid|first=Muhammad|title=Poetics of Identity: On Entrepreneurial Selves of Afghan Migrants in Pakistan|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334431864|journal=Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry|volume=9 |issue=1–2 |date=March–June 2011|pages=45|via=Research Gate}}
7. Female honour ({{langx|ps|ناموس|nāmús}}). A Pashtun must defend the honor of women at all costs and must protect them from all harm and disrespect.{{cite book |last1=Yousafzai, McCormick |first1=Malala, Patrick |title=I am Malala |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bIdwAwAAQBAJ&q=Killing+of+women+is+prohibited+by+the+Pashtun+code&pg=PT41|isbn=9781780622170 |date=2014-08-19 |publisher=Hachette Children's }}
8. Honour ({{langx|ps|ننګ|nang}}). A Pashtun must defend the weak around him.{{cite book |last1=Yousafzai |first1=Malala |title=I am Malala |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tRUCBQAAQBAJ&q=crime+rate|isbn=9781474600293 |date=2014-11-13 |publisher=Orion }}
9. Manhood or chivalry ({{langx|ps|مېړانه|meṛā́na}}).{{cite journal |title=International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology |date=12 June 2012 |ssrn=2083022 |last1=Naz |first1=Arab |last2=Khan |first2=Waseem |last3=Daraz |first3=Umar |last4=Hussain |first4=Mohammad |last5=Chaudhry |first5=Hafeez-ur-Rehamn }} A Pashtun must demonstrate courage. A turban is considered a symbol of chivalry.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
10. Country ({{langx|ps|هېواد|hewā́d}}). A Pashtun is obliged to protect the land of the Pashtuns and the traditional customs.

• Blood feud
• Bushido
• Chivalry
• Islamic military jurisprudence
• Izzat (honour)
• Kanun
• Khushal Khattak
• Pashtun nationalism
• Pashtunistan

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110915031006/http://afghanland.com/culture/pashtunwali.html Pashtunwali by Wahid Momand]
• [http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA502894&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf Special report on Pashtunwali by U.S. Army Major, John H. Cathell] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110403142228/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA502894&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf |date=2011-04-03 }}
• [http://www.law.harvard.edu/programs/ilsp/research/kakar.pdf Harvard Law School - Tribal Law of Pashtunwali and Women’s Legislative Authority]
• [http://economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8345531 The Economist - The Pushtuns' tribal code]
• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20210819085257/http://www.khyber.org/publications/001-005/pashtolangformation.shtml Pashto Language & Identity Formation in Pakistan]}}

{{Pashtun nationalism}}

Category:Codes of conduct

Category:Pashtun culture

Category:Culture of Pakistan

Category:Culture of Afghanistan

Category:Customary legal systems

Category:Right-wing politics in Afghanistan

Category:Pashto words and phrases

Category:Pashtun society