Works of Mahmud Beg Tarzi, The Precursor of Reform in Afghanistan
Central Asia Journal No. 62
24 Pages Posted: 5 May 2016
Date Written: April 14, 2016
Abstract
This paper attempts to catalogue Mahmud Beg Tarzi’s (1865-1933) works, both during his life of political exile (1882-1902) and after return to Afghanistan (1902-1929). His works remained in oblivion for a long time owing to political reasons. However, a cursory look at the subjects of these works gives an impression that he was an enlightened, moderate and precursor to reform in Afghanistan. His works and ideas seem still very relevant, if the current troubled situation in Afghanistan and the adjacent region, is kept in view.
In Afghanistan, until very recently, the study of Tarzi’s career and thought was discouraged, perhaps for his close family ties to and political association with King Amanullah Khan (1919-1929) as well as his ill-fated reforms. Until late 1950’s, Afghan official sources omitted any mention of his name. It was probably in seventies that, Tarzi’s ideas again found some space in the prevalent discourse and the Afghan historians began recognizing his contribution to Afghan modernist, nationalist movement.
Mahmud Tarzi, born in 1865, near the tomb of Mahmud Ghaznavi, was named Mahmud by his father, in honor of the King Mahmud of Ghazna. Mahmud Tarzi’s father, Ghulam Mohammad Tarzi (1830-1900), a poet, took the pen name “Tarzi” (the stylist). Ghulam Mohammad Tarzi was son of Rahmdil Khan, an Abdali tribal leader from Kandahar, in receipt of a yearly stipend from Amir Dost Mohammad Khan (1826-1839). He was a renowned poet known to be erudite and outspoken that led his family into exile. During Amir Abdur Rahman’s Kandahar expedition to eliminate his last surviving foe Sardar Ayub, son of Sher Ali Khan (1825-1879), Ghulam Mohammad Tarzi successfully tried to save lives, property of many of his countrymen. “Despite Amir’s order that all those involved in the fighting against him should be massacred, we managed to save some 200 men from the bayonets of the victorious soldiers. Out of respect for my father, Amir Abudur Rahman tolerated our efforts, but bore a grudge,” wrote Tarzi.
Mahmud Tarzi’s father was arrested along with his family for being sympathetic to Sardar Ayub, who lost the battle of Kandahar, in 1880, to Amir Abdur Rahman. After three-month imprisonment in early days of 1882, Tarzi family was deported to the border town of Fort Abdullah (currently in Baluchistan, Pakistan). After a brief sojourn at Karachi, the family traveled to the Ottoman Empire, where they were well received by Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and were allowed to establish residence in Damascus. Exiled at the age of sixteen Tarzi spent most of his time in Damascus and Istanbul, the hotbed of late nineteenth century Muslim reformist activities. Early contact with ‘Young Turk’ writers at Ottoman Empire shaped his social and political thought. Stay abroad, stretched over two decades, had a great impact on the education and thought process of Mahmud Tarzi. The family was exposed to French literature, the Ottoman nationalist-revivalist movement and the Pan-Islamic views of Jamal-u-Din Afghani, for whom Tarzi’s father had great reverence. During his life of exile, Mahmud Beg Tarzi wrote a number of books on a variety of subjects. An almost complete list of these works along with a brief description is given.
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