Durrani
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Durrānī (Persian: درانی) or Abdālī (Persian: ابدالی) or Bor Tareen is the name of a chief tribal confederation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Originally known by their ancient name Sadozai, they have been called Durrani since the beginning of the Durrani Empire in 1747.[1] The number of Durranis are estimated to be roughly 16% of the population of Afghanistan or 5 million individuals.[2] They are also found in large numbers in western Pakistan. The Durrani Pashtuns are trilingual in Pashto and Dari and are arguably the most urbanized and most educated of the Pashtun tribes in Afghanistan.
The Durranis have been prominent leaders, as the royal family of Afghanistan is derived from this tribe, and a substantial number of Durrani Pashtuns are bureaucrats and public officials, as well as businessmen and wealthy merchants. The particular dialect of Pashto language favored by the Durrani Pashtuns tends to be tinged with a slight Persian inflection and is considered the more genteel and urbane dialect, often viewed by Pashtuns overall as the more 'proper' dialect, as opposed to the rougher "Pukhtu" version favored in the north and by most of the Pashtuns of Pakistan. The Durranis, like most other Pashtuns, were Zoroastrians,who later on accepted Islam and are now Muslims of the Hanafi Sunni Islamic sect and continue to follow the Pashtun honor code known as Pashtunwali. By blood the Durranis are descendants of ancient Aryans.
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[edit] A brief history
The Durranis are, like other Pashtuns and neighbouring peoples, Iranian-speaking. The Durranis were known in the past as "Abdalis," from approximately the 7th century until about 1750, shortly after the Durrani Empire was established at Kandahar. The Abdalis appear to have begun to spread out during the early Middle Ages along with other Pashtun tribes and came to inhabit much of what is today Afghanistan and Pakistan. One of the most prominent generals of the Persian empire, was a young Pashtun Abdali chieftain named Ahmad Shah Abdali.
According to Hyat Khan history of Afghanistan from their progenitor Bor Tareen, otherwise known as Abdal, are descended two main division the Zirak and the Panjpai. The term Abdal, however, gradually superseded that of Bor Tareen and came into special prominence when Ahmad Shah Abdali commonly known as Durrani, began his career of conquest. The Achakzais are, in strictness, a branch of the Barakzai but Ahmad Shah, Durrani himself an Abdal Tareen, fearing the growing numbers of the Barakzai, separated them from the parent stock, since which time their organization has remained distinct. It is still used, though sparingly, for the Achakzais, who have become localised in Toba and are regarded as a separate political unit from the rest of the Tareens.
The name or title Durrani or 'Durr-e-Durran' means the 'pearl of pearls' in Persian. It was carried by the Abdali tribe in 1747 when Ahmad Shah Abdali (born in Multan, Pakistan) united the Pashtun tribes following a loya jirga and changed his own name to Ahmad Shah Durrani after becoming Emir of Afghanistan or Emir of the Durrani Empire. Since this period, the kings of Afghanistan have been of Durrani extraction. The Durranis were the most divided Pashtun tribe during the rule of the Ghilzai-dominated Taliban, with some having openly opposed them. The Durrani are the politically dominant Pashtun group in Afghanistan as the current President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, is of the Durrani sub-group known as the Popalzai and has close ties to the former king of Afghanistan Zahir Shah, another member of the Durrani tribe.
[edit] Branches, clans, subtribes
Sadozai Abdali tribe is the tribe Ahmad Shah Abdali came from.
The Durrani TAREEN tribe is divided into two branches Panjpai and Zirak. Durrani tribes of the Zirak branch include Popalzai, the Alikozai, the Barakzai, and the Achakzai.
The Panjpai branch are today mainly found west of Kandahar in Helmand and Farah, and include the Noorzai, the Alizai, the Eshaqzai or Sakzai, Khokani, and Maku.
These tribes are the subtribes of TAREEN.
The literacy rate of the Durrani is the highest of all of the Pashtun tribes in Afghanistan and hovers around 25%. The Durrani are considered the most liberal of the Pashtun tribes. The Durrani continue to live in close proximity to other people of Afghanistan and culturally overlap in many ways with the Tajiks with whom they often share more cultural and socio-economic traits in comparison to the more tribal Pashtuns such as the Ghilzai, who are the other major Pashtun tribe in Afghanistan. The Durrani are part of Sarbans, a Pashtun tribal group.
