User:Mirv/Nasher

The Nasher, sometimes Nashir, are an ancient Afghan family. As Ghilzai Khans, they are said to be descendants of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (971-1030), the ruler of the Kingdom of Ghazni and founder of the Ghaznavid Empire. Under Mahmud, the former province of Ghazni became a flourishing capital. The Ghaznavids conquered all of modern Afghanistan, most of today's Iran as well as northwest India, which Mahmud invaded 17 times. The aggressive campaign of expansion was halted in 1149 when the Ghurids took over Ghazni.

The wealth brought back to Ghazni was enormous, Mahmud transformed Ghazni into one of the leading cities of Central Asia, patronizing scholars, establishing colleges, laying out gardens, and building mosques, palaces, and caravansaries. Contemporary historians (e.g. Abolfazl Beyhaghi, Ferdowsi) give glowing descriptions of the magnificence of the capital, as well as of the conqueror's munificent support of literature - over 400 poets and scholars stayed at the court, Ferdowsi wrote the 'Book of Kings' for the Sultan. It was for this patronage of the written word that the Ghaznavid family took on the name “Nashir”. Besides being the name of the family, the word “Nashir” today still means “publisher” in the Arabic as well as in the Persian language.

After their loss of power, the remaining Ghaznavids stayed in Ghazni, where – over the centuries – a new tribe evolved, namely the Ghilzai tribe, first documented in the 16th century. The historical sources are quite unclear but it is assumed that it was the Nashir, the former Ghaznavid Khans, who ruled the Ghilzai Kharoti-tribe for ten centuries. They became prominent again between the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Khans founded several dynasties, among them the Hotaki Dynasty, ruling Persia and the (Lodi) Moghul Dynasty in Delhi.

It wasn't until 1747, the time of Ahmad Shah Durrani, the Ghilzai's arch rival, when Ghazni became part of the new Kingdom of Afghanistan. However, by the late 20th century, the Nashir and the ruling Barakzai dynasty had some family ties. This relationship was almost shattered when Zahir Shah's uncle and prime minister Mohammad Hashim Khan murdered one of the Ghaznavid Khans, Shir Khan Afghan Nashir, in order to prevent his raise to Kingdom by his enormous gain of power, ruling the north of the country: it was under Sher Khan Nashir and his nephew Ghulam Sarwar Nashir, then based in Khanabad, went on to establish the city of Kunduz in the early 20th century by creating the Spinzar Cotton Company in Kunduz with branches in northern part of the country,until the communist coup in 1973. Ghulam Sarwar Nashir, President of Spinzar Cotton Company had turned Kunduz into Afghanistan's richest province, he was the last ruling Ghaznavid-Nashir Khan imprisoned by the communist regime of prince Daud in 1973.

Gholam Nabi Nasher represented the area as a Senator in the Afghan capital until the King Zahir Shah was overthrown by Prince Daud in 1973. Today, many monuments, streets and schools in Kunduz reflect the influence of the Nashir family. Afghanistan's largest port is called Shir Khan port. Gholam Rabani Nasher is a member of the Loya Jirga, the new Afghan Parliament. Farhad Darya, Afghanistan's most popular contemporary singer, is a Nashir.

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Literature on the subject:

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Muhammad-Kazáem Marvi, Alamara-ye naderi, ed. M.A. Riahái, 3 vols., Tehran, 1364 Hijri (1985) V. Minorsky, The Turkish Dialect of the Khalaj, BSO(A)S 10/1, 1940, pp. 417-37. Muhammad-Hayat Khan, Hayat-e afgani, tr. H. Priestly as Afghanistan and its Inhabitants, Lahore, 1981. S. Moinul Haq, Khaldjis, in EI2 IV, pp. 920-24. M. J. Momand, Da Paxtano qabilo shajaray, Peshawar, 1986. J. W. Murray, A Dictionary of the Pathan Tribes of the North-West Frontier of India, Culcutta, 1899. Neamat-Allah Heravi, Makhzan-e afgani, ed. and tr. B. Dorn as The History of the Afghans, 2 vols., London, 1829-36; repr., Dacca, 1960-62. J. Rai, Rough Notes on the Nasar, Kharot, and Other Afghan Pawindas, Quetta, 1922. H. G. Raverty, Notes on Afghanistan and Part of Baluchistan, Geographical, Ethnographical, and Historical, London, 1888. J. A. Robinson, Notes on Nomad Tribes of Eastern Afghanistan, 1934, repr. Quetta, 1978. R. Scott, Khalaj Market, USAID Afghanistan, Kabul, 1972. 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