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Durrānī (Persian: درانی) or Abdālī (Persian: ابدالی) is the name of a chief tribal confederation in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Originally known by their ancient name Abdali, 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, Dari and Urdu, and are arguably the most urbanized and educated of the Pashtun tribes in Afghanistan.
The Durranis have been prominent leaders, as the royal family of Afghanistan is derived from the tribe, and a substantial number of Durrani Pashtuns are bureaucrats and public officials, as well as businessmen and 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, are Hindus, 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. Most of the Hindu Durranis migrated to India after partition of India in 1947. Durranis of Hindu origin are prominent members of Khatri Clan which incidently lived in areas now known as Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Potohar plateau (North West Frontier Province of India now Pakistan), Punjab etc
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A brief history
The Durranis are, like other Pashtuns and neighbouring peoples, Iranian-speaking and are believed to be descendants of Qais Abdul Rashid from Qais tribe of Bani Israel, the ancient Israelites. 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.
The name or title Durrani or 'Durr-i-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.
Branches, clans, subtribes
The Durrani 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.
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.
See also
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