Heroes of the Age: Moral Fault Lines on the Afghan Frontier

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University of California Press, 1996 - History - 307 pages
Much of the political turmoil that has occurred in Afghanistan since the Marxist revolution of 1978 has been attributed to the dispute between Soviet-aligned Marxists and the religious extremists inspired by Egyptian and Pakistani brands of "fundamentalist" Islam. In a significant departure from this view, David B. Edwards contends that—though Marxism and radical Islam have undoubtedly played a significant role in the conflict—Afghanistan's troubles derive less from foreign forces and the ideological divisions between groups than they do from the moral incoherence of Afghanistan itself. Seeking the historical and cultural roots of the conflict, Edwards examines the lives of three significant figures of the late nineteenth century—a tribal khan, a Muslim saint, and a prince who became king of the newly created state. He explores the ambiguities and contradictions of these lives and the stories that surround them, arguing that conflicting values within an artificially-created state are at the root of Afghanistan's current instability.

Building on this foundation, Edwards examines conflicting narratives of a tribal uprising against the British Raj that broke out in the summer of 1897. Through an analysis of both colonial and native accounts, Edwards investigates the saint's role in this conflict, his relationship to the Afghan state and the tribal groups that followed him, and the larger issue of how Islam traditionally functions as an encompassing framework of political association in frontier society.
 

Contents

INTRODUCTION
1
Beginnings
6
Recollecting the Past
14
Contested Domains
28
THE MAKING OF SULTAN MUHAMMAD KHAN
33
Myth and History
43
Fathers and Sons
50
Men and Women
56
Discipline and Power
142
Benefit and Gratitude
146
Purity and Politics
155
Pirs and Princes
158
The Journey to Kohi Qaf
167
MAD MULLAS AND ENGLISHMEN
172
A Passage to India
175
The Events of 1897 and Their Explanation
176

Friends and Enemies
63
Jandads Punishment
73
THE REIGN OF THE IRON AMIR
78
Mapping the State
82
The Once and Future King
88
The Armature of Royal Rule
94
Kingship and Honor
112
The Death of the Kind
123
THE LIVES OF AN AFGHAN SAINT
126
TwiceTold Tales
128
Fathers and Sons
133
Identity and Place
138
Waging Jihad
181
The Fault Lines of Authority
196
Tales of Jarobi Glen
201
Conclusion
216
EPILOGUE
220
Posting on the Internet
221
Embedded Codes
227
Notes
235
Glossary
271
Bibliography
279
Index
297
Copyright

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About the author (1996)

David B. Edwards is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Williams College and Director of the Williams Afghan Media Project.

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