History of The Jews in Afghanistan - Ten Lost Tribes of Israel

Ten Lost Tribes of Israel

The theory that Pashtuns are descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel is mentioned in Nimat Allah al-Harawi's The History of the Afghans written in 1612. The account from 1612 cites oral history and the names of various clans, which are claimed to resemble the names of the tribes that were exiled by the Assyrian Empire 2,700 years ago, as evidence for this claim. The claims were conclusively refuted by a recent genetics test that was focused on a small non-nondescript group of Pashtuns which found no substantial connection between Jewish populations and the Pashtuns.

Moreover, the Eastern Iranian language of the Pashtuns has not been taken into account when examining the claims of Hebrew ancestry, either. It may be that these claims emerged among the Pashtuns following the Islamic conquest of Afghanistan, as it is conceivable that many tribes have created elaborate ancestral lineages to link themselves to prominent peoples mentioned in the Qur'an such as Jews, Greeks (see Alexander in the Qur'an), and Arabs, all of whom have come to the region. Medieval accounts of the Israelite origin of the Pashtuns are contradicted by ancient sources, which from the Vedas and Herodotus (c. 450 BCE) onward refer to Paktia (the Pashtun), the "Aparitai" (Afridis) as well as other Pashtun sub-tribes and also by the Iranian language linguistic affiliations of the Pashto language.

Further information: History of Arabs in Afghanistan