Nimat Allah Al-Harawi

Nimat Allah Al-Harawi

Ni'mat Allah al-Harawi (fl. 1613–1630) is the compilator of a Persian language epic history of the Afghans while serving as a chronicler waqia-navis at the court of the Mughal Emperor Jehangir. Often referred to as Makhzan-i-Afghani. Its translated copies appear as The History of the Afghans.

The original material for the book was provided by Haibat Khan of Samana, under whose patronage Nimatullah made the compilation c. 1612. The original material was later published separately as Tarikh-i-Khan Jahani Makhzan-i-Afghani. The first part of both books are the same, but the later part contains an additional history of Khan Jehan Lodhi.

The material is part fictional, part historical. The book is a major source of tradition relating to the origins of the Pashtun. It also covers Afghan rulers in Bengal, contemporary events, and Afghan hagiography. It plays a large part in various theories which have been offered about the possibility that the Pashtun people might be descended from the Israelites, through the Ten Lost Tribes.