LONG LIVE KHYBER

Khyber Pass is one of the most important and historic passes of the world. In recorded history no other pass has played a more decisive role than Khyber Pass. It was through this pass that many invading people and armies marched towards the Indo-Pak Subcontinent. Consequently, the effects on the whole cultural scene of the Subcontinent were everlasting. Today, any visitor or tourist to Pakistan makes it a point to make it first to the Khyber Pass. Without seeing the pass and its people, their visit to this country is incomplete. It is not intended in this article to talk of the history of the invading armies through Khyber and their battles because numerous volumes have been written in many languages and many films have also been made on the Khyber and its people. It also lives in the memory of all the living visitors, who will, as per tradition, pass their experiences of the Khyber to the future generations. These paragraphs will throw light on a new aspect and that is to known how the name Khyber was given to this pass.

The word Khyber is of Jewish (Hebrew) origin and it was given to the pass in the late 10th century AD. Nobody knows as to what was the previous name of this pass. Roshan Khan, in his famous Urdu book, Tazkira, (5th Edition, 1987) records on page 120 that Raja Jai Pal and the Afghans fought many a battles against each other in the area between Peshawar and Kirman. The latter were then led by Sheikh Hamid Lodhi and as many as 70 battles were fought in only five months. The Gakhars, who were against the Raja, came to terms with the Afghans and later on, the Raja also became friendly with the Afghans. The Afghans constructed a fort in the Peshawar Kohistan (mountains) for stopping the Sassanid attacks. They named the fort as Khyber and thus the pass acquired the name of Khyber Pass for all times to come.

The Afghans, it seems, had a valid reason when they named the fort as Khyber. An interesting study of history emerges when this particular name in relation to the fort is brought into focus. It is a well-established fact that the Afghans and Pathans are descendants of the 10 lost tribes of the Jews and thus a Jewish name was given to the fort. As is already known, Khyber was a Jewish fort and settlement in the north of Madina Munawarrah. The Jews of Bani Nadher lived there. In 7 AH, the Muslims and the Jews fought a battle here in which the former emerged victorious (Tazkira by Roshan Khan p 437). Hazrat Ali (RA) displayed conspicuous chivalry in the battle. It thus becomes amply evident that the Afghans named the fort as Khyber in memory of the Uzwa-e-Kyber, which they desired to sustain for times ahead.

A study of the map of Khyber valley, Saudi Arabia, also reveals yet another interesting aspect. Physically this narrow belt projecting through the Laba Plateau. (Ref map Khutabat-e-Bahawalpur by Dr Muhammad Hameed Ullah, 2nd Edition, 1988). The fort at Khyber must have been commanding the entire valley. In comparison the fort constructed by Afghans at the pass, too, offered a similar view. The striking similarities of the passes in question and the views as observed from forts influenced the Afghans in naming the pass accordingly.

Now the question of the exact location needs to be confirmed and resolved. In my opinion, Ali Masjid was the site because the pass could be effectively controlled only from here. Detailed accounts of battles at Ali Masjid have been noted in many books. A recent article by Ahmad Salim 'Battles of Holy Ground' in The Frontier Post, 1 March 1991, throws sufficient light on the importance of this place. Additionally, presence of the old mosque and the naming of the places as Ali Masjid support my opinion sufficiently. Moreover, it was at Khyber in 7 (AH) that Hazrat Ali displayed extraordinary bravery of which the Muslims are very proud. It can thus be safely deduced that the Afghans, by naming the fort as Khyber and the place as Ali Masjid, in a sense paid a befitting tribute to their Jewish origin as well as their firm Islamic belief and faith alike. Possibly, they killed two birds with one stone.