WITHOUT a doubt, Baihaqi is the most famous historian of our land. In contemporary Afghanistan, many historians flourished but none measured up to Mir Ghulam Muhammad Ghobar's stature. As a historian, Ghobar had some similarities with Baihaqi's writing style.
He wrote sharply and sometimes with great subtlety on the bitter realities. Ghobar's work is comprised of elegant and literary quality.
The one major difference between the two was that Baihaqi was a historian whose writing served the court of the Ghaznavids kings
(9th-10th AD). Ghobar was imprisoned by the government for writing truths and voicing his opinions.
Martin Luther King, Jr. reminds us: "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he
stands at times of challenge and controversy."
Whereas Baihaqi received golden treasures and prestige for writing history in favor of the royal court, Ghobar's unbiased writings prompted the
ruling governing body to marginalize him and his family to live in fear of their lives from day-to-day. Such interesting points have led to the introduction of Ghobar as "The Man behind the Epic." The title serves as two-fold: Firstly he is the author of the greatest historical literary piece of 20th century Afghanistan.
Secondly his life was lived like a Shakespearean tragedy that transformed into an epic.
Another interesting facet is Ghobar has become a capstone for historians. Most historians who specialized on Afghanistan have read his book Afghanistan dar Masir-e Tarikh (Afghanistan in the Course of History) published in 1967.
Yet, no one has attempted to either translate or conduct a critical analysis of his book with the exception of literary scholars Abdul Hai Habibi (Afghan historian) and Ahmad Shamlu (Iranian historian). This exemplifies the complexity and deep analytical aspects of his work.
When Ghobar was alive, only a small circle of intellectuals and those persons who banned his book knew of his excellence. Many Afghans came to
realize his greatness after his death. Now, thousands of Afghans rely on Ghobar's writing style and content to learn important historical facts.
Habibi (1984) puts Ghobar's contribution into perspective: "Ghobar's seal is cast on Afghan movements in the second half of the 20th century."
The purpose of this article is to tell a brief story of Ghobar in order to conjure up interest among Afghan intellectuals to examine his two books,
especially his second volume dealing with the period following the Amani (1919-29) government until the last quarter of the 20th century of Afghan history.
Ghobar was born into an intellectually nurturing family in Kabul in 1898. His family was "Sayyid" meaning their ancestry went back to the Prophet Mohammad.
Since his writings were earth shattering, some envious and intransigents tried defaming and slandering him by mislabeling him into a certain way of thinking.
The truth of the matter is that he was neither a right-wing fanatic nor a left-wing revolutionary. He was a progressive intellectual whose primary
objective was to peacefully reform the system.
Ghobar had the patriotic ambition of reconciling Afghanistan's past, present, and future. He wrote: "Until the onslaught of Gengiz Khan, Afghanistan was the shining star of the Islamic world. Neither in cultural level nor in the stage of civilization had she any equal among the Muslim countries" (Gregorian, 1969, Page 22).
Ghobar was a strong advocate of justice, civil liberties, and reforming the strict censorship policies. Of the most valuable books ever
written on Afghanistan, especially during the 20th century, Afghanistan dar Masir-e Tarikh has been widely associated with the movement for a
free press and none censorship.
According to Sadat (2000, Jan-Mar), "Afghan intellectuals in the early 20th century became martyrs for their struggle against
absolutism. For the most part, intellectuals realized their intellectual struggle during the Amani Administration (1919-29). During this time the absolute monarchy was replaced with a constitutional monarchy."
In this new era of enlightenment, social literacy, newsprint, libraries, and intellectual discourse became prevalent. This was mainly
attributed to the efforts of the Junbish-e Mashrutiyat (Movement for Constitutional Monarchy) and Junbish-i Azadi (Movement for National
Independence). It was during this euphoria of independence that Ghobar began his career in public service.
During the Amani Administration, Ghobar was chief of police in Kabul from 1920 to 1921. During the mid to late 1920's, he served as a
diplomat at the Afghan Embassy in Paris, then later in Berlin. In 1928, he participated in the Paghman Loya Jirga.
Besides his government positions, Ghobar's intellectual assets facilitated him to become the editor of Sitari-e Afghan (Afghan Star) from 1919-1920. He, along with some of his contemporaries transcended ethnic, linguistic, and other differences to promote united patriotic sentiments among Afghans during the enlightened period of 1919-29.
Unfortunately, this enlightenment period ended with the departure of Shah Amanullah Ghazi in 1929 and a dark period of
censorship swept throughout the country. During this period, intellectuals, statesmen, and ordinary citizens were silenced. Of the learned
and wise of Afghanistan, the late Ghobar was one of those intellectuals who stood up to the dark period of censorship that followed the Amani Administration.
During this time, he increased involvement and responsibilities, becoming a prominent member of the Literary Society in 1931 to 1932. He became a key figure of the Historical Society in 1943 to 1948. Ghobar was an elected representative in the 7th National Parliament from 1949 to
1951. He was the editor of the Watan (Homeland) newspaper in 1951.
Then, just as activist intellectuals such King, Gandhi, Mandela, and even passivist intellectuals were being punished for exercising their civil rights, Ghobar also became a victim during the regime's informal intellectual apartheid, genocide, and exile campaign. Ghobar along with his brothers Mir Ghulam Ahmad Bahar and Mir Abdur Rashid Baigham, his cousins Sayyid Akram, Sayyid Daoud and Sarwar Joya were imprisoned in the jails of Saira-e Mothi in Kabul. Among the 16,000 captives, they were political prisoners from 1933 to 1935. From 1935 to 1942, they were sent to exile in Bala Baluk, Farah (Western Province). During this time, Ghobar fell sick and the entire family was moved to Kandahar. Later, his brother Baigham lost two young children because his wife and children were not permitted to go to Kabul for medical examinations and treatment.
In 1952-1956, Ghobar again ended up as a political prison of the regime. His crime was participation in a public protest with Kabul citizens urging democratic parliamentary elections. This time in prison he conceived the idea of writing the epic Afghanistan dar Masir-e Tarikh. Ghobar's book unveiled a whole world of state oppression, corruption, and criticized the extreme and sometimes brutal measures taken by the government. In 1964, the government presented the so-called "new democracy."
Many experts cite that democracy and freedom respects human rights and is therefore worthy of esteem. Critics claim that this pseudo-democracy was out of false generosity because it maintained the status quo and society did not become free.
During this time, concepts such as unity, organization, and struggle became immediately labeled as dangerous. Experts claim that the community was not promoted, rather token leaders rose through the ranks.
When the government asked Ghobar to take part in this process, he called it up on its offer: "If the government is so just to
allow any opposition party to exist in the government, then consider me that opposition." However, not only did the government not permit political parties, punished opinions, resulting in eventual banning of his book.
During the administration of Prime Minister Hashim Maiwandwal in 1967, Ghobar's book was approved for publication. Since the monarchy did
not permit private publication houses, the book was to be published in the government-publishing house located in Kabul. According
to Wala (2000), who was Deparment Head for Publishing at the Culture & Information Ministry, Minister Abdul Rauf Benawa designated him to publish the book at the government-printing house. It must be noted that Benawa was a key figure in the Wish Zalmayan Movement, important writer in the Mussawat, and a close friend of Maiwandwal.
Therefore, it is sensible that Benawa instructed Wala to assemble a committee of historians to give their criticisms of the book. However, only Ghobar had the authority to modify anyportion of the text. A three person committee consisting of two historians and Wala's deputy were named: Ahmad Ali Kohzad, Ahmad Naimi, and Muhammad Gul-ab Nangahari, respectively.
The contract stipulated that 3,000 copies of the book would be printed. One thousand copies were promised to Ghobar. However, Ghobar only
received 40 copies most of which were officially summoned by the new Minister of Information when the ban was announced. A few copied texts
were smuggled out of the country to be re-produced.
In 1974, Afghan students at the University of Bonn and University of Hamburg in Germany published 100 copies. These copies of the
book were smuggled back into Afghanistan to become pieces of reference for intellectuals. Current estimates of the
re-production and distribution of Ghobar's book around the globe range between 50,000 to 55,000 copies.
In 1967, when the ruling elite replaced Prime Minister Maiwandwal, the book was officially announced banned during a meeting.
The banning of the book without any legal or court process did not fair well with intellectuals.
Ghobar has been noted to say, "Legally, the history book I have written must be released. The government can then use its power to commission writers who can distort the facts and history of the past in response of my book."
Although initially printed by the government press, the ruling elite banned it.
The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) put it best: "Censorship ends in logical completeness when
nobody is allowed to read any books except the books nobody reads."
The government's biases against pedagogy resulted from fears that people will become socially literate, heighten their sense of social
consciousness, and transform their situation and society. However, the government ignored that positive results cannot be expected from political repression, which fail to respect the particular view of the world held by the people.
The rulers made empty promises ensuring justice and democracy, but behind the scene was law breaking and corruption. Conspiracy and
plotting became common and innocent intellectuals were sent off to fill prison cells. They were individuals who only exercised their
rights to speak and write and had not committed any crime. However, even without a case nor judgment against them, these intellectuals and their relatives spent years in the prison cells where they were subjected to all methods of torture.
Ironically, it so happened that the place of patriotic and heroic intellectual was in prison and not in the governing bodies of the
country. It was these infringements of civil liberties and censorship that were the main causes of the decay of the regime.
Early in 1978, Mir Muhammad Ghulam Ghobar had flown to West Berlin for medical treatment. The unsuccessful treatments resulted in his
parting of this world in Germany on February 18, 1978. Ghobar was brought back to Kabul where he was laid to rest in Shohada-e Saliheen.
On his burial tablet it is written: "Nahkun zuban-e man basta, eye ajjal keh hanuz, hazar nookta-e nahgufta dar dahan baqist" (Do not tell me to hold my tongue! Oh fate, there are still 1,000 unsaid passages running through my head).
Although his family was wrongly imprisoned, tortured, and deprived of their civil rights, Ghobar wrote a very objective and general
literary masterpiece. Unlike other questionable intellectuals who have become entrepreneurs that give a slanted
historical interpretation based on their ethnic, religious, regional incentives, Ghobar praises and criticizes all the players of the game.
Ghobar was a very learned person, whose research about the period prior to his lifetime was not only based on his
knowledge but on vast archives. His book is first of its kind in that it is the most scholarly and scientific in format and content.
That is why after forty years, his book is still a popular reference piece among Afghans no matter wherever they lie along the
political spectrum: "Books won't stay banned. They won't burn. Ideas won't go to jail. In the long run of history, the censor and the inquisitor have always lost. The only sure weapon against bad ideas is better ideas," Whitney Griswold.
By all standards, Ghobar is the most prolific and well-known Afghan historian of the modern period. Ghobar's personality
and life can be deduced from one of his poems: "Himat-e ahlee-e man miil ba pasti makunat, gard gard-de-dam-o tarf-e soraya raftam" ("My intentions were always honorable, but I was pulverized into dust particles that are now lifted to the sky.")
Although Ghobar had to endure constant struggle and courage in the face of dire situations, today his eternal radiance shines like a heavenly star onto Afghanistan's literary and political society.
Noted Books By Ghobar:
- (1932) Afghanistan dar Hindustan 95 pages.
- (1943) Tarikh-i Ahmad Shah Baba 352 pages.
- (1947) Khurasan 100 pages
- (1947) Qurun-e Ula 226 pages
- (1947) Afghanistan ba yak Nazar 284 pages
- (1952) Adabiyat-e Dowra-e Mohammadzai 81 pages
- (1967) Afghanistan dar Masir-e Tarikh, volume I 840 pages
- (1999) Afghanistan dar Masir-e Tarikh, volume II 285 pages
References
About the Author:
Mir Hekmatullah Sadat
Other work by Mir Hekmatullah Sadat:
