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Selections from the Poetry of the Afghans: Æabd-ul-Ḳādir Khān, Khattak: Introduction

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This is a biographical entry from H.G. Raverty's 1868 anthology *Selections from the Poetry of the Afghans*, a 19th-century British scholarly compilation of Pashto literature in the orientalist tradition. It profiles Abd-ul-Qadir Khan (b. 1652), son of the celebrated Khattak chief-poet Khushal Khan, presenting him as both a distinguished military commander and the most accomplished poet among Khushal's sons. The entry recounts his battlefield victories against Mughal forces and his failed bid to seize tribal leadership after his father's abdication, ending with his execution alongside ten brothers in a single day at the hands of his own nephew Afzal Khan, who eliminated all rival claimants. Abd-ul-Qadir's poetry is characterized as deeply infused with Sufi mysticism and notably polished in language; his known works include a diwan (collected odes), a translation of Jami's *Yusuf and Zulaykha* from Persian into Pashto, the love tale of Adam and Durkhana'i, and translations of Saadi's *Gulistan* and *Bustan*. Raverty notes that Abd-ul-Qadir's descendants credit him with some sixty works, though almost all are now lost by name. The entry serves as an introduction to specimen poems, pointing readers toward Raverty's companion volume *Gulshan-i-Roh* for original Pashto texts.

Selections from the Poetry of the Afghans: Æabd-ul-Ḳādir Khān, Khattak: Introduction

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