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The Yusufzai or Yousafzai , also referred to as the Esapzai are one of
the largest tribes of ethnic Pashtuns. They are natively based in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, but they are also present in smaller numbers in parts of
Afghanistan, including Kunar, Kabul, and Kandahar. Outside of these countries,
they can be found in large numbers in Rohilkhand, Uttar Pradesh, India. Their
name may originate from the names of the Aspasioi and the Asvakan, who were the
ancient inhabitants of the Kunar, Swat, and adjoining valleys in the Hindu
Kush. Malala Yousafzai, the youngest Nobel Prize laureate, belongs to the
Yusufzai tribe. Most of the Yusufzai speak a northern variety of Pashto; the
Yusufzai dialect is considered prestigious in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province
Mythical genealogy According to a popular mythical genealogy, recorded by
17th-century Mughal courtier Nimat Allah al-Harawi in his book Tarikh-i Khan
Jahani wa Makhzan-i Afghani, the Yusufzai tribe descended from their eponymous
ancestor Yusuf, who was son of Mand, who was son of Khashay (or Khakhay), who
was son of Kand, who was son of Kharshbun, who was son of Sa?ban (progenitor of
the Sarbani tribal confederacy), who was son of Qais Abdur Rashid (progenitor
of all Pashtuns). Qais Abdur Rashid was a descendant of Afghana, who was
described as a grandson of the Israelite king Saul and commander-in-chief of
the army of prophet Solomon. Qais was claimed to be a contemporary of the
Islamic prophet Muhammad and a kinsman of Arab commander Khalid ibn al-Walid.
When Khalid ibn al-Walid summoned Qais from Ghor to Medina, Qais accepted Islam
and the prophet renamed him Abdur Rashid (meaning "Servant of the Guide to
the Right Path" or "Servant of God" in Arabic). Abdur Rashid
returned to Ghor and introduced Islam there. The book stated that Yusuf's
grandfather (and Mand's father), Khashay, also had two other sons, Muk and
Tarkala?i, who were the progenitors of the Gigyani and Tarkani tribes,
respectively. Yusuf had one brother, Umar, who was the progenitor of the
Mandanr tribe, which is closely related to Yusufzais. The 1595 Mughal account
Ain-i-Akbari also mentioned the tradition of Israelite descent among Pashtuns,
which shows that the tradition was already popular among 16th-century Pashtuns.
Peace treaty with Babur:
During the early modern period, the Yusufzai tribe of Pashtuns was first
explicitly mentioned in Baburnama by Babur, a Timurid ruler from Fergana (in
present-day Uzbekistan) who captured Kabul in 1504. On 21 January 1519, two
weeks after his Bajaur massacre, Babur wrote:
"On Friday we marched for Sawad (Swat), with the intention of attacking
the Yusufzai Afghans, and dismounted in between the water of Panjkora and the
united waters of Chandawal (Jandul) and Bajaur. Shah Mansur Yusufzai had
brought a few well-flavoured and quite intoxicating confections."
As part of a peace treaty with Yusufzai Pashtuns, Babur married Bibi Mubarika,
daughter of Yusufzai chief Shah Mansur, on 30 January 1519. Mubarika played an
important role in the establishment of friendly relations of Yusufzai Pashtun
chiefs with Babur, who later founded the Mughal Empire after defeating Pashtun
Sultan Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526. One of Mubarika's
brothers, Mir Jamal Yusufzai, accompanied Babur to India in 1525 and later held
high posts under Mughal emperors Humayun and Akbar.
Skirmishes with Mughal forces:
During the 1580s, many Yusufzais and Mandanrs rebelled against the Mughals and
joined the Roshani movement of Pir Roshan. In late 1585, Mughal Emperor Akbar
sent military forces under Zain Khan Koka and Birbal to crush the rebellion. In
February 1586, about 8,000 Mughal soldiers, including Birbal, were killed near
the Karakar Pass between Swat and Buner by the Yusufzai lashkar led by Kalu
Khan. This was the greatest disaster faced by the Mughal Army during Akbar's
reign. In 1630, under the leadership of Pir Roshan's great-grandson, Abdul
Qadir, thousands of Pashtuns from the Yusufzai, Mandanrs, Kheshgi, Mohmand,
Afridi, Bangash, and other tribes launched an attack on the Mughal Army in
Peshawar.
In 1667, the Yusufzai again revolted against the Mughals, with one of their
chiefs in Swat proclaiming himself the king. Muhammad Amin Khan brought a 9,000
strong Mughal Army from Delhi to suppress the revolt. Although the Mughal
Emperor Aurangzeb was able to conquer the southern Yusufzai plains within the
northern Kabul valley, he failed to wrest Swat and the adjoining valleys from
the control of the Yusufzai.
Skirmishes with Mughal forces:
Durrani period:
Ahmad Shah Durrani (1747–1772), the founder of the Afghan Durrani Empire,
categorized all Pashtun tribes into four ulus (tribal confederacies) for
administrative purposes: Durrani, Ghilji, Sur, and Bar Durrani ("Upper
Durranis"). The Yusufzai were included in the Bar Durrani confederacy
along with other eastern Pashtun tribes, including the Mohmand, Afridi,
Bangash, and Khattak The Bar Durrani were also known as the Rohilla, and
comprised the bulk of those Pashtuns who settled in Rohilkhand, India Najib
ad-Dawlah, who belonged to the Yusufzai tribe, was a prominent Rohilla chief.
In the 1740s, he founded the city of Najibabad in Rohilkhand. In 1757, he
supported Ahmad Shah Durrani in his attack on Delhi. After his victory, Ahmad
Shah Durrani re-installed the Mughal emperor Alamgir II on the Delhi throne as
the titular Mughal head, but gave the actual control of Delhi to Najib
ad-Daula. From 1757 to 1770, Najib ad-Daula served as the governor of
Saharanpur, also ruling over Dehradun. In 1761, he took part in the Third
Battle of Panipat and provided thousands of Rohilla troops and many guns to
Ahmad Shah Durrani to defeat the Marathas. He also convinced Shuja-ud-Daula,
the Nawab of Awadh, to join the Durrani forces. Before his departure from
Delhi, Ahmad Shah Durrani appointed Najib ad-Dawlah as mir bakshi
(paymaster-general) of the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II. After his death in
1770, Najib ad-Dawlah was succeeded by his son, Zabita Khan, who was defeated
in 1772 by the Marathas, forcing him to flee from Rohilkhand. However, the
descendants of Najib ad-Dawlah continued to rule Najibabad area until they were
defeated by the British at Nagina on 21 April 1858 during the Indian Rebellion
of 1857. Today, many Yusufzais are settled in India, most notably in Rohilkhand
region, as well as in Farrukhabad, which was founded in 1714 by Pashtun Nawab
Muhammad Khan Bangash
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