The Muhammadzai (also Mohammadzai, Mohammedzai, Mohmandzai, Mamanzai, etc.) is a

Pashtun tribe The Pashtun tribes ( ps, پښتانه قبايل), historically also known as Afghan tribes, are the tribes of the Pashtun people, a large Eastern Iranian ethnic group who use the Pashto language and follow Pashtunwali code of conduct. They ar ...

residing in

Charsadda Chārsadda ( ps, چارسده; ; ur, ; ) is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

, modern day

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. The tribe should not be confused with the

Muhammadzai Mohammadzai ( ps, محمدزی), also spelled Moḥammadzay (meaning "descendants of Mohammad"), is a Pashtun sub-tribe or clan of the Barakzai which is part of the Durrani confederacy of tribes. They are primarily centered on Kandahar, Kabul ...

of the

Barakzai Bārakzai ( ps, بارکزی, ''Bārakzay;'' plur. ps, بارکزي, ''Bārakzī'') is the name of a Pashtun tribe from present-day, Kandahar, Afghanistan. '"Barakzai" is a common name among the Pashtuns and it means "son of Barak" in Pashto. A ...

Durrani The Durrānī ( ps, دراني, ), formerly known as Abdālī (), are one of the largest tribes of Pashtuns. Their traditional homeland is in southern Afghanistan ( Loy Kandahar region), straddling into Toba Achakzai in Balochistan, Pakistan, but ...

, who were for many years the ruling family of Afghanistan. This group of Muhammadzai is located in (Charsadda) modern day Pakistan, has an altogether different Pashtun lineage with son of Zamand, third son of

Kharshbun Kharshbun and Sharkhbun are sons of Sarban, the first son of the legendary Pashtun ancestor Qais Abdur Rashid. The Sarbani tribes, all supposed descendants of Sarban, form one of the major lineage branches of the Pashtun tribes. Kharshbun's prog ...

Origins

According to Pashtun genealogy, the Muhammadzai are descended from

Qais Abdur Rashid Qais Abdur Rashīd or Qais Abdul Rasheed ( ps, قيس عبد الرشيد) is said to be, in post-Islamic lore, the legendary founding father of the Pashtuns. It is believed that the conception of such a figure was promoted to bring harmony betw ...

through his son

Sarbani Saṛbanī ( ps, سړبني) or Sarban Confedracy is a tribal group of Pashtuns. They are situated in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Sarbani include many Pashtun tribes, including Sherani, Tareen, Durrani, Khalil, Kheshgi, Kasi which includes ...

, and his son

. The Afghan Muhammadzai (Barakzai) are descendants of Sharkhbun and Kharshbun is his brother.

had three sons, Kand, Zamand, and Kasi. Muhammad was Zamand's son so they were popular with the Muhammadzai tribe (see chart below).

Location

The Muhamamdzai are found primarily in Hashtnagar, an area in today's Charsadda District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan that borders the Swat River's left bank. They were originally said to have resided in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, but moved to Charsadda region, then called Hashtnagar as a result of a war against dilazaks in which Muhammadzais joined forces with yousafzais and gigyanis and divided the lands between themselves. The Muhammadzais took control of Hashtnagar (now Charsadda district) which was the most fertile region and the gigyanis took southern Bajaur and Doababecause the branches of the tribe and the villages they each inhabited share the same names. The following breakdown comes from an 1878 report on what was then part of the Peshawar District: Hastings, E. G. G.,
Report of the Regular Settlement of the Peshawar District of the Punjab
'. Lahore: Central Jail Press, 1878. 103-108. Tangi (

Barazai Barazai is a village situated in the east of Hazro Tehsil, Attock District in northern Punjab in Pakistan. Its altitude is 315 metres (1036 feet). Demographics The population of Barazai is at least half Pakhtun, with the remainder being Pakhtuniz ...

and Nasratzai), Sherpao,

Umarzai The Muhammadzai (also Mohammadzai, Mohammedzai, Mohmandzai, Mamanzai, etc.) is a Pashtun tribe residing in Charsadda, modern day Pakistan. The tribe should not be confused with the Muhammadzai of the Barakzai Durrani, who were for many years the ...

Turangzai Charsadda District ( ps, چارسدہ ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Peshawar Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Prior to its establishment as a separate district in 1998, it was a tehsil within Peshawar District. Pa ...

, Utmanzai, Dargai, all these tribes are living in

Charsadda Chārsadda ( ps, چارسده; ; ur, ; ) is a town and headquarters of Charsadda District, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.

, and

Prang Prang may refer to: Places * Prang, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a town of Charsadda District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan *Prang Besar, an old name for Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia * Prang Ghar Tehsil or Pran Ghar Subdivision, a subdivisi ...

. Rose's tribal glossary adds that "with them are settled a few descendants of Muhammad's brothers, from one of whom,

Kheshgi The Kheshgi, Khaishgi, Kheshagi, Khweshgi, or Kheshki is a prominent Sarbani Pashtun tribe and Imperial dynasty in South Asia. Administration The Kheshgi Tribe is divided into the following sub-tribes: * Batakzi * Umerzai * Hussainzai * Azizi ...

, one of their principal villages is named." Their irrigated, rice-bearing lands along the Swat River are known as the lowlands or , while the high lands are referred to as the . One sub division of Muhammadzai Hashtnagar arrived Ghwarband valley of district Shangla and settled there. Although mainly located in the Hashtnagar area of Charsadda, the Muhammadzai are also based in

Akora Khattak Akora Khattak ( ps, اکوړه خټک , Urdu: اکوڑہ خٹک ) or Sarai Akora is a town in Jehangira tehsil of Nowshera District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It sits beside the Kabul River, which merges with the Indus River ...

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

and

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital ...

Politics and influence

The most famous Muhammadzai tribesmen were the Pashtun leaders

Dr Khan Sahib Dr. Khan Sahib ( ps, ډاکټر خان صیب ) (born 1883, Utmanzai, Charsadda – 9 May 1958, Lahore), mistakenly named as Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (), was a pioneer in the Indian Independence Movement and a Pakistani politician. He was the eld ...

and his brother

Abdul Ghaffar Khan Abdul Ghaffār Khān (; 6 February 1890 – 20 January 1988), also known as Bacha Khan () or Badshah Khan (), and honourably addressed as Fakhr-e-Afghan (), was a Pakistani Pashtun, independence activist, and founder of the Khudai Khidmatgar ...

, his son

Khan Abdul Wali Khan Khan Abdul Wali Khan ( ps, خان عبدالولي خان; 11 January 1917 – 26 January 2006) was a Pakistani secular democratic socialist and Pashtun leader, and served as president of Awami National Party. Son of the prominent Pashtun nat ...

and his grandson

Asfandyar Wali Khan Asfandyar Wali Khan (Urdu and Pashto: اسفندیار ولی خان) (born 19 February 1949) is a Pakistani Pashtun politician who is the president of the Awami National Party (ANP). His father, Abdul Wali Khan, was the party's first presiden ...

. As well as the prominent Pashto poet

Ghani Khan , image = Khan Abdul Ghani Khan 1940s.jpg , image_size = 250px , caption = Khan in the 1940s , birth_date = , birth_place = Hashtnagar, North-West Frontier Province, British India, now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan , death_date = , de ...

son of

and Aimal Wali khan They are originally from Utmanzai, where their father was a well-to-do landlord and village khan.

Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao (آفتاب احمد خان شېرپاؤ; born 20 August 1944) is a Pakistani politician who is the current chairman of the centre-left Pashtun nationalist Qaumi Watan Party, after previously being a member of the Paki ...

is another well known leader and a chairman of QWP (Aftab Ahmad khan Khan is from Dir he is not Muhammadzai.)Easwaran, Eknath. ''Nonviolent Soldier of Islam: Badshah Khan, a Man to Match his Mountains''. Tomales, CA: Nilgiri Press, 1999. 29-30. The Muhammadzai are a highly influential and educated Pashtun tribe and have been in various senior positions in the Pakistani bureaucracy, judiciary, politics and

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

References

{{Pashtun tribes Sarbani Pashtun tribes