Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Journeys Into the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East
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For context on the Great Game, details on the death of Alexander Burnes, and a great read, I recommend Peter Hopkirk’s The Great Game: On Secret Service in High Asia (John Murray, 2006). News of Burnes’s death reached Britain only in February 1842, which is when his various obituaries were published. The Memoirs of Alexander Gardner were edited by Major Hugh Pearse and published by William Blackwood & Sons in 1898.
In 1873 a British missionary called E. Downes wrote Kafiristan: An Account of the Country, Language, Religion and Customs of the Siah Posh Kafirs: Considering Especially Kafiristan as a Suitable Field for Missionary Labour (W. E. Ball, 1873), in which—perhaps feeling the need to attract less spiritual interest in the place—he hinted at fabulous reserves of gold and an aphrodisiac plant that might be found there.
McNair’s visit to Kafiristan resulted in two publications: one for the general public, “A Visit to Kafiristan,” by W. W. McNair (Wm. Clowes & Sons, 1884), and one for the Indian government, “Report on the Explorations in Part of Eastern Afghanistan and in Kafiristan in 1883” (Dehra Dun, 1885). He died not long afterward, and his biography, Memoir of W. W. McNair, the First European Explorer of Kafiristan, was written by J. E. Howard (Keymer, 1889). A British attempt at cataloguing, Dardistan and Kafiristan: In Three Parts (Superintendent of Government Printing, India, 1885), only ran to two parts, with that on Kafiristan absent.
G. S. Robertson’s book Kafirs of the Hindu Kush, published first in 1896, was reprinted in 2001 by the Lahore-based publisher Sang-e-Meel. His secret report for the British government can be seen at the British Library under the title “Report on Journey to Kafiristan” (HMSO, 1894). His biography, The Unlikely Hero, by Dorothy Anderson (Spellmount, 2008), defends him against accusations that he should have done more to protect the Kafirs. Abdur Rahman Khan’s memoirs, The Life of Abdur Rahman, Amir of Afghanistan, were published by John Murray in 1900.
The Macnaghten quote “Here are your relations coming!” is from a talk that McNair gave to the Royal Geographical Society in January 1884, quoted in Howard’s Memoir of W. W. McNair. The Alan Bennett quote is from his play The History Boys (1995). The 2014 DNA survey, “A Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History,” by Garrett Hellenthal, George B. J. Busby, and others, was published by Science magazine on February 14, 2014, and an interactive map of its data be seen at http://admixturemap.paintmychromosomes.com.
Books on the post-conversion people of Nuristan include Max Klimburg’s The Kafirs of the Hindu Kush: Art and Society of the Waigal and Ashkun Kafirs (Franz Steiner Verlag, 1999). Eric Newby gives Nuristan some attention in his travel memoir A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush (Harper, 2010), and a trio of Kabul-based diplomats, Nicholas Barrington, Joseph T. Kendrick, and Reinhard Schlagintweit, visited the region and wrote down their impressions in A Passage to Nuristan: Exploring the Mysterious Afghan Hinterland (I. B. Tauris, 2005).
The brothers Alberto and Augusto Cacopardo wrote a book called Gates of Peristan (IsIAO, 2001), which looks at the customs of Kafiristan, the Kalasha, and the people of nearby Gilgit and Hunza. R. C. F. Schomberg’s observations on the Kalasha are in Kafirs and Glaciers: Travels in Chitral (London, 1938), which is now out of print. The Man Who Would Be King, by Rudyard Kipling, is available through Wordsworth Editions in a 1994 reprint.
M.S. Durrani’s book on the Kalash, Kalash Kafirs—The Urgent Need to Save a Vanishing People was written in 1982 but did not get published; I found a copy at the University of London’s SOAS Library.
Epilogue: Detroit
Thanks to Dr. Elaine Rumman, Yusif Barakat, George Khoury, Imam al-Qazwini, Wisam Breegi, Mirza Ismail, Abu Shihab, and the Yazidi community of Nebraska.
Information on Iraq’s Christians comes from Dr. Suha Rassam’s Christianity in Iraq (Gracewing, 2005) and also Dr. Christoph Baumer’s The Church of the East. The story of Markos is touched upon in Voyager from Xanadu, by Morris Rossabi (Kodansha International, 1992). Telling Our Story: The Arab American National Museum was published in 2007. Lupieri’s book is cited in the notes to chapter 1. Naomi Schaefer Riley’s book Til Faith Do Us Part was published in 2013 by Oxford University Press.
Index
Aaron, 127, 153, 180
A.B.—The Samaritan News, 156, 157
Abbas, Hajji, 57
Abbasid Empire, 61, 92
Abbasids, 63, 125, 126
Abdullah, Abdul-Jabbar, 32
Abraham, 10, 13, 18, 28, 43, 45
Isaac and, 149–150
Abu Shihab, 54, 72, 73, 272–273, 274–275, 277
daughter Naalin, 273, 275
foreign policy and, 272
photo of, 40
son Farhan, 272
Abu Simbel, temple at, 196
Abu Zayd, 267
Abu’l Suud, 197
Academy of Plato, 95, 116
Adam, 2, 6, 10, 13, 23, 25, 62, 69
Adi, Sheikh, 57, 58, 59, 63, 65, 67–68
Adultery, 233, 251
Advent, Copts and, 186
After the Moon (Haidar), 53
Ahura Mazda, 77–78, 79, 81, 87, 101, 108
Akef, Mehdi, 204
Akhenaten, 191, 192, 206
Akiko (Japanese Kalasha), 239
photo of, 239
al-Ahram, 202
al-Aql, Sheikh, 121–122, 142
al-Azhar mosque, 126, 188, 192, 198
al-Banna, Hassan, 199, 200
al-Bayyada, 143
al-Darazi, Nashtaqin, 127
al-Farabi, 117, 126
al-Gama’a al-Islamiya, 208
al-Ghazali, xxii, 140
al-Gohary, Murgan, Sphinx/pyramids and, 194
al-Hakim bi Amr Allah, 126, 128, 142
al-Ja’di, 90
al-Khattab, Omar ibn: assassination of, 90
al-Kindi, 117
al-Loz, 151, 158, 162, 170
al-Mahdi, Caliph, 17, 126
al-Maqrizi, 209
al-Masri, Munib, 175, 178
al-Mas’udi, 7, 8–9
al-Qaeda, 226
al-Qazwini, Hassan, 266
al-Shaarawi, Huda, 205
Alamuddin, Amal, 142
Alawites, 117, 141
Assad regime and, 53
criticism of, 128–129
described, 51, 52
moon/planets and, 52–53
prayer by, 54
violence against, xxiii
Alexander the Great, 5, 11, 45, 52, 141, 226, 227–228, 248
Arab world and, 81
Aristotle and, 94
death of, 5, 229
Hindu Kush and, 220, 221, 228–229, 232
Kalasha and, 228
Persian Empire and, 81, 220
Samaritans and, 150–151
Ali (son-in-law of Mohammed), 53, 92, 99
Alawites and, 52
Ali, Mohammad (ruler of Egypt), 197, 200
Ali, Sheikh, 139–140
Ali, Tariq, 121
Ali, Wazir, 243, 245, 247, 249, 250, 253, 254
on Islamic households, 251
on Nuristani golf, 251–252
photo of, 254
American University of Beirut, 145
Amulets, 30, 31, 67
Anderson, James, xxix
Angels, 44, 60
Anglo-Afghan War, 222
Angra Mainyu, 64, 77–78, 79–80, 83, 105
battle against, 92
Satan and, 80
Anti-Semites, 34
Antoninus of Piacenza, 152
Arab American Institute, 263
Arab American Museum, 262
Arabian Nights, The, 6, 88
Arabic, xxviii, 25, 56, 185, 232–233, 257, 272
Islam and, 184
slang/adopting, 161
&nbs
p; speaking, 153
Arabs, 40, 45, 71, 81, 196
Islam and, 89
Kurds and, xxiv
Persian culture and, 90
Samaritans and, 155
Arafat, Yasser: Samaritans and, 174, 175
Aramaic, 45, 130, 257, 259, 260
abandoning, 153
Mandaean dialect of, 25
Aristokrates, 26
Aristotle, xx, 14, 95, 116, 117, 127, 140
Alexander and, 94
Plato and, 123
Armenians, 18, 86, 195, 198
massacre of, xxiv, 259
Armstrong, Neil, 53
Arnold, Matthew, 113
Arslan, Prince Talal, 118, 122, 125, 131, 133
Jumblatt and, 143
Arslan family, 118, 125–126
Artemisia, 23
Asceticism, 11–12, 13–14, 18, 123, 209
Assad, Bashar al-, 51, 120
Assad, Hafez al-: Jumblatt and, 138
Assyrian Church, 258
Assyrian Empire, 5, 40, 44, 64
Samaritans and, 150
Assyrians, xxiv, 57, 86, 149, 161, 260, 261
Church of the East and, 57
religious practices of, 49
sun and, 44
Aswad, Du’a Khalil: murder of, 70
Ateshkadeh
photo of, 103
visiting, 102–103
Avesta, 77, 78, 79, 100, 106
interpreting, 110
messiah and, 91–92
Awadi, Tariq el-, 189
Ayad, 67, 68, 69
Kurdish identity and, 66
theory of, 64–65
Azeris, 86
Baalshamin, 64
Baalzebub, 64
Baba Sheikh, 68
Babak, 90
Babis, 96
Babylon, 2, 12, 40, 81, 150
Aramaic in, 25
astronomy of, 26, 139
civil war in, 5
Babylonian Empire, 5
Babylonian exile, 12, 149
Babylonians, 19, 22, 40
influence of, 88
Iraqi Marshes and, 7, 9
Mandaeans and, 11, 25, 27, 28–29
predictions by, 26
religious practices of, 4–5, 49
Bacchae (Euripides), 94
Bacchus, 138
Badger, Percy, 53, 59
Baghdad, 200
demonstrators in, 35
Jewish community in, 33
Baha’i, 96, 107
Balfour, Alfred, xxvi, 107
Balimain, 240
Baptism, 10
Christian, 42
Mandaean, 2 (photo), 23–24, 24 (photo), 27–28, 270, 271
Bar Anhar, Hermez: on worship, 27
Bar Penkaye, Yohannan, 29
Barakat, Yusif, 267, 270
photo of, 263
relationship of, 264–265
Bedouins, 161, 162, 210
Beg, Azem, 236, 239, 241, 242, 243, 247, 253, 254
on dancing, 240
Kalasha song and, 244–245
photo of, 254
Beirut, 121, 125, 130
described, 113
Bel (sun god), 11
Belem, 21
photo of, 20
Belshazzar, 5
Ben Yehuda, Eliezer: Hebrew and, 148, 161
Ben-Zvi, Yitzhak, 167
Bennett, Alan, 228
Berbers, 126
Bhutto, Zulfikar Ali: Islamic conservatism and, 233
Bible, 10, 65, 174, 202
Egypt and, 198
Bin Ali, Hamza: Druze and, 127
Bin Musafir, Sheikh Adi: controversy over, 58–59
Biruni, xxii, xxix, 50, 54
described, 8–9
Blavatsky, Madame, 135
Blood feuds, 213, 224
Bodleian Library, 28
Book of Daniel, 165
Book of Exodus, 150, 179
Book of Genesis, 2
Book of Isaiah, 165
Book of John, 27
Book of Kings, 150
Boyce, Mary, 78–79
Bread, Coptic letters on, 210 (photo)
Breegi, Wisam, 270, 271
British Druze Cavalry Regiment, illustration of, 137 (fig.)
British Library, 172
British Mandate, 155
Browne, Edward, 96, 99–100
Browne, William: Egyptian identity and, 196
Buckley, Jorunn, 11
Buddhism, 12
Budhaluk, described, 240
Burnes, Sir Alexander, 221
Burns, Robbie, 221
Bush, George W., 9
Busnaya, Yusuf, 61–62
Butros, Zakaria, 215
Buzani, Khairi, 63
Byzantine Empire, xxii, 46, 90
Egypt and, 195
religious minorities in, 95
Byzantines, 45, 49, 126, 195, 258
defeat of, 46
holy fire and, 89
Byzantium, 46, 95, 117
Copts and, 195
Persian Empire and, 7
Cairo, 192–194, 201, 204, 206
Copts in, 205
described, 191
Samaritans in, 153
visiting, 183, 184, 185–186, 188
Calendars
Mandaean, 21
Muslim, xxviii
Samaritan, xxviii, 157
Western, 181
Zoroastrian, xxviii
Carmelites, 185
Carmen (Karima), reincarnation of, 141
Carnarvon, Lord, 136, 138, 145
Druze and, 134–135
Castes, 224
Yazidi, 57, 274, 276
Zoroastrian, 89
Catalhuyuk, 103
Catholic Uniate Church, Copts and, 210
Chaldean News, 260, 261
Chaldeans, 115, 264, 265, 267
conservatism of, 261
Charsema Sor, 59, 276
Charshanbeh-e-Suri, described, 105
Chaumos
celebrating, 232, 237, 238, 240, 241, 244, 248
photo of, 245, 246, 254
Cheops, Pharaoh: Great Pyramid and, 4
Chitral, 223, 227, 231, 250, 253, 255
annexation of, 233
described, 232
visiting, 233–234
Christianity, x, 1, 47, 116, 194, 245
Constantine and, xxix
conversion to, 141, 151, 161, 214
in Egypt, 181, 183
Greek philosophy and, 131
Islam alienation with, xx
Mandaeans and, 18
monotheism of, 152
Roman Empire and, 194–195
spread of, 182, 258
understanding of, 217
Christianity in Iraq (Rassam), xxvi
Christians, xxiv, 50, 61, 185, 186
Arab, 261, 267, 268
asylum for, 279
Egyptian, xxvi–xxvii, 195–196
emigration of, 279
Iraqi, 259, 262
Jews and, 177
Lebanese, 262
massacre of, 182
mistreatment of, 217
Muslims and, 8, 118, 127, 129, 188, 197, 198, 199, 204, 205, 213, 214, 217, 263, 279
Orthodox, 265, 266
Palestinians and, 262, 266–267
Samaritans and, 155
sects of, 1
Syrian, 201, 265
tolerance for, 90
Yazidis and, 41
Chronicles of Narnia, The (Lewis), 78
Church of the East, 57, 258
Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Easter Mass at, 155
Church of the Nativity, 77
Circumcision, 166, 192, 193
Citizenship, 69, 201
Israeli, 158, 160
Cleopatra, Egyptian customs and, 194
Clooney, George, 142
Communism, xxv, xxvi, 33
Constantine, Christianity and, xxix
Coptic Museum, 198
Coptic Orthodox Church, xxiv, 181, 195, 202, 210, 212
conversions and, 14
divorce and, 214
Mubarak and, 203–204
renaissance of, 209
in US, 217–218
Coptic priests, 214, 216
photo of, 215
Copts, xx, xxii, xxiv–xxv, 186, 187, 188, 194, 261, 264, 279
Byzantium and, 195
Catholic Uniate Church and, 210
Egyptians and, 196, 197, 198–199, 203
emigration of, 204, 205, 217, 218
history of, 202, 207
influence/status of, 196, 200
Islamic movements and, 200
Jesus and, 195
leadership of, 181–182, 201
monasticism and, 182
Muslim Brotherhood and, 204
Muslims and, 200, 203, 215, 217
number of, 181, 182
persecution of, 182, 208
social networks of, 214
Council of Chalcedon, 195
Crassus, 46, 94
Creator of the Universe, 123, 131, 145
Crescent and cross symbol, photo of, 199
Crusades, xxiii, 45, 127, 142–143, 152, 196, 200
Culture, xiii
Babylonian, 7
Druze, 269
Kalasha, 254
Middle Eastern, 124
Palestinian, 148
Persian, 90
religions and, 7
Zoroastrian, 79
Cyrus, King, 80, 84
Dabkeh, 263, 264
photo of, 263
Dakheel, Qahtaniyah attack and, 70–71
Dakhma, 102, 103, 105
photo of, 104
Dari language, 228, 230
Darius, 82, 110
David, King, xxv, 150, 191
de Goes, Bento, 236
De Vitriaco, Jacob, 53
Death
Assyrians and, 259
Chaldeans and, 259
Copts and, 201
Druze and, 128
Kam and, 225
Mandaeans and, 17–18, 37–38
Shi’a and, 254
Zoroastrians and, 79
Deir Abu Fana, 208, 209