Ḥabīballāh (Ḥabībullāh) Khān (1872–1919) was son of the amīr ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (r. 1880–1901) and a slave girl from the court of Jahāndār Shāh, the mīr (amīr) of Badakhshān (r. 1864–9). He succeeded ʿAbd al-Raḥmān and ruled Afghanistan from 3 October 1901 to 20 February 1919, when …
Kāmrān Shāh Durrānī was son of the Sadūzāy ruler Shāh Maḥmūd (r. in Kabul 1801 to c.1804 and 1809–18 and in Herat 1818–29; d. c.1828–30). Kāmrān deposed Shāh Maḥmūd in the summer of 1826 and ruled Herat until his violent death in about 1841–2. Kāmrān’s career unfolded during the…
Jirga is a word of Mongolian origin meaning “circle” and “rank” (Doerfer, 1:291). In the contexts of hunting and military combat, it referred to a circle or semicircle of men formed when closing in on their prey or enemy troops. From the ninth/fifteenth century on, the Persian s…
The city of Herat saw its greatest flowering in the arts and architecture during the Tīmūrid period (771–913/1370–1507). Built upon and around ancient and mediaeval settlements (Grötzbach, 321–8), the city is presently the capital of a province by the same name in western Afghan…