38 Facts About Khushal Khattak

Khushal Khan Khattak, known as Khushal Baba, was a 17th-century Pashtun poet, chief, and warrior.

Much of Khushal Khattak's poetry is in Pashto but some is in Persian.

Khushal Khattak is considered the "father of Pashto literature" and the national poet of Afghanistan.

Khushal Khattak's life was spent in serving the Mughal emperor and in his last years he struggled against the Mughal Empire who had fluctuating relations with the Pashtuns of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Zabulistan.

Khushal Khattak was a renowned warrior who became known as a "Pashtun warrior-poet".

The stand and fight attitude of Khushal Khattak was an important stance in Pashtun history, and his opinions and ideas form a new stage in the ideological and intellectual development of the Pashtuns.

Besides poetry and prose works, Khushal Khattak wrote various translations from Persian and Arabic into Pashto.

Khushal Khattak was the son of Malik Shahbaz Khattak from Akora, in the Mughal Empire.

Khushal Khattak was an intelligent and bold person from childhood.

Khushal Khattak's forefathers were since the 16th century officers of the Mughal Empire.

Khushal Khattak took contact to other Pashtun tribes and with support of his people he started a systematic resistance against the Mughals.

Khushal's grandfather Malik Akoray Khan was a chief of his tribe but when he died his son Shahbaz Khan Khattak became the chief of the Khattaks.

Shahbaz Khan Khushal Khattak was a prominent soldier in Mughal army.

Khushal Khattak proved his bravery in fighting with Afridi and later on with Mugahl army that he got the name of swordsman.

Once a battle was fought between the Khattaks and the Yusufzai at this time Khushal was only thirteen years old even then he joined this battle with his father.

Khushal Khattak followed the Sufi Saint Sayyid Kastir Gul, known as Sheikh Rahamkar or Kaka Sahib and was trained by him in islamic sciences.

Khushal Khattak substantiated Pashtun Nationalism, hinting that the Pashtuns were blessed with the shrine of "The Kaka", meaning Sayyid Kastir in their land and that the decrets of Kaka Sahib shall be regarded as law abiding on all Pashtuns.

Khushal Khattak threw him away as a prisoner in the Rathambore fortress.

Khushal Khattak used to say, "I had done nothing wrong against the interests of the king or the empire".

Mughal authorities continued to offer him with temptations in order to reclaim him to their service but Khushal Khattak resisted all such offers and made it clear to the Mughals that "I served your cause to the best of my honesty, I subdued and killed my own Pashtuns to promote the Empire's interests but my services and my loyalty did not make me a Mughal".

Khushal Khattak decided to be a foe and joined Darya Khan Afridi and Aimal Khan Mohmand in their fight and wars against Mughals.

Khushal Khattak dissociated himself from the Mughal Empire slowly and started with his resistance later, he incited the Afghan tribes to rebel against the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.

Khushal Khattak took contact to other Pashtoon tribes and with support of his people he started a systematic resistance against the Mughals.

The Safi, Afridi, Mohmand, Shinwari and Khushal Khattak tribes came together to protect the Safi men accused of badal.

Khushal Khattak greatly praised the bravery and courage of Darya Khan Afridi and Aimal Khan Mohmand who had destroyed the entire Mughal army in the Khyber Pass in 1672.

Khushal Khattak wanted to snatch the senior position of the tribe and joined hands with mughals to kill his own father.

Khushal Khattak visited the far flung areas, met with Pashtun tribal chiefs, particularly the Yousafzais, negotiated with them to bring about unity in Pashtun ranks against Mughals but failed in his efforts and returned broken hearted.

Khushal Khattak had written many poems mostly patriotic about his roots, about his tribe, about his nation and triumphs over invaders.

Bahram joined forces with Mughals set to capture his father, and before he could do so, Khushal Khattak Khan fled into Afridi territory in Tirah assisted by his two sons Nusrat Khan and Gohar Khan.

Maj: Roverty and certain other orientalists say that Khushal Khattak was not only Afghan Shanas but like Goethe and Shakespeare he was a great Insan- Shanas Iqbal expressed his desire that if he knew Pashto he would have translated Khushal Khattak's poetry into Urdu or Persian.

Khushal Khattak manifested all those qualities in his living conduct which he wanted to see in a man.

Khushal Khattak was rendering and said the right very wisely.

Khushal Khattak expected that his struggle will ultimately bring peace in the region and his own nation will get freedom form the Mughal emperors.

The above couplets make it clear that Khushal Khattak's war were not based on his personal greed or enmity.

Khushal Khattak fought up to the end of his life for the rights of oppressed people and for thefreedom of his mother land.

Khushal Khattak wrote many ghazals in Persian under the pen-name Ruhi, and a Persian qasida on the futility of the world.

Khushal Khattak wrote two important and comprehensive books, one in English called On a Foreign Approach to Khushhal and the other in Urdu titled Khushhal Khan Khattak published in 1952.

The book is written by a well-known writer and scholar, Ghani Khan Khushal Khattak, who is reputed for having established the literary and cultural societies, and for promoting Pashto literary and cultural activities in the capital of Pakistan, Islamabad.