The Life of Abdur Rahman, Amir of Afghanistan, G.C.B., G.C.S.I. Composition, Reception, and Influence on the Historiography of Afghanistan

Abstract

The fin-de-siècle Afghan amir, ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan (r. 1880–1901), is noted for many things, among which is the two-volume work The Life of Abdur Rahman, Amir of Afghanistan (1900), promoted by its editor, Sultan Mahomed Khan, and publisher as the amir’s “autobiography.” It was also said to have represented the amir’s authentic views on numerous topics—royal succession, administrative and judicial organization, economic policy, Afghanistan’s society, and the country’s international relations. That the work contained autobiographical elements is beyond question. However, The Life of Abdur Rahman (henceforward The Life), drew only selectively on known autobiographical elements and omitted or distorted much of what it drew from its main source, a “book of advice” ( Pandnāmah-i dunya wa dīn). A great deal of the historiography relating to this formative period in Afghanistan, especially its relations with the Russian and British empires, is based not on the amir’s own words but rather on those that Sultan Mahomed Khan put in his mouth and reflect the editor’s and not the amir’s thoughts. The Life has had a distorting effect on the historiography, both Euro-American and Afghan, of this period. The object here is to establish the autobiographical legacy of Amir ‘Abd al-Rahman Khan; the writing and publication of The Life and its translations, its reception by critics and scholars, and thus its impact on the writing of Afghanistan’s history. In a separate study, we deal in detail with Sultan Muhammad Khan’s treatment of the most important autobiography of the amir’s life up to his taking the throne in July 1880, his Pandnāmah-i dunyā wa dīn. 1