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from a historical perspective, a confusion has arisen that connects the Turkish, depending on pronunciation, "Khallukh" or "khallakh" خلَِّخ (also known as Kharlluk خرلَِّخ) with Arabized /Persianized "Khalji" or "khalaji" خلج of Afghan/Pashtun "Ghalzai" or "Ghilzi" غلځی. Appropriately, the authors of History of Civilizations of Central Asia state, "Arab geographers of the ninth and tenth centuries place them (Ghilzi) among the Turk tribes and frequently confuse the Khalaj (Ghilzi) with Khallukh (i.e. Kharlluk) as only diacritical marks distinguish these two ethnonyms in Arabic script. Hence, information relating to the Khallukh is often included in descriptions of the Khalaj (Ghilzi).[6] For example, the Arab geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih, in his description of the lands of Turks contradicts himself by locating the Khalaj both in the region of River Talas and 'on this side' of Amu Darya, i.e. present day Afghanistan.[7]
Even more confusion is added given that both of these races, one Caucasian (Khilji/Ghilzai) and the other Mongoloid (Kharllukh or Khallukh) both are migratory. Even today many غلځی Pashtuns migrate in the summers towards Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz, and so forth, close to Turkish nations on the other side of Amu Darya. It is possible that some of the so-called Khalaj Turks of central Asia, who spoke a Turkish langauge were either Turkized Ghilzai Pashtuns, or those called Khalaj were in fact Khallukh. Interestingly, the Khallukh are known to have barely reached the Amu Darya in the 8th century, hence, they can't be the "Khilji/Ghilzai" Afghans, as the "Khilij/Ghilzai" were well established by that time period.[8] Nomadic migration is not unique to Ghilzai Pashtuns, as most of the nomads in Western Afghanistan are Durrani Pashtuns. As is evident, unless one understands the phonetic and linguistic differences, one is bound to make errors in discerning between the various ethnic names in question. With the preceding in mind, let us review the available records. The oldest records of these two tribes, one Turkish and the other Afghan/Pashtun, seem to originate from between 10th and 11th centuries. The two often quoted passages that consider Ghilzai as Turks are those of Istakhari and Al-Khwarizimi, neither who was native to Afghanistan.
Istakhari (circa AD 930) says, as written by Minorsky, 'The Khalaji are a class of Turks who in the days of the old (fi qadim al-ayyam) came to the country stretching between India and the districts of Sijistan behind Ghur. They are cattle breeders of Turkish appearance (khilq), dress, and language'.[9] Clearly this 'Khalaji' is not the Khilji/Ghilzai of Afghans. It would be amazing for this 'Khalaji' to be related to "Khilji/Ghilzai" of Afghanistan, as Nizam al-Mulk [10] reports that Alaptagin ( r. 961-968 AD, Ghazni) sent Subuktagin to collect taxes from Khalaji and Turkman.[11] Clearly, Nizam al-Mulk makes an obvious distinction between the Turks and 'Khalaji'; Also, Berthold reminds us that per Nizam al-Mulk, Alaptagin's son, Sultan Mahmud, was desirous of maintaining an army that was representative of various nations. [12] The facts seem to bare that desire for diversity as al-Utbi reminds us of Sultan Mahmud's army composed of various tribes of Turks, Indians, Khalajis, Afghans, and Ghaznawis.[14] Moreover, it would be amazing for this 'Khalaj' to be related to the Khalji/Ghilzai of Pashtuns, as the author of Tarikhi Yamini, Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Jabbaru-a 'Utb (Al-Utbi), who was Sultan Mahmud's (971-1030 AD) secretary in his writings also make a distinction between the Turks and 'Khalaji". In his description of Sultan Mahmud's mobilization against I'lak Khan in Balkh, he writes the Sultan advanced ready for action with an army composed of Turks, Indians, Khaljis, Afghans and Ghaznavides. Clearly, the words Turk and Khalji appear distinctively. Hence, "Khalaj" of Istakhari cannot be the "Khalji" of Al-Utbi, as it would be impossible for the "Khalaj" to have become non-Turk in a matter of thirty-one years. This racial difference continued to be realized, and in fact became a point of contention in 1290 AD between Turks and Afghans in India. The "Khilji/Ghilzai" were opposed to the throne of India by the Turks because of their race. Barani the author of Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi, writes the government of the country 'passed from the family of Turks to that of the Khiljis�the gentry, commoners and soldiers�were amazed. It appeared strange to them how the Khiljis were sitting on the throne in place of the Turks, and kingship had passed from the race of the Turks to (the people of) another race'.[15]
The above points raise a few important facts about the validity of Istakhari's passage. He asserted that the "Khalaj" came to what is Afghanistan 'in the days of the old' and amazingly retained their language, but within 31 years of his statement the Khalaj/Khilji/Ghilzai were already considered non-Turks and by 1290 AD they were at odds with Turks for being Afghan. In the next few paragraphs, we will continue to see evidence that differentiates between Turks and Kalaji/Ghilzai. Nevertheless, at this point the most logical conclusions are that Istakhari's "Khalaj" are not "Khilji/Ghilzai", or Istakhari's "Khalaj" are "khilji/Ghilzai" but the attributed Turk ethnicity and language are wrong. In either case, the "Khilji/Ghilzai" would be non-Turk.
Ghilzai have hepthalite and saka origin
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Moreover, Minorsky has quoted al-Khwarizimi the author of Mafatih al-ulum, who wrote sometime between 365/975 and 381/991, 'The Haytatila (Hephthalites) are a tribe of men who enjoyed grandeur and possessed the country Tukharistan; the Turks called Khalaj and K.njina are their remnants'.[16] If in fact the Ghilzi Pashtuns are Hephthalites, per recent research, they are not Turks, but rather an Eastern Indo-Iranian people that spoke an Indo-European language, and not Turkish.[17] More recently Xavier Tremblay's very detailed examination of surviving Hephthalite personal names has indicated that Enoki's hypothesis that they were East Iranian may well be correct.[18] Again, what is important for us is that these 'Turks called Khalaji' are not Turks, but Caucasian Ghilzai Pashtuns. We have to look at the writings of Arab and Muslim geographers, contemporaries of al-Khwarizmi, to realize that.