Sayed Isma'el Balkhi ( prs, سید اسماعیل بلخی) was one of the most prominent Hazara reformist leaders in 20th-century

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. An innovative poet and well-known mystic, charismatic political leader and untiring reformist; Balkhi is undoubtedly the figurehead of modern Hazara history.

Life

Early life

Sayed Ismael Balkhi was born in 1918 in

Balkhab district Balkhab ( fa, بلخاب) is a district of Sar-e Pol Province, Afghanistan. The district seat lies at Balkhab, also known as Tarkhoj. Coal is mined in the area. A massive copper deposit is also located in Balkhab district of Sar-e pol province, ...

Sar-e Pol province Sar-e Pol, also spelled Sari Pul (Dari/Pashto: ), is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country. It borders Ghor and Bamyan to the south, Samangan to the east, Balkh and Jowzjan to the north, and Fary ...

in Northern Afghanistan. He received early education in Afghanistan after which he traveled to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

for further studies in Islamic theology and

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

. At the time when Balkhi left the country, the Afghan government did not provide enough opportunities to the Hazara people in order to get appropriate education in the country. Balkhi was a

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

by religion and thus associated with the greater Hazara community. Balkhi was introduced to reformist movements popular at that time in the Middle East. He imported these intellectual enhancements to this motherland and started preaching it with a zeal unmatched in a country haunted by social ignorance and political isolation.

Career

A religious activist, Balkhi was concerned during the liberal late 1940s period in Afghanistan, eventually becoming a political radical. In 1949, Balkhi plotted with at least five associates a coup d'etat against King

Mohammad Zahir Shah Mohammed Zahir Shah (Pashto/Dari: , 15 October 1914 – 23 July 2007) was the last king of Afghanistan, reigning from 8 November 1933 until he was deposed on 17 July 1973. Serving for 40 years, Zahir was the longest-serving ruler of Afghanistan s ...

(or, more specifically, an assassination attempt on Prime Minister

Shah Mahmud Khan Sardar Shah Mahmud Khan (Pashto/Dari: سردار شاه محمود خان – b:1890 d: 27 December 1959) was the Prime Minister of Afghanistan from May 1946 to 7 September 1953, under King Mohammed Zahir Shah's monarchy. He was from the Pashtun ...

). The plan was foiled, and Balkhi spent some years in prison under the charges of conspiring to overthrow the monarchy and establish a republic. The dynamism of Balkhi's personality is that he got his education in an environment (i.e. Iraq) where clerics were either turned into radical revolutionaries like

Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

and

Khamenei Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia '' marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president ...

or into self-absorbed mystics or study-oriented scholars. He was an exception among all such individuals. Ismael Balkhi was a mystic; he was heavily influenced by Mawlana Jalaluddin Balkhi but in the meantime, he was not unaware of his society. Similarly, Balkhi believed in political change but he never embraced any terrorist ideology or even internationalist approach. His patriotism and love for his country are evident in some poems he generated whilst in prison. Balkhi gave the Afghans a message of freedom and democracy. He preached individual liberty among fellow Hazaras. He taught his kinsmen the absolute necessity of obtaining as much knowledge as possible and approach free of Shia-oriented Syed racism that somewhat existed in Afghanistan.

References

External links

tasnimnews.com/در «پگاه بیداری»؛ درک و دریافتی از اشعار علامه سید اسماعیل بلخی
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balkhi, Ismail 20th-century Afghan poets Afghan politicians 1968 deaths People from Sar-e Pol Province 1918 births Hazara poets

Life

Early life

Career

See also

References

External links