Pashtun Ghilzai

The Ghilzai are often linked to the Khalaj, a Turkic people who settled in eastern Afghanistan around the 10th century and merged there with the local Pashtun populations. Centuries later, a branch of this lineage even founded the dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in northern India between the late 13th and early 14th centuries, a chapter that helps explain why descendants of the group still live in India today. In Afghanistan, the Ghilzai went on to establish, in the early 18th century, their own kingdom that for a brief period also dominated part of Persia.

Traditionally, the Ghilzai combined herding, farming, and caravan trade between Afghanistan and the Indian subcontinent, an occupation that for centuries led them to settle far from their homeland. Today they live mainly in villages and cities in Pakistan, engaged in farming, trade, and, among the more educated, urban professions and public service.

Social life revolves around the clan and the extended family, with disputes and important decisions settled in councils of elders. Pashtunwali, the unwritten code of honor, hospitality, and revenge, continues to guide everyday behavior, though in a softer form among the Ghilzai who live in urban centers.

The Ghilzai are Sunni Muslims, and the Islamic faith is so intertwined with tribal identity that being Pashtun and being Muslim are practically inseparable: abandoning Islam is seen as breaking with one’s own family and clan. Alongside formal religious practice, popular belief in spirits and unseen forces that can affect a person’s health and fortune remains alive, something especially present in the daily life of women.

The mosque, local religious leaders, and Islamic rituals mark life’s stages, from birth to marriage to death, and fulfilling these obligations is also a way of upholding the family’s honor before the community.

The New Testament in Pashto has existed for more than a century, but there is still no complete Bible in the Pashto dialect spoken by most Ghilzai in Pakistan. In 2019, a complete Bible was finished in a neighboring Pashto dialect, spoken by another large Pashtun group in the same country, and Scripture is also already available in audio, a format that fits well with a culture of strong oral tradition. Real access, however, still runs up against low literacy rates and the distance between Ghilzai families and any Christian community.

Among the Ghilzai, the strongest barrier is not the lack of texts or contact, but the fusion of ethnic identity and Islamic faith: leaving Islam is seen as betraying one’s family, clan, and the Pashtun people itself, at an extremely high social cost. Even where a Christian presence has existed for generations, as in northern India, a movement of Ghilzai to Christ has not yet formed, a result of social and cultural barriers more than a lack of opportunity to hear the gospel.

Many Ghilzai face low literacy rates, which limits access to skilled jobs in the rapidly transforming urban economies of Pakistan and India. Women, in particular, carry a heavy burden of fears tied to the spirit world and social pressures within the extended family.

There is still no visible Christian community among the Ghilzai: those who come to believe in Jesus usually do so alone, without a local church or brothers and sisters in the faith nearby to walk alongside them and sustain that decision before family and clan.

The New Testament in Pashto has already been in circulation for more than a century, and Scripture is also available in audio, a format that resonates well with the strong Ghilzai oral tradition. In 2019, a complete Bible was finished in a Pashto dialect neighboring that of the Ghilzai in Pakistan, a milestone for Pashto speakers in the country and a sign that the complete Word in this language is increasingly within reach.