Al Islam

Buddha's mother is said to be a virgin. Page 183. His mother was the best and purest of the daughters of men.

Note: At the bottom of page 183, Davids quotes St. Jerome.

St. Jerome says (Contra Sovian bk. I): It is handed down as a tradition among the Gymnososophists of India that Buddha, the founder of their system, was brought forth by a virgin from her side.

The Hibbert Lectures - 1831. Indian Buddhism, by T. W. Rhys Davids, 2nd Edition (the Hibbert Lectures, 1831), (Williams & Norgate, London, 1891).

Page 147. All this is of peculiar interest from the comparative point of view. It is an expression from the Buddhist standpoint which excludes the theory of a supreme deity, of an idea very similar to that which is expressed in civilisation writings, when Christ is represented as the Manifestation of God to man, the Logos, the word of God made flesh, the Bread of Life, and it is not a mere chance that heterodox followers of the two religions have afterwards used the Buddha and the Logos conceptions as bases of their emanation theories. It is only a fresh instance of the way in which similar ideas in similarly constituted minds come to be modified in very similar ways. The Chakka-Vatti Buddha was to the early Buddhists what the Messiah Logos was to the early Christians. In both cases the two ideas overlap one another, run into one another, supplement one another. In both cases the two combined cover as nearly the same ground as the different foundations of the two teachings will permit. It is the Chakka-Vatti Buddha circle of ideas in the one case, and the Messiah Logos in the other, that has the principal influence in determining that the opinion of the early Christian biographies of their respective masters was the same, and led to similar results; though the details are in no particular quite identical in the two cases.

Sir M. M. Williams, Buddhism (John Murray, London 1889) page 135.

He said of himself (Mahe-vagga 1.6.8.) I am all subduer (Sabbabhibha) the all wise; I have no stains, through myself I possess knowledge; I have no rival (Patipuggalo); I am the chief Arhat - the highest teacher. I alone am the absolutely wise (Sambuddha); I am the conqueror (Jina); all the fires of desire are quenched (Sitibhuto) in me; I have Nirvana (Nibbuto). Page 126. 'Kill not any living thing. 2. Steal not. 3. Commit not adultery. 4. Lie not. 5. Drink not too strong drink. 6. Eat no food except at stated times. 7. Use no wreaths, ornaments or perfumes. 8. Use no high or broad bed, but only a mat on the ground, 9. Abstain from dancing, singing, music or worldly spectacles. 10. Own no gold or silver of any kind and accept none. (Haha-vagga 1.5.6). This Buddhist Decalogue may be contracted from the Mosaic Decalogue.'

H. T. Prinsep. Tibet, Tartary and Mongolia.

The earliest travels in Tibet proper which have been transmitted to us, are those of Jesuit Fathers, Grueber and Dorville, who returned from China by that route in A.D. 1661, just four hundred years after Marco Polo's journey westward. They were the first Christians of Europe who are known to have penetrated into the populous parts of Tibet, for Marco Polo's journey was, as we have stated, to the north west by the sources of Oxus. Father Grueber was much struck with the extraordinary similitude he found, as well in the doctrine as in the rituals of Buddhists of Lassa to those of his own Romish Faith. He noticed, 1st: that the dress of Lamas corresponded with that handed down to us in ancient paintings, as the dress of the Apostles. 2nd: that the discipline of monasteries and of the different orders of Lamas or priests bore the same resemblance to that of the Romish Church. 3rd: that the notion of an incarnation was common to both, as also the belief in paradise and purgatory. 4th: he remarked that they made suffrages, alms, prayers and sacrifices for the dead, like the Roman Catholics. 5th: that they had convents, filled with monks and friars to the number of 30,000, near Lassa. who all made their vows of poverty, obedience and chastity, like Roman monks, besides other vows. And 6th: they had confessors, licensed by the superior Lamas or bishops; and so empowered to receive confessions and to impose penances, and give absolution. Besides all this, there was found the practice of using holy water, of singing service in alternation, of praying for the dead, and a perfect similarity in the costumes of the great and the superior Lamas to those of different orders of Romish hierarchy. These early missionaries further were led to conclude from what they saw and heard, that the ancient books of the Lamas contained traces of the Christian religion, which must, they thought, have been preached in Tibet in the time of Apostles. (Pages 12-14).

Then concerning the advent of a Saviour, the author H. T. Prinsep writes in the same book (Tibet, Tartary and Mongolia) on page 171:

The general expectation of the birth of a great prophet, Redeemer or Saviour, which is alluded to even by Tacitus, as prevailing at the period when the founder of the Christian religion appeared, was, there can be no doubt, of Buddhist origin, and not all confined to the Jews, or based only on the prophecies of their scriptures.

The advent of another Boodh a thousand years after Gotama or Sakhya Muni, is distinctly prophesied in the Pitakattayan and Atha-Katha. Gotama declares himself to be the twenty-fifth Boodh, and says, 'Bagawa Metteyo is yet to come. The name Metteyo bears an extraordinary resemblance to Messiah.'

Sir. M. Monier Williams, The Mystery of the Ages (1887).

Buddhism is the Christianity of the East and as such even in better conservation than is Christianity, the Buddhism of the West. (Page 541, footnote).

I. Tsing, A Record of The Buddhist Religion practised in India and the Malaya Archipelago, A.D. 671-695. Translated by J. Takakusu, B.A., Ph.D. (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1896).

On pages 223-224: It is indeed curious to find the name of Messiah in a Buddhist work, though the name comes in quite accidentally. The book is called The New catalogue of the Buddhist Books compiled in the Chiang Yuan Period (A.D. 785-804), in the new Japanese edition of the Chinese Buddhist Books (Bodleian Library, Jap, 65 DD, p. 73. This book is not in Nanges' catalogue).

Moreover, the Sanghayama of the Sakya and the monastery of Ta-Chin (Syria) differ much in their customs, and their religious practices are entirely opposed to each other. King-Ching (Adam) ought to hand down the teaching of Messiah (Mi-Shi-ho), and Sakya Putiyiya-Sramanas should propagate the sutras of the Buddha.

The Nineteenth Century, Vol. 3, July-December (London, October 1894). British Museum wo. p.p. 59, 39.

On page 517. In an article by Max Muller under the heading 'The alleged sojourn of Christ in India', and which he criticises Nicolas Notovitch, who went to Tibet and saw there some old record and manuscripts in the Buddhist Himis Monastery, speaking of Jesus Christ having visited Tibet and Kashmir, and who on his return wrote a book in French 'Vie inconnue de Jesus-Christ', Paris 1894. Nicolas Notovitch was by nationality a Russian.

But M. Notovitch, though he did not bring the manuscripts home, at all events saw them, and not pretending to know Tibetan, had the Tibetan text translated by an interpreter and has published seventy pages of it in French in his 'Vie inconnue de Jesus-Christ'. He was evidently prepared for the discovery of a Life of Christ among the Buddhists. Similarities between Christianity and Buddhism have frequently been pointed out of late, and the idea that Christ was influenced by Buddhist doctrines has more than once been put forward by popular writers. The difficulty has hitherto been to discover any real historical channel through which Buddhism could have reached Palestine at the time of Christ. M. Notovitch thinks that the manuscript which he found at Himis explains the matter in the simplest way. There is no doubt, as he says, a gap in the life of Christ, say from his fifteenth to his twenty-ninth year. During that very time the new Life of Christ found in Tibet asserts that Christ was in India, that he studied Sanskrit Pali, that he read the Vedas and Buddhist Canon, and then returned through Persia to Palestine to preach the gospel. If we understand M. Notovitch rightly, this life of Christ was taken down from the mouths of some Jewish merchants who came to India immediately after the Crucifixion (p. 237). It was written down in Pali, the sacred language of Southern Buddhism; the scrolls were afterwards brought from India to Nepal and Makhada (Quaere: Mazadhe) about 200 A.D. (p. 236) and from Nepal to Tibet, and are at present carefully preserved at Lhassa. Tibetan translations of the Pali text are found, he says, in various Buddhist monasteries, and among others, at Himis. It is these Tibetan manuscripts which were translated at Himis for M. Notovitch while he was laid up in the monastery with a broken leg, and it is from these manuscripts that he has taken his new Life of Jesus Christ and published it in French, with an account of his travels. This volume, which has already passed through several editions in French, is soon to be translated into English.

Dr. Hermann Oldenberg. Buddha; His Life, His Doctrine, His Order. Translated from the German by William Hoey, M.A., D. Lit. (Williams & Norgate, 1882).

Page 142. On the occasion of a prophecy of Buddha's regarding Metteyya, the next Buddha, who will in the far future appear upon the earth, it is said:

He will be the leader of a band of disciples numbering hundreds of thousands, as I am now the leader of bands of disciples, numbering hundreds. Cakkana Hisuttanta.

Page 103. Rahula is the name of Buddha's son. He (Buddha) says Rahula is born to me, a fetter has been forged for me.

At footnote page 103. In the name Rahula there seems to be an allusion to Raha, the Sun and Moon subduing (darkening) the demon.

Francois Bernier Travels in the Moghul Empire. (Constable, London, 1891).

There are however many marks of Judaism to be found in this country. On entering the Kingdom after crossing the Peer-Punchal mountains, the inhabitants in the frontier villages struck me as resembling Jews. Their countenances and manners, and that indescribable peculiarity which enables a traveller to distinguish the inhabitants of different nations, all seemed to belong to that ancient people. You are not to ascribe what I say to mere fancy, the Jewish appearance of these villagers having been remarked by our Father, the Jesuit, and some other Europeans long before I visited Kashmir. (Page 930-932).

George Forster, Letters on a journey from Bengal to England. (Faulder, London, 1808).

On first seeing the Kashmirians in their own country I imagined from their garb, the cast of their countenance which was long and of a grave aspect, and the forms of their beard, that I had come among a nation of Jews. (Vol. II, page 20).

H. W. Bellews, C.S.I., Races of Afghanistan. (Thacker Spink & Co, 1884).

The traditions of the people (Afghans) refer them to Syria as the country of their residence at the time they were carried away into captivity by Bukhtanasar (Nebuchadnezzar) and planted as colonists in different parts of Persia and Media. From these positions they emigrated eastward at some subsequent period into the mountainous country of Ghor, where they were called by the neighbouring peoples 'Bani Afghan' or 'Bani Israel' i.e. children of Afghan and children of Israel. In corroboration of this we have the testimony of the prophet Edras to the effect that the ten tribes of Israel who were carried into captivity, subsequently escaped and found refuge in the country of Arsareth, which is supposed to be identical with the Hazara country of the present day and of which Ghor forms a part. It is also stated in the Tabcati Nasiri that in the time of the native Shan Sabi dynasty there was a people called Bani Israel in that country and that some of them were extensively engaged in trade with the countries around.

Balfour, Edward, Surgeon General, The Cyclopaedia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Third Edition. (Bernard Quaritch, 1885).

Under heading 'Afghanistan', page 31. Pakhtun is the national appellation of the Afghans proper; but Afghans and Pathans also designate themselves Bani-Israel. Pakhtun is the individual and Pukhtuna the collective name of the Afghans. This word is described as of Hebrew (Ibrani) origin, though some of them say it has a Syrian (Suriani) source and signifies delivered and set free. The term of Afghan is also said to have the same signification. One tradition is that the mother of Afghan or Afghana on his being born exclaimed 'Afghan', I am free and gave him this name; another tradition is that in the pangs of labour she exclaimed Afghan, Afghan, or Fighan, Fighan, words which in Persian mean, woe, grief, alas! Afghan is claimed as the designation only of the descendants of Kais.

The term of Pathan is said to be from Pihtan, a titular appellation alleged to have been bestowed by Mohammed on an Afghan called Kais.

Their origin is involved in obscurity, but several writers consider them to be descendants of one of the ten tribes of Israel and this is an opinion of some Afghans themselves. A few authors consider that this nation is not of Jewish origin, but that those who introduced the Mohamedan religion amongst them were converted Jews.

Then on p. 34 on the authority of Elphinstone's work 'Kingdom of Caubul' (pp. 182-185) it is written:

Among the Yusufzai, no man sees his wife till the marriage ceremonies are completed, and with all the Bardurani there is great reserve between the time when the parties are betrothed and the marriage. Some of them live with their future father-in-law and earn their bread by their services, as Jacob did when he wanted to marry Rachel, without ever seeing the object of their wishes.

Among the Afghans, as among the Jews, it is thought incumbent on the brother of the deceased to marry his widow, and it is a mortal affront to the brother for any other person to marry his widow, and it is a mortal affront to the brother for any other person to marry her without his consent.

Narrative of a Mission to Bokhara in the years 1843-1845, in two volumes. Rev. Joseph Wolff, D.D. LL.D. (John W. Parker, London, 1845) Vol. I 2nd Edition.

Page 9. From various conversations with Afghans in Khorassaun and elsewhere I learnt that some of them are proud of an origin from the children of Israel, but I doubt the truth of that partial tradition.

Page 13. All the Jews of Turkistan assert that the Turkomanians are the descendants of Togarmah, one of the sons of Gomar, mentioned in Genesis 10:3.

Page 14. The Jews in Bokhara are 10,000 in number. The Chief Rabbi assured me that Bokhara is the Habor, and Balkh the Halah of the 2nd Kings 18:6 but that in the reign of Ghengis Khan they lost all their written accounts. At Balkh the Musselman Mullahs assured me that it was built by a son of Adam, that its first name had been Hanakh and afterwards Halah, though later writers called Balakh, or Balkh. The Jews, both of Balkh and Samarcand, assert that Turkistan is the Land of Nod, and Balkh where Nod once stood.

Page 15. The tradition is an old one at Bokhara, that some of the Ten Tribes are in China. I tried the Jews here on various points of scriptural interpretation, particularly that important one in Isaiah 7:14 - virgin. They translated it as we Christians do and they are in total ignorance of the important controversy between Jews and Christians on this point.

Page 16. I obtained a passport from the King after this most interesting sojourn and then crossed the Oxus and arrived after a few days at Balkh and from that city, where I also communed with the dispersed of Israel, I proceeded to Muzaur.

Some Afghans claim a descent from Israel. According to them, Afghana was the nephew of Asaph, the son of Berachia, who built the temple of Solomon. The descendants of this Afghan, being Jews, were carried into Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, from whence they were removed to the mountain of Ghoree in Afghanistan, but in the time of Muhammad turned Mohammedans. They exhibit a book Majmooa Alansab, or collection of genealogies, written in Persian.

Page 17. Hence I passed to Peshawar. Here I had also the singular book read to me of the origin of the Afghans, the Poshtoo Book of Khan Iehaun Loote. The account in this book agrees with that given in the MSS, Teemur Nameh and Ketaub Ansbee Muhakkek Toose. I thought the general physiognomy not Jewish, but I was wonderfully struck with the resemblance that the Youssufszeye and the Khalibaree, two of the tribes, bear to the Jews. The Kaffreseeah Poosh, if Afghans, vary widely from the rest of their nation. Many travellers have thought them the descendants from Alexander's army, but they do not say so.

Page 18. I always thought that the Kaffr Seeah Poosh were descendants of Israel and some of the learned Jews of Samarcand are of my opinion.

Pages 19-20. Captain Riley, I was surprised to find, looked on the Afghans as of Jewish descent.

Page 58. I spent six days with the children of Rachab (Bani Arbal). With them were children of Israel of the tribe of Dan, who reside near Terim in Hatramawl, who expect, in common with the children of Rachab, the speedy arrival of the Messiah in the clouds of heaven. Vol. II. 131.

It is very remarkable that the Prophet Ezekiel in the twenty-seventh chapter, fourteenth verse, gives an exact description of the trade carried on by the Turkomanians with the inhabitants of Bokhara, Khiva and Khokand. The Prophet says, They of the house of Togarmah (i.e. the Turkomanians) traded in their fairs with horses and horsemen and mules. The Turkomanians to this day, like the Jewish guards, are mercenaries and let themselves out for a few tengas a day. It is also remarkable that I frequently heard the Turkomanians call themselves Toghramah, and the Jews call them Togarmah.

Viewing the hosts of camels coming with merchandise from Cashmeer, Cabul, Khokand, Keetay and Orenbough, the passage of Isaiah 9:6 the multitude and camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all they from Sheba shall come and they shall bring gold and incense. Mentioning gold, I must not forget that near Samarcand there are gold mines and turquoises.

Page 236. A few words on the children in the mountains of Kurdistaun. These children, as the late lamented Dr. Grant well observed, are of Jewish origin, though I cannot go so far as to affirm that they are of the Ten Tribes, since they do not know their own genealogy. They are now mostly Christian.

They resemble mostly the Protestants of Germany and England, for they have neither images nor monasteries and their priests are married. The episcopal dignity, however, is hereditary, as well as that of the Patriarch, and at the time the mother of the Patriarch becomes pregnant she abstains from drinking wine and eating meat; and in case that a son is born, he is the Patriarch, and if a daughter, she is obliged to observe eternal virginity.

The Lost Tribes by George Moore, M.D.

On page 143. We are attracted at once to a country of vast importance in the present aspect of the East, and the more interesting to us, as we find there a people who profess to be the Beni Israel or descendants of the Ten Tribes, namely Afghanistan and the adjacent countries.

On page 145. the prominent reasons for thinking that certain classes of the people of Bokhara and Afghanistan are of Israelitish origin are these: 1st. Their personal resemblance to the Hebrew family. Thus, Dr. Wolff, the Jewish missionary says 'I was wonderfully struck with the resemblance of the Youssoufszye (tribe of Joseph) and the Khybere, two of their tribes, to the Jews.' Moorcroft also says of Khyberis 'They are tall, and of singularly Jewish cast of features.' 2nd. They have been named by themselves Beni-Israel, children of Israel from time immemorial. 3rd. The names of their tribes are Israelitish, especially that of Joseph, which includes Ephraim and Manasseh. In the Book of Revelation the tribe of Joseph stands for Ephraim (Rev. 7:6-8). In Numbers 36:5 Moses speaks of Manasseh as the tribe of the sons of Joseph, so that it is clear that both Manasseh and Ephraim were known by the name of the tribe of Joseph. 4th. The Hebrew names of places and persons in Afghanistan are of far greater frequency than can be accounted for through Mohometan associations; and, indeed, these names existed before the Afghans became Mohometans. 5th. All accounts agree that they inhabited the mountains of Ghore from a very remote antiquity. It is certain that the Princes of Ghore belonged to the Afghan tribe of Sooree and that their dynasty was allowed to be of very great antiquity even in the eleventh century. They seem early to have possessed the mountains of Soliman or Soloman comprehending all in the Southern mountains of Afghanistan (Elphinstone). 6th. Afghan is the name given to their nation by others, the name they gave their nation is Pushtoon, and Drs. Garey and Marshman assert that the Pushtoon language has more Hebrew roots than any other.

Page 147. The antiquity of the name of the country Cabul, or Cabool is then established; and it is also shown that some peculiar people known as 'The Tribes', 'The Noble Tribes' dwelt there at a very remote period. There is, therefore, good evidence that the present inhabitants of Cabul may be justified in asserting that from the earliest period of history they and their ancestors have occupied Cabul, and that from time immemorial they have been known as The Tribes. That is to say, Israelitish Tribes, such as they now assume themselves to be ... According to Sir W. Jones the West-Persian authorities agree with them in their account of their origin; and resident and competent authorities, such as Sir John Malcolm and the missionary Mr. Chamberlain, after full investigation, assure us that many of the Afghans are undoubtedly of the seed of Abraham.

Josephus Flavius, Antiquities, Translated by Jewish W. M. Whitson (Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown: London).

What: Do you stretch your hopes beyond the river Euphrates? Do any one of you think that your fellow tribes will come to your aid out of Adiabene? Besides, if they would, the Parthians would not permit them. (XI, V. 2).

This is a quotation from a Jesih King (Agrippa) to the Jewish to submit to the Romans and not to look to the Jews from beyond the river Euphrates.

Josephus was in the reign of Vespasian, in the latter part of the first Christian century.

A personal narrative of a visit to Chuzin, Cabul, in Afghanistan G. T. Vigne F.R.G.S. (London: Whittaker, 1840).

Pages 166-67. Moolah Khuda Dad, a person learned in the history of his countrymen, read to me, from the Mujmaul-unsal (Collection of Genealogies), the following short account of their origin. They say that the eldest of Jacob's sons was Judha, whose eldest son was Osruk, who was the father of Okour, the father of Moslib, the father of Farlai, the father of Kys, the father of Talut, the father of Ermiah, the father of Afghans, whence the name of Afghans. He was contemporary with Nebuchadnezzar, called himself Beni-Israel and had forty sons, whose names there is no occasion to insert. His thirty-fourth descendant in a direct line, after a period of two thousand years, was Kys. From Kys, who lived in the time of the Prophet Mohammed, there have been sixty generations. Sulum, the eldest son of Afghans, who lived at Sam (Damascus) left that place and came to Ghura Mishkon a country near Herat, and his descendants gradually extended themselves over the country now called Afghanistan.

Cyclopaedia of Geography by James Bryce, M.A., LL.D., F.R.S.E. and Keith Johnson F.R.G.S., 2nd Edition (William Collins, Sons & Co, London & Glasgow, 1880).

Under heading 'Afghanistan', page 25. History and Relations ... The name Afghan is not used by the people themselves; they call themselves Pooshtoon, and in the plural Pooshtauneh, from which, perhaps, comes the name Puten, given to them in India. They trace their origin to Saul, King of Israel, calling themselves Ben-i-Israel. According to Sir A. Burnes, their tradition is that they were transplanted by the King of Babylon from the Holy Land to Ghore, lying to the N.W. of Cabul, and lived as Jews till A.D. 682, when they were converted to Mohometanism by an Arab Chief Khaled-ibn-Abdalla, who had married a daughter of an Afghan chief. No historical evidence has ever been adduced in support of this origin, and it is perhaps a mere invention, founded upon the facts mentioned in 2 Kings XVIII-II. However this may be, all travellers agree that the people differ strikingly from the neighbouring nations and have among themselves one common origin. They are said, by some, to resemble Jews very much in form and features, and they are divided into several tribes, inhabiting separate territories and remaining almost unmixed.

History of Afghanistan by Colonel G. Malleson, C.S.I. (W.H. Alien, & Co, London, at the India Office, 1878).

Page 39. I turn now to the people of Afghanistan, to the tribes who occupy the country, and who command the passes. The subject has been treated at great length by Mountstuart Elphinstone, by Ferrier - who quote largely from Abdullah Khan of Herat, by Bellews and many others.

Following Abdullah Khan and other Afghan writers, Ferrier is disposed to believe that the Afghans represent the lost ten tribes and to claim them descent from Saul, King of Israel. Among other writers concurring in this view may be mentioned the honoured name of Sir William Jones. On the other hand Professor Dorn, of Kharkov, who examined the subject at length, rejects this theory. Mountstuart Elphinstone classes it in the same category as the theory of the descent of the Romans from the Trojans. The objections to Abdullah Khans' view have been recently expressed, fittingly and forcibly by Professor Dowson, in a letter to the Times. If, writes that gentleman, it were worthy of consideration, it is still inconsistent with the notion that the Afghans are descendants of the lost ten tribes. Saul was of the tribe of Benjamin, and that tribe was not one of the lost ten. There remains the question of features. This no doubt has its weight, but cannot prevail against the more important question of language. Professor Dowson then proceeds to show that the Afghan language has no trace of Hebrew in it, and concluded by pronouncing the supposition that in the course of time the whole Afghan race could have changed their language as 'Too incredible'.

L. P. Ferrier, History of the Afghans Translated by W. M. Jesse. (John Murray, London, 1858).

Page 4. When Nadir Shah, marching to the conquest of India, arrived at Peshawar, the chief of the tribe of Yoozoof Zyes presented him with a Bible written in Hebrew and several other articles that had been used in their ancient worship and which they had preserved. These articles were at once recognized by the Jews who followed the camp.

On page 1, in footnotes, he writes: The author of a manuscript history of the Afghans observes that some derive the name Afghan from its Persian meaning 'Lamentation' because these tribes bewailed their banishment from Judaea. Others say that Afghan was the grandson of Saul and was employed by Solomon in building the temple. This author refers to two histories of this nation: The Tarikh-Afghanah, and the Tarikh Ghour, i.e. the History of the Afghans and the History of Ghour. It appears, he says, from these works, that the Afghans consider themselves as partly descended from the Copts of Egypt and partly from the Israelites; but nothing is adduced to support this assertion.

We are told by one of these writers that Nebuchadnezzar, after putting to death many of the prisoners, banished the remnant in to the mountains of Ghour, where they multiplied greatly with the Jews from Arabia; and when those changed their religion for that of Mohammed, a letter was received from a converted Jew called Khalud, informing them of the appearance of a New Prophet and invoking them to join his holy standard. Several Afghan nobles went to Arabia; the principal was Keis, who, we are informed by Afghan authors, traced his descent through forty-seven generations to Saul and through fifty-five to Abraham (History of the Afghans, Persian MSS).

Almost all Mohamedan writers claim this descent for the Afghans and I possessed for some time a genealogical table in which an attempt was made to prove all the principal families of Afghanistan direct descendants of the Kings of Israel.