Din Mohammad, Mushk-E-Alam
(1790–1886), Afghan hero. Din Mohammad is a national hero of Afghanistan, renowned for his undying enmity to the British. He was a mullah (Islamic cleric), whose grandfather came from India and settled in Ghazni, a city southwest of Kabul.
Din Mohammad studied with various religious teachers, one of whom gave him the name Mushk-e-Alam ("Musk of the World"), because of his erudition. He was a militant mullah and in time opened his own religious school where he propounded his aggressive views. This ensured him a following of like-minded mullahs, many trained by him, and he became a man of considerable influence among the Ghilzais, the clan that inhabited Ghazni and the surrounding area. He was given an allowance by Shir ʿAli Khan (1825–1879), the amir of Afghanistan from 1863 to 1879.
Din Mohammad openly preached jihad or holy war against the British during the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1881). When ʿAbdorrahman Khan (c. 1844–1901), the ruler of Afghanistan from 1880 to 1901, tried to limit his influence and his rhetoric, Din Mohammad incited the Margul and Ghilzai tribes to open rebellion in 1886. Din Mohammad died during this revolt, but his son, the mullah Abdul Karim, took up his father's cause and led the Margul and Ghilzai uprising; it was only with great difficulty that the amir ʿAbdorrahman suppressed the rebellion.
Further Reading
Gulzad, Zalmay. (1994) External Influences and the Development of the Afghan State in the Nineteenth Century. New York: P. Lang.
O'Balance, Edgar. (1993) Afghan Wars, 1839–1992: What Britain Gave Up and the Soviet Union Lost. London and New York: Barssey's.
This is the complete article, containing 259 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
