Khan's Triumph of Will

SPIRIT OF SERVICE

"I have one great desire. I want to rescue these gentle, brave, patriotic people from the tyranny of the foreigners who have disgraced and dishonored them. I want to create for them a world of freedom, where they can live in peace, where they can laugh and be happy...I want to wash away the stain of blood from their garments. I want to show the world how beautiful they are, these people from the hills, and then I want to proclaim: "Show me, if you can, any gentler, more courteous, more cultured people than these." Badshah Khan

Khan saw ignorance, superstition, and the crushing weight of custom as main reasons for the misery of the Pushtuns. "Beneath the violence and ignorance," says Easwaran, "Khan saw men and women capable of extraordinary self-effacement, endurance, and courage. He knew his task: to educate, to enlighten, to lift up, to inspire. With understanding, he saw, the violence and venality would fall from the Pathan character like dead limbs from a tree."

Realizing what needs to be done, Khan threw himself into the cause of reforming and transforming the Pushtuns through educational, agricultural, and social programs:

• In 1910, Khan started a school, hoping education would remove many hurdles in the Pushtuns' lives. It was an instant success and in a short time, he opened more including a high school quickly enrolling a large number of students. In 1912, he took on the leadership of the reform movement of Haji Abdul Wahid Saheb, a liberal reformer whose progressive thinking had a major influence on Khan.
• In 1921, Khan initiated the Reform Association of Afghanistan, a non-political missionary organization that encouraged economic, social, and educational improvements in the region. He encouraged the Pushtuns to open up stores as alternatives to agriculture as there wasn't enough land.
• Khan also established cooperative enlightenment centers in 1927 as part of the Peasant Association to improve local agriculture. The same year, Khan founded the Pushtun Youth League, which mainly included the graduates of his schools who carried out reform work.
• Khan was concerned about the women's issues including freedom to participate fully in society. To help spread more of his ideas, Khan started a journal in Pushtun with articles on hygiene, social issues, and Islamic law. He showed extraordinary daring in opposing the "purdah" so that women could come out from behind the veil.
• In 1929, sensing that the Pushtuns were ready Khan finally exhorted them to transform themselves to enjoy progress and prosperity eventually. Khan's words cut through their pride, but the Pushtuns knew the message was hurled with love. After much discussion, they agreed to take an oath:

I am a Khudai Khidmatgars; and as God needs no service, but serving his creation is serving him, I promise to serve humanity in the name of God.

I promise to refrain from violence and from taking revenge on those who oppress me or treat me with cruelty.

I promise to refrain from taking part in feuds and quarrels and from creating enmity.

I promise to treat every Pathan as my brother and friend.

I promise to refrain from antisocial customs and practices.

I promise to lead a simple life, to practice virtue and to refrain from evil.

I promise to practice good manners and good behavior and not to lead a life of idleness.

I promise to devote at least two hours a day to social work .

The British treated the nonviolent Pushtuns as a ruse. Amitabh Pal writes in "The Progressive: A Pacifist uncovered"

"The British reacted with a singular ferocity to the Khidmagar desire for independence from British rule, subjecting Khidmatgars members throughout the 1930s and 1940s to mass killings, and destruction of their homes and fields. Khan himself spent 15 of these years in prison, often in solitary confinement. But these Pushtuns refused to give up their adherence to nonviolence even in the face of such severe repression."

With their wise leader guiding their gradual evolution out of violence and vengeance, the Pushtuns stunned the world when they exhibited the bravery in one incident in April 1930. Gene Sharp who has written a study of nonviolent resistance writes:

"When those in front fell down wounded by the shots, those behind came forward with their breasts bare and exposed themselves to the fire, so much so that some people got as many as 21 bullets in their bodies, and all the people stood their ground without getting into a panic...The Anglo-Indian paper of Lahore, which represents the official view, itself wrote to the effect that the people came forward one after another to face the firing and when they fell wounded they were dragged back and others came forward to be shot at."

Ghani Khan notes that his father, Badshah Khan, "had discovered that love can create more in a second than bombs can destroy in a century; that the kindest strength is the greatest strength; that only way to be truly brave is to be in the right."

Born aristocrat and raised in luxury, Khan renounced his comforts, land, wealth, and even meat to live as an example for his followers. He was a gentle giant that the villagers loved and honored by rising up to his call. A long life of selfless service, constant self-purification, and the bonds of love between Khan and his followers made him a "rasul", a prophet as described in Surah VII 157 of the Koran:

"Those who follow the Apostle-Prophet...(who) enjoins them good and forbids them evil, and makes lawful to them the good things and makes unlawful to them impure things, and removes from them their burden and shackles which were upon them; so (as for) those who believe in him and honor him, and help him, and follow the light which has been sent down with him, these it is that are the successful."

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