Malalai from Maiwand

Malalai Noorzai from Maiwand ( Pashtun د ميوند نورزئی ملالۍ), also known as Malala Noorzai (Pashtunملاله), or Malalai Noorzai Anaa (Pashtunملالۍ نورزئی انا) meaning "Malalai the mother of the nation" or "Malalai Noorzai the grandmother", (born around 1861 in Khig, Kandahar ; died July 27, 1880 near Maiwand ) is a national folk heroine of Afghanistan .

She led Pashtun troops against the British Raj (troops of the British occupation of India) at the Battle of Maiwand . She fought alongside Ayub Khan and was partly responsible for the victory of the Afghans in the Battle of Maiwand on July 27, 1880 in the Second Anglo-Afghan War . She is also known in the western world as the "Afghan Johanna von Orléans " or the "Afghan Molly Pitcher ". There are many educational institutions, hospitals and other institutions in Afghanistan that are named after her. Their story is told in Afghan school books. The Pakistani women's rights activist Malala Yousafzai and the Afghan activist and politician Malalai Joya are named after Malalai von Maiwand.

childhood

Malalai was born in 1861 in a small village called Khig, which is about five kilometers southwest of Maiwand , in the southern Kandahar province in Afghanistan. In the late 1880s, Afghanistan was occupied for the second time by the British Raj forces. They tried to the area colonize and by British India to annex . The main British garrison was in Kandahar, which was the closest major city to Maiwand. The Afghan military was represented by the commander Ayub Khan, the son of the Afghan monarch Afghan Emir . Malalai's father was a shepherd and her fiancé joined Ayub Khan's army in the major battle against the British-Indian troops in July 1880. Like many other Afghan women, Malalai helped care for the injured there, fetching water and spare parts for weapons. According to Afghan sources, the day of the battle was supposed to be the day of their marriage.

Early death and legacy

Afghan commanders on September 2, 1880, one month after the victory at the Battle of Maiwand .

When the more numerically stronger Afghan military lost its fighting spirit in the face of the superior armament of the enemy, Malalai waved the Afghan flag and shouted:

“Beloved young people! If you don't fall in the battle of Maiwand

By Allah, you will be remembered as a symbol of shame! "

This inspired the Afghan troops to intensify their efforts. When a senior troop leader was killed, Malalai replaced him and led the troops with a raised flag. Some versions of the story say that she used her veil as a flag. Accordingly, she sang the following "Landai" (Afghan poem form):

"With a drop of my lover's blood,

Shed in defense of the fatherland,

I'll paint a bindi on my forehead

So beautiful that it dwarfs the roses! "

But then Malalai himself was knocked down and killed. Even so, her words had spurred her compatriots to victory. After the battle, Malalai was honored for her efforts and buried in her home village of Khig, where her grave has been preserved to this day. She was between 17 and 19 years old at the time of her death. The Pashtun poet Ajmal Khattak wrote the following lines about Malalai:

“My Malalai is alive and they praise the beauty of others.

Although they have eyes, they are blind. "

funeral

"When Maiwand was conquered with the sacrifice of many soldiers and the Afghan conquerors wanted to bury their martyrs , Ghazi Sardar Muhammad Ayub Khan asked: Who is this girl who has bravely and emotionally kept the Afghan army strong in such a tense situation? Some replied: She is "Malala", the daughter of a shepherd from Maiwand. Another replied: She is very brave, she should be buried with the martyrs. Ayub Khan replied: Well said. All the imams and national soldiers of the holy war prayed, asked for their forgiveness from Almighty Allah. And then they surrendered them to the earth. "

Her grave is located east of the village of Karez and is considered a shrine by locals.

poem

The poem by Malalai von Maiwand, which made the Afghan soldiers fight harder:

"Ka Pah Maiwand Kay Shaheed Na Sh'way kh'day'go La'Lia Bay-Nangay ta daye sA-teena"

"Pashtun: که په میوند کی شهید نشوی خدایږو لالیه بی ننګی ته دی ساتینه"

"Khal ba da yar la weno kegdam, che shenke bagh ke gul gulab wosharmawena."

"Pashtun: خال به ديار له وينو كښيږدم _ چي شينكي باغ كي گل گلاب وشرموينه"

"With a drop of my lover's blood,

Shed in defense of the fatherland,

I'll paint a bindi on my forehead

So beautiful that it dwarfs the roses! "

Reception in art

In 2017, the transnational theater project "MALALAI - the Afghan Maiden of Orléans" by Robert Schuster and Julie Paucker was realized at the German National Theater Weimar using texts from Friedrich Schiller's drama The Maiden of Orleans . The parallel to Joan of Arc was highlighted. Actors from Afghanistan also took part in the project .

Web links

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Chris Johnson, Jolyon Leslie: id = 7qvB1R_uIF4C & lpg = PA171 & dq = Malalai% 20Maiwand & pg = PA171 # v = onepage & q = Malalai% 20Maiwand & f = false Afghanistan: the mirage of peace . Zed Books, 2004, ISBN 1-84277-377-1 , p. 171 (accessed August 22, 2010).
2. ^ Abdullah Qazi: Afghan Women's History . Afghanistan Online. Retrieved September 12, 2010.
3. ↑ Honors . Katachel.de. Archived from the original on September 12, 2011. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 25, 2011. 
4. ↑ Garen Ewing: Maiwand Day: Wargaming the Afghan War . garenewing.co.uk. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
5. ↑ Malala Yousafzai, Christina Lamb : I am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban . Orion, October 8, 2013, ISBN 978-0-297-87093-7 .
6. ^ Wahid Momand: Malalai of Maiwand . Afghanland.com. Retrieved September 12, 2010.
7. ^ ^{A b} Garen Ewing: Afghan heroine Malalai . 2005. Retrieved September 12, 2010.
8. ↑ Shahzad Z. Najmuddin: Armenia: a Resume: With Notes on Seth's Armenians in India . Trafford Publishing, 2006, ISBN 1-4120-7916-0 , p. 103 ( Accessed August 22, 2010).
9. ↑ Siba Shakib : Battle of Maiwand . tricycle.co.uk. Retrieved June 9, 2011.
10. ↑ ^{a b} Inger Marie Okkenhaug, Ingvild Flaskerud: Gender, religion and change in the Middle East: two hundred years of history . Berg Publishers, 2005, ISBN 1-84520-199-X , p. 191 (accessed August 22, 2010).
11. ↑ Abdul Haq Haqmal. August 23, 2008. Malala “Paighla” ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
12. ↑ Wagner, Erich. 2012. "The Bones of the British Lying in Maiwand are Lonely."  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Marine Corps University Journal. Volume 3 (1) Spring 2012. Page 46.  
13. ↑ MALALAI - the Afghan maiden of Orléans