Tarzi Family History

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The Tarzi Family has reached the ranks of an Afghan institution preaching modernization and progress. Through centuries of leadership, members of the family have held posts as public officials, members of the royal court, rulers, thinkers, generals, researchers, diplomats, and as the movers-and-shakers of Afghanistan. The family was born into the Barakzai Dynasty through royal Mohammadzai lineage.

The family descends directly from the Afghan King Sardar Payinda Khan Mohammadzai, Chief of the Barakzai. The family’s ancestry continued with Sardar Payinda Khan’s son, His Excellency Sardar Rahim Dil Khan. The powerful ruler born, in 1796 became ruler of Sindh, Kandahar, and Baluchistan by 1823.

His Excellency’s son was Sardar Haji Ghulam Muhammad Khan who was granted the title Arjumand wa Daneshmand (the Highly Esteemed Honorable Scholar of the State). A notable scholar and poet, he fell out of favor with the Amir and was expelled. The family, moving to India, Baghdad, and the state guest of the Sultan in Istanbul, Turkey, eventually settled in Damascus. He was known for his writings on ethics, secular poetry, religion, and took the pen-name “Tarzi” (the intellectual).

Ghulam Muhammad Khan had eleven sons who served the country well. Each with families the eleven sons prospered in great feats such as politics, science, academia, and much more. The history goes further back in Mohammadzai lineage with Sardar Payinda Khan Mohammadzai’s father and his father. However, due to the limited information available of that era, we will not focus on them until further research is done.

For detailed informaiton on invidual members of the Tarzi Family, click here.