nadir shah and the afghans, 1732–47been commissioned by the London Society for Promoting Christianity to
the Jews and had already travelled extensively throughout the Middle East,
preaching to Jews and Christians and attempting to locate the lost Ten
Tribes of Israel. His latest mission had taken him to Bukhara, home of a
large and ancient Jewish community, but he arrived in Kabul penniless and
with virtually no clothes on his back. On his way south, the amir of Duab
had sentenced Wolff to be burnt to death for claiming to be a Muslim yet
refusing to recite the kalima, the fundamental confession of Islam. Wolff
had escaped execution only by allowing the amir to take all his money and
pillage his baggage. Burnes persuaded Wolff to join him in Jabbar Khan’s
house, lent him money and sent him on his way to India, but not before
he quizzed him about the road north and the political situation beyond
the Hindu Kush.
As the guest of Nawab Jabbar Khan, Burnes had access to the court and
had two audiences with Dost Muhammad Khan, who tried to prise from
Alexander Burnes
in the costume of
Central Asia.