reform and repression, 1901–19leading lights in the field of education and journalism, as well as heading
up the movement for social reform. Tarzi also used his newfound influence
to secure the appointments of Turkish advisers in education, health and in
the Military Academy. A few months after the suppression of the Mashruta
Conspiracy, Mahmud Tarzi’s political power and dynastic rights were re -
inforced by the marriage of his eldest daughter to the heir apparent, ’Inayat
Allah Khan, and a few years later another of Tarzi’s daughters, Soraya, was
betrothed to the future Amir of Afghanistan, ’Aman Allah Khan. Tarzi
also became tutor to ’Aman Allah Khan, Soraya’s son, the future Amir of
Afghanistan, who was the most liberal and reform-minded of all Amir
Habib Allah Khan’s sons. The result of these and other alliances meant the
fortunes of the Tarzi family became inextricably bound to the Seraj dynasty.
In October 1911 Mahmud Tarzi received official approval to revive ‘Abd
al-Ra’uf ’s newspaper, which he renamed Seraj al-Akhbar-i Afghaniyya. 21
The Seraj al-Akhbar appeared fortnightly with a print run of 3,000 and was
distributed to every government department with subscriptions deducted
from civil servants’ salaries. Tarzi maintained that the newspaper was not
an official publication, but this was disingenuous to say the least, since
Tarzi received a substantial salary from the Amir and the printing was
subsidized by the salaries of civil servants. Indeed officials regarded the
Seraj al-Akhbar as a court circular.
Tarzi’s stated intention was for the Seraj al-Akhbar-i Afghaniyya to be a
‘bazaar of knowledge’ and despite its relatively small circulation, the news-
paper had a profound effect on educated Afghans. Over the seven years
of its publication the Seraj al-Akhbar covered topics including literature,
science, geography, economic theory, technology and philosophy as well
as publishing numerous translations of European works. In the process of
translation, Tarzi also introduced many foreign loan words into Afghan
Persian and for many Afghans the broadsheet was their first contact with
the world of European culture, literature and technology.
A number of individuals contributed to the Seraj al-Akhbar, included
‘Abd al-Ra’uf, Loynab ‘Ali Ahmad and the Pushtun poet ‘Abd al-Hadi
Dawai, but most of the articles were written or translated by Tarzi, and
the newspaper was essentially a vehicle for Tarzi to promote his vision of
Pan-Islam, nationalism and modernization. Like most Muslim reformers
of his day, Tarzi argued that there was no intrinsic conflict between Islam
and Western education, science and technology. This view was at odds with
most of Afghanistan’s religious establishment, who held to the traditional
opinion that all necessary knowledge was contained in the Qur’an, Hadith
and Sunna. Tarzi opposed this narrow world view and accused the religious