Religion and Political Authority in Khushal Khan Khattak’s Swat Nama: A Study of Power, Legitimacy and Social Order

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between religion and political authority in Khushal Khan Khattak’s Swat Nama, with particular attention to power, legitimacy, leadership, and social order. The argument is that Swat Nama is not merely a descriptive travel narrative: it is a normative literary text in which Khushal evaluates political institutions, local leadership, religious authority, and social practices according to an implicit standard of justice, competence, public welfare, and moral responsibility. His criticism of an unregulated political order, abusive or self-interested malaks, and religious figures who interfere in worldly affairs demonstrates that he does not reject authority as such. Rather, he distinguishes legitimate authority from authority exercised without ethical responsibility. His criticism of Akhund Darweza’s Makhzan-al-Islam further reveals a struggle over the cultural and intellectual sources through which authority is produced and maintained. The article therefore argues that religion in Swat Nama functions both as a source of moral legitimacy and as an object of criticism when religious status is converted into social or political power. In this sense, Khushal’s literary representation of Swat articulates a model of social order in which political, religious, and customary authorities have distinct responsibilities and must ultimately be judged by their contribution to justice and collective welfare.