Talib's Tale

John Butt was born in Trinidad in 1950. At the age of nine, he came to boarding school in England. His restless spirit did not settle down to life in England and in 1969, he took the hippie trail to India. In the Pashtoon border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, he converted to Islam and started a second education, as a traditional talib—student of Islam. Having become the first European to qualify from Darul Uloom Deoband—the pre-eminent institute of Islamic learning in South Asia—he later became a well-known broadcaster in his adopted Pashto language. He was renowned as the Man Who Brought The Archers—a well-known BBC radio soap opera—to Afghanistan. His adventures and encounters in between this extraordinary trajectory give a unique insight into Pashtoon history, the place the Pashtoons occupy in the sub-continent and some hints as to how present-day conundrums among the Pashtoons might be assuaged.

• PrologueI.FriendshipII.Yin and TangIII.Talib FarmerIV.SectarianismV.A Talib’s TradeVI.Talib PrisonerVII.Panjpiri WarriorVIII.Captive EnglishmanIX.The Book of AllahX.Pashtoons in DeobandXI.Sufi SaintXII.Modern MullaXIII.Frontier GandhiXIV.From Flower-Power to Dawa PowerXV.Journalism NurseryXVI.BBCXVII.StorytellerXVIII.Battleground of EducationIllustrationsFootnotesEpilogueAcknowledgements