of the Sarbani tribal confederacy), who was son of Qais Abdur Rashid (progenitor of all Pashtuns). Qais Abdur Rashid was a descendant of Afghana, who was described as a grandson of the Israelite king Saul and commander-in-chief of the army of prophet Solomon. Qais was claimed to be a contemporary of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and a kinsman of Arab commander Khalid ibn al-Walid. When Khalid ibn al-Walid summoned Qais from Ghor to Medina, Qais accepted Islam and the prophet renamed him Abdur Rashīd (meaning "Servant of the Guide to the Right Path" or "Servant of God" in Arabic). Abdur Rashid returned to Ghor and introduced Islam there. The book stated that Abdur Rashid's great-grandson, Tarīn, had three sons: "One was black in complexion, and he was named Tōr (meaning "black" in Pashto); the other was white in complexion, and he was named Spīn (meaning "white" in Pashto); his third son was named Abdāl (or Awdāl)." The first two sons were the progenitors of modern Tareens, who are closely related to Durranis and are divided into two clans (Tor Tareen and Spin Tareen), while the third son was the progenitor of modern Durranis. The 1595 Mughal account Ain-i-Akbari also mentioned the tradition of Israelite descent among Pashtuns, which shows that the tradition was already popular among 16th-century Pashtuns. History During the 16th and 17th centuries, the Abdali were primarily pastoralists, not known for agricultural activities, but some of them were engaged in overland trade. Abdali and Tarin (a Pashtun tribe related to Abdalis) chieftains were patronized by both Safavid and Mughal appointed governors, and asked to patrol travel routes to ensure the safety of merchant caravans passing through Kandahar, which was a province located on a strategic trade corridor linking Hindustan, Iran, and Turkestan. Hotak dynasty The first Ghilji Emir of the Hotak dynasty, Mirwais Hotak (1709–1715), was married to Khanzada Sadozai, daughter of Abdali chief Jafar Khan Sadozai. This cemented a Ghilji-Abdali alliance that played an integral role in Mirwais' rise to political authority in Kandahar and in the successful revolt against the Safavids. A product of the marriage, Mahmud Hotak, conquered Iran in 1722, and the Iranian city of Isfahan remained the dynasty's capital for six years. During the Hotak rule, an Abdali contingent went to Herat to assume control of the province, replacing the former Safavid appointed governors. Zaman Khan Abdali, father of Ahmad Shah Durrani, was