Works by Afghan Classical Poet ‘Abd al-Hamid Momand: Stylometric Results

Abstract

‘Abd al Hamid Momand (d. ca. 1732), a greatest Afghan classical poet at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries, was the author of Pashto poetry. He created a unique individual style, which was different from that of his predecessors and greatly influenced subsequent Afghan Pashto poetry. However, because of the complexity and eloquence of his style, his work has been understudied inside and outside Afghanistan. The authorship of a set of ghazals by Hamid is questioned by the authors of this article, with some forty works defined as controversial. Methods of digital stylometry are applied to determine the authorship of these ghazals. As a result of this experiment, the question is clarified as to whether Hamid's controversial ghazals are indeed authentic.