Afghanistan

Fully sovereign from Britain in 1919; the Afghan lands, Islamised after the 7th-century Arab conquest, were a heartland of the Ṣaffārid, Sāmānid, Ghaznavid, Ghurid and Timurid dynasties, with Balkh, Herat and Ghazna among the great centres of Islamic learning.

☾ The Coming of Islam

The Arab conquest and a slow Islamisation, 7th–10th centuries

After the Muslim victory over the Sāsānids at Nihāwand (642), Arab armies pushed into the Afghan lands, but conversion was gradual: cities submitted and revolted for generations. Islam took firm root only under the local Muslim dynasties of the 9th–10th centuries — the Ṭāhirids and Ṣaffārids of Khorāsān and Sīstān and then the Sāmānids of Bukhara — under whom Balkh, Herat and Bukhara flourished.

☾ Religious Composition

A Sunni-Ḥanafī majority with a Twelver Shīʿa minority

Most Afghans are Sunni Muslims of the Ḥanafī school, with a significant Twelver Shīʿa minority (notably among the Hazāra) and small Ismāʿīlī and Sufi communities. Sufi orders, especially the Naqshbandī and Qādirī, have long been influential.

Population shares are approximate and census-limited.

▤ Scholars & Institutions

Ghazna, Herat and Balkh as centres of Islamic learning

Under the Ghaznavids, Ghazna drew scholars and poets from across the Persian-speaking world; Herat became a celebrated Timurid centre of scholarship, calligraphy and Sufi devotion; and Balkh — 'the mother of cities' — was an ancient hub of learning long associated with the Sufi tradition.

⌂ Contemporary Muslim Life

Islam as the state religion of a devout society

Islam is the state religion and pervades Afghan daily life, law and custom. The 20th and 21st centuries saw intense contest over how strictly Islamic law should govern public life, a struggle bound up with decades of war and shifting regimes.

The public role of Islamic law has been strongly contested among Afghans and successive governments.

At a glance