The history of Arabs in Afghanistan spans over one millennium since the 7th century. Most of the early Arabs gradually lost their Arabic hegemony and ultimately mixed with the local population, though they are still considered a cognizably distinct ethnic group according to the Constitution of Afghanistan. Afghans who carry Sayed or Quraishi in their names usually claim Arab ancestry.
At the end of the 7th century, the Umayyad Arabs entered into the area now known as Afghanistan after decisively defeating the Sasanian Empire in Nihawand. Following this colossal defeat, the last Sasanian shah, Yazdegerd III, who became a hunted fugitive, fled eastward deep into Central Asia. In pursuing Yazdegerd, the route the Arabs selected to enter the area was from north-eastern Iran and thereafter into Herat where they stationed a large portion of their army before advancing toward eastern Afghanistan. [1] Some Arabs settled in these new areas and married locals while adopting new customs. Other groups and contingents who elected not to settle gradually pushed eastwards but encountered resistance in areas surrounding Bamiyan. [2] When ultimately arriving at Kabul, the Arabs confronted the Kabul Shahan who had built a long defensive wall around the city. The bloodiest war in Kabul was in Chahardi area where still tombs of Arabs killed in that war exist in Darulaman area. The most famous Arab character killed in that war was Shah-do Shamshira, whose tomb is located near Kabul river in Asmayee street. One of the most famous Commanders who fought against Arab invaders is known as Mazangi. Mazangi was in command at the battle of Asmayee (Kohi-Sherdarwaza) where Shah-Do Shamshira was killed. There is a number sights where Arab invaders fought in Kabul, but the bloodiest battle after Asmayee was the battle of Alwoden in the area known as Darul Aman today. The historical details of this battle remains largely unknown, though the Arabs were nonetheless subdued in the long term.
In the year 44 (664 AD), the Caliph Moavia Bin Aby Soofian nominated Zeead, the son of Oomya, to the government of Bussora, Seestan, and Khorassan. In the same year also Abdool Ruhman Bin Shimur, another Arab Ameer of distinction, marched from Murv to Kabul, where he made converts of upwards of twelve thousand persons... Saad was recalled in the year 59, and Abdool Ruhman, the son of Zeead, who formerly invaded Kabul, was nominated ruler of Khorassan... Shortly after his arrival in Khorassan, Sulim deputed his brother, Yezeed Bin Zeead, to Seestan. Not long after, Yezeed, having learned that the Prince of Kabul, throwing off his allegiance, had attacked and taken prisoner Aby Oobeyda, the son of Zeead, the late governor of Seestan, he marched with a force to recover that province, but was defeated in a pitched battle. When Sulim heard this news, he sent Tilla Bin Abdoolla, an officer of his court, as envoy to the court of Kabul, to ransom Aby Oobeyda; to obtain which object he paid 500,000 dirhems. Tilla afterwards received the government of Seestan as a reward for his services on this occasion, where, having collected a large force, he subdued Kabul in the short term and Khalid Bin Abdoolla (said by some to be the son of Khalid Bin Wuleed, and by others the son of Aboo Jehl) was nominated to its government. [3]
— Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah, (1560–1620)
Despite the lack of much written accounts, another famous archaeological legacy of this battle remains standing in Kabul, notably the tomb of the Shah-e Do Shamshira (translated into, The leader with the Two Swords in Persian) next to the Shah-Do Shamshira Mosque. The site, located near Kabul's market district, was built near the area where an Arab commander died.
Despite fighting heroically with a sword in each hand, one of the Muslim head commanders fell in battle. It is his memory that is honored by the mosque today. The two-story edifice was built in the 1920s on the order of King Amanullah's mother on the site of one of Kabul's first mosques.
Following the Arab confrontation, the region was made part of Khorasan with its seat of power in Herat in the west. The Arabs later partially relinquished some of their territorial control though reasserted its authority approximately 50 years later in 750 when the Abbasid caliphs replaced the Ummayads. [4] By then, many Arabs increasingly blended with locals as the Arabic identity in the region began to undergo a significant change. Arab contingents settled throughout various parts of present-day Afghanistan including the Wardak, Logar, Kabul, Balkh and in the Sulaiman Mountains. Over time they adopted local customs and languages, some became Persianized while others became Afghanized who followed Pashtunwali.
Khalid being subsequently superseded, became apprehensive of returning to Arabia by the route of Persia, on account of the enemies he had in that country, and equally so of remaining in Kabul, under his successor. He retired, therefore, with his family, and a number of Arab retainers, into the Sooli-many mountains, situated between Mooltan and Pishawur, where he took up his residence, and gave his daughter in marriage to one of the Afghan chiefs, who had become a proselyte to Maho-medism. From this marriage many children were born, among whom were two sons famous in history. The one Lody, the other Soor; who each, subsequently, became head of the tribes which to this day bear their name. [3]
— Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah, (1560–1620)
It was during the reign of the Ya'qub Saffari that Arabic began losing its influence in the region. Nevertheless, the Arabs attempted to re-exert their influence in the area by supporting the Samanid rulers of Balkh who in return, assisted the Abbasid Arabs against the defiant Saffarid dynasty.
Despite maintaining some clothing customs and attire, [5] most of the early Afghan-Arabs (or Arab-Afghans) gradually lost their original tongue of Arabic. This is confirmed in the 15th century work, Baburnama, which notes that the Arabs of Afghanistan have virtually lost the Arabic language and instead speak Persian and Pashto. [1] Although the exact number of Arab-Afghans remains unknown, mostly due to ambiguous claims of descent, an 18th-century academic estimated that they number at approximately 60,000 families. [1]
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After the Bolshevik Revolution, many Sunni Arabs residing in Bukhara and other areas of Central Asia ruled by Russians migrated to Afghanistan where they were better able to practice their religion without fear of religious persecution or discrimination. [6] One estimate indicated that approximately 30,000 Arabs lived in Bukhara during the mid-nineteenth century. [7] The Arabs who entered into Afghanistan during this time still retained some Arabic [8] in contrast to the Afghan Arabs who came during the first wave.
Some Arabs from the second wave intermarried with the local population as they adopted the languages of northern Afghanistan, namely Uzbek, Turkmen, and Persian language. [9] Many settled in Kunduz, Takhar and Sar-e Pol provinces. Currently, while they still view themselves as Arab, all the Arabs from the second wave have, like those from the original wave, lost their language of Arabic, adopting Persian instead. [6]
Although some tribal names, including Qureshi and Shaiboni are still remembered, [10] most of the Arabs view genealogies as unimportant. [11] Many of these Afghan Arabs work in the agricultural industry, often growing cotton and wheat while others raise karakul sheep. [6] According to an academic, the Central Asian Arabs have not had any contact with Middle Eastern Arabs since the time of Tamerlane (circa 1400). [11]
The main body of the Afghan Arabs are found in Shibarghan provinces. Afghan Arabs, however, are presently all Dari-speaking and have been in their collective memories. However, they claim an Arab identity. There are other such Persian-speaking "Arabs" to the east, between Shebergan, Mazar-i Sharif, Kholm and Kunduz living in pockets. Their self-identification as Arabs is largely based on their tribal identity and may in fact point to the 7th and 8th centuries migration to this and other Central Asian locales of many Arab tribes from Arabia in the wake of the Islamic conquests of the region. [12]
During the 1980s Soviet–Afghan War, many Arab Muslims arrived and volunteered to help Afghans fight Soviet Union. Some of these remained after the Soviets withdrew from the country and were granted citizenship. Others intermarried with local Afghans while some arrived with their families to Afghanistan. Kandahar is home to a small Arab cemetery where over 70 graves belong to Arab al-Qaeda functionaries who were killed as a result of the U.S. War on Terror. These Arabs are revered by the Taliban and the Salafist sympathizers as shahid (martyrs). [13]
Around 900 families live in Khoshal Abad and Yakhdan villages of Dawlat Abad district of the province, the villagers can trace their lineage back to the third caliphate of Uthman, in the 7th century. These families are mainly engaged in agriculture and carpet weaving. Most Arabs in Balkh Province, speak in Arabic as their mother tongue, and Dari as a second language. While some of the older generations had never learned to speak either of Afghanistan's two official languages, Dari and Pashto, many of the younger generation were being taught Dari in school and forgetting their Arabic; about 40 percent can no longer speak Arabic. Many of their customs have been forgotten, or are no longer relevant to a younger generation that identifies more with Afghanistan. Arabs who settled in northern Balkh province are worried that their culture is being wiped out as more people adopt the language and traditions of Afghanistan. Arabs form the smaller minorities in the town and district of Kholm; many identify themselves as ethnic Arabs although no one actually speaks Arabic. [14]
There are about 1,000 families living in Hassanabad of Shebarghan, capital of Jowzjan province, and in Sultan Arigh village of Aqcha district that identify themselves as Arabs. [14] [15] None, however, has spoken Arabic in their collective memory, with Dari forming their native language.
There are many Arab families living in the city of Nangarhar, Jalalabad. The majority of the people living in the villages claim to have Arab ethnicity, Either Iraq, Egypt, and any other Arab nation. The majority have had lost their language and speak Dari with Pashto interconnected which has created an accent.
Dari, Dari Persian, or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari Persian is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language; it is known as Afghan Persian or Eastern Persian in many Western sources. The decision to rename the local variety of Persian in 1964 was more political than linguistic to support an Afghan state narrative. Dari Persian is most closely related to Tajiki Persian as spoken in Tajikistan and the two share many phonological and lexical similarities. Apart from a few basics of vocabulary, there is little difference between formal written Persian of Afghanistan and Iran; the languages are mutually intelligible. Dari Persian is the official language for approximately 35 million people in Afghanistan and it serves as the common language for inter-ethnic communication in the country.
The population of Afghanistan is around 43.4 million as of 2024. The nation is composed of a multi-ethnic and multilingual society, reflecting its location astride historic trade and invasion routes between Central Asia, South Asia, and Western Asia. Ethnic groups in the country include Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara, Uzbek, as well as smaller groups such as Baloch, Nuristani, Turkmen, Aimaq, Mongol and some others which are less known. Together they make up the contemporary Afghan people.
Balkh is a town in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan. It is located approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the northwest of the provincial capital city Mazar-i-Sharif and approximately 74 kilometres (46 mi) to the south of the Amu Darya and the Afghanistan–Uzbekistan border. In 2021–2022, the National Statistics and Information Authority reported that the town had 138,594 residents. Listed as the eighth largest settlement in the country, unofficial 2024 estimates set its population at around 114,883 people.
Balkh is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country. It is divided into 15 districts and has a population of about 1,509,183, which is multi-ethnic and mostly a Persian-speaking society. The city of Mazar-i-Sharif is the capital and largest city of the province. The Mawlana Jalaluddin Mohammad Balkhi International Airport and Camp Marmal sit on the eastern edge of Mazar-i-Sharif.
Jowzjan, sometimes spelled Jawzjan or Jozjan is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the north of the country bordering neighboring Turkmenistan. The province is divided into 11 districts and contains hundreds of villages. It has a population of about 613,481, which is multi-ethnic and mostly agriculturalists. Sheberghan is the capital of Jozjan province.
Nangarhār, also called Nangrahar or Ningrahar, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern part of the country and bordering Logar, Kabul, Laghman and Kunar provinces as well as having an international border with Pakistan. It is divided into 22 districts and has a population of about 1,735,531, the third highest of the country's 34 provinces. The city of Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. Nangarhar province is famous for its fish and karahi dishes.
Nimruz or Nimroz is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southwestern part of the country. It lies to the east of the Sistan and Baluchestan Province of Iran and north of Balochistan, Pakistan, also bordering the Afghan provinces of Farah and Helmand. It has a population of about 186,963 people. The province is divided into five districts, encompassing about 649 villages.
The culture of Afghanistan has persisted for centuries and encompasses the cultural diversity of the nation. Afghanistan's culture is historically strongly connected to nearby Persia, including the same religion, as the people of both countries have lived together for thousands of years. Its location at the crossroads of Central, South and Western Asia historically made it a hub of diversity, dubbed by one historian as the "roundabout of the ancient world".
Fārsīwān is a contemporary designation for Persian speakers in Afghanistan and its diaspora elsewhere. More specifically, it was originally used to refer to a distinct group of farmers in Afghanistan and urban dwellers.
New Persian, also known as Modern Persian is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into three stages: Early New Persian, Classical Persian, and Contemporary Persian.
Fazlullah Mujadedi also known as Abdul Hameed Mujadedi or Abdul Hameed Fazlullah Mujadedi was an Afghan politician in Afghanistan, previously serving as Governor of Logar, Laghman and Takhar provinces. He was one of the prominent commanders of Jamiat-e Islami during the 1980s Soviet–Afghan War. He was amongst the earliest generation of anti-Soviet fighters from Kabul University, which included Amin Wardak, Zabihullah of Marmul in Balkh and Ahmad Shah Massoud.
Afghanistan is a linguistically diverse nation, with upwards of 40 distinct languages. However, Dari and Pashto are two of the most prominent languages in the country, and have shared official status under various governments of Afghanistan. Dari, as a shared language between multiple ethnic groups in the country, has served as a historical lingua franca between different linguistic groups in the region and is the most widely understood language in the country.
Persianization or Persification, is a sociological process of cultural change in which a non-Persian society becomes "Persianate", meaning it either directly adopts or becomes strongly influenced by the Persian language, culture, literature, art, music, and identity as well as other socio-cultural factors. It is a specific form of cultural assimilation that often includes a language shift. The term applies not only to cultures, but also to individuals, as they acclimate to Persian culture and become "Persianized" or "Persified".
Mohammad Gul Khan Momand, was both a literary figure and a politician in Afghanistan. He also served as an Army Officer during Afghanistan's Independence war in 1919. He served in numerous government and leadership positions, including Minister of Interior of Afghanistan.
Shah-Do Shamshira Mosque, the name translates to Mosque of the King of Two Swords, is a yellow two-story mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan on Andarabi Road, just off the Kabul River and the Shah-Do Shamshira bridge in the center of the city. It was built during the reign of Amanullah Khan (1919–1929). It was modelled after the Ortaköy Mosque in Istanbul. The design of this mosque is quite unusual for Islamic religious architecture. Its Italian decorative stucco creates an interesting effect that some describe as ‘Afghan Baroque’.
Kholm or Khulm, formerly known as Tashqurghan, is a town in Samangan Province of northern Afghanistan, 60 km east of Mazar-i-Sharif one-third of the way to Kunduz. Kholm is an ancient town located on the fertile, inland delta fan of the Khulm River. As such, it is an agriculturally rich locale and densely populated. It is famous for its covered market, and is a centre for trading in sheep and wood.
Across Afghanistan, proverbs are a valued part of speaking, both publicly and in conversations. Afghans "use proverbs in their daily conversations far more than Westerners do, and with greater effect". The most extensive proverb collections in Afghan languages are in Pashto and Dari, the two official languages in Afghanistan.
Afghan literature or literature of Afghanistan refers to the literature produced in modern-day Afghanistan. Influenced by Central and South Asian literature, it is predominantly written in two native and official languages of Afghanistan: Dari and Pashto. Some regional languages such as Uzbek, Turkmen, Balochi, and Pashayi also appear in Afghan literature. While Afghanistan is a multilingual country, these languages are generally used as oral compositions and written texts by the Afghan writers and in Afghan curriculum. Its literature is highly influenced by Persian and Arabic literature in addition to Central and South Asia.
An Afghan personal name consists of a given name and sometimes a surname at the end. Personal names are generally not divided into first and family names; a single name is recognized as a full personal name, and the addition of further components – such as additional given names, regional, or ethnic family/clan names or patronymics – is often a matter of parents' choice. This structure is shared amongst the different ethnicities of Afghanistan and people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
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