introduction
mazhabs. Most Afghans are deeply religious and adhere to the beliefs
and practices of Islam, though many urban Afghans are not particularly
regular when it comes to observing the five daily prayers. Islam, while
it is rigorously monotheistic, is far from being monolithic and there
are many strands of religious belief and interpretation, ranging from
deistic rationalism to the puritanical exclusivism of movements such
as the Taliban.
The majority of Afghans are Sunnis but the country has a sizeable
Shi‘a and Isma‘ili minority. The Hazaras are mainly Shi‘a with a smaller
TABLE 2: Principal Dynasties of Afghanistan, 664–1256
Dynasty Dates (ruling
Afghanistan)
Capital(s) Regions of
Afghanistan ruled
Ethnicity; comments
‘Umayyad
Caliphate
664–750 Damascus western, north
and southwestern
Afghanistan
Muslim; Arab;
747 revolt of Abu
Muslim led to fall
of ’Umayyads
‘Abbasid
Caliphate
750–870 Kufa, then
Baghdad
from 819 ‘Abbasids
cede autonomy to
local Muslim rulers
Sunni Muslim;
Arab; strong Eastern
Iranian influence
Samanid 819–992 Samarkand,
then Bukhara
initially Herat,
Balkh, then all of
Afghanistan
shamanism, later
Sunni Muslim;
Persians from Balkh
Saffarid 857–901 Zaranj Sistan; Herat;
Balkh; Badghis;
Ghor; Bamiyan
Sunni Muslim;
Persians from Sistan;
after 901 subordinate
to Samanids
Ghaznavid 977–1186 Ghazni all Afghanistan,
eastern Iran and
north India
Sunni Muslim;
Turkic; Sultan
Mahmud’s jihad in
N. India and Ghur
Saljuq 1036–1157 Rey, then
Isfahan
Balkh; Herat;
Ghazni (briefly)
Shamanism, later
Sunni Muslims;
Oghuz Turk
Ghurid 1187–1215 initially Firoz
Koh (Jam),
then Herat
Ghur; Bamiyan;
Herat; Ghazni and
N. India as far as
Delhi
Sunni Muslim;
Persians from Ghur;
constructed Minaret
of Jam; Qutb Minar
of Delhi
Khwarazmian
Shah
1194–1223 Gurganj, then
Samarkand,
Ghazni, Tabriz
most of Afghan-
istan
Sunni Muslim;
Turkic; formerly
Saljuq ghulams; last
Shah defeated by
Mongols
Mongol
Empire
1220–59 Karakorum all of Afghanistan Shamanism and
some E. Christianity;
Mongol invasion led
to mass destruction
and massacres