Afghanistan. A History from 1260 to the Present - Jonathan L. Lee (2018)

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