RELIGION

Iakov TROFIMOV

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Iakov Trofimov, Ph.D. (Philos.), professor at the Karaganda “Bolashak” Institute of Actual Education (Karaganda, Kazakhstan)

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Approximately 98 percent of Afghanistan’s population is Muslim; there are over 15,000 mosques in the country; about 550 of which are found in the capital. Between 80 and 85 percent of the Muslims are Sunnis, and 15 to 20 percent are Shi‘a, the distribution being ethnically determined. Prof. Sazhin has the following to say on this score: “The dozens of ethnic groups make the situation even worse. According to the latest data, the Pashtoons form the largest group, they comprise 38 percent of the country’s total population; Tajiks comprise 25 percent; Uzbeks, 6 percent; and Hazaras, 19 percent. Each of the groups has a very complicated clan and tribal structure. The Pashtoons, for example, are divided into four large tribal unions, which in turn are divided into tribal affiliations consisting of tribes (there are over 20 of them), while the tribes are made up of numerous clans and families.”

The larger part of the Pashtoons and Tajiks, as well as Uzbeks, Turkmens, Baluchis, Aymaks, Arabs, etc. are Sunnis. The Hazaras, Persians, some of the Pashtoon tribes, and Tajiks are Shi‘a. Each of the ethnoses has its own ideas about the Islamic dogmas and rites associated with the cults of saints and holy places. “There are about one-and-a-half thousand mazars (tombs) and holy places (ziyarats) in the country, the best known being the Rauzayii-Sharif Mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif, traditionally regarded as the burial place of Ali, one of the most revered, especially among the Shi‘a, Islamic saints, who was the first cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. The holy building Sakhi-Jan in Kabul, where Ali supposedly spent a night, is…………..

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