Page:The Moslem World - Volume 02.djvu/139

 ISLAM IN AFGHANISTAN


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This title is not a satisfactory one, but is adopted for want of a better. It is inaccurate, because my subject naturally includes in its scope a consideration of a large and important section of the Afghan race which does not reside in Afghanistan at all. The whole of the North-west Frontier Province of British India is inhabited by races which are either Afghan in origin or closely related thereto. Then, again, there are the numerous Afghan or "Pathan" tribes, peopling that wild intricacy of rugged mountains and sequestered valleys, which forms a buffer area between the above province and the territories of the Amir of Kabul, and which they jealously guard from the intrusion of strangers and the menace of settled government. We know much more about these two sections of the Afghan race than about the Afghans of Afghanistan proper, so it would be foolish to leave them outside the pale of our inquiry.

On the other hand, if we were to use the title "Islam among the Afghans," we should be still more inaccurate, as, of the four or five million people inhabiting that country, nearly two million are not Afghans. Of these, the most numerous class is that of the Tagiks (about 900,000); these are the descendants of an old Iranian race and call themselves Parsiwans, and are chiefly found in the northern provinces. Following these are the Hazaras, who number about 500,000. These must not be confused with the people of Hazara, an Indian district lying between the Pan jab and Kashmir, and having no relation to these people. The Hazaras are a race of Mongolian origin and profess the Shiah faith, and have consequently been frequently and remorselessly persecuted by the Sunni rulers of the country, and oppressed by their more powerful and numerous Sunni neighbours.

There are about 300,000 Uzbegs of Turkish origin, chiefly in Badakhshan and the valley of the Oxus. Some 50,000 [[w:Qizilbash|