page_title: Islam in Afghanistan
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Islam in Afghanistan / History
caption_attribution_description: A Mughal miniature from the Padshahnama depicting the surrender of the Safavid Persian garrison of Kandahar in 1638 to the Mughal army of Shah Jahan commanded by Kilij Khan
context_page_description: Islam in Afghanistan began to be practiced after the Arab Islamic conquest of Afghanistan from the 7th to the 10th centuries, with the last holdouts to conversion submitting in the late 19th century. Islam is the official state religion of Afghanistan, with approximately 99.7% of the Afghan population being Muslim. Roughly 85% practice Sunni Islam, belonging to the Hanafi school of Islamic law, while around 15% are believed to be Shias. Most Shiites belong to the Twelver branch and only a smaller number follow Ismailism. According to Pew, 3% are non-denominational Muslim.
  After the Islamic conquest of Persia was completed, the Muslim Arabs then began to move towards the lands east of Persia and in 652 captured Herat. By the end of the 10th century CE Ghaznavids subdued Hindu Shahi kings of Sindh. In the 12th century, the Ghurids attacked North India.
context_section_description: During the 7th century, the Rashidun Caliphate Arabs entered the territory that is now Afghanistan after defeating the Sassanian Persians in Nihawand. After this colossal defeat, the last Sassanid emperor, Yazdegerd III, fled eastward deep into Central Asia. In pursuing Yazdegerd, the Arabs entered the area from northeastern Iran via Herat, where they stationed a large portion of their army before advancing toward northern Afghanistan.
  Many of the inhabitants of northern Afghanistan accepted Islam through Umayyad missionary efforts, particularly under the reign of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik and Umar ibn AbdulAziz. In the south, Abdur Rahman bin Samara introduced Islam to the natives of Zabulistan which were ruled by the Zunbils.  
  During the reign of Al-Mu'tasim, Islam was generally practiced by most inhabitants of the region, and under Ya'qub-i Laith Saffari, Islam was the predominant religion of Kabul and other major cities of Afghanistan. The father of Abu Hanifa, Thabit bin Zuta, was born in the territory that is now Afghanistan. He emigrated to Kufa (in Iraq), where Hanifa was born. Later, the Samanids propagated Sunni Islam deep into Central Asia, and the first complete translation of the Qur'an into Persian was made in the 9th century. Since then, Islam has dominated the country's religious landscape. Islamic leaders have entered the political sphere at various times of crisis but rarely exercised secular authority for long.
  The remnants of a Shahi presence in Peshawar were expelled by Mahmud of Ghazni in 998 and 1030. The Ghaznavids were replaced by the Ghurid Dynasty who expanded the already powerful Islamic empire. The Friday Mosque of Herat is one of the oldest mosques in the country, believed to have been first built under the Ghurids in the 12th century. During this period, known as the Islamic Golden Age, Afghanistan became the second major center of learning in the Muslim world after Baghdad.
  After the Mongol invasion and destruction, the Timurids rebuilt the area and once again made it a center of Islamic learning. Shia Islam made its way to southern Afghanistan during the Safavid rule in the 16th century. Until Mir Wais Hotak liberated the Afghans in 1709, the Kandahar region of Afghanistan was often a battleground between the Shia Safavids and the Sunni Mughals.
caption: A miniature from Padshahnama depicting the surrender of the Shia Safavid at Kandahar in 1638 to the Sunni Mughal army commanded by Kilij Khan
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