page_title: Culture of Afghanistan
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: Culture of Afghanistan / Religion
caption_attribution_description: English: Men praying at the Blue Mosque in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan.
context_page_description: The culture of Afghanistan has persisted for over three millennia, tracing record to at least the time of the Achaemenid Empire in 500 BCE. Afghanistan translates to "Land of the Afghans" or "Place of Afghans" in the nation's official languages, Dari and Pashto. It is mostly a tribal society with different regions of the country having its own subculture. Nearly all Afghans follow Islamic traditions, celebrate the same holidays, dress the same, consume the same food, listen to the same music and are multi-lingual to a certain extent.
  In the southern and eastern region, the Pashtuns live in accordance with the Pashtun culture and are usually bilingual in Pashto and Dari also known as Afghan Persian The western, northern, and central regions of Afghanistan are influenced by neighboring Central Asian and Persian cultures.
context_section_description: Islam is the main religion of Afghanistan and over 99.7% of Afghans are Muslims. An estimated 84.7–90% of the population adhere to Sunni Islam, while an estimated 7–15% practice Shia Islam, and approximately 1% are followers of other religions. 
  In addition to Muslims, there are thousands of Afghan Christians, Sikhs and Hindus and only one known Jew, Zablon Simintov, residing in Afghanistan.
caption: Men praying at the Blue Mosque (or Shrine of Hazrat Ali) in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif.
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