Pre Islamic Hindu and Buddhist heritage of Afghanistan

Communities of various religious and ethnic background have lived in the land of what is now Afghanistan. Before the Islamic conquest, south of the Hindu Kush was ruled by the Zunbil and Kabul Shahi rulers. When the Chinese travellers (Faxian, Song Yun, Xuanzang, Wang-hiuon-tso, Huan-Tchao, and Wou-Kong) visited Afghanistan between 399 and 751 AD, they mentioned that Buddhism was practiced in different areas between the Amu Darya (Oxus River) in the north and the Indus River in the south. The land was ruled by the Kushans followed by the Hephthalites during these visits. It is reported that the Hephthalites were fervent followers of the god Surya.

The invading Muslim Arabs introduced Islam to a Zunbil king of Zamindawar (Helmand Province) in 653-4 AD, then they took the same message to Kabul before returning to their already Islamized city of Zaranj in the west. It is unknown how many accepted the new religion but the Shahi rulers remained non-Muslim until they lost Kabul in 870 AD to the Saffarid Muslims of Zaranj. Later, the Samanids from Bukhara in the north extended their Islamic influence into the area. It is reported that Muslims and non-Muslims still lived side by side in Kabul before the arrival of Ghaznavids from Ghazni.

The first mention of a ''Hindu'' in Afghanistan appears in the 982 AD Ḥudūd al-ʿĀlam, where it speaks of a king in "Ninhar" ( Nangarhar), who shows a public display of conversion to Islam, even though he had over 30 wives, which are described as " Muslim, Afghan, and Hindu" wives. These names were often used as geographical terms by the Arabs. For example, ''Hindu'' (or '' Hindustani'') has been historically used as a geographical term to describe someone who was native from the region known as India, and ''Afghan'' as someone who was native from a region called '' Bactria''.

Archeology

Table of pre-Islamic dynasties of Afghanistan

Islamic conquest of Afghanistan

The region around Herat Province became Islamized in 642 AD, during the end of Muslim conquest of Persia. In 653-4 AD, General Abdur Rahman bin Samara arrived from Zaranj to the Zunbil capital Zamindawar with an army of around 6,000 Arab Muslims. The General "broke off a hand of the idol and plucked out the rubies which were its eyes in order to persuade the Marzbān of Sīstān of the god's worthlessness."André Wink, "Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World", Brill 1990. p 120 He explained to the worshippers of the solar deity, "my intention was to show you that this idol can do neither any harm nor good." The people of southern Afghanistan began accepting Islam from this date onward. The Arabs then proceeded to Ghazni and Kabul to convert or conquer the Buddhist Shahi rulers. However, most historians claim that the rulers of Ghazni and Kabul remained non-Muslim. There is no information on the number of converts although the Arabs unsuccessfully continued their missions of invading the land to spread Islam for the next 200 or so years. It was in 870 AD when Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar finally conquered Afghanistan by establishing Muslim governors throughout the provinces.

By the 11th century, when the Ghaznavids were in power, the entire population of Afghanistan was practicing Islam, except the Kafiristan region ( Nuristan Province) which became Muslim in the late 1800s.

See also

* Gandharan Buddhism
* Gandhāran Buddhist texts
* Ancient history of Afghanistan
* Pre-Islamic scripts in Afghanistan
* Buddhism in Afghanistan
* Hinduism in Afghanistan
* Buddhas of Bamiyan
* Kandahar Greek Edicts of Ashoka
* Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription
* Gandhara Kingdom
* Nava Vihara
* Zabulistan
* Decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent

References

{{Reflist

External links

Professor Abdul Hai Habibi
See article ''The Cultural, Social And Intellectual State Of The People Of Afghanistan In The Era Just Before The Advent Of Islam by eminent Afghan historian Abdul Hai Habibi
* Shahi Coins in the ''Standard Catalog of World Coins 1901-2000 By Colin R. Bruce, Thomas Michael Page 35''

Afghan caves contain world's first oil paintings

Buddhist Sites in Afghanistan and Central Asia

Ancient history of Afghanistan
Archaeological sites in Afghanistan
Hinduism in Afghanistan
Buddhism in Afghanistan
Hinduism in South Asia
History of religion in Afghanistan