Tajiks
(تاجیک Тоҷик)

300px 1st row: Ismail Samani • Rudaki • Abu Rayhan Biruni • Avicenna 2nd row: Al-Khwārizmī • Rumi • Emomalii Rahmon • Hammasa Kohistani
Total population
ca. 21 to 29 million
Regions with significant populations
Afghanistan         (varying estimates) 11,000,000 [1]  Tajikistan 6,100,000 [2]  Uzbekistan     (suggestive estimates 15,000,000) 1,406,000 [3] [4]  Iran 500,000 [Estimated] [5]  Pakistan 220,000 [Estimated] [6]  Russia 200,303 [7]  Germany 90,000 [8]  Qatar 87,000 [citation needed]  United States 52,000 [9]  Kyrgyzstan 47,500 [10]  China 41,028 [11]  Canada 15,870 [12]
Languages
Persian varieties of Dari and Tajiki
Religion
Islam (predominantly Sunni (Hanafi), with Shi'a (Twelver and Ismaili) minorities)
Related ethnic groups
Persians, Iranian peoples

Tajik (Persian: تاجيک‎, Tājīk; Tajik: Тоҷик) is a general designation for a wide range of Persian-speaking people of Iranic origin,^[13] with traditional homelands in present-day Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. There are also smaller communities living in Iran and Pakistan; consisting mainly of refugees from Afghanistan and immigrants from Tajikistan.^[14]

In terms of language, culture, and history the Tajiks are closely related to the Persians of Iran.

As a self-designation, the term Tajik, which earlier on had been more or less pejorative, has become acceptable only during the last several decades, particularly as a result of Soviet administration in Central Asia.^[13] Alternative names for the Tajiks are Fārsī (Persian), Fārsīwān (Persian-speaker), and Dīhgān (cf. Tajik: Деҳқон, Dehqon, literally "farmer or settled villager", in a wider sense "settled" in contrast to "nomadic").^[15]

The Tajiks of China, although known by the name Tajik, speak Eastern Iranian languages and are distinct from Persian Tajiks.^[16][17]

History[link]

Monument of Amir Ismail Samani who ruled the area comprising modern-day Afghanistan, Iran and Tajikistan and who propagated Sunni Islam deep into Central Asia.

The Tajiks trace their ancestry to the Eastern Iranian-speaking Bactrians, Sogdians, and Parthians. The Tajiks' adoption of the now dominant Persian language (albeit in a distinct Tajiki form), a Western Iranian language is believed to have as its root cause, the dominance of the Persian empire in the region during the Achaemenid and Sassanid dynasties^{[dubious – discuss]}. The Persian language, and particularly Tajiki, contain numerous words from Sogdian, Parthian and other Iranian languages of ancient Central Asia. Following the Arab conquest of Persia, many Persians, after conversion to Islam, entered Central Asia as military forces and settled in the conquered lands. As a result of these waves of Persian migration (Zoroastrian and Muslim) over the course of more than 200 years, the Tajiks have also ethnic Persian ancestry in addition to their East-Iranian ancestry. Cultural dissemination through Persian literature also helped to establish the new language, as well as intermittent military dominance. According to Richard Nelson Frye, a leading historian of Iranian and Central Asian history, the Persian migration to Central Asia may be considered the beginning of the modern Tajik nation, and ethnic Persians along with East-Iranian Bactrians and Sogdians, as the main ancestors of modern Tajiks.^[18] In later works Frye expands on the complexity of the historical origins of the Tajiks. In a 1996 publication Frye explains that many "factors must be taken into account in explaining the evolution of the peoples whose remnants are the Tajiks in Central Asia" and that "the peoples of Central Asia, whether Iranian or Turkic speaking, have one culture, one religion, one set of social values and traditions with only language separating them."^[19]

The geographical division between the eastern and western Iranians is often considered historically and currently to be the desert Dasht-e Kavir, situated in the center of the Iranian plateau.

Name[link]

Samanid Empire is considered as the first Tajik state^[20]

"Tājik" is a word of Turko-Mongol origin and means (literally) Non-Turk. "Tajik" in Central Asia is used to refer to peoples that still speak an Iranian language, including both Tajiki-speaking Tajiks, and the Pamiri peoples, also known as Garcha or Mountain Tajiks. The origin of the name Tajik has been embroiled in twentieth-century political disputes about whether Turkic or Iranian peoples were the original inhabitants of Central Asia.^[21]

History of the name[link]

First mentioned by the Uyghur historian Mahmoud Al-Kāshgharī, Tajik is an old Turkic expression referring to all Persian-speaking peoples of Central Asia. From the 11th century on, it came to be applied principally to all East Iranians, and later specifically to Persian speakers.^[22] It is hard to establish the use of the word before the Turkic and Mongol conquest of Central Asia, and since at least the 15th century it has been used by the region's Iranian population to distinguish themselves from the Turks. Persians in modern Iran who live in the Turkic-speaking areas of the country, also call themselves Tajik, something remarked upon in the 15th century by the poet Mīr Alī Šer Navā'ī.^[23]

Tajik in medieval literature[link]

The word Tajik is extensively used in Persian literature and poetry, always as a synonym for Persian. The Persian poet Sa'adi, for example, writes:

The oldest known reference of this usage of the word Tajik in Persian literature, however, can be found in the writings of Rumi, himself being an Persian-speaker - and thus a "Tajik" - from present-day Afghanistan.^[24]

Location[link]

Afghan Parliamentarian Dr. Nilofar Ibrahimi

Tajiks in Tajikistan celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr

The Tajiks are the principal ethnic group in most of Tajikistan, as well as in northern and western Afghanistan, though there are more Tajiks in Afghanistan than in Tajikistan. Tajiks are a substantial minority in Uzbekistan, as well as in overseas communities. Historically, the ancestors of the Tajiks lived in a larger territory in Central Asia than now.

Afghanistan[link]

According to the World Factbook, Tajiks make up about 27% of the population in Afghanistan^[1] but the Encyclopædia Britannica explains that they constitute about one-fifth of the population.^[25] They predominate four of the largest cities in Afghanistan (Kabul, Mazar-e Sharif, Herat, Ghazni) and make up the largest ethnic group in the northern and western provinces of Balkh, Takhar, Badakhshan, Samangan, Parwan, Panjshir, Kapisa, Baghlan, Ghor, Badghis and Herat. In addition, large pockets of Tajiks live in all other cities and provinces in Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan, the Tajiks do not organize themselves by tribes and refer to themselves by the region, province, city, town, or village they are from; such as Badakhshi, Baghlani, Mazari, Panjsheri, Kabuli, Herati, Kohistani etc.^[26] Although in the past.^[27][28]

A large number of Afghan Tajiks have established themselves in neighboring Pakistan where they are successful traders, businessment, entrepreneurs, teachers and professionals.

Tajikistan[link]

Today, Tajiks comprise around 79.9% of the population of Tajikistan.^[2] This number includes speakers of the Pamiri languages, including Wakhi and Shughni, and the Yaghnobi people who in the past were considered by the government of the Soviet Union nationalities separate from the Tajiks. In the 1926 and 1937 Soviet censuses the Yaghnobis and Pamiri language speakers were counted as separate nationalities. After 1937 these groups were required to register as Tajiks.^[29]

Uzbekistan[link]

View of the Registan in Samarkand- Although the second largest city of Uzbekistan, it is predominantly a Tajik populated city, along with Bukhara

In Uzbekistan the Tajiks are the largest part of the population of the ancient cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, and are found in large numbers in the Surxondaryo Province in the south and along Uzbekistan's eastern border with Tajikistan. According to official statistics (2000), Surxondaryo Province accounts for 20.4% of all Tajiks in Uzbekistan, with another 24.3% in Samarqand and Bukhara provinces.^[30]

Official statistics in Uzbekistan state that the Tajik community comprises 5% of the nation's total population.^[3] However, these numbers do not include ethnic Tajiks who, for a variety of reasons, choose to identify themselves as Uzbeks in population census forms.^[31] During the Soviet "Uzbekization" supervised by Sharof Rashidov, the head of the Uzbek Communist Party, Tajiks had to choose either stay in Uzbekistan and get registered as Uzbek in their passports or leave the republic for the less developed agricultural and mountainous Tajikistan.^[32] It is only in the last population census (1989) that the nationality could be reported not according to the passport, but freely declared on the basis of the respondent's ethnic self-identification.^[33] This had the effect of increasing the Tajik population in Uzbekistan from 3.9% in 1979 to 4.7% in 1989. Subjective expert estimates suggest that Tajiks may make up 10% of Uzbekistan's population.^[4][34]

Kazakhstan[link]

According to the 1999 population census, there were 26,000 Tajiks in Kazakhstan (0.17% of the total population), about the same number as in the 1989 census.

Kyrgyzstan[link]

According to official statistics, there were about 47,500 Tajiks in Kyrgyzstan in 2007 (0.9% of the total population), up from 42,600 in the 1999 census and 33,500 in the 1989 census.

Turkmenistan[link]

According to the last Soviet census in 1989, there were 3,149 Tajiks in Turkmenistan, or less than 0.1% of the total population of 3.5 million at that time. The first population census of independent Turkmenistan conducted in 1995 showed 3,103 Tajiks in a population of 4.4 million (0.07%), most of them (1,922) concentrated in the eastern provinces of Lebap and Mary adjoining the borders with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.^[35]

Pakistan[link]

There are an estimated 220,000 Tajik living in Pakistan, mainly refugees from Afghanistan. Tajiks have traditionally traded and been respected as professionals in the region that now makes up Pakistan since ancient times.

As a result of some stability in Afghanistan, some of the Tajiks who lived in refugee camps but lived in Pakistan since the Soviet invasion of their country have been asked to return back to their native country in 2002; this occurred at time of worsening relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.^[36]

Russia[link]

The population of Tajiks in Russia is 200,303 according to the 2010 census, up from 38,000 in the last Soviet census of 1989.^[37] Most Tajiks came to Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Physical characteristics[link]

On the whole, Tajiks are a genetically diverse population, displaying a wide range of phenotypes.^[26]

Culture[link]

Language[link]

The language of the Tajiks is an eastern dialect of Persian, called Dari (derived from Darbārī, "[of/from the] royal courts", in the sense of "courtly language"), or also Parsi-e Darbari. In Tajikistan, where Cyrillic script is used, it is called the Tajiki language. Historically, it was considered the local dialect of Persian spoken by the Tajik/Persian ethnic group in Central Asia, from where it spread westward only to drive the Arabic language out as the mother tongue of ethnic Persians. In Afghanistan, unlike in Tajikistan, Tajiks continue to use the Perso-Arabic script, as well as in Iran. However, when the Soviet Union introduced the Latin script in 1928, and later the Cyrillic script, the Persian dialect of Tajikistan came to be considered a separate (Persian) language. Since the 19th century Tajiki has been strongly influenced by the Russian as well as the Uzbek language and has incorporated many Russian and Uzbek language loan words.^[38] It has also adopted fewer Arabic loan words than Iranian Persian, while retaining vocabulary that has fallen out of use in the latter language. In Tajikistan, in the ordinary speech, also known as “zaboni kucha” (lit. "street language", as opposed to “zaboni adabi”, lit. "literary language", which is used in schools, media etc.), many urban Tajiks prefer to use Russian loanwords instead of their literary Persian analogs.

Tajik Republic coat of Arms with Tajik language in Arabic script جمهورية اجتماعي شوروى معتاد تاجيكستان

The dialects of the Persians of Iran and of the Tajiks of central Asia have a common origin. This is underscored by the Tajiks' claim to such famous writers as Rudaki, Ferdowsi, Anwari, Rumi, other famous Persian poets. Russian is widely used in government and business in Tajikistan as well. Since Tajikistan gained independence, there has been a public debate about whether Tajiki should revert to the Perso-Arabic script.

Religion[link]

Mazar i Sharif's Blue Mosque in northern Afghanistan.

Various scholars have recorded the Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Aryan pre-Islamic heritage of the Tajik people. Early temples for fire worship have been found in Balkh and Bactria and excavations in present day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan show remnants of Zoroastrian fire temples.^[39]

Today however, the great majority of Tajiks follow Sunni Islam, although small Twelver and Ismaili Shia minorities also exist in scattered pockets. Areas with large numbers of Shias include Herat, Bamyan, Badakhshan provinces in Afghanistan, the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province in Tajikistan, and Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County in China. Some of the famous Islamic scholars were from East-Iranian regions and therefore can arguably be viewed as Tajiks. They include Abu Hanifa, Imam Bukhari, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawood, Abu Mansur Maturidi, and many others. Since the Tajiks generally follow Islamic belief patterns. Belief in the supernatural, outside of formal Islam, falls into several categories: curative customs, fortune-telling, and ascription of bad fortune to the power of fate or of evil beings called jinn.

According to a 2009 U.S. State Department release, the population of Tajikistan is 98% Muslim, (approximately 95% Sunni and 3% Shia).^[40] In Afghanistan, the great number of Tajiks adhere to Sunni Islam. Tajiks who follow Twelver Shiism are called Farsiwan^{[citation needed]}. The community of Bukharian Jews in Central Asia speak a dialect of Persian. The Bukharian Jewish community in Uzbekistan is the largest remaining community of Central Asian Jews and resides primarily in Bukhara and Samarkand, while the Bukharaian Jews of Tajikistan live in Dushanbe and number only a few hundred.^[41] From the 1970s to the 1990s the majority of these Tajik-speaking Jews emigrated to the United States and to Israel in accordance with aliyah.

Tajikistan marked 2009 as the year to commemorate the Tajik Sunni Muslim jurist Abu Hanifa whose ancestry hailed from Parwan Province of Afghanistan, as the nation hosted an international symposium that drew scientific and religious leaders.^[42] The construction of one of the largest mosques in the world, funded by Qatar, was announced in October 2009. The mosque is planned to be built in Dushanbe and construction is said to be completed by 2014.^[43]

Recent developments[link]

Cultural revival[link]

Image of Amir Ismail Samani in combat in the Tajikistani dirham

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the civil war in Afghanistan both gave rise to a resurgence in Tajik nationalism across the region. Tajikistan in particular has been a focal point for this movement, and the government there has made a conscious effort to revive the legacy of the Samanid empire, the first Tajik-dominated state in the region after the Arab advance. For instance, the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, dropped the Russian suffix "-ov" from his surname and directed others to adopt Tajik names when registering births.^[44] According to a government announcement in October 2009, approximately 4000 Tajik nationals have dropped "ov" and "ev" from their surnames since the start of the year.^[45]

In an interview to Iranian news media in May 2008, Tajikistan's deputy culture minister said Tajikistan would study the issue of switching its Tajik alphabet from Cyrillic to Persian script used in Iran and Afghanistan when the government feels that "the Tajik people became familiar with the Persian alphabet".^[46] More recently, the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan seeks to have the nation's language referred to as "Tajiki-Farsi" rather than "Tajik." The proposal has drawn criticism from Russian media since the bill seeks to remove the Russian language as the mode of interethnic communication.^[47] In 1989 the original name of the language (Farsi) was added to its official name in brackets. However, Rahmon's government renamed the language to simply 'Tajiki' in 1994. According to an Islamic Renaissance Party official, the Tajiks had referred to their language as "Farsi" before Sovietization. On October 2009, Tajikistan adopted the law that removes Russian as the "language for interethnic communication."^[48]

Notes and references[link]

Further reading[link]

• Dupree, Louis (1980). Afghanistan. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. 
• Jawad, Nassim (1992). Afghanistan: A Nation of Minorities. London: Minority Rights Group International. ISBN 0-946690-76-6. 
• Rahmonov, Emomali (2001). The Tajiks in the Mirror of History: From the Aryans to the Samanids. Guernsey, United Kingdom: London River Editions. pp. 272. ISBN 0-9540425-0-6. 
• World Almanac and Book of Facts (2003 ed.). World Almanac Books. ISBN 0-88687-882-9. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tajiks

• Khorasan: selected topics relating to Tajiks
• Tajikam.com - A Worldwide Online Community for Tajiks
• Uzbekistan: Ethnic Composition And Discrimination
• Ethnologue statistics on Eastern Farsi speakers & statistics regarding Tajiki speakers.
• Female Genetics of Central Asia, South Asia, and West Asia
• Male Genetics of Central Asia, South Asia, and West Asia (the origin of R1a1 is under question see) (see Genetics and Archaeogenetics of South Asia)
• "Central Asian Jews."
• Tajik Jewelry
• Avian Imagery in the Tajik Jewelry
• Tajik gold
• Buddhist tradition in Tajik jewelry
• Free Online Tajik Dictionary