Hinduism in Afghanistan

Afghan Hindus
افغان هندوان
هندوس افغانی
Hindu king statue in Kabul Museum, Afghanistan
Total population
30-40 (2021)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Larger diaspora in India, Germany, United States, United Kingdom, and Canada[2]
Religions
Hinduism[3]
Languages
Dari, Pashto, Hindko, Punjabi, Sindhi, and Hindustani (Urdu-Hindi)
Part of a series of articles on
Religion in Afghanistan
Blue Mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif
The largest mosque in Afghanistan
Majority
Sunni Islam
Minority
Historic/Extinct
Controversy

Hinduism in Afghanistan is practiced by a tiny minority of Afghans, about 30-40 individuals as of 2021,[1][4][5] who live mostly in the cities of Kabul and Jalalabad. Afghan Hindus are ethnically Pashtun,[6] Hindkowan (Hindki), Punjabi, or Sindhi and primarily speak Dari, Pashto, Hindko, Punjabi, Sindhi, and Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu).

Before the Islamic conquest of Afghanistan, the Afghan people were multi-religious.[7] Religious persecution, discrimination, and forced conversion of Hindus in Afghanistan perpetrated by Muslims, has caused the Afghan Hindus, along with Buddhist and Sikh population, to dwindle from Afghanistan.[8]

  1. ^ a b "Afghan Sikhs, Hindus meet Taliban officials, are assured of safety". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022 – via MSN. Speaking to The Indian Express over the phone from Kabul, Gurnam Singh, president of the Gurdwara Dashmesh Pita Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji Singh Sabha Karte Parwan, said around 300 people — 280 Sikhs and 30-40 Hindus — have taken shelter at the gurdwara since the Taliban started taking over provinces of Afghanistan.
  2. ^ Country Policy and Information Note: Afghanistan: Hindus and Sikhs (PDF). Home Office, United Kingdom (Report). 6.0. March 2021. p. 15. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  3. ^ Singh, Manpreet (22 August 2014). "Dark days continue for Sikhs and Hindus in Afghanistan". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 13 February 2021.
  4. ^ Goyal, Divya (28 July 2020). "Sikhs and Hindus of Afghanistan — how many remain, why they want to leave". The Indian Express.
  5. ^ "3.14.3. Hindus and Sikhs". European Union Agency for Asylum. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
  6. ^ Ali, Tariq (2003). The clash of fundamentalisms: crusades, jihads and modernity. Verso. p. 20. ISBN 978-1-85984-457-1. Retrieved 20 April 2008. The friends from Peshawar would speak of Hindu and Sikh Pashtuns who had migrated to India. In the tribal areas – the no man's land between Afghanistan and Pakistan – quite a few Hindus stayed on and were protected by the tribal codes. The same was true in Afghanistan itself (till the mujahidin and the Taliban arrived).
  7. ^ Wink, André (2002). Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7Th-11th Centuries. BRILL. ISBN 978-0-391-04173-8.
  8. ^ Hutter, Manfred (2018). "Afghanistan". In Basu, Helene; Jacobsen, Knut A.; Malinar, Angelika; Narayanan, Vasudha (eds.). Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Vol. 1. Leiden: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/2212-5019_BEH_COM_9000000190. ISBN 978-90-04-17641-6. ISSN 2212-5019.