History of Arabs in Afghanistan - Second Wave

Second Wave

History of Afghanistan
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Further information: Arab diaspora and Persecution of Muslims

After the Bolshevik Revolution, many Sunni Arabs residing in Bukhara and other areas of Central Asia ruled by Russians migrated to Afghanistan where they were better able to practice their religion without fear of religious persecution or discrimination. One estimate indicated that approximately 30,000 Arabs lived in Bukhara during the mid-nineteenth century. The Arabs who entered into Afghanistan during this time still retained some Arabic in contrast to the Afghan Arabs who came during the first wave.

Some Arabs from the second wave intermarried with the local population as they adopted the languages of northern Afghanistan, namely Uzbek, Turkmen, and Persian language. Many settled in Kunduz, Takhar and Sar-e Pol provinces. Currently, while they still view themselves as Arab, all the Arabs from the second wave have, like those from the original wave, lost their language of Arabic, adopting Persian instead..

Although some tribal names, including Qureshi and Shaiboni are still remembered, most of the Arabs view genealogies as unimportant. Many of these Afghan Arabs work in the agricultural industry, often growing cotton and wheat while others raise karakul sheep. According to an academic, the Central Asian Arabs have not had any contact with Middle Eastern Arabs since the time of Tamerlane (circa 1400).

The main body of the Afghan Arabs are found in Shibarghan provinces. Afghan Arabs, however, are presently all Persian-speaking and have been in their collective memories. However, they claim an Arab identity. There are other such Persian-speaking "Arabs" to the east, between Shebergan, Mazar-i Sharif, Kholm and Kunduz living in pockets. Their self-identification as Arabs is largely based on their tribal identity and may in fact point to the 7th and 8th centuries migration to this and other Central Asian locales of many Arab tribes from Arabia in the wake of the Islamic conquests of the region.