INTRODUCTION
Afghanistan is a country located in the Middle East that consists of a population that is, for the most part, of an Islamic background. Within this body of work I will examine the Tajik culture to gain insight into this unreached people group and their way of life. I will be discussing Afghani Tajik; geography, history, language, culture, economy, religion and family. In addition to the background information on the Tajik people of Afghanistan I will be examining a history of the Mission work that has been conducted within the country to include: status of the church, how many known believers and challenges are visible within the group as well as what are the current strategies for evangelizing the local population. Last but not least of all I will discuss a hypothetical situation where I as a student embark on a Mission by sending a team to evangelize the Tajik Afghanis. I will also be discussing the type of strategy that the team would employ.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
PEOPLE GROUP: “Afghanistan boasts the largest Tajik population outside their homeland to the North in Tajikistan. Comprising over 25% of the Afghan population, they are the second largest group in the country” of which 80% are Sunni Muslim, 19% are Shia Muslim with the remaining 1% claiming to be of Christian faith. The main ethnic groups are: Pashtun, Tajik, Hazara and Uzbek. The following is a description of various ethnicity groups in Afghanistan and the general characteristics, attributes and occupations that are associated with them: “The Pashtun are the largest ethnic group and are mostly farmers and Sunni Muslims. The Tajik live mostly in the northeast, are the second largest ethnic group and are mostly Sunni Muslims.” The older generations of Tajik are thought to be survivors of one of the oldest central Asian groups while modern Tajiks are tall, fair skinned with blue or green eyes. Other ethnic groups that have interaction with the unreached people group of “Tajik” are discussed below: “The Hazara live in the Hindu Kush mountains and are primarily Shiite Muslims. The Uzbek live mostly along the northern border and are mostly Sunni Muslims while the Aimaqs are primarily a farming and herding tribe in the west who are composed of mostly Sunni Muslims. The Turkmen and Kirghiz are nomadic herders and craftsmen who are mostly Sunni Muslims and last but not least we will talk about the Baluch who are a nomadic tribe living in the southern deserts made up of Sunni Muslims.”
GEORGRAPHY: “Afghanistan is located in Southern Asia, North West of Pakistan and East of Iran. The Capital of Afghanistan is Kabul.” Tajikistan, the original homeland of the Tajik, is located just North East of Afghanistan and has stretches of mountainous terrain.
HISTORY: “Afghanistan has an ancient history dating back to 50,000 BC and has had famous leaders involved in its history such as Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, and Marco Polo. Afghanistan was once occupied by Great Britain. In 1978 a Communist coup, backed by the Soviet Union, broke out. The Mujahideen, the Afghan guerilla movement, defeated the Soviets. In 1994, the Taliban movement was established. The Taliban were led by Mullah Mohammad Omar, who started the Islamic Fundamentalist Movement in 1994. The Taliban wanted a “Pure Islamic State” and declared themselves to be the legitimate government of Afghanistan. At one time the Taliban were recognized by Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates as a legitimate government. The Taliban controls the predominately ethnic Pashtun areas in southern Afghanistan. Some of the major goals of the Taliban were to restore peace in Afghanistan by executing the immediate termination of all kinds of foreign interference, establish a National Security Force and to oversee the convening of an assembly of elected representatives of the Afghan people for the formation of a National Islamic Government. Northern Alliance factions had a stronghold at Mazar-I-Sharif with General Dostam’s National Islamic Movement controlling several north-central provinces. Commander Masood controlled the ethnic Tajik majority areas of the Northeast. On 27 September 1996, the ruling members of the Afghan Government were removed from power by members of the Islamic Taliban movement. Kabul (the Capital of Afghanistan) was torn because of the violence. A major earthquake occurred which weakened the Northern Alliance, killing thousands and destroying villages. The Taliban at this time were hampering foreign aid and relief efforts.” Recently the Taliban has been overthrown by a United States led Coalition Force stemming from attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on a date that has become imprinted on the minds of everyone over the last couple of years, 11 September, 2001. The United States and its coalition partners have occupied Afghanistan since it was invaded shortly after the attacks on 11 September, 2001 up until the present day. The history of Tajikistan is filled with migration and resettlement into neighboring countries such as when more than 1 million settled in Pakistan during the Soviet Union’s attempt to occupy Afghanistan. “After the Soviet Union’s invasion and occupation of Afghanistan (from 1979 to 1988), fighting continued between Afghan groups seeking power. It was during this period of chaos and violence, that up to five million Afghans fled to Pakistan; more than one million of whom were Tajik.”
LANGUAGE: Pashtu and Dari (Afghan Persian/Farsi) are the official languages of Afghanistan. Pashtu (also written Pushtu) was declared the National Language of the country during the beginning of Zahir Shah’s reign, however, Dari has always been used for business and government transactions. The Tajik have over 7 million nationals who speak the main language of Dari.
CULTURE: “Islam is practiced by the majority of Afghanis and governs much of their personal, political, economic and legal lives. Among certain obligations for Muslims are to pray five times a day – at dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset, and evening. Friday is the Muslim holy day. Most shops and offices will be closed. Government offices and businesses may also close on Thursday, making the weekend Thursday and Friday. During the holy month of Ramadan all Muslims must fast from dawn to dusk and are only permitted to work six hours per day. Fasting includes no eating, drinking, cigarette smoking, or gum chewing. Foreigners are not required to fast; however, they must not eat, drink, smoke, or chew gum in public.”
ECONOMY: “Afghanistan employs 80 percent of its workforce in farming or raising sheep and goats. Because it is a landlocked country with mountainous terrain, exporting goods like the melons carried by the boy is difficult and expensive. Poppies are grown illegally as a source of opium, which is used to produce heroin. Drug lords make millions through unregulated trade of this drug. The Afghan government is working to eliminate illegal drug trade and encourage the growth of other agricultural crops for export.” The Tajik are traditionally a tribal group. A large area of dwelling for the Tajik is what is referred to as the Panjsher Valley near Kabul. Tajik who reside in this area of Afghanistan, which is near Kabul, usually by occupation are farmers and herders. Towards Herat, which is in the Western area of Afghanistan near Iran, there lives a smaller number of Tajiks, while the more educated and politically influential Tajiks make their home in urban settings such as Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, where their highly skilled talents and trades are in high demand and well compensated. In order to increase trade in the region the Tajikistan President, in 2005, agreed to allow the U.S. to fund and over see the construction of a bridge built by an Italian company. “Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov and Afghan President Hamid Karzai have laid the foundation stone of a U.S.-funded bridge that will cross their countries’ river border.” “Smaller concentrations of Tajiks live in Herat Province on the western border with Iran. A third group, large and more educated, lives in Kabul where they have enjoyed economic success and political influence. Merchants and highly talented craftsmen are also a segment of these urban dwellers.”
RELIGION: “Islam is one of the few commonalities in Afghan society despite the existence of sectarian differences and variations in Quranic and legal interpretations. It faces no competition from other religions as only scattered minorities of Hindus and Sikhs, who came originally as traders from India, and Jews, lived in urban centers. By 1985 virtually all Jews had emigrated. In their war of liberation against the Soviet Union, resistance groups striving for a pan-Afghan constituency appealed to Afghans on the basis of their Muslim identity. The term used for the resistance fighters, mujahidin, translates as “those waging jihad.” Jihad, meaning to strive or to struggle to follow God’s will, both within oneself and in the defense of Islam, is an obligation incumbent on all Muslims.” Tajiks are almost completely Muslim with a smaller percentage belonging to the Shiites. The larger percentage of the population of Muslims within the Tajikistan culture is comprised of the Sunni sect. Sunnis are stricter when it comes to observing the historical and traditional practices of the Muslim faith, while Shiites are more lenient and less stringent in relation to Muslim religious customs. ” The Afghani Tajik are 99% Muslim. Most of them are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafite sect, but there also are a few Ismaili Shi’ites among them. The Sunni Muslims are much more orthodox in their beliefs than the Shi’ites, who believe in human free will.”
FAMILY: “The family is the single most important unit in the Afghan culture. Men and women’s roles are much more defined along traditional lines. Women are generally responsible for household duties, where as men will be the bread winners. In the cities professional women do exist. Families commonly arrange marriages for their children. Factors such as tribe, status, network, and wealth are the major factors forming any choice. Families traditionally live together in the same walled compound, known as the kala. When a son gets married he and his wife begin their married lives in a room under the same roof. As with much of the Muslim world, the family is sacred and as such, is highly protected. As a result, probing about the family is not advised.” Most Tajik families consist of eight or more people. The topic of family is considered to be very sacred and should not be taken lightly. “Tajik families are generally quite large. It is not uncommon for families to have seven or eight children. Marriages are still arranged by the parents, and wedding ceremonies follow the traditional Tajik customs.”
A SURVEY OF MISSIONS WORK:Now that we have become familiar with the history and cultural make up of Tajiks of Afghanistan let’s turn our attention to the Mission work that has been done in the country.
STATUS OF THE CHURCH: “Afghanistan’s only church was built in Kabul in 1970 and bulldozed in 1973 after Islamists complained of the growing number of converts. When the order was given for missionaries to be expelled and the church bulldozed, German businessman Hans Mohr who had purchased building materials for the church uttered what turned out to be a prophetic word to the mayor of Kabul. “If your government touches that house of God, God will overthrow your government,” he warned. The day the church was razed, the four-decade-long monarchy was toppled in a coup. Chaos has reigned in the 30 years since. Afghanistan is plagued with violence, unrest and despair. It is a land of warlords, hunger, suffering, oppression, illness, addiction, destruction and grief. Even though Afghanistan has a new president and a new constitution, it still has no religious freedom. The constitution, signed into law January 26, 2004, stipulates that “no law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam.” The land and its people are in desperate need of the transformation only God can bring.” Much like Afghanistan, the Tajik people have been largely under evangelized, no doubt due to the difficulty in penetrating a culture and society that is so deeply rooted in Islamic practices and traditions. There are currently 11 Missions working to evangelize the Tajiks with the New Testament being translated into the language of Dari. Translation of the Old Testament is currently under way.
HOW MANY KNOWN BELIEVERS: Before the Global War On Terrorism, (G.W.O.T), there were fewer than 3000 Christian believers in Afghanistan. Since the end of the war more than two million refugees have returned to Afghanistan, however it is hard to get an accurate count of the number of Christians in Afghanistan because although many returning refugees had found Jesus they could not practice their faith openly because of the constitutional prohibitions against any and everything that goes against the faith of Islam. There are roughly seven millionTajiks throughout the region with fewer than one percent being Christian.
CHALLENGES AND PRESENT STRATEGIES FOR EVANGELIZING THE LOCAL POPULATION: While there is not much specific material related to some of the challenges related evangelizing the local population of Tajik’s there is an abundance of information that communicates the hardships experienced over all when attempting to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people that dwell in this part of the world. On some occasions Christians have been jailed and murdered for their faith. A couple years back twenty three Koreans went to Afghanistan to evangelize the population but the results were unfortunate because they were held hostage, however their purpose was accomplished. The story of the twenty three Koreans that were held hostage and other stories like it are a reminder of some of the challenges that missionaries face when going about the task of bringing the gospel to the unsaved world. The twenty three Korean missionaries’ story has been captured below: “The Taliban took twenty three hostages last fall, killed two, released two, and reportedly ransomed the rest to the South Korean government for $10 million (the South Korean government denied paying). Back home, the missionaries apologized to the government. The incident revived discussions of martyrdom, evangelization, citizenship and discernment, and underlined the extent to which the West is no longer necessarily the driving force in Christian evangelization.” Other stories of missionaries experiencing persecution while evangelizing in Afghanistan include; a case from March 21, 2006 where “an Afghan man was facing the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity. The case, which a German official has called “intolerable,” was thought to be the first prosecution for converting to Christianity in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban regime more than four years ago.” Soviets who are Christians are sent to Afghanistan as punishment; “Soviet soldiers sent to Afghanistan as a punishment for their Christian faith are evangelizing Afghans and leading Bible studies, says a reliable source who has just returned from a fact-finding trip to that country. A large number of Soviet soldiers who are believers are actively sharing their faith with Afghans, the source said. “They are giving out Christian literature as well as holding Bible studies and prayer meetings in the country.” The source said the Soviet soldiers were sent to Afghanistan because of their Christian beliefs. “It’s the Soviet government’s way of persecuting them, but what they’ve done instead is send them on an evangelistic mission to one of the toughest mission fields in the world.” And what is happening is that Afghans are becoming Christians as a result of their witness.” Many Afghanis see Christian missionaries as nothing more than those who wish to force Western ways on them and equate missionaries to soldiers; “In support of Bush’s words about the so-called “war on terrorism” – is in fact a war against Islam, missionaries and the occupation troops operate synchronously and fully coordinate their actions.” One of the present strategies for evangelizing Afghanistan is to send soldiers into the country with the mentality that they are to bring the gospel to the population. “For US Army soldiers entering basic training at Fort Jackson Army base in Columbia, South Carolina, accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior appears to be as much a part of the nine-week regimen as the vigorous physical and mental exercises the troops must endure. That’s the message directed at Fort Jackson soldiers, some of whom appear in photographs in government issued fatigues, holding rifles in one hand, and Bibles in their other hand. Frank Bussey, director of Military Ministry at Fort Jackson, has been telling soldiers at Fort Jackson that “government authorities, police and the military = God’s Ministers.”” Another case of persecution within Afghanistan can be seen in a situation where in” 2006 – Abdul Rahman, an Afghan Christian convert, was forced out of Afghanistan by local Muslim leaders, and exiled to Italy.” Since the Afghanistan government took over after they assisted in toppling the Taliban they have taken steps to provide security for women and minority faiths but it has hardly been adequate: “The new administration of Afghanistan, having received authority upon the ousting and hunting down of Taliban and al Qaeda operatives as a result of 9/11, has attempted to open the door to renewed human rights for women and minorities in the country. However, as Christians in the area would tell you, the threat is still very real. Christians are as likely to be killed by a Muslim neighbor as they were by their Islamic rulers of the past.” Still in another case of violence against the Christian faith and those that hold it, a woman who came to Afghanistan to teach Christianity to the people was killed; “KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban assailants on a motorbike gunned down a Christian aid worker in Kabul on Monday and the militants said she was killed for spreading her religion, a rare targeted killing of a Westerner in the nation’s capital. Gayle Williams, a 34-year-old dual British-South African national who helped handicapped Afghans, was shot to death as she was walking to work.”
WHAT STRATEGY WOULD YOU RECOMMEND FOR A MISSIONARY TEAM TO EVANGELIZE THE TAJIK OFAFGHANISTAN? Some would have Christians to believe that evangelism is trickery and brainwashing and all types of shenanigans, but if you are in the faith then you know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. So when I hear that people are questioning the legitimacy of a conversion based off of the fact that someone may have used tactics that are coercive or even deceitful in nature to convert someone It does not surprise me because I know that God moves on his own time to save an individual and that just because someone claims to have taken an action, such as making a profession of faith because they were witnessed to, if their profession is not accompanied by genuine repentance, that only God can give, and if they do not bear fruit, then theirs’ has been a false conversion. I suppose that is why God calls us to examine ourselves “as to whether or not you are in the faith” because everyone claims to be a Christian but we are exhorted to be doers and not hearers of the word only. If I were evangelizing the Tajiks of Afghanistan I would definitely employ the techniques that are outlined in the book “Perspectives” written by Hawthorne & Winter. I would try to learn the culture by immersing myself head first in to it and prior to going overseas I would be sure to gain familiarization with the culture by seeking out neighboring communities that would help me gain a more realistic appreciation for the culture that I would be experiencing. I would attempt to show the locals that I value their culture and would not try to make the church where worship is being conducted mirror that of a Western church. I would incorporate aspects of the Afghanistan and Tajik culture into the service. It would be imperative for my team to be aware of the cultural difference, however subtle, that may offend to include what would be considered normal behavior. The team would also have to ensure that permission to evangelize has been given in the country or run the risk of being executed for being in violation of the Afghanistan Constitution which says that anything or anyone that contradicts the views of Islam are to be done away with. One technique or strategy that should not be used, as it is offensive to Afghans, is offering them alcohol although history tells us that missionaries have employed this less than God glorifying tactic to reduce the leaders of foreign cultures to someone dependent on alcohol effectively taking them out of the way to oppose evangelism efforts. “Missionaries brought alcohol and promoted alcoholism to many tribal communities (example Polynesia/Tahiti). The leaders habituated to alcohol did everything that missionaries said losing their entire communities to Christianity.”
CONCLUSION: There is no question that the country of Afghanistan has come a long way from the days when there were only 3000 Christians out of a total of 32,000,000 people, but there is much work that needs to be accomplished in order for the Gospel to go out in this part of the world without the fear of possibly being killed. In the scripture God admonishes us to not fear those that can kill the body but do not have power over the soul, but rather to fear God who has power to kill the body and after that can destroy the soul, Mathew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” It is this principle that gives the believer great encouragements to go into parts of the world like Afghanistan to evangelize the Tajiks, knowing full well the risk involved. There is more than just this present world to look forward to. The reward is with Jesus Christ and as communicated within the scripture in Philippians 1:2: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” When the Christian dies he or she is in the presence of Christ, which is indeed gain.
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