Editing Tajiks (section)

== Culture ==
{{Tajiks}}
[[File:White house haft seen.jpg|thumbnail|[[Haft-Seen]], [[White House]] ceremony for new Persian Year, prepared by [[Laura Bush]].]]

=== Language ===
{{Main|Tajik language|Dari (Persian) |Persian language}}
[[File:Coat of Arms of Tajik ASSR.gif|thumb|left|upright|[[Tajik ASSR|Tajik autonomous republic]] coat of arms with [[Persian language]]: {{lang|fa|جمهوری اجتماعی شوروى مختار تاجيكستان}}]]
The language of the Tajiks is an eastern dialect of [[Persian language|Persian]], called [[Dari (Eastern Persian)|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 [[Tajik language|Tajiki language]]. In [[Afghanistan]], unlike in [[Tajikistan]], Tajiks continue to use the [[Perso-Arabic script]], as well as in Iran. When the [[Soviet Union]] introduced the Latin script in 1928, and later the Cyrillic script, the Persian dialect of Tajikistan came to be disassociated from the Tajik language. Many Tajik authors have lamented this artificial separation of the Tajik language from its Iranian heritage.{{sfn|Foltz|2023|p=103}} One Tajik poem relates:

<blockquote>''Once you said 'you are Iranian',  then you said, 'you are Tajik'''

''May he die separated from his roots, he who separated us''.<ref>Moḥammad Reẓa Shafi‘ī-Kadkanī, ‘Borbad’s Khusravanis – First Iranian Songs’, 
in Iraj Bashiri (tr and ed), From the Hymns of Zarathustra to the Songs of Borbad, 
Dushanbe, 2003, p. 135.</ref>{{sfn|Foltz|2023|p=103}}</blockquote>

Since the 19th century, Tajiki has been strongly influenced by the Russian language and has incorporated many Russian language [[loan words]].<ref name=eiturkloan>Michael Knüppel. [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/turkic-loanwords Turkic Loanwords in Persian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727084228/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/turkic-loanwords |date=27 July 2017 }}. [[Encyclopædia Iranica]].</ref> It has also adopted fewer [[Arabic language|Arabic]] loan words than Iranian Persian while retaining vocabulary that has fallen out of use in the latter language.

Many Tajiks can read, speak or write in Russian, while the prestige and importance of Russian has declined since the fall of the [[Soviet Union]] and the exodus of Russians from Central Asia. Nevertheless, Russian fluency is still considered a vital skill for business and education.<ref name="Abdullaev 2018 p. 257">{{cite book | last=Abdullaev | first=K. | title=Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | series=Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-5381-0252-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OsllDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA257 | access-date=1 November 2023 | page=257}}</ref>

The dialects of modern [[Persian language|Persian]] spoken throughout [[Greater Iran]] have a common origin. This is due to the fact that one of [[Greater Iran]]'s historical cultural capitals, called [[Greater Khorasan]], which included parts of modern Central Asia and much of Afghanistan and constitutes as the Tajik's ancestral homeland, played a key role in the development and propagation of Persian language and culture throughout much of [[Greater Iran]] after the Muslim conquest. Furthermore, early manuscripts of the historical Persian spoken in [[Mashhad]] during the development of Middle to New Persian show that their origins came from [[Sistan]], in present-day Afghanistan.<ref name="Iranica"/>

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Islam in Afghanistan|Islam in Tajikistan | Islam in Uzbekistan}}Various scholars have recorded the [[Zoroastrian]], and [[Buddhist]] 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.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hLi9oJMT5B8C&dq=tajikistan+zorastrian&pg=PA21 Lena Jonson, ''Tajikistan in the New Central Asia: Geopolitics, Great Power Rivalry and Radical Islam''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410122329/https://books.google.com/books?id=hLi9oJMT5B8C&pg=PA21&dq=tajikistan+zorastrian |date=10 April 2023 }} (International Library of Central Asia Studies), page 21</ref>

Today, 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 Province|Herat]], [[Badakhshan Province|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 either modern or historical East-Iranian regions lying in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and therefore can arguably be viewed as Tajiks. They include [[Abu Hanifa]],<ref name="Iranica"/> [[Muhammad al-Bukhari|Imam Bukhari]], [[Al-Tirmidhi|Tirmidhi]], [[Abu Dawud al-Sijistani|Abu Dawood]], [[Nasir Khusraw]] and many others.

According to a 2009 [[U.S. State Department]] release, the population of Tajikistan is 98% Muslim, (approximately 85% [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] and 5% [[Shia]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5775.htm|title=Background Note: Tajikistan|publisher=State.gov|date=24 January 2012|access-date=11 June 2012|archive-date=13 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513180616/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5775.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Afghanistan]], the great number of Tajiks adhere to [[Sunni Islam]]. A small number of Tajiks may follow [[Twelver]] [[Shia Islam]]; the [[Farsiwan]] are one such group.<ref name="Shaikh 1992">{{cite book | last=Shaikh | first=F. | title=Islam and Islamic Groups: A Worldwide Reference Guide | publisher=Longman Group UK | series=Longman Law Series | year=1992 | isbn=978-0-582-09146-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlYUAQAAIAAJ | access-date=1 November 2023 | page=1}}</ref> The community of [[Bukharian Jews]] in Central Asia speak a dialect of Persian. The [[Uzbek Jews|Bukharian Jewish community in Uzbekistan]] is the largest remaining community of Central Asian Jews and resides primarily in Bukhara and Samarkand, while the [[History of the Jews in Tajikistan|Bukharaian Jews of Tajikistan]] live in Dushanbe and number only a few hundred.<ref>J. Sloame, ''"Bukharan Jews"'', Jewish Virtual Library, ([https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Bukharan_Jews.html LINK] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113035036/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Bukharan_Jews.html |date=13 January 2017 }})</ref> 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]]. Recently, the Protestant community of Tajiks descent has experienced significant growth, a 2015 study estimates some 2,600 Muslim Tajik converted to Christianity.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Johnstone|first1=Patrick|last2=Miller|first2=Duane Alexander|title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census|journal=IJRR|date=2015|volume=11|issue=10|pages=1–19|url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087|access-date=30 October 2015|archive-date=13 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313222442/https://www.academia.edu/16338087/Believers_in_Christ_from_a_Muslim_Background_A_Global_Census|url-status=live}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-186549-109-today-marks-18th-year-of-tajik-independence-and-success.html|title=Today marks 18th year of Tajik independence and success|publisher=Todayszaman.com|date=9 September 2009|access-date=11 June 2012|archive-date=11 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011014305/http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-186549-109-today-marks-18th-year-of-tajik-independence-and-success.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|author=Daniel Bardsley|url=http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20091009%2FFOREIGN%2F710089882%2F1002|title=Qatar paying for giant mosque in Tajikistan|publisher=Thenational.ae|date=25 May 2010|access-date=11 June 2012|archive-date=21 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921062022/http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20091009%2FFOREIGN%2F710089882%2F1002|url-status=live}}</ref>