Editing Pashtuns (section)

=== Religion ===
{{main|Religion in Afghanistan|Religion in Pakistan}}
[[File:Mosque in Kandahar-2011.jpg|thumb|The [[tomb of Ahmad Shah Durrani]] in [[Kandahar|Kandahar City]], which also serves as the [[Congregational Mosque]] and contains the [[Shrine of the Cloak|sacred cloak]] that the [[Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad]] wore.]]

Before Islam there were various different beliefs which were practised by Pashtuns such as [[Zoroastrianism]],<ref>https://fieldsupport.dliflc.edu/products/pak_pashto/pw_co/pashto.pdf "it is believed that millennia ago they emerged from Kandahar in Afghanistan and the Sulaiman Mountains in Pakistan. They then began expanding into what is known as the NWFP today. They are believed to have mainly practiced the Buddhist and Zoroastrian religions."</ref> [[Buddhism]] and [[Hinduism]].<ref name="ArnoldNettl2000">{{cite book|last1=Arnold|first1=Alison|title=The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia|last2=Nettl|first2=Bruno|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|year=2000|isbn=9780824049461|page=785|language=en|quote=Before the emergence of Islam, the Pakhtuns were followers of Hinduism and Buddhism and considered music sacred, employing it in many religious rituals.}}</ref>

The overwhelming majority of Pashtuns adhere to [[Sunni Islam]] and belong to the [[Hanafi]] school of thought. Small [[Shia Islam|Shia]] communities exist in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Paktia. The Shias belong to the [[Turi (tribe)|Turi]] tribe while the [[Bangash]] tribe is approximately 50% Shia and the rest Sunni, who are mainly found in and around [[Parachinar]], [[Kurram District|Kurram]], [[Hangu District, Pakistan|Hangu]], [[Kohat]] and [[Orakzai District|Orakzai]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Sunni Militants Claim Deadly Attack at Market in Pakistan|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/14/world/asia/sunni-militants-claim-deadly-attack-at-market-in-pakistan.html|newspaper=The New York Times|date=13 December 2015|access-date=14 December 2015}}</ref>

[[File:Afghan men praying in Kunar-2009.jpg|thumb|left|Men doing Islamic [[salat]] (praying) outside in the open in the [[Kunar Province]] of Afghanistan]]
A legacy of [[Sufism|Sufi]] activity may be found in some Pashtun regions, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as evident in songs and dances. Many Pashtuns are prominent [[Ulema]], Islamic scholars, such as Maulana Aazam an author of more than five hundred books including Tafasee of the Quran as Naqeeb Ut Tafaseer, Tafseer Ul Aazamain, Tafseer e Naqeebi and Noor Ut Tafaseer etc., as well as [[Muhammad Muhsin Khan]] who has helped translate the [[Noble Qur'an (Hilali-Khan)|Noble Quran]], [[Sahih Bukhari|Sahih Al-Bukhari]] and many other books to the English language.<ref name="Noble Quran">{{cite web|url=http://firstedition.com.my/the%20noble%20quran.htm|title=''The Noble Quran'' (in 9 VOLUMES), Arabic-English|work=firstedition.com.my|editor=Muhammad Muhsin Khan|access-date=18 January 2007|archive-date=28 June 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060628232824/http://firstedition.com.my/the%20noble%20quran.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Many Pashtuns want to reclaim their identity from being lumped in with the Taliban and international terrorism, which is not directly linked with Pashtun culture and history.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6198382.stm|title=Pashtuns want an image change|publisher=BBC News|first=Ahmed|last=Rashid|year=2006}}</ref>

Little information is available on non-Muslim as there is limited data regarding [[irreligion|irreligious]] groups and minorities, especially since many of the [[Hindu]] and [[Sikh]] Pashtuns migrated from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the [[partition of India]] and later, after the [[Battle of Kabul (1992–1996)|rise of the Taliban]].<ref name="Tariq Ali">{{cite book|title=The clash of fundamentalisms: crusades, jihads and modernity|url=https://archive.org/details/clashoffundament00alit|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/clashoffundament00alit/page/20 20]|quote=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).|publisher=Verso|access-date=20 April 2008|isbn=978-1-85984-457-1|author1=Ali, Tariq|year=2003}}</ref><ref name="John Trimbur">{{cite book|title=The call to write|url=https://archive.org/details/calltowrite0000trim|url-access=registration|quote=Sikh Pashtuns.|publisher=Pearson Longman|access-date=20 April 2008|isbn=978-0-321-20305-2|author1=Trimbur, John|date=10 August 2004}}</ref>

There are also Hindu Pashtuns, sometimes known as the Sheen Khalai, who have moved predominantly to India.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Haidar|first1=Suhasini|date=3 February 2018|title=Tattooed 'blue-skinned' Hindu Pushtuns look back at their roots|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tattooed-blue-skinned-hindu-pushtuns-look-back-at-their-roots/article22645932.ece}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ur8WAQAAMAAJ&q=hindu+pashtuns|title=Himāl: The South Asian Magazine|date=2002|publisher=Himal, Incorporated|pages=91|quote=Most Hindus and Sikhs left Afghanistan during the 1992–1996 fighting}}</ref> A small Pashtun Hindu community, known as the ''[[Sheen Khalai]]'' meaning 'blue skinned' (referring to the color of Pashtun women's facial [[tattoo]]s), migrated to Unniara, [[Rajasthan]], India after [[partition of India|partition]].<ref name="Haider2018">{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tattooed-blue-skinned-hindu-pushtuns-look-back-at-their-roots/article22645932.ece|title=Tattooed 'blue-skinned' Hindu Pushtuns look back at their roots|last=Haider|first=Suhasini|date=3 February 2018|work=The Hindu|access-date=9 February 2020}}</ref> Prior to 1947, the community resided in the [[Quetta]], [[Loralai]] and Maikhter regions of the British Indian province of [[Baluchistan (Chief Commissioner's Province)|Baluchistan]].<ref name="thebetterindia">{{cite web|url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/155394/hindu-pashtun-shilpi-batra-sheenkhalai-afghanistan/|title=India's Forgotten Links to Afghanistan|website=thebetterindia|date=8 August 2018}}</ref><ref name="Haider2018"/><ref name="hind">{{cite web|url=https://www.arabnews.pk/node/1697086/pakistan|title=70 years on, one Pashtun town still safeguards its old Hindu-Muslim brotherhood|date=30 June 2020|last=Khan|first=Naimat|work=Arab News|quote=The meat-eating Hindu Pashtuns are a little known tribe in India even today, with a distinct culture carried forward from Afghanistan and Balochistan which includes blue tattoos on the faces of the women, traditional Pashtun dancing and clothes heavily adorned with coins and embroidery.}}</ref> They are mainly members of the Pashtun [[Kakar]] tribe. Today, they continue to speak Pashto and celebrate Pashtun culture through the [[Attan]] dance.<ref name="thebetterindia"/><ref name="Haider2018"/>

There is also a minority of Pashtun Sikhs in [[Tirah]], [[Orakzai District|Orakzai]], [[Kurram District|Kurram]], [[Malakand District|Malakand]], and [[Swat District|Swat]]. Due to the ongoing [[insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]], some Pashtun Sikhs were [[internally displaced person|internally displaced]] from their ancestral villages to settle in cities like [[Peshawar]] and [[Nankana Sahib]].<ref name="Eusufzye2018">{{cite web|last1=Eusufzye|first1=Khan Shehram|title=Two identities, twice the pride: The Pashtun Sikhs of Nankana Saheb|url=https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2018/03/11/two-identities-twice-the-pride-the-pashtun-sikhs-of-nankana-saheb/amp/|work=[[Pakistan Today]]|access-date=31 May 2020|year=2018|quote=One can sense a diminutive yet charming cultural amalgamation in certain localities within the town with the settling of around 250 Pashtun Sikh families in the city.}}<br />Ruchi Kumar, [https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2016/12/decline-afghanistan-hindu-sikh-communities-161225082540860.html The decline of Afghanistan's Hindu and Sikh communities], Al Jazeera, 2017-01-01, "the culture among Afghan Hindus is predominantly Pashtun"<br />Beena Sarwar, [https://www.himalmag.com/finding-lost-heritage/ Finding lost heritage], Himal, 2016-08-03, "Singh also came across many non turban-wearing followers of Guru Nanak in Pakistan, all of Pashtun origin and from the Khyber area."<br />Sonia Dhami, [https://indicanews.com/2020/01/05/sikh-religious-heritage-my-visit-to-lehenda-punjab-part-two-by-sonia-dhami/ Sikh Religious Heritage – My visit to Lehenda Punjab], Indica News, 2020-01-05, "Nankana Sahib is also home to the largest Sikh Pashtun community, many of whom have migrated from the North West Frontier Provinces, renamed Khyber-Pakhtunwa."<br />Neha, [https://www.siasat.com/pak-misusing-durand-line-facilitate-terrorists-says-pashtun-1626604/ Pak misusing Durand Line to facilitate terrorists, says Pashtun], Siasat Daily, 2019-09-20, "The members of the Pashtun and Afghan Sikh community living in Europe and UK have gathered in Geneva"<br />Sabrina Toppa, [https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/despite-border-tensions-indian-sikhs-celebrate-festival-in-pakistan-25905 Despite border tensions, Indian Sikhs celebrate festival in Pakistan], TRT World, 2019-04-16, "Hasanabdal is home to around 200 Sikh families that have primarily moved from Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, including Pakistan's former tribal areas. The majority are Pashtun Sikhs who abandoned their homes and took refuge near Sikhism's historical sites."</ref><ref name="Sikhs">{{cite web|url=https://www.dawn.com/news/1193942|title=Tirah Sikhs glad at getting status of tribal elders|date=12 July 2015|work=Dawn|location=Pakistan}}</ref><ref name="Sikh Pashtuns">{{cite news|url=http://www.newsline.com.pk/NewsOct2008/sprepoct.htm|date=October 2008|title=The Frontier Singhs|publisher=Newsline Publications (Pvt.) Ltd.|access-date=7 June 2009|quote=There is a small Sikh community in the largely ungoverned Orakzai tribal region, while a few live in Kurram's regional headquarters of Parachinar. They consider themselves "sons of the soil" – Pashtuns to be more specific – and are identified as such. "We are proud to be Pashtuns," says Sahib Singh. "Pashto is our tongue, our mother tongue – and we are proud of it."|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022122735/http://www.newsline.com.pk/NewsOct2008/sprepoct.htm|archive-date=22 October 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>