Farsiwan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fārsīwān or Pārsīwān ("Persian-speakers"), or simply Pārsī ("Persians"), is the name given to a sub-group of the Tājik community in Afghanistan. They are found mainly in western parts of the country. An alternative name for the Fārsīwān (as well as for the Tājiks in general) is Deḥgān^[1].

They are generally distinguished from the rest of the Tājiks by their adherence to Shia Islam as opposed to the Sunni sect favored by the majority of Tājiks. In essence, they are basically almost identical to the Persians of Iran due to their various similarities. The only distinction is that the Fārsīwān sometimes speak a dialect more akin to the so-called Darī (or Kābolī) dialect of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan as opposed to the Fārsī (or Tehrānī) dialect of Iran. Most of the the Fārsīwān speak the so-called Khorāsānī dialect, native to Herāt, Farāh, Tūs, and Nīšāpūr.

Unlike the Hazāras who are also Persian-speaking and Shia, the Fārsīwān do not show any, or very limitted traces of Turkic or Mongol ancestry.

The Encyclopædia Iranica, however, differentiates between Tājik and Fārsīwān, describing them as two different groups within the large Persian-speaking community of Iran and Central Asia:

“

The term Fārsīwān also has the regional forms Pārsīwān and Pārsībān. In religion they are Imamite Shiite. In the literature they are often mistakenly referred to as Tājik.[2].

”

There are at least 900,000 Fārsīwāns in Afghanistan, mainly in the province of Herāt^[2]. They are also the main inhabitants of the city of Herāt^[3].

Closely related to the Fārsīwān, but often mistakenly regarded as a (separate) ethno-linguistic group, are the Qezelbāš of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

[edit] See also

• Tajiks
• Persian people
• Persian language
• Afghanistan
• People of Afghanistan

[edit] References