Islam by country · Asia
Islam in Afghanistan: history and Muslim population data
Explore CoMPS research on the historical journey of Islam in Afghanistan, alongside population data and an interactive timeline.
Open Afghanistan in the interactive map
History of Islam in Afghanistan
The Muslim conquest of Afghanistan started by Al-Ahnaf bnu QaisAttamimi in 643/22H during the reign of Caliph Omar bnul Khattab. Heconquered the areas near the Iranian and Turkmenistan border, fromHerat to Mazar-i-Sharif. The conquest was completed by Qutaiba bnuMuslim al-Bahili in 713/94H during the reign of the sixth UmayyadCaliph al-Walid I bnu Abdel Malik bnu Marwan, when he capturedKabul. It was occupied by the British in 1879/1296H and gained itsindependence from the UK in 1919/1337H. Currently, the IslamicRepublic of Afghanistan has an area of 652,230 sq km
Muslims populationincreased from 5.8 million or 95% in 1908 to 6.4 million or 100% in 1922.According to the 1979 census, the Muslim population was 13.0 million or99.8% of the total population. The same percentage (99.77%) is obtainedby Asia Barometer Survey in 2005. Thus, assuming that this percentageremains constant; then the Muslim population is expected to increase to73 million by 2050 and 110 million by 2100.
Historical Muslim population dataset for Afghanistan
The figures below are from the CoMPS historical dataset. Population values are expressed in thousands; 2100 is a modelled projection, not a present-day count.
| Year | Total population (thousands) | Muslim population (thousands) | Muslim share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 5,219 | 4,958 | 94.99% |
| 2000 | 19,670 | 19,625 | 99.77% |
| 2100 | 110,743 | 110,488 | 99.77% |
For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.