When the Iranian Sassanids were defeated by Umayyad Arab armies in 636, Islam was gradually spread throughout the Central Asian region. See Archaeology and History.
The religion of the vast majority of Tajikistan’s population today is Sunni Islam. In the Pamirs, however, a majority of the people profess the Ismaili faith (i.e. are followers of the Aga Khan). According to local tradition, the Pamiris were converted to Ismailism in the 11th century by the Persian poet, traveller and philosopher Nasir Khusraw. However, one of the foremost non-Ismaili authorities on Ismailism, W. Iwanow, of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, writing in 1948, expressed the opinion that "the present Shughnis, Wakhis and others were not yet settled there in Nasir's time. They came to that locality much later on". See "Nasir-I-Khusraw and Ismailism" on
http://www.ismaili.net/Source/khusraw/nk2/8.html.
Typical Pamiri handicrafts include:
beautifully decorated skullcaps, surrounded by a woven band
containing Zoroastrian symbols, decorative embroidered cloths (suzanis)
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and knitted socks and gloves in bright colours
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Old Pamiri jewellery can still be found, comprising primarily necklaces made of
coral with silver decorations and rings with spinel stones (reportedly, the
coral is found in the hills of the Alichur plain and is there because this whole
area was raised from sea-level to its present height as the continents drifted
and tectonic plates clashed).
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There is a saying in Tajikistan that the people from Leninabad govern,
those from Kulyab fight, in Garm they pray – and the Pamiris dance. Certainly it
is difficult to imagine life in Gorno-Badakhshan without the perpetual
accompaniment of music and dancing. Every village has excellent musicians, young
and old as well as expert dancers. Men and women dance together, although there
is no contact. Women perform as solo singers and occasionally accordion players.
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| Pamiri dancing is highly rhythmic and uses complex and elegant hand movements | Typical instruments, shown above, are: from left to right tanboor, Afghan rubob, Pamiri rubob, tor, setor – above gejak (violin-type instrument) – in front Pamiri rubob lying on a daf (drum); the accordeon is also widely used |
More information and a cd with Pamiri music can be obtained from
isharat@yahoo.com
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| Musicians | Man playing rebob |
Other information resources:
For Islam and Ismailism:
http://www.akdn.org/imamat/imamat.html
http://www.iis.ac.uk
http://wrc.lingnet.org/tajikist.htm
For Zoroastrianism:
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Zorobar/Zorobar.html
http://www.srisathyasai.org.uk
http://www.zoroastrianism.com/
For Pamiri hats and other handicrafts:
http://www.iles.umn.edu/faculty/bashiri/Tajhats.html
http://www.iles.umn.edu/faculty/bashiri/Jewelry.html
http://www.textile-art.com/geb.html
http://aminov.hypermart.net/samples1.htm
http://www.worldmountain.com/socks.html
For ancient and contemporary Tajik design:
http://www.arzhang.tajik.net/index.html
General
http://www.iles.umn.edu/faculty/bashiri/title.html
http://www.angelfire.com/sd/tajikistanupdate/culture.html