Farsiwan

Fārsīwān (Pashto/ fa, فارسیوان or its regional forms: Pārsīwān or Pārsībān,The ''Encyc. Iranica'' makes clear in the article on Afghanistan — Ethnography that "The term Farsiwan also has the regional forms Parsiwan and Parsiban. In religion, they are Imami Shia. In literature, they are often mistakenly referred to as Tajik.
Dupree, Louis (1982) "Afghanistan: (iv.) Ethnography", in ''Encyclopædia Iranica''
Online Edition 2006. "Persian speaker") is a contemporary designation for Persian speakers in Afghanistan and its diaspora elsewhere. More specifically, it was originally used to refer to a distinct group of farmers in AfghanistanHanifi, Mohammed Jamil (1976) ''Historical and Cultural Dictionary of Afghanistan'' Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, N.J., , on page 36 and urban dwellers. In Afghanistan, original Farsiwans are found predominantly in Herat and Farah provinces. They are roughly the same as the Persians of eastern Iran. The term excludes the Hazāra and Aymāq tribes, who also speak dialects of Persian (Hazaragi and Aimaq).

The Farsiwan are often mistakenly referred to as Tajiks. Although the term was originally coined with the Persian lexical root (''Pārsībān''), the suffix has been transformed into a Pashto form (''-wān'') and is usually used by the Pashtuns to designate both the Tajiks and the Farsiwans.

Characteristics

Like the Persians of Iran, the Farsiwan are often distinguished from Tajiks by their adherence to Shia Islam as opposed to the Sunni Islam favored by the majority of Tajiks. However, there are also minor linguistic differences especially among the rural Farsiwan. The Farsiwan sometimes speak a dialect more akin to the ''Darī'' dialects of the Persian language, for example the dialect of Kabul, as opposed to the standard ''Tehrānī'' dialect of Iran. However, most of the Fārsīwān speak the '' Khorasani'' dialect, native to the Afghanistan–Iran border region, namely Herāt and Farāh, as well as the Iranian provinces of Khorasan. Unlike the Hazara, who are also Persian-speaking and Shia, the Farsiwan do not show any, or very limited, traces of Turkic and Mongol ancestry. Although the Qizilbash of Iran and Afghanistan are also Persian-speaking Shias, they are usually regarded as a separate group from the Farsiwan.

Some confusion arises because an alternative name used locally for the Fārsīwān (as well as for the Tājiks in general) is Dehgān, meaning "village settlers", in the sense of "urban". The term is used in contrast to "nomadic".M. Longworth Dames, G. Morgenstierne, R. Ghirshman, ''"Afghānistān"'', in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Online Edition

Geographic distribution

There are approximately 1.5 million Farsiwans in Afghanistan, mainly in the provinces of Herat, FarahAdamec, Ludwig W. (1997) ''Historical Dictionary of Afghanistan'' Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, , on page 106 Ghor, and Mazar-i-Sharif. They are also the main inhabitants of the city of Herāt.P. English, ''"Cities In The Middle East"'', e.d. L. Brown, Princeton University, USA 1973 Smaller populations can be found in Kabul, Kandahar and Ghazni.L. Dupree, "Afghanistan: (iv.) Ethnography", in ''Encyclopædia Iranica''
Online Edition 2006 Due to the large number of refugees from Afghanistan, significant Farsiwan communities nowadays also exist in Iran (mostly in Mashhad and Tehran).

See also

* Tajiks
* Persian people
* Persian language
* Persian-speakers of Afghanistan
* Demography of Afghanistan

References

{{authority control

Iranian peoples
Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
Ethnic groups in Herat Province