Afghanistan is a landlocked country in the heart of Asia. It was called Ariana, Bakhtar, and Khurasan in the course of history. Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Mongols and Afghans invaded this land and each ruled this land for a long period of time.
Religions, such as Zoraoastrianism, Hiduism, and Budhism, existed among the people prior to the invasion of the Arabs in the 8th A.D. The Arab and Islamic conquest uprooted all the aforementioned religions within two centuries by vanquishing all the resistance fighters in Khurasan. Apart from Zoroatrian, Budhism, and Hinduism, Judaism and Christianity were also brought by the saints to Afghanistan during the Sasanid era. Amongst the religions, Zoroatrianism originated in Ariana, today’s Afghanistan.
According to historical evidence, religious tolerance and observance existed among the people prior to the Arab invasion of Ariana. People of different faiths could live in harmony and peace as the Islamic sources mention the presence of all faiths mentioned above, while Muslims captured Khurasan. Except for Islam, other religions were not tolerated upon the arrival of the Muslims. Muslims have forced non-Muslims to accept Islam or face death. Since then, a culture of intolerance has prevailed. Muslims hated Christians more than all, because of their crusades on holy land and the rise of Russia and Great Britain as the two Christian superpowers of their times.
As a result, Christians left Afghanistan due to fear of persecution and betrayal at the beginning of the 20th century. That means a tiny group who lived in Kabul and Herat immigrated to Europe and elsewhere.
Following the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, a new wave of Afghan Muslim conversions to Christianity began. Millions of Afghans have fled to neighboring countries, and hundreds more have fled to Western countries, amid rising violence and an all-out war between the Afghan Mujahideen, Russian troops, and government forces. Some Afghan refugees changed their religions and converted to Christianity to follow a righteous path instead of a dark one. Following the Taliban’s demise at the hands of the US and its allies, some Afghans converted to Christianity.
Initially, the process moved at a breakneck pace. But, radical Islamic clerics have started preaching against conversion in all mosques during their sermons to their followers. In February 2006, a Christian convert by the name of Abdul Rahman was arrested by the government and threatened with the death penalty for leaving Islam. He was released after heavy international pressure. The Hanafi Sunni Muslim jurists opposed the release. All nations have turned against conversions, Christian converts, and missionaries. Persecution of Christians has increased as a result of hate speech by jurists directed at Christians and foreigners. New Afghan converts were not able to live in the country, so they chose to flee the country, and a small number of believers stayed and started living underground. On the basis of information acquired, the number of believers has been dwindling since 2014.
I am currently residing in Kabul, the capital. I have been trying to find believers to mingle with, congregate and pray together since January, 2017, but I have never succeeded in finding them. They don’t trust others for a variety of reasons, the first of which is that they believe the person who introduces him/her as a believer is a government agent who will betray them. The second is that he or she is a member of terrorist organizations, and the third is that he or she is attempting to turn them into the most zealous Muslim fanatics and communities.
Fortunately, after much searching, I was able to locate a believer who agreed to speak with me over the phone and had promised to come and see me within a month. I am very happy now and am looking forward to visiting him face to face and praying together. I want to build trust in him to find other believers who are living underground now.
May the blessing of Jesus Christ be with all of us!
In HIM,
Zhya
