33 Countries of Origin’ Profiles

13 Islamic world doesn't believe Jesus was the messiah). Islam believes Muhammad was the last prophet sent to earth by God, the last in a long line of prophets, which includes Moses, Abraham, and Jesus among others. Muslims follow five pillars of their faith: testimony, prayer, alms-giving, fasting, and pilgrimage. These pillars, and other tenants of their faith, can give great structure to their lives as some foods, like pork, are forbidden and every Muslim is expected to pray five times a day. However, the level of participation in each of these pillars and to what degree Islam influences an individual's life varies from person to person and community to community. Generally speaking, Afghanistan is fairly conservative in how they practice Islam. Most Muslims are Sunni, which is the branch of Islam that closely follows the teachings of Muhammad and accepts Abu Bakr as the first Caliph (a ruler of an Islamic community); the Sunni Muslims are sometimes referred to Orthodox. Shia Muslims believe only God can chose who heads the Islamic community and believed it was Ali, Muhammad's son-in-law who was first chosen; Ali became the first Imam (according to Shia Muslims, this term only refers to the leaders of the faith, to Sunni Muslims Imam is often times used in reference to the prayer leader in mosques). Ethnicity Justin Dodge Afghanistan is a fairly diverse country ethnically as their largest ethnic group is Pashtuns, but this group makes up less than half the country's population. The Pashtuns are related to the eastern Iranian or Persian groups, making their closest relatives the Balochs and more distantly related to the Persians. The next largest ethnic group is the Tajiks, who make up nearly a third of the country's population and are more closely related to the Persians. Among the numerous other ethnic groups in the country are the Hazara (Iranian people), Uzbeks (Turkic people), Balochs (Iranian people), and Turkmen (Turkic people) among many others.