ISLAM IN TAJIKISTAN
ISLAM IN TAJIKISTAN AN EXPERIMENT WITH MODERNITY SARASIJ MAJUMDER EARLY HISTORY: The territory was previously home to cultures of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age , including the city of Sarazm , and was later home to kingdoms ruled by people of various faiths and cultures including the Oxus civilization , Andronovo culture , Buddhism , Nestorian Christianity , Hinduism , Zoroastrianism , Manichaeism , and lastly-- Islam . The Arabian invasion occurred in the 8th century. It led to the complete Islamization of Tajikistan by the middle of the 11th century. Later, it became part of USSR form 1929.Tajikistan was then known as the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic (Tajik SSR), or Soviet Tajikistan, from 1929 to 1991. The country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The name Tajikistan comes from the Persian suffix "-stan" which means "place of" or "country," so the name literally means "Land of the Tajik people"