Religion in Tajikistan Religion in Tajikistan Islam, the predominant religion throughout Central Asia, was brought to the region by the Arabs in the 7th century. Since that time, Islam has become an integral part of Tajik culture. Tajikistan is a secular country, but the post-Soviet era has seen a marked increase in religious practice in the country. The majority of Tajikistan's Muslims adhere to the Sunni branch of Islam, and a smaller group belongs to the Shia branch of Islam. The Russian Orthodox faith is the most widely practiced of other religions, although the Russian community shrank significantly in the early 1990s. Some
Ambelau people cultural, social and economic ties with Ambelau island. Ambelau minorities also live in other parts of Buru, on Ambon and other Maluku Islands and in Jakarta. During the Dutch colonization in the first half of the 17th century, most Ambelau people were forced to move to Buru to work on the Dutch spice plantations. The nation speaks Ambelau language, which belongs to the Central Maluku branch of the Malayo-Polynesian languages. Most of Ambelau people also speak Indonesian or Ambonese Malay ("Melayu Ambon"), which is a creolized form of Malay. The vast majority are Sunni Muslims with a small fraction of