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
Lisela people people. This is due to active contact with the Lisela people living along the coastal areas with outsiders from other parts of Indonesia who settled in the Buru Island since the beginning of the 20th century. As a result the natives gradually shift to the usage of the official language of Indonesia, Indonesian or the Ambon dialect of Malay language (Ambonese Malay), a fairly common lingua franca among the Moluccans which is a simplified Indonesian language with additions of the local lexicon. The vast majority of Lisela people are Sunni Muslims. There is also a small Christian community that makes