The Most Famous

SOCIAL ACTIVISTS from Afghanistan

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This page contains a list of the greatest Afghan Social Activists. The pantheon dataset contains 840 Social Activists, 4 of which were born in Afghanistan. This makes Afghanistan the birth place of the 36th most number of Social Activists behind Brazil, and Azerbaijan.

Top 9

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Afghan Social Activists of all time. This list of famous Afghan Social Activists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

Photo of Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī

1. Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī (1837 - 1897)

With an HPI of 68.26, Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī is the most famous Afghan Social Activist.  His biography has been translated into 48 different languages on wikipedia.

Sayyid Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī (Pashto/Persian: سید جمال‌‌‌الدین افغانی), also known as Sayyid Jamāl ad-Dīn Asadābādī (Persian: سید جمال‌‌‌الدین اسد‌آبادی) and commonly known as Al-Afghani (1838/1839 – 9 March 1897), was a political activist and Islamic ideologist who travelled throughout the Muslim world during the late 19th century. He is one of the founders of Islamic Modernism as well as an advocate of Pan-Islamic unity in India against the British. He has been described as having been less interested in minor differences in Islamic jurisprudence than he was in organizing a united response to Western pressure. He is also known for his involvement with his follower Mirza Reza Kermani in the successful plot to assassinate Shah Naser-al-Din, whom Afghani considered to be making too many concessions to foreign powers, especially the British Empire.

Photo of Malalai of Maiwand

2. Malalai of Maiwand (1861 - 1861)

With an HPI of 47.60, Malalai of Maiwand is the 2nd most famous Afghan Social Activist.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Malalai of Maiwand (Pashto: د ميوند ملالۍ [malɑˈləi]), also known as Malala (Pashto: ملاله), or Malalai Anna (Pashto: ملالۍ انا, meaning Malalai the "Grandmother") is a national folk hero of Afghanistan who rallied Afghan fighters during the Battle of Maiwand which was part of the Second Anglo-Afghan War. She fought alongside Ayub Khan and was responsible for the Afghan victory at the Battle of Maiwand on 27 July 1880. She is also known as "The Afghan Jeanne d'Arc" or as "The Afghan Molly Pitcher" to the Western world. There are many schools, hospitals, and other institutions named after her in Afghanistan. Her story is told in Afghan school text books.

Photo of Meena Keshwar Kamal

3. Meena Keshwar Kamal (1956 - 1987)

With an HPI of 46.00, Meena Keshwar Kamal is the 3rd most famous Afghan Social Activist.  Her biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Meena Keshwar Kamal (Pashto/Persian: مینا کشور کمال; 27 February 1956 – 4 February 1987), commonly known as Meena, was an Afghan revolutionary political activist, women's rights activist and founder of Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), who was assassinated in 1987.

Photo of Zakia Zaki

4. Zakia Zaki (1962 - 2007)

With an HPI of 34.72, Zakia Zaki is the 4th most famous Afghan Social Activist.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Zakia Zaki (c. 1972 – June 4, 2007) was an Afghan journalist for the Afghan Radio Peace (Sada-i-Sulh) station north of Kabul, Afghanistan. She had been given threats on account of her work and was killed at her home outside of Kabul in April 2007. Zaki was the first Afghani journalist to speak out against the Taliban after the US forces initiated the War in Afghanistan (2001–present), while she also championed other causes like gender equality and women's rights in Afghanistan. Her murder was seen as part of a series of recent attacks against high-profile Afghan women.

Photo of Sonita Alizadeh

5. Sonita Alizadeh (b. 1996)

With an HPI of 32.38, Sonita Alizadeh is the 5th most famous Afghan Social Activist.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Sonita Alizadeh (Dari: سونیتا علیزاده; born 1996) is an Afghan rapper and activist who has been vocal against forced marriages. Alizadeh first gained attention when she released "Brides for Sale," a video in which she raps about daughters being sold into marriage by their families. With the help of Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami, an Iranian documentary filmmaker who over three years documented her story in the film Sonita, Alizadeh filmed the video to escape a marriage her parents were planning for her, even though it is illegal for women to sing solo in Iran, where she was living at the time. After releasing the video on YouTube, Alizadeh was contacted by the Strongheart Group, which offered her a student visa and financial help to come and study in the United States, where she then relocated and has resided since. In 2015, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.

Photo of Aqeela Asifi

6. Aqeela Asifi (b. 1966)

With an HPI of 32.19, Aqeela Asifi is the 6th most famous Afghan Social Activist.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Aqeela Asifi is an Afghan woman teacher who has educated thousands of refugee children in Mianwali, Pakistan.

Photo of Aziza Siddiqui

7. Aziza Siddiqui (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 28.98, Aziza Siddiqui is the 7th most famous Afghan Social Activist.  Her biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Aziza Siddiqui (Pashto: عزيزه صديقي; born c. 1983) is an Afghan women's rights activist. She was the Women's Rights Coordinator with the Afghan NGO Action Aid, where she conducted research on the situation of rural Afghan women and educated them about their rights, as well as organized trainings on decision-making, despite being personally threatened for her work. Born in Afghanistan, Siddiqui left for Pakistan when she was eight years old because of war, but returned to Afghanistan in 2003 to work for women's rights. In 2007 she received an International Women of Courage Award. However, being well known she was unable to safely return to Afghanistan after that, and so she obtained asylum in the United States. In 2008, she began working as a case worker for BIAS, Bi-lingual International Assistant Services, which assists elderly and disabled immigrants, asylees, and refugees. In 2009 Siddiqui received the "Extraordinary Ordinary Person of the Year" Award from Gitana Productions, which promotes diversity through the arts and arts education.

Photo of Jamila Afghani

8. Jamila Afghani (b. 1976)

With an HPI of 27.45, Jamila Afghani is the 8th most famous Afghan Social Activist.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Jamila Afghani (Persian: جمیله افغانی; born 1976 in Kabul) is a feminist and an activist for women's rights and education in Afghanistan. She is the founder and executive director of the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organization (NECDO). She is also an executive member of the umbrella organization Afghan Women's Network (AWN). In 2022, Jamila Afghani was awarded the seventh annual Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity.

Photo of Bibi Aisha

9. Bibi Aisha (b. 1991)

With an HPI of 21.18, Bibi Aisha is the 9th most famous Afghan Social Activist.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Bibi Aisha (Pashto: بي بي عایشه; Bibi is a term of respect meaning "Lady"; born Aisha Mohammadzai, legal name in the United States: Aesha Mohammadzai) is an Afghan woman who fled from an abusive marriage she was forced into as a teenager, but was caught, jailed, mutilated and left to die as revenge for her escape. She was later rescued by aid workers and her story was featured in American news as an example of the effects of the Taliban's reign of terror on women. As of 2014, she lives in Maryland as the adoptive daughter of an Afghan-American couple and has received reconstructive surgery.

People

Pantheon has 9 people classified as Afghan social activists born between 1837 and 1996. Of these 9, 5 (55.56%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Afghan social activists include Sonita Alizadeh, Aqeela Asifi, and Aziza Siddiqui. The most famous deceased Afghan social activists include Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī, Malalai of Maiwand, and Meena Keshwar Kamal. As of April 2024, 5 new Afghan social activists have been added to Pantheon including Zakia Zaki, Aqeela Asifi, and Aziza Siddiqui.

Living Afghan Social Activists

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Deceased Afghan Social Activists

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Newly Added Afghan Social Activists (2024)

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