The Most Famous
SOCIAL ACTIVISTS from Afghanistan
This page contains a list of the greatest Afghan Social Activists. The pantheon dataset contains 538 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 4
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.
1. Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī (1837 - 1897)
With an HPI of 68.14, Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī is the most famous Afghan Social Activist. His biography has been translated into 46 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.
2. Meena Keshwar Kamal (1956 - 1987)
With an HPI of 48.58, Meena Keshwar Kamal is the 2nd most famous Afghan Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 23 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.
3. Malalai of Maiwand (1861 - 1861)
With an HPI of 48.48, Malalai of Maiwand is the 3rd most famous Afghan Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 16 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 Pashtun 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.
4. Sonita Alizadeh (1996 - )
With an HPI of 30.72, Sonita Alizadeh is the 4th most famous Afghan Social Activist. Her biography has been translated into 16 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 of America, where she then relocated and has resided since. In 2015, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.
Pantheon has 4 people classified as social activists born between 1837 and 1996. Of these 4, 1 (25.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living social activists include Sonita Alizadeh. The most famous deceased social activists include Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī, Meena Keshwar Kamal, and Malalai of Maiwand. As of April 2022, 1 new social activists have been added to Pantheon including Malalai of Maiwand.
Living Social Activists
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Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī
1837 - 1897
HPI: 68.14
Meena Keshwar Kamal
1956 - 1987
HPI: 48.58
Malalai of Maiwand
1861 - 1861
HPI: 48.48
Newly Added Social Activists (2022)
Go to all RankingsWhich Social Activists were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 3 most globally memorable Social Activists since 1700.
