The famous Imam Muhammad Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (853–944 AD) was a Persian (some mention that he was a descendant from the Sahabi Abu Ayyub Al-Ansari) Sunni from the ancient Persian city of Samarqand. Samarqand is located in Uzbekistan today (but used to be part of the Persian empire), however, the ancient Persian-Tajik parts of Uzbekistan are still Tajik-Persian to this very day, cities such as Bokhara (where Imam Al-Bukhari is from) and Samarqand (where many major scholars were from).

Tajik Persians (over 30% of Afghanistan’s population), the absolute majority of the inhabitants of Tajikistan and a minority in Uzbekistan and some other Asian states are a majority Sunni people. They are the Khorassani Persians of the east, the brothers of the Persians in the west (what is known as Iran today).