Blue Mosque, Mazar-i-Sharif
Interesting facts
- According to legend, the forgotten grave was rediscovered in the twelfth century when Ali appeared in the dreams of hundreds of local notables and revealed where it lay.
- The earliest surviving written mention of Ali's burial near Balkh comes from the Andalusian traveller Abu Hamid al-Gharnati, who died in 1170.
- Before the shrine was built, the site was occupied by a mosque commemorating a local Hanafi scholar, Ali al-Balkhi.
- The shrine has its own tile workshop, whose craftsmen produce only a few square metres of glazed tile a month, all of it used for repairs.
- Tiles wear out constantly, weathered by the climate and, according to the workshop, chipped away by pilgrims who take fragments home as relics.
- Later dynasties kept adding to the complex; a Shaybanid ruler, Abd al-Mu'min, is credited with building one of its domes in the sixteenth century.
- According to legend, one in every seven of the shrine's white doves carries a spirit.
- In its heyday the Nowruz banner-raising drew crowds estimated at up to 200,000 people from across Afghanistan into the park around the shrine.
Why it is worth it
The city of Mazar-i-Sharif takes its name from this building: the name is usually rendered as "tomb of the exalted", and the exalted one is Ali ibn Abi Talib, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet and the fourth caliph. Most Muslims place Ali's grave at Najaf in Iraq, but a long tradition in this part of Central Asia holds that his body was carried east and buried here, and the shrine is venerated by Sunni and Shia alike. Known in Afghanistan as the Rawza-i Sharif, the noble shrine, and abroad simply as the Blue Mosque, it is the spiritual and visual centre of northern Afghanistan.
Its history is one of repeated loss and return. A first shrine was raised in 1136 by the Seljuk sultan Ahmad Sanjar; the Mongols destroyed it in 1220, reportedly believing treasure lay beneath. The present sanctuary goes back to 1480–81, when the Timurid ruler Sultan Husayn Bayqara, with his minister, the poet Ali Shir Nava'i, raised the sanctuary that stands today. Later rulers added domes and decoration over the centuries, and the emir Sher Ali Khan and members of his family are buried within the complex.
What makes it unforgettable is the colour. The walls, portals and domes are wrapped almost entirely in glazed tile: polychrome mosaic and painted panels in which every shade of blue dominates, from deep cobalt to turquoise. Much of the tilework visible today was repaired or replaced during restoration in the twentieth century, when a master craftsman led a campaign of several years to re-cover the sanctuary in blue tile, and the effect is of a building that seems to shimmer in the harsh light of the Balkh plain.
The other memorable sight is the pigeons. Thousands of white doves live in the courtyard, and local legend says the shrine is so holy that a grey pigeon that comes to live here turns white within forty days. At Nowruz, the Persian new year, the shrine was for generations the setting of the Janda Bala, the raising of a great banner in the courtyard before crowds of pilgrims.
Getting there
The shrine stands in the centre of Mazar-i-Sharif, the main city of northern Afghanistan and capital of Balkh Province. Mazar-i-Sharif International Airport (MZR) is about 9 km away.
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From the encyclopaedia
The Mausoleum of Ali, also known as the Shrine of Hazrat Ali and the Great Blue Mosque, is a mausoleum and mosque complex located in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital and largest city of Balkh Province in northern Afghanistan. It is a popular tourist attraction in the middle of the city, which is visited all year long by all people regardless of religion or sect.
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