Mazār-e Sharīf

Mazār-e Sharīf, city, northern Afghanistan, 35 miles (56 km) south of the border with Uzbekistan, at an elevation of 1,250 feet (380 metres). The town derives its name (meaning “tomb of the saint”) from the reputed tomb of the caliph ʿAlī, son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, over which a blue-tiled mosque and shrine were erected in the 15th century. Afghan tradition holds that the tomb was first discovered by revelation in the 12th century and the original shrine was destroyed after the Mongol invasion in the 13th century. The tomb is venerated by all Muslims, especially Shiʿis. Mazār-e Sharīf’s growth and the corresponding decline of the much older town of Balkh, a few miles to the west, date from this discovery.

Mazār-e Sharīf came under Afghan rule in 1852 and became the political hub of Afghan Turkistan in 1869. After their military intervention in 1979, Soviet forces established a military command in the town. It was later the site of brutal fighting and atrocities between competing Afghan factions and changed hands several times. The city was controlled by the Taliban from 1998 to late 2001, when it was taken with little violence by a coalition of Afghan, U.S., and allied forces; a subsequent uprising at a prison there holding Taliban troops and their allies, however, left hundreds dead.

Mazār-e Sharīf is located in one of Afghanistan’s most fertile regions, extensively irrigated by the Balkh River and producing cotton, grain, and fruit. The town’s industries include flour milling and the manufacturing of silk and cotton textiles. It is connected by road and air with Kabul, 200 miles (320 km) southeast, and other Afghan cities and is the country’s chief transit point for Central Asian trade. A well-known Islamic theology school is located there. The inhabitants of Mazār-e Sharīf are mainly Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Turkmens. Pop. (2006 est.) 300,600; (2020 est.) 484,500.