NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Mazari Sharif

Coordinates: 36.700° N 67.117° E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...

Mazari Sharif, also known as Mazar-i Sharif or Mazār-e Sharīf (Persian: مزار شریف‎ ), is the fourth largest city of Afghanistan, with population of 300,600 people (2006 official estimate). It is the capital of Balkh province and is linked by road to Kabul to the south-east, Herat to the west and Uzbekistan to the north. Mazari Sharif means "Noble Shrine," a reference to the large, blue-tiled sanctuary and mosque in the center of the city that most Afghans, both Shia and Sunni, but not most non-Afghan Shia, and historians, believe is the site of the tomb of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law and cousin who is believed to be buried in Najaf, Iraq. The dominant language in Mazari Sharif is Dari-Persian. . The city is a major tourist attraction because of its fabulous Muslim and Hellenistic archeological sites. In July 2006, the discovery of Hellenistic remains was announced.^[1] Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1080x720, 132 KB) The historic blue mosque in Mazar-e Sharif Afghanistan File links The following pages link to this file: Mazar-e Sharif Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links Red_pog. ... Afghanistan consists of 34 provinces, or velayat: Badakhshan Badghis Baghlan Balkh Bamiyan Daikondi - established March 28, 2004 Farah Faryab Ghazni Ghowr Helmand Herat Jowzjan Kabul Kandahar Kapisa Khost Konar Kondoz Laghman Lowgar Nangarhar Nimruz Nurestan Oruzgan Paktia Paktika Panjshir - established April 13, 2004 Parvan Samangan Sar-e Pol Takhar Vardak... Balkh is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. ... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The following are politically, geographically or economically important places, many of which are cities, of Afghanistan. ... Area is a physical quantity expressing the size of a part of a surface. ... A time zone is a region of the Earth that has adopted the same standard time, usually referred to as the local time. ... ... Persian (Local names: ÙØ§Ø±Ø³ÛŒ FÃ¢rsi or Ù¾Ø§Ø±Ø³ÛŒ PÃ¢rsi)* is an Indo-European language spoken in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan as well as by minorities in Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Southern Russia, neighboring countries, and elsewhere. ... Balkh is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. ... For other places with the same name, see Kabul (disambiguation). ... HerÄt (Persian: â€Ž ) is a city in western Afghanistan, in the province also known as HerÄt. ... Shiʻa Islam (Arabic شيعى follower; English has traditionally used Shiite) makes up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%–35% of all Muslim. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... Shiʻa Islam (Arabic شيعى follower; English has traditionally used Shiite) makes up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%–35% of all Muslim. ... Ali ibn Abu Talib (Arabic: Ø¹Ù„ÙŠ Ø¨Ù† Ø£Ø¨ÙŠ Ø·Ø§Ù„Ø¨ translit: â€˜AlÄ« ibn Abu TÌ£Älib Persian: Ø¹Ù„ÛŒ Ù¾Ø³Ø± Ø§Ø¨Ùˆ Ø·Ø§Ù„Ø¨) â€Ž (599 â€“ 661) is an early Islamic leader. ... For other persons named Muhammad, see Muhammad (name). ... Najaf (Arabic: â€Ž; BGN: An Najaf) is a city in Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. ... Dari (Persian: â€Ž ) is the official name for the Persian language in Afghanistan, popularly and locally known as Farsi. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance... The term Hellenistic (established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen) in the history of the ancient world is used to refer to the shift from a culture dominated by ethnic Greeks, however scattered geographically, to a culture dominated by Greek-speakers of whatever ethnicity, and from the political dominance...

History

Mazari Sharif owes its existence to a dream. At the beginning of the 12th century a local mullah had a dream in which the Ali bin Talib, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law and one of the four rightly guided Caliphs appeared to reveal that he had been secretly buried near the city of Balkh. After investigation, the Seljuk sultan Sanjar ordered a shrine to be built on the spot, where it stood until its destruction by Genghis Khan. Although later rebuilt, Mazar stood in the shadow of its neighbour Balkh, until that city was abandoned in 1866 for health reasons. Mazar became the capital of Afghan Turkestan and has prospered since. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 687 Ã— 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (825 Ã— 720 pixel, file size: 108 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The Blue Mosque in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 687 Ã— 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (825 Ã— 720 pixel, file size: 108 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The Blue Mosque in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 400 Ã— 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (720 Ã— 1080 pixel, file size: 285 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The blue mosque in Mazari Sharif in Afghanistan. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 400 Ã— 600 pixel Image in higher resolution (720 Ã— 1080 pixel, file size: 285 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The blue mosque in Mazari Sharif in Afghanistan. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 532 pixel Image in higher resolution (1024 Ã— 681 pixel, file size: 506 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 532 pixel Image in higher resolution (1024 Ã— 681 pixel, file size: 506 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 517 pixel Image in higher resolution (1114 Ã— 720 pixel, file size: 88 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 517 pixel Image in higher resolution (1114 Ã— 720 pixel, file size: 88 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Afghan_Game_Buzkashi. ... Image File history File links Afghan_Game_Buzkashi. ... Game of Buzkashi in Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan Buzkashi, Kok-boru or Oglak Tartis (Persian: Ø¨Ø²Ú©Ø´ÛŒ buzkashÄ«: buz goat + kashi taking out; Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Kazak, Tatar, Turkmen: kÃ¶kbÃ¶rÃ¼, kÃ¶k blue + bÃ¶rÃ¼ wolf) is a traditional Central Asian team sport played on horseback. ... For other uses, see Genghis Khan (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Mazar is the capital of Balkh province, and Afghanistan's fourth largest city. Its population is dominated by Tajiks, although there are significant Uzbek, Turkmen, Hazara, and Pashtun minorities, the latter largely as a result of resettlement programmes by Abdur Rahman Khan in the 19th century. Its geography means that the city has traditionally looked as much north to Bukhara as south to Kabul. This article is about the Central Asian Persians known as Tajiks. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Pashtuns (also Pushtun, Pakhtun, ethnic Afghan, or Pathan) are an ethno-linguistic group consisting mainly of eastern Iranian stock living primarily in eastern and southern Afghanistan, and the North West Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Baluchistan provinces of Pakistan. ... Amir Abdur Rahman Khan Abdur Rahman Khan (c. ... Bukhara (Tajik: Ð‘ÑƒÑ…Ð¾Ñ€Ð¾; Persian: â€Ž, BuxÃ¢rÃ¢; Uzbek: ; Russian: ), from the Soghdian Î²uxÄrak (lucky place), is the fifth-largest city in Uzbekistan, and capital of the Bukhara Province (viloyat). ...

During the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Mazar was a strategical base for the red army, as they used its airport to launch airstrikes on Afghan mujahideen. In the early 1990s, after Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan, Mazar slowly began falling into the hands of Tajik and Uzbek militias (Jamiat-e Islami of Ahmad Shah Massoud and Rabbani, both who are Tajiks, and, Jumbesh-e Melli of Abdul Rashid Dostum, who is Uzbek). As a garrison for the communist Afghan army, the city was under the command of Dostum, who mutinied against Najibullah's Kabul regime in 1992 and established the autonomous administration of North Afghanistan with the aid of Massoud. A Soviet soldier on guard in Afghanistan in 1988. ... The Workers and Peasants Red Army (Russian: Ð Ð°Ð±Ð¾Ñ‡Ðµ-ÐšÑ€ÐµÑÑ‚ÑŒÑÐ½ÑÐºÐ°Ñ ÐšÑ€Ð°ÑÐ½Ð°Ñ ÐÑ€Ð¼Ð¸Ñ, Raboche-Krestyanskaya Krasnaya Armiya; RKKA or usually simply the Red Army) were the armed forces first organized by the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1918 and that in 1922 became the army of the Soviet Union. ... Mujahideen (Arabic: â€Ž, , strugglers) is an Islamic-Arabic term for Muslims fighting in a war, or involved in any other struggle. ... Jamiat-e-Islami was a criminal group led by Rabani and Massoud(biggest traitors). ... Ahmed Shah Massoud (احمد شاه مسعود) (c. ... General Abdul Rashid Dostum (also Abdurrashid Dostum, born 1954), a powerful ethnic Uzbek warlord is the principal leader of Afghanistans Uzbek community. ... Mohammad Najibullah (1947–September 27, 1996) was the fourth President of Afghanistan during the period of the communist Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. ... 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday. ...

Under Dostum's Uzbek Jumbesh-e Melli militia, Mazar was an oasis of peace during the civil war, and as the rest of the country disintegrated he strengthened political ties with the newly independent central Asian states and Turkey, printed his own currency and established his own airline. This peace was shattered in May 1997, when he was betrayed by one of his generals, Abdul Malik, and fled Mazar as the Taliban were getting ready to take the city. Abdul Malik is a Uzbek warlord/politician based out of Faryab Province in northern Afghanistan. ... Armed Taliban in pickup truck in Herat, July 2001. ...

From the early 1990s to early 1997, Mazari Sharif remained a stronghold of Dostum and his militia while most of the remaining country was slowly being taken over by the Taliban. Between May and July 1997 the Taliban unsuccessfully attempted to take Mazar, leading to approximately 2,500 Taliban soldiers being massacred by Abdul Malik and his shia followers. In retaliation to this incident, the Taliban on August 8, 1998, reportedly returned and lead a six-day killing frenzy of Hazaras and other local people. Soon after, the city was occupied and taken over by the Taliban. It was this capture of Mazar that prompted Pakistan's recognition of the Taliban regime. Shiʻa Islam (Arabic شيعى follower; English has traditionally used Shiite) makes up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%–35% of all Muslim. ... August 8 is the 220th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (221st in leap years), with 145 days remaining. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

Following 9/11, Mazar was the first Afghan city to fall to the Afghan Northern Alliance (former militias). The Taliban's retreat from Mazar quickly turned into rout from the rest of the north and west of Afghanistan. On November 9, 2001 the city was recaptured by the Afghan Northern Alliance after heavy battles with help from the United States. An alleged massacre of Taliban soldiers by US allies is said to have taken place near the city at that time. The Northern Alliance is a term used by the western media, Taliban and Al Qaida to identify the military coalition of various Afghan groups fighting the Taliban. ... November 9 is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 52 days remaining. ... 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Afghan Massacre: Convoy of Death is a 2002 documentary by Irish documentary filmmaker Jamie Doran about war crimes committed on Taliban soldiers in November 2001 after they had surrendered to Americaâ€™s Afghan allies after the siege of Konduz. ...

Small scale clashes between militias belonging to different commanders persisted throughout 2002, and were the focus of intensive UN peace-brokering and small arms disarmament programme. After some pressure, an office of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission opened an office in Mazar in April 2003.

Mazari Sharif is in full control of the new Afghan central government, which is led by US backed President Hamid Karzai. There are also NATO peacekeeing forces in and around the city providing assistance to the new government. Hamid Karzai (Pashto: ØØ§Ù…Ø¯ Ú©Ø±Ø²ÙŠ, Persian: ØØ§Ù…Ø¯ Ú©Ø±Ø²ÛŒ) (b. ... NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation[2] (NATO; French: ; also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance, or the Western Alliance) is a military alliance established by the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. ...

Industry

The local economy is dominated by agriculture and karakol production; small scale oil and gas exploitation have boosted the city's prospects. The city is a traditional centre for buzkashi, and its shrine the focus of Afghanistan’s Nawroz celebrations.

Places of interest

The modern city of Mazari Sharif is centered around the Shrine of Hazrat Ali. Much restored, it is one of Afghanistan’s most glorious monuments. Outside Mazar lies the ancient city of Balkh, that still contains much of interest to the visitor.

Trivia

Contents

History

Industry

Places of interest

Trivia

See also

References and footnotes

External links