Afghanistan - Herat Grand Mosque

Herat Grand Mosque

Thanks to Tian Zi Yi of China for arranging this postcard sent from Kabul, Afghanistan.

The Jama Masjid of Herat (مسجد جمعه هرات), also known as the Masjid-i Jami' of Herat, and the Great Mosque of Herat is a mosque in the city of Herat, in the Herat Province of north-western Afghanistan. It was built by Ghurids, the famous Sultan Ghayas-ud-Din Ghori, who laid its foundation in 1200 AD, and later extended by several rulers as Herat changed rulers down the centuries from the Timurids, to the Safavids, to the Mughals and the Uzbeks, all of whom supported the mosque. Though many of the glazed tiles have been replaced during subsequent periods, the Great Mosque in Herat was given its present form during the closing years of the fifteenth century.

Apart from numerous small neighborhood mosques for daily prayer, most communities in the Islamic world have a larger mosque, a congregational mosque for Friday services with a sermon. The Jama Masjid was not always the largest mosque in Herat; a much larger complex the Mosque and Madressa of Gawharshad, also built by the Timurids, was located in the northern part of the city. However, those architectural monuments were dynamited by officers of the British Indian Army in 1885, to prevent its use as a fortress if a Russian army tried to invade India. (read further)

Afghanistan

The landscape of today's cities and towns vary widely. Excavations in Afghanistan have revealed signs of human settlement dating back 7,000 years.

Sent by Leo of U.S.A. from Afghanistan.

Afghanistan /æfˈɡænɨstæn/ (Persian/Pashto: افغانستان, Afġānistān), officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in Central Asia, South Asia, and is a part of the Greater Middle East,. It has a population of around 30 million inhabiting an area of approximately 652,000 km² (252,000 sq mi), making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast.

Afghanistan has been an ancient focal point of the Silk Road and human migration. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation from as far back as the Middle Paleolithic. Urban civilization may have begun in the area as early as 3,000 to 2,000 BC. Sitting at an important geostrategic location that connects the Middle East culture with Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent, the land has been home to various peoples through the ages and witnessed many military campaigns, notably by Alexander the Great, Arab Muslims, Genghis Khan, and in modern-era Western forces. The land also served as a source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Mughals, Durranis and others have risen to form major empires. (read further)

Zip Code 09836 DPO AE Armed Forces

Afghanistan - Blue Mosque Mazar e Sharif

The Blue Mosque or the Shrine of Hazrat Ali in Mazar e Sharif in Afghanistan.

Sent by an English teacher in Afghanistan. The stamp is postmarked with Feldpost/Field Post (the German Military Postal Service), the equivalent to US Army Post Office (APO).

And thanks too to Dawn from Leeds for your kind help. God bless.

This is from Wikipedia : The Shrine of Hazrat Ali, also known as the Blue Mosque, is a mosque in Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan. It is one of the reputed burial places of Ali. It is the building which gives the city in which it is located, Mazari Sharif (meaning "Tomb of the Exalted") its name.

According to Shi'a Muslim belief, Ali was originally buried by his two sons, Hasan and Husayn in an undisclosed location, which was later made known by the great, grandson of Husayn and Sixth Shi'a Imam, Ja'far as-Sadiq - as the grave that is found within Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf, Iraq.

The story of the founding of the shrine indicates that, shortly after the murder of Ali and the burial of his body at Najaf, near Baghdad, some of Ali's followers worried that his body would be desecrated by his enemies, and they placed his remains on a white female camel. Ali's followers traveled with the camel for several weeks, until the camel ultimately fell to the ground exhausted. The body was then reburied where the camel fell. The body was said to be redisovered there in the 12th century.

According to tradition, Mazari Sharif owes its existence to a dream. At the beginning of the 12th century, a local mullah had a dream in which Ali bin Abi Talib, the prophet's cousin and son-in-law and first Shia Imam and one of the four Rightly Guided Caliphs appeared to reveal that he had been secretly buried near the city of Balkh. After investigation and the opening of the tomb, the Seljuk sultan Sanjar ordered a city and 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 neighbor Balkh, until that city was abandoned in 1866 for health reasons.

The Seljuq dynasty sultan Ahmed Sanjar rebuilt the first shrine at this location. it was destroyed by Genghis Khan in the invasion around 1220. It was rebuilt in the 15th century by Husain Baiqara. Most of the shrine's decorations, however, are the result of modern restoration work. One of the few remaining artifacts from the earlier shrine is a marble slab inscribed with the words, "Ali, Lion of God."

A site plan of the location made in the 1910s shows that there had earlier been a smaller walled precinct in the mosque, which were razed to create parklands later, although the portals to this precincts still remain as gateways for the shrine.

Tombs of varying dimensions were added for a number of Afghan political and religious leaders over the years, which has led to the development of its current irregular dimensions. These include the square domed tomb of Amir Dost Muhammad and a similar structure for Amir Sher Ali and his family.