This photograph of Kandahar, taken from the Hazratji Tomb, is from an
album of rare historical photographs depicting people and places
associated with the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Located north of the center
of the city and surrounded by the tombs of 19th-century Afghan rulers,
the tomb is a shrine to Hazratji, a famous Kandahari saint. That his
tomb is seven meters long attests to his reputation for holiness. The
other tombs have tall marble stones at each end and are decorated with
black and white pebbles. The photograph shows the walls and sentry
towers of the city, sprawling across the background and fading into the
distance to the right. Small shrines and graves occupy the foreground.
Natives of Ziarat-e-Hazratji
Ziarat generally means “visit” in Arabic, but here it refers
specifically to religious pilgrimage sites found across the Middle East
and North Africa and visited by Muslims of all persuasions. The remains
of great religious teachers or members of
bāyt ʻAlī (the family
of ʻAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, the fourth Muslim caliph) are buried in such
shrines. This monument to Hazratji, a famous Kandahari saint, is located
north of the center of the city and is surrounded by the tombs of
19th-century Afghan rulers.
Source: Library of congress
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