Have you heard the tale of a cloak? This is not just any cloak but the cloak of the prophet Muhammad. Our story begins with this very cloak and its connection to this place of worship. Welcome to the Aba Salih Worship Place in Kabul. It is more than just a mosque. It is a place of legend and faith.
The story says that this cloak was woven by Muhammad himself. His daughter Fatima helped him. So did her husband Ali and Muhammad’s grandsons Hasan and Husayn. Before Muhammad died he gave the cloak to Uwais al-Qarani. He told Ali and Umar to give Uwais the cloak after his death. After Muhammad’s death Uwais took the cloak to the Cave of Hira. Muhammad received his first revelation there.
The cloak stayed in the cave until it was taken to Baghdad. Shaykh al-Uliya Qutba al-Atqiya took it. Later Timur seized it and took it to his capital of Samarqand. It stayed there until 1665 or 1666. Then the cloak was taken to India. From there it went to Balkh in western Afghanistan. Mir Yar Beg was the governor of the city then. He built a fort in Juzgun Badakhshan. He wanted to keep the cloak safe. After the cloak moved to Juzgun the settlement became Fayzabad. The cloak stayed there for seventy-nine years.
In 1767 or 1768 Ahmad Shah Durrani decided to move the cloak to his capital of Kandahar. He chose Shah Wali Khan E’temad al-Dawla to move it. A group of pious men carried the cloak. Kabul was on the way south from Fayzabad. Near the edge of Kabul the group stopped to rest. They allowed local people to see the cloak.
One day the men saw a man in green praying by the cloak. On the third night they dreamt the man in green came to see the cloak again. He took his sword from its sheath. He put it on a rock nearby. The blade had a double tip. They knew the sword was Zulfiqar. They knew the man was Imam Ali.
The rock where Ali put his sword is now inside the shrine. When the men woke up they knew a shrine should be built there. Ahmad Shah paid for the first building. It had one dome over the rock. The cloak stayed here for eight months. Then it went south to Kandahar. It is still there today. Mullah Omar wore it in 1996.
In 1919 a second dome was added to the Aba Salih Worship Place. The mother of Amanullah Khan added it. Four more domes were added between 2008 and 2016. Every year there is a Nowruz celebration outside the shrine. A large banner is raised for Imam Ali. He was Muhammad’s standard-bearer.
Inside the Aba Salih Worship Place there is a small underground shrine. It is on the women’s side. A tight staircase goes down to a small chamber. Women leave petitions and offerings there. On the men’s side there is a hand-print relic.
Many Hazaras visit the shrine. The Hazaras are a Shia community. Because of this the shrine has been attacked. In March 2018 there was a suicide bombing here. In 2021 journalists saw Taliban soldiers guarding the shrine. They were protecting it from the Islamic State. They took their job seriously.
Today the Aba Salih Worship Place stands as a testament to faith history and resilience. It reminds us of the cloak’s journey and the enduring power of belief. Take a moment to reflect on the stories held within these walls. Remember the devotion that has shaped this sacred place.