Afghanistan's Herat Civilizations exhausted by war
Herat - It was not a coincidence that one of the oldest civilizations in human history emerged in the Herat Valley (western Afghanistan), which is a fertile plain located between two mountains called White (Safid Koh) in the north and Black (Sia Koh) in the south. The valley between them is 50 km in width and length. 300 km.
Similar to the civilizations of Mesopotamia and the Nile (the Fertile Crescent), the former professor of history at Herat University, Nemat Soruri, attributes the emergence of civilization in this valley 8,000 years ago to the "Hari Road" river, to which the name of the region is attributed.
Soruri adds - to AJ Net - that two main factors have strengthened the region's position: the strategic location between Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East, which has salivated emperors and warriors throughout history since before Alexander the Great, and its location in the middle of the Silk Road reefs that linked between The ancient and middle-aged civilizations, from China in East Asia to the West or what is now called the Middle East to Europe, which caused the economic and cultural prosperity of the region.
Human heritage
The Timurid era is considered the most prosperous civilization of Herat, due to the scientific, cultural and urban momentum whose traces still exist until now, and which made many call Herat the capital of Afghan culture.
Global and local efforts have been made over the past two decades to include the city of Herat on the list of UNESCO's human heritage, and its landmarks have already been included on the list of human heritage in danger of extinction.
While the Department of Culture and Heritage in the state of Herat records about 800 archaeological sites in the state, archaeologists and historians unanimously agree that the most important and prominent monuments that had a historical role in various fields are: the beacons of the Al-Musalla Complex, the Sultan’s Choir Al-Din Citadel, the Great Mosque of Herat, and the tomb complex. Khawaja Abdullah Ansari.
Lighthouses of Herat
Perhaps the most remarkable thing that draws the attention of visitors to the city of Herat is its six remaining minarets among the 10 minarets built by Sultana Gohar Shad, wife of Sultan Shahrukh Hussein Baigra, the most prominent sultans of the Timurid kingdom in the 14th and 15th centuries AD.
Archaeologist Humayun Ahmadi says - to AJ Net - that Sultana Gohar Shad wanted to build it the culmination of the Al-Musalla Civilization Complex, which was a scientific, cultural and economic metropolis, and adds that the gates of the lower beacons were at the level of the ceilings of the four layers of the buildings of the cultural and scientific centers that were in the status of a university attached to centers For worship, an orphanage and administrative offices.
All the buildings of the Al-Musalla complex have collapsed, leaving only 5 complete minarets with a height of 72 meters, half of the sixth, and the minarets of Herat have been included on the UNESCO list of human heritage in danger of extinction. Ahmadi asserts that two reasons prevented the restoration of the remaining minarets: the weak Afghan expertise, which does not comply with the standards of the United Nations Culture and Science Organization (UNESCO), and the lack of funding for this huge project.
Ahmadi, who directs the Department of Antiquities Restoration in the Department of Culture in Herat Province, says, "The greatest danger that threatens the remaining minarets is war and neglect, and considers that their survival from the war was a miracle, as it was the first targeting of them by British forces in the 1940's, to deprive the Russian forces They were used as observatories in the event that British forces retreated from the forces of Tsarist Russia, and then were on the lines of fire in the Soviet-Afghan war.”
Sultana Gohar Shad was not the only pioneer in the field of architecture and management. The history of Herat tells of a long series of pioneers in administration and science throughout history, including that two sisters took it upon themselves to build a bridge over the Heri Road River, and it is still classified as the most prominent urban laboratories in the city. It was destroyed by wars several times and was rebuilt in the same style and shape.
The castle of choosing Al-Din
The history of the fortified citadel in the center of Herat dates back to about 4 thousand years, and historical accounts say that a woman named Shamiri, who had intelligence and management, was the first to order the construction of the citadel, which confirms, in the opinion of historian Sorouri, that the civilization of Herat dates back to before Alexander the Macedonian invaded central Herat. Asia, and that the castle of choosing the religion was called in Greek "Arca Kwana".
He adds that Sultan Akhtyar al-Din reconstructed and expanded it, to be a house of rule enjoying immunity and immunity, in addition to the impregnable wall, which is about 250 meters long and built on it 18 towers to defend it, and it was restored in 2015 with funding from the Aga Khan International Foundation for Culture and Heritage.
The blue Mosque
Historians confirm that the Great Mosque of Herat or the Blue Mosque was the largest temple of fire for Zoroastrians or the Aryans, and the fire was extinguished after the conquest of the country by the great companion Al-Ahnaf bin Qais and the conversion of its people in the year 29 AH. The mosque is classified as the fifth largest mosque in the world, and it is the first mosque built in western Afghanistan.
The director of the mosque complex, Abdul Aziz Shetty, says that the current building was built during the reign of the Timurid Sultan Ghiath al-Din Guri, and it was customary for each sultan to be distinguished by a new addition to the mosque, whether in inscriptions, arts or expansion, and the most famous calligraphers who supervised its decoration, the calligrapher Muhammad Ali.
As for the historian Sururi, he adds that the mosque was destroyed several times, and was completely burnt down in 414 AH.
And the Timurid architecture appears in the mosque, from elaborate engineering, and decoration of the walls inside and outside with Al-Kashi tiles planned in Arabic and Persian, on which were recorded poems, religious recitations and phrases dating back to the Timurid civilization. The surah is from one corner and ends at the opposite corner and covers the entire wall, encroaching on 4 huge doors.
Among the scholars who resided in the Blue Mosque are Fakhr al-Din al-Razi and Khawaja Abdullah Ansari, both of whom are known for their scientific contributions that are still taught in universities, especially the prestigious Western universities.
Abdullah Ansari Complex
The lineage of the scholar Abdullah Ansari (11th century) goes back to the great companion Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, and the architecture in his tomb complex testifies to the flourishing of science and scholars. More than 80 volumes in various sciences, as did Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, who was buried in Herat.
It is common among the intellectuals of Herat that it was not able to absorb students from all over the world, until the enactment of a law requiring that no more than two students from each country of the Islamic world be accepted.
Herat did not record a poet or writer comparable to the poet and writer Abdul Rahman Jami in the 15th century, who lived in the Timurid era and enriched him with science and literature.
Undo factors
Heroic intellectuals and historians almost unanimously agree that successive wars pose the greatest danger to the region's culture and heritage, and archaeologist Ahmadi says - to AJ Net - that the only guarantee for preserving Herat's heritage, developing its civilization and spreading its culture lies in preventing war.
As for the historian Sururi, he insists that Herat is still the capital of Afghan culture, but he admits that modern political geography has limited the growth and prosperity of the Heroic civilization, and believes that the imperial eras allowed the Heroines to attract scholars in all fields, and the national state came to limit the transfer of expertise, especially with the decline Security and the economy.
Because Afghanistan is a landlocked country that does not overlook the sea, the importance of the Silk Roads has declined and has been replaced by sea and air trade lines, but Sarvi believes that the elements of science and culture exist and will return to Herat because the foundations on which all civilizations are based.(Al Jazeera Net)
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