Afghanistan: Balkh – Green Mosque

There is yet another historic mosque in Balkh – the Green Mosque aka Khawaja Abu Nasr Parsa Mosque. It was built in the 15th century (1419–1421) by the Timurid ruler Shah Rukh (ruler of the Eastern Timurid Empire) and hence has the same architecture and plenty of beautiful blue tiles. The mosque has a large dome and two minarets and there is a tomb of an Islamic mystic inside. Outside the mosque, there is also the tomb of Rābi’a Balkhi, a 10th-century Persian poetess. Supposedly, she fell in love with her brother’s slave and the brother imprisoned her in a hammam and ordered her wrists slashed as punishment. She wrote her final love poems on the walls with her own blood before dying. Also, just outside the mosque is a destroyed or abandoned American humvee vehicle, this one is not that ancient.