Abu Huraira

 mausoleum, fortification, interesting place

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Variant name: Kafir Qal'a Zadyan. See nearby site Zadyan

Balkh Province: Two kilometers north of Zadyan near Daulatabad; 42 kilometers northwest of Balkh.

Dates: Hephthalite/pre-Mongol period, 6th–12th century AD;
Ghaznavid period, 1000-1050 AD (stylistic evidence).

This vast fortified citadel is surrounded by 12-meter-high ramparts made from large mud-bricks and a ditch. The south and east sides have salients; the west side has a ramp entrance. The interior has been heavily disturbed and is covered in baked brick fragments.

On the walls is the mausoleum of Abu Huraira (died: 678 AD), who was a companion of the Prophet Muhammed and served as narrator of the Hadith (the oral tradition that recounted the customs and actions of the Prophet, long considered an essential supplement to, and clarification of, the Qu'ran by Sunni Muslims).

The citadel and mausoleum has an iwan entrance opening onto an octagonal dome chamber with simple arched squinches, containing a cenotaph and mihrab. Construction is of pakhsa blocks alternating with mud-bricks.



Source: Warwick Ball, Archaeological Gazetteer of Afghanistan, 1982, n. 8