The story of the Minaret of Jam lying hidden in the remote mountains of Western Afghanistan, may appear to the readers a tale of pure fantasy told by the weary travellers of the adventures across wilderness of Afghanistan. Nonetheless, its existence is a reality. Its appeal lies in its mysterious name, and its disconnection with civilization, which is hard to reach to the bravest of all travellers.
But, the fact remains that a few people have tried and managed to reach to it. The first among them was Sir Thomas Holdich who walked along the entire length of Himalayas searching for it, until he chanced upon it in the year 1886, and made the world aware of its existence. Next was the French archaeologist Andre Maricq who spent considerable time digging around the site to unravel the mystery of its origins as late as 1957.
It was left to the strong-willed Freya Stark to travel to the site, and write a book on it in the year 1970, when she was 77 years old. Again, in the year 1970, Peter Levi and Bruce Chatwin who travelled to site when it was relatively unknown.
The minaret is 66 metres (213 feet) tall, built on an area, which is 540 square feet. It is an elegant, sandstone coloured monument, inlaid with inscriptions carved on it in perfect Arabic calligraphy. It stands at a place from where the muezzin could fill the entire valley with the echoes of the melodious azan to the surrounding countryside. Seen from below, it is a pillar of resolute strength with an obsession for detail built by its master architects, who visualized the design and location of the minaret in the isolated mountains of Afghanistan, with the depth of its shadows giving to it, the added strength. When it is seen from above it is a miracle of simplicity and built in proportion to the rocks, which blend easily with the country's mountainous background. At the time of its construction in the 12th century, it would have been ranked as the tallest minaret in the world.
Findings from the recent excavations point to the belief that the minaret was once a part of a large Friday Mosque – with a large settlement of people - that has long been destroyed over the passage of time by the forces of nature. It is reasoned that it was the site of the ancient city of Firuzkuh, the 12th century summer capital of the Ghurid dynasty.
The Ghurids took their name from the mountainous area Ghor - where the present minaret is located –using it as a launch pad to expand their empire across a greater part of Asia in a series of wars, which brought them dazzling victories. The Ghurids had their origins in Persia, and patronized art, literature and calligraphy. The minaret has Arabic calligraphy in Persian style. It is recorded that the Ghurids built around 60 to 70 minarets of the same style between the 11th and 13th century, both as signs of their Islamic piety and as symbols of conquest. However, the Minaret of Jam is the most imposing among all of them because of its magnificent settings, and the grand style of its Islamic architecture.
Built entirely by brick, the Minaret of Jam is decorated with tiles in perfect geometric design. It has an elaborate set of double staircases inside it, which run upward, for the muezzin to climb and call out the Azan. On a symbolic level, it glorifies the power of Almighty God and confirms the worldly power of those who constructed it.
In 2002, the archeological site, near the Minaret of Jam was declared a monument on the UNESCO's list of world's heritage sites, and its fragility reminds us about its miraculous survival until now, when other less isolated and later day minarets in Herat have vanished into a rubble of stones and dust. It is for this reason; we should value it, while we still have it! It is undoubtedly one of the greatest wonders of the Islamic world.
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February 2010 |
