Built in 1776 to house a cloak considered to have belonged to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Kherqa Sharif (or Kirka Sharif, ‘sacred cloak’ in Pashto) is one of the most significant religious sites in Afghanistan. The cloak, a revered relic believed to have curative and protective powers, has also been an important political symbol in the region. The shrine, located adjacent to the mausoleum of the Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Durrani, was completed under the rule of Ahmad Shah’s son and successor Timur Shah Durrani (r. 1772–93). It is also known as Kherqa-ye Sharif, Da Kherqa Sharif Ziarat and Khirqat al-Nabi, among other variations.

The shrine stands in the centre of Kandahar, within a paved complex that also houses a mosque, a cemetery, a madrassa that was originally a khanqah (Sufi resthouse), besides Ahmad Shah’s tomb; originally the shrine also had an adjoining hauz (cistern). It is a profusely decorated, single-storeyed structure with a rectangular floor plan; it is topped by a central blue-tiled dome with a large finial, and small minarets at the corners. While there are also doors on the northern and southern sides, the main entrance is a large arched entranceway to the east. 

The exterior — including the niches and the muqarnas (honeycomb vaulting) of the entry arch — is decorated in intricate Kashikari (ceramic mosaic work), with a skirting of beige Lashkar Gah marble running along the bottom. An 1879 photograph of the eastern entranceway shows the facade as being stuccoed and painted with motifs such as trees and peacocks — this was replaced by the ceramic cladding in 1967–68. The present mosaics, in blues and greens as well as warmer colours in parts, include floral and geometrical motifs and bands of calligraphy, including quotations in Arabic from the Quran and a verse from Puta Khazana, an anthology of Pashto poetry. Some scholars attribute them to a local master artisan named Nek Mohammad.  

The carpeted interior is also extravagantly decorated with intricate, colourful paint- and tilework, and illuminated by chandeliers and hanging lamps. The walls are clad with tiles in geometric patterns and frequently feature Arabic inscriptions. The vaulted ceiling and the inner face of the dome are vividly painted, predominantly in orange, brown, yellow and green, and decorated with floral motifs: the work of a Herati master artist named Sufi Abd al-Hamid in 1909. 

Unlike the one on view at the Hirka-i-Sharif in Istanbul, Turkiye, the Afghan cloak relic is kept hidden from view following an eighteenth-century decree. It is housed within a series of nested cases held in a large cloth-covered box; this stands on an elevated platform facing the main entrance. The platform is enclosed by lattice screens with a large viewing window in the front. This sanctum area is secured by a silver-clad door, which according to its inscription was donated in 1917 by Khushdil Khan Luynab, the then-governor of Kandahar. Entry to the inside is highly restricted, and the key to the case holding the cloak is in the sole custody of the mutawalli (trustee) of the shrine. In front of the sanctum are glass cases displaying a number of calligraphed manuscripts of the Quran, and worshippers ritually crawl under them while paying their respects. Based on a verbal description, a twentieth-century scholar has described the cloak as being made of fine camel wool with a bluish lustre, partially moth-eaten, and meant for a short-statured person. 

The cloak is believed to have been worn by Muhammad (570–632 CE) during his Night Journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, associated with his ascension to heaven. Most narratives concur that it later made its way from West Asia to present-day Uzbekistan, and from there to Afghanistan. It is known to have been brought to Kandahar in 1769, during Ahmad Shah’s reign, from Balkh or Badakhshan (in present-day north–northeastern Afghanistan). There are, however, multiple accounts of these journeys. While one suggests that the Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur (r. 1370–1405) may have brought the cloak back from his conquests in West Asia to his capital Samarkand (in present-day Uzbekistan), another states that it reached Bukhara in the hands of some Arabs who had taken possession of it in Mecca. A widely believed narrative in Afghanistan, first known to have appeared in the mid-nineteenth century text Tarikh-i-Sultani, suggests that the emir of Bukhara Shah Murad Beg offered the cloak to Durrani as a gift or as part of a negotiation of territorial borders between them. A later development of this story states that Murad Beg permitted Durrani to perform ziyarat (pilgrimage) to the cloak, which itself must not be taken beyond a certain stone marker — Durrani, however, carried away both the cloak and the boundary stone. A Central Asian stone plinth standing within the present shrine complex is believed to allude to this story. 

Perhaps the most historically reliable account is one by Durrani’s court chronicler Mahmud Husayni Jami, in which the cloak is brought from Badakhshan under Ahmad Shah’s orders. In 1768 his general Shah Wali Khan Bamizai was tasked with bringing the cloak to Kabul, where Bamizai is believed to have had a mystical dream of Ali while guarding the cloak — this eventually led to the commissioning of the Ziyarat-e Sakhi shrine at the site. After a number of months here, the cloak was brought to the capital, Kandahar, making several ritual stops en route, which became sanctified spots called qadamgahs or alighting places, and Ahmad Shah donated awqaf (tax-free lands) to several shrines along the way. Scholars suggest that after arriving in Kandahar in 1769, the cloak was temporarily housed in either a makeshift structure commissioned for it or at the Zarah Masjid in Kandahar. 

In the same year, Ahmad Shah issued a farman (royal decree) which placed it in the care of a named trustee, Hajji Abd al-Haqq of the Alkuzai Durrani tribe, whose descendants continued to serve as mutawallis as of 2012. The farman also stipulated that the cloak remain in a box whose sole key would rest with the mutawalli and which would never be opened without the king’s decree — anyone wishing to pay their respects, regardless of their social standing, would have to do so to the box. 

Some scholars suggest that Timur Shah intended to house the cloak in Ahmad Shah’s mausoleum — based on the central space that is left vacant, ostensibly for the relic. However, possibly following opposition by the ulema (religious scholars) of Kandahar to the use of the sacred artefact as a political tool, a separate shrine was built for it next to the mausoleum. The ulema are also believed to have issued a fatwa (Islamic legal ruling) prohibiting further movement of the cloak.  

The cloak and the Kherqa Sharif shrine have served as powerful political and cultural symbols in Afghanistan for centuries. Following the first Anglo-Afghan War (1839–42), British military officials stationed here wrote that the shrine as well as Ahmad Shah’s tomb were seen not only as a spiritual refuge, but a sanctuary considered beyond any legal jurisdiction. The rare public displays of the cloak have generally accompanied crucial events in the nation’s history. Having been ousted from his throne in Kabul, in 1929 Amanullah Khan (r. 1919–29) displayed the cloak in a bid to rally support to reclaim power. In 1935, after a cholera epidemic broke out in Kandahar, the cloak was carried in a procession to the Eid Gah Mosque to be displayed there as a talisman, among other rituals and sacrifices, to end the suffering in the city. In 1996, the founder and head of the Taliban, Muhammad Omar, made a public appearance displaying the cloak to legitimise his position as amir al-muʾminin (Commander of the Faithful) and the emir of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan — an event often considered instrumental in cementing his leadership.

In 1782, Timur Shah and his brothers established an endowment for the shrine, which drew revenue from the Nahr-i Ahmad Shahi, a canal commissioned by Ahmad Shah to supply water to his new royal city. The endowment was to be directed towards procuring cracked wheat to feed the impoverished while the shrine’s maintenance and its employees’ salaries were paid for from the royal treasury. As the mutawalli, Haqq was also given the responsibility of managing finances. 

In 1895, then crown prince Nasrullah Khan (r. 1919) had the western courtyard expanded following the purchase of adjoining serais and houses. Inside the shrine, the prince commissioned a silver screen for the sanctuary, new carpets, and chandeliers. In 1907–08 his brother Habibullah Khan (r. 1901–19) had the eastern courtyard expanded, the arches painted and dalan ha (vestibules) made on the south side, besides setting up patronage for the staff and students of the madrasa. It was under his commission that Sufi Abd al-Hamid worked on the interiors of the shrine. The present Kashikari and inscriptions on the exterior were carried out as part of a major modernisation effort for the shrine in 1967–68 under Mohammad Zahir Shah (r. 1933–73). The original stucco work on the facade was covered by the ceramic cladding, and the hauz was filled in. Several important persons were also interred in the cemetery next to the shrine. In 1974, the door to the shrine was replaced with a new one inlaid with lapis lazuli, Shah Maqsood stones, chased silver and gold. 

In the early 2000s, the Kherqa Sharif shrine reportedly received funding from Western agencies towards renovation, along with the mausoleum of Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Shah Maqsud Shrine, Khakriz. This formed part of a larger reconstruction project in the country in the wake of the US invasion, and was accompanied by press coverage and recognition of the shrine’s history.