a city in northern Afghanistan, at the Balkh oasis. The administrative center of Balkh Province. Population, 43,200 (1969).
Mazar-i-Sharif is the most important trade center and transportation junction on the Bactrian plain; trade is mostly in karakul, wool, leather, rugs, grain, fruits, and nuts, as well as in craft items and imported consumer goods. There are cotton gins and oil mills; metalworking is important. Craftsmen produce silk and cotton fabric, embroidered skullcaps, carpets, leather goods, and metalware. In 1973 the city worked with the USSR to build a plant for nitrogen fertilizers (based on gas coming from deposits in northern Afghanistan) and a steam power plant.
According to Muslim tradition, Mazar-i-Sharif is the site of the grave of Caliph Ali. At the end of the 15th century a mausoleum, or mazar, was built above it, and it became a site visited by Shiite pilgrims. (In Arabic, mazar-i-sharif means the grave of a noble; hence the name of the city.)