The Ghurid sultan Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad is credited with founding the mosque in 1200, and he was buried in a mausoleum within it. His son added a madrasa and finished the work in 1210. The Ghurids built it in brick on a four-iwan plan around a central courtyard.
Shah Rukh repaired it from 1405, adding glazed-tile mosaic to the courtyard facades and a marble mihrab. The mosque is about 591 feet (180 m) long and 394 feet (120 m) wide. The article lists 4 iwans, 460 domes, 444 pillars and 12 minarets, and gives minaret heights as 12 to 36 meters in the infobox and 17 to 36 in the text.
Mongol conquest in 1221 and an earthquake in 1364 ruined it. Major reconstruction ran from 1951 to 1973. A rocket struck a minaret in 1986 during the Soviet-Afghan War, killing many people. The article gives no current visitor policy.
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