Khirqa-Sharifa, the Cloak of the Prophet Mohammad ﷺ is one of the most sacred memorabilia in Islamic history. It is believed that the Prophet ﷺ wore it on Isra' and Mi'raj, the Night Journey, in company of the archangel Jibril (A.S), in 621 AD. It is hosted in a mosque next to the mausoleum of the Afghan King, Ahmad Shah Durrani, in Kandahar, Afghanistan. But how did it get from Arabia to Afghanistan?

During the last days of the Prophet ﷺ, he ordered Ali and Omar (R.A) to give it to Owais Bin Amir Qarni of Yemen as a gift as he had embraced Islam without even seeing the Prophet ﷺ. According to the Maktubat of Miya Faqirullah Shikarpuri in Kandahar (18th Century), after Owais Qarni's death, the Cloak was then given to the companions of the Prophet ﷺ who kept it safely in Ghar Hira, the cave near Mecca, where the first verses of the Quran were revealed.

After many years, it was then discovered and taken to Baghdad. It stayed there for centuries until Tamerlane of the Timurid empire in Afghanistan captured Baghdad and brought the cloak to Samarqand along with other relics in 14th century. After Timur's death, it was taken to Bukhara, and then to Jauzgun in Badakhshan, which was later renamed as Faizabad "the abode of the blessing".

In 1768, the Bukharan ruler had little to no control over Badakhshan, and therefore Mahmud Bey officially gave the Khirqa to the Afghan King Ahmad Shah Durrani as part of a peace treaty which separated their respective territories. By the order of Ahmad Shah, the cloak was then taken to Kabul, and then to Kandahar.

The way in which the Khirqa was transported from the North to Kandahar, with public displays at every stop (Kabul, Ghazni etc), gave more approval and acceptance to the Durrani rule. Every day the camel that had carried the relic in a box would be released with a banner tied around its neck stating that whoever found the animal could keep it, in a sort of ‘itinerant’ almsgiving.

Sources:
Tarikhe Khirqa Sharifa Qandahar by Azizuddin Wakili Popalzai
Abdul Shakur Reshad