Islam in Kashmir
with reference to Mir Syed Ali Hamdani.
The world
is fully aware about the fact that Islam had its advent in Arabia in seventh
century at ‘the hands of the seal of the Prophets’, Prophet Mohammad S.A.W., and its ideology, laws,
principles, guidelines, commands, mandates, stipulations, provisions are based
on equality and justice and are well known and simple in their approach. That
is why Islam, the message of truth, was warmly accepted by majority of the
nations and remarkably in its first century, Islam was acknowledged in all well
known countries and hence people in Iran , Africa ,
European countries were triumphant in recognizing it. Islam came to Kashmir much before 1320 A.D. and it is identified that
‘Hameen’, an Islamic
scholar from Syria
was first Muslim who entered Kashmir . Hameen immigrated to Kashmir around 712 A.H. Many saints and Sufis came to valley of Kashmir
His name was Ali, and titles were Amir-e-Kabir, Ali Saani, Mir etc., besides these,
the chroniclers had mentioned several other titles: Qutub-e- Zaman, Sheikh-e-salikan-e-jehan,
Qutub-ul-Aktab, Moihul-Ambiya-o-ul-mursaleen, Afzal-ul Muhaq-e-qeen-o-Akmal-ul-Mudaq-e-qeen,
Al-Sheiyookh-ul-Kamil, Akmal-ul-Muhaqqiq-ul-Hamdani Etc.
Syed
Ali Hamdani was born in Hamadan [Iran] but his date of birth is not evident,
while some claim it to be 12 Rajab-ul-Murajab 714 A.H. or [12 october1314] and
according to other sources it is 12 Rajab-ul-Murajab [12 October 1313].Historians
opine that the former date appears more credible. Syed Ali Hamdani was the son
of Syed Shahabud-Din, an
Allavi Syed and the governor of Hamadan .
He traced his patrimony all the way through his father Syed Shahabud-Din to the great-grandson of Holy Prophet- Imam Zain ul Abidin-
and his mother Syeda Fatimah
with seventeen links reached to lineage
of Prophet S.A.W. Syed Ali Hamdani came from a knowledgeable family. He
was intelligent and grasping and this is reflected through his memorizing of
holy Quran at an early age. He gained early education from his maternal uncle Syed Ala-ud-din and took guidance
on theological and other literatures for period of nearly thirteen years. Syed Ala-ud-din, then entrusted
him to Sheikh Abul Barkhat
for his spiritual training but after his demise, he proceeded to Sheikh Mehmud Mzqani , for quenching his spiritual
quest. Syed Ali Hamdani
belonged to a Sufi sect branded as Kubrawis from the branch of the Suharawardy
order. He received his saintly beneficiary from Sheikh
Abul Miam’in Najam-uddin, Mohammed bin Mohammed Azani. While studying,
he was quite interested in dealing with the spiritual practices likes Aiti’kaf. Syed Ali Hamadani spent early
twenty years of his life in his native land and moreover betrothed in the
spiritual preparation of his followers, preaching, counseling and in religious discourses.
Travelling is quite essential in spiritual life, hence under the orders of his
teacher Sheikh Mehmud Mizdaqani,
he went out for a journey, as Sheikh
Mahmud Mizdaqani conveyed to him, “travel about the world, meet the
saints, and draw benefits from them as much as you can.” He performed Hajj
thrice in his life and travelled for more than twenty years. He went round the
world for three times. Throughout his journey, he met one thousand and four
hundred saints and made numerous followers. It was a real fortune for the valley of Kashmir Kashmir in 1372
A.D. (774 A.H.), during the reign of Sultan
Shahab-uddin. He did not stay in the valley for much long time, as he
stayed only for six months and then continued his spiritual journey. He once
again visited Kashmir in 1379 A.D. /781A.D.
when Qutub-ud-Din was the ruler and stayed for a year to extend the movement to
every nook and corner of Kashmir , thereby returned to Turkistan
via ladakh in 783 A.H. lastly, he visited Kashmir
in 1383A.D./785 A.H., which some scholars believe is his only visit, probably
in 1381. Prop. Khan, Ghulam Rasool Bhat and some other scholars hold that the
early sources are unanimous in saying that Syed Ali Hamdani came to Kashmir once. ‘While as Hassan, and Miskin maintain that ‘Syed
Ali visited Kashmir three times, (774 A.H/1372
-73 A.D., 781A.H. /1379-80A.D., and 785A.H./1383-84A.D). Modern scholars like
Muhi-ud-din Sufi, and Muhibul Hassan, agree with them, both relying on Miskin. According
to Hikmat, Syed Ali Hamdani visited Kashmir
twice, in the same way presented in Iranian journals, Darya and Shiraz Kashmir in 785 A.H.
for the third time and stayed there up to Dhil-Qa’adah of 786 A.H. The Saadat
{descendants of prophet S.A.W} and the people who accompanied with Syed Ali Hamdani
to Kashmir were from Iran , Iraq , Kabul , Kandahar , Bukhara and others areas’. It is said that Syed
Ali Hamadani brought a large group of 700 people with him to Kashmir .
The number of his followers was enormous but some renowned amongst followers
and contemporaries include: Noor-ud-din Jafar Rustaq Bazari Badakhshi, Khawaja
Ishaq khatlani, Sheikh Qiwam-ud din Badakhshi, Mir Syed Hussain Samnani, Mir
Rukn-ud Din, Sighed Fakhr-ud-Din, Qutub-e-Amjad, Syed Mohammad Qureshi, Syed
Mohammad Azizullah, Syed Mohammad Murid, Pir Mohammad Qadiri, Mir Syed Haider
etc. In Kashmir Syed Ali Hamdani’s greatest contribution was bringing people to
the threshold of Islam and their character building, hence imbibed true awakening
and taught them the concept of Towheed and principles of Shariah. The people of
Kashmir were deeply delved in Hindu beliefs;
visited the temples and revered the Brahmans; the rulers wore Hindu dresses,
and observed practices un-Islamic in nature. On the instructions of Syed Ali Hamadani
the rulers abandoned un-Islamic dress and took long cloaks to wear them. Orders
of shairah were made popular and people were inspired to learn more about
Islam. For purpose of building the character of the Muslims he inspired them
with truthfulness and fearlessness. He even scolded the contemporary rulers on
their un-Islamic activities. He laid emphasis on earning from HALAL [lawful]
sources, He made Islamic teaching and practices known to the people of Kashmir,
hence improved their beliefs and made efforts for their character building and
laid down a perfect system for the propagation of Islam and thereby, with the
passage of time, the result was that thirty-seven thousand Kashmiris came to
the acceptance of eternal message of Islam.
As
discussed above that Syed Ali Hamadani
brought a large group of 700 people to Kashmir, who did not became burden over
Kashmiri economy, for they brought with them Iranian arts and crafts and made these
arts and crafts well established in Kashmir, which proves that Syed Ali Hamdani
was not unidirectional but was a multi-dimensional personality. Several
industries of Hamadan
and Iran
became well introduced in Kashmir through his
bestowed self. They popularized shawl-making, cloth-weaving, pottery,
calligraphy in Kashmir . Allama Iqbal admits
that because of Syed Ali Hamdani the wonderful arts and crafts turned Kashmir into minor-Persia [Iran-i-sagheer] and brought
about a revolution in the thinking and attitude of common people. Mir Syed Ali
Hamdani’s room where he stayed on visiting Kashmir , is a part of great
building, named as Khanqah-e-Mu’alla [the monastery], which later turned
the name of the whole area to be thereafter called as Khanqah-i-Mu’alla,
which before was famous as Alla-u-Din Pur. This place was built by Sultan
Sikandar in 1417 A.D. The building is a beautiful model of wooden architecture
of Kashmiri art, with embellished engravings on walls. The secret relics
include the Prophet’s flag, the pillar of the Prophet’s tent, and Syed Ali
Hamdani‘s walking stick. During his life this place acquired the distinction of
being the center of spiritual blessings. People revere the place and some
describe it as the second Ka’aba out of the extreme devotion.
Returning from Kashmir , which was his third visit, he reached Kinar via
Pakhali in Hazara district where he was received with protocol as a royal
guest. He fell ill and after brief illness of five days, at the very place, left
for eternal abode on 14 July 1385 A.D. [25 Jameed-ul-Awwal in 786 A.H.] at the
age of 73. His body was carried to Khatlan, presently Russian Tajikistan and
was buried there. People thronged to visit the burial place of their Spiritual
master ‘Shah-i-Hamdan’ and continue to do so in large number to pay their
homage and devotion to this great Syed. There are four famous shrines related
to the name of Shah Hamadan and these are ‘Khanqah-i-Mu’alla’ in Srinagar;
Shrine in ‘Tral’; Shrine in ‘Doru’ and Shrine in ‘Shey’ (Ladakh), besides other
shrines which are not famous like these include shrines of Sopur, Pompore etc,.
Shah-i-Hamadan besides
being a spiritual saint and a gifted preacher was a man of letters and wrote
about a hundred pamphlets in Arabic and Persian languages. ‘Zakhira-tul-Malik’,
one of his famous books has been translated in more than one language. Whereas,
it is impossible to mention the titles of his whole literary works here,
however some of the literary treasure include: ‘Sharah-Nasoos-ul-Hukm-Farisi’,
‘Risala Nooriya’, ‘Islahat-e-ilm-ul-Qafia-o-Qaeda’,
‘Mowadat-ul-Qurba’, ‘Rouzat-ul-Firdous’, ‘Firdous-ul-Akhbar’,
‘Manazil-ul-Anazil-ul-Salikeen’, ‘Khulasit-ul-Manaqib’, ‘Chehl Asrar’
etc.
Syeda
Zehra Rizvi
Hawal.
REFERENCES
HAMID NASEEM RAFIABADI. /09.
DANISH 1995-96.
DANISH 1996-97.
DANISH VOL.XXVI {26th}
2008-09.
http://www.myasa.net/sufindia/hazrat%
.20Amir-e-Kabir% 20 Shah-e-Hamadan.
No comments:
Post a Comment