Islam made its way into Kashmir, not by forcible conquest but by gradual conversion, for which the influx of foreign adventurers both from the south and from Central Asia had prepared the ground. The adoption of Islam by the great mass of the population began towards the close of Hindu rule, and became an accomplished fact during the latter half of fourteenth century…

Dahir was slain by Muhammad bin Qasim on Thursday, the 10th of Ramazan in the year 93 A.H or June 712 A.C. Dahir’s son, Jaisiya, went to wait on the Rai of Kashmir. A person bearing the name of Hamim, the son of Sama, a Syrian accompanied Jaisiya to Kashmir. The Rai of Kashmir ordered that, from among the dependencies of Kashmir, a place called Shakalha should be assigned to Jaisiya. According to General Cunningham, this place may possibly be Kuller-Kahar in the salt range which, at that time, belonged to Kashmir. Jaisiya died in Shakalha and was succeeded by Hamim son of Sama. Hamim “Founded masjid’s there, and obtained great honur and regard. He was much respected by the King of Kashmir.”

No light is thrown on the origin and mission to India of Hamim the Syrian. But we read, in another place, of Muhammad ‘Allafi or ‘Allani, called an Arab mercenary. He was an “Arab of the Banu Usama, who had killed ‘Abdur Rahman son of Ash’ab, for having run away from battle, and came to join Dahir, with five hundred Arabs.” Subsequently ‘Allafi was dismissed by Dahir, and Muhammad bin Qasim granted ‘Allafi a safe passage. It is not improbable that Hamim was one of the attendants of ‘Allafi. This Hamim, the Syrian, is ostensibly the first Muslim to enter Kashmir.

We have also to note that Muhammad bin Qasim, after the conquest of Sindh, came to Multan. Here “he erected a Jami’ Masjid and minarets.” He appointed Amir Da’ud Nasr, son of Walid ‘Ummani, its governor. Then ibn Qasim proceeded to the boundary of Kashmir called the Panj Mahiyat, at the upper course of the Jhelum, just after it debouches into the plains. This is about the time of the caliphate of Walid (86-96 A.H = 705-715 A.C.).

In the course of our brief outline of the pre-Islamic period of the history of Kashmir, we meet with Lalitaditya-Muktapida, who ruled from 725 to 753 A.C., applying to the Chinese Emperor for aid against the Arabs who were advancing from their bases in Sindh and Multan, and of whom we hear for the first time in connexion with the history of Kashmir from the Rajatarangini. Lalitaditya-Muktapida, as Stein says, is miss pelt in the Arabic characters as Muttapir. His reign according to the Islamic era dated from 107 to 136 A.H we may in passing note that the Arabs won a victory over the Chinese in 751 A.C. or 134 A.H, and acquired Gilgit and other possessions. Mukta pida’s younger son and second successor, Vajraditya-Bappiyaka, ruled between 754 to 761 A.C. During his reign, viz. 137 to 144 A.H., we note that this ruler “sold many men to the Mlechhas” (or Muslims), and “Introduced into Kashmir practices which befitted Mlechhas”(or Muslims). In Harshas time thereafter, we hear of Turushkas, or Muslims, as troop-leaders in Kashmir or in Kalhana’s words “as captains of hundreds.” Harsha’s rule lasted from 1089 to 1101 A.C. or 482 to 495 A.H Marco polo, the Venetian traveller, also refers to the presence of Muslims in Kashmir about 1277 A.C or 676 A.H Following Kalhana and Jonaraja in their chronology, we reach Rinchan or Rinchana during 1320-1323 A.C., or 720 to 724 A.H, which is the terra firma of the advent of Islam as a state religion in Kashmir. In the twelfth century of the Christian era, Stein tells us, the conversion of the Dard tribes on the Indus from the Buddhism to Islam had already made great progress. This is about two centuries before Rinchan who becomes Sultan Sadr-ud-din and the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir.

Islam neither affected the Independence of Kashmir nor, at first, materially changed its political and cultural conditions. The administration, to resume quotation from stein, remained, as before, in the hands of the traditional official class, the Brahmans, for whom a change of religion presented no advantage, and the retention of their old creed apparently involved no loss of inherited status. This appears from the frequent references, made in Jonaraja’s and Crivara’s Chronicles to Brahmans holding high official posts under the early Sultans. Sanskrit continued to be, for a considerable period, the language of the official communication and record in Kashmir even after the end of Hindu rule. The various forms of official documents, reports, etc., which are contained in Lokaprakasha, a handbook of Kashmirian administrative routine, are drawn up “in a curious Sanskrit Jargon, full of Persian and Arabic words which must have become current in Kashmir soon after the introduction of Islam. “The use of Sanskrit, even among Musalmans, is borne out by the Sanskrit inscription on a tomb in the cemetery of Hazrat Baha-ud-Din Ganj Baksh, at the foot of the Hari Parbat in Srinagar. This Inscription was put up in the reign of Sultan Muhammad Shah, sometime in 1484 A.C or 889 A.H. Brief Sanskrit inscriptions, without dates, have been found by Stein on a number of old Muslim tombs at Srinagar, near Martand and elsewhere. Even in certain proper names the reader will notice non-Muslim influences.

“Islam is a force of volcanic sort, a burning and integrating force, which under favourable conditions may even make a Nation,” wrote the late Sir Herbert Risely. “It melts and fuses together a whole series of tribes, and reduces their internal structure to one uniform pattern, in which no survivals of pre-existing usage’s can be detected. The separate strata disappear; their characteristic fossils are crushed out of recognition; and a solid mass of law and tradition occupies their place. Hinduism transfused as it is by mysticism and ecstatic devotion, and resting ultimately on the esoteric teachings of transcendental philosophy, knows nothing of open proselytism or forcible conversion, and attains its ends in different and more subtle fashion, for which no precise analogue can be found in the physical world. It leaves existing aggregates very much as they where, and so far from welding them together, after the manner of Islam, into larger cohesive aggregates tends rather to create an indefinite number of fresh groups; but every tribe that passes within the charmed circle of Hinduism inclines sooner or later to abandon its more primitive usage’s or to clothe them in some Brahmanical disguise. Infant marriage with all its attendant horrors is introduced: widows are forbidden to marry again: and divorce, which plays a great, and on the whole, a useful part in tribal society, is summarily abolished.”

Sir Herbert discusses the Motives assigned in various cases of conversion to Islam and suggests:  “(1) genuine religious conviction of the purity and simplicity of Islam derived from the study of the Muhammadan scriptures or from the preaching of the Maulvies who go round the villages. The conversion of high-caste Hindus, Brahmans, Rajputs, Kayasths and the like is commonly ascribed to this cause. (2) The growing desire on the part of the lower Hindu castes to improve their social position leads individuals among them to embrace a creed which seems to offer them a fair chance in life.  (3) The proverb “Love laughs at caste”accounts for a large number of conversions.  (4) Causes connected with taboos on food and drink and with various caste misdemeanours have also to be taken into account. Hindus in sickness or distress are tended by Muhammadans and take food and water from their hands; the caste ex-communicates them and they join the ranks of a more merciful faith.”

In Kashmir there is not much difference in food between the Muslim and the Hindu, for both enjoy mutton, fish and flying birds, though certain restrictions among the latter are, at times, vexatious. The orthodox Pandit, for instance, would not take tomato, onion, egg and fowl, reminding us of the tradition which allows a dog to be starved or beaten but never to be kicked as it accompanied Yudhishtra to heaven!

A piquant contrast between Hinduism and Islam, not by a Hindu nor by a Muslim, but by a Christian from the west, is not quite irrelevant to the subject under discussion. Writes Mr.Guy Wint in India and democracy: “Breathing from infancy the axioms of caste, Hindus accepted human inequality as a permanent and inexpugnable fact; Islam was a leveling religion with a passion for equality by which even its monarchs were periodically humbled. Hinduism, if in its purest form neither idolatrous nor polytheist, permitted among its rank and file the crudest forms of worship; Islam has always been iconoclast. In spite of the worldly display of India, Hinduism honoured the ascetic and was awed by the other-worldly; Islam, in spite of its puritan sects, was a voluptuous religion. The emotional impulse of Hinduism was the quest for tranquillity; of Islam (in spite of Kismet) the lust for action. Hinduism was subtle, elaborate, luxuriant; Islam plain and unadorned.

“That the two cultures interacted and modified one another goes without saying. For example, where Islam flourished, the caste system weakened; and under Hindu influence Islam lost something of its asperity. In the centuries when Turks, Afghans and Moghuls dominated north India the upper classes of both communities came closer together, and from there fraternization emerged for a brief period what may be termed the Urdu culture, a civilization of the court circles which was a genuine blend of the best in the life of both peoples and by means of which it appeared that they might be reconciled. Among the masses the contact was even closer, since the great bulk of Moslems of the lower class were converts from the depressed castes of Hindus, and these at least in part retained caste observance, conserved something of the Hindu ritualism which in theory was so abhorrent to their new faith, and refused to be turned from the age old superstitions of their race.” This last remark is particularly fitly applicable to the Kashmiri Muslim. Five hundred years of Muslim rule were not sufficient to root out the superstitions of about fifteen hundred years of Buddhist and Brahmanical permeation. Mr. Wint closes with this last sentence: “on both sides there remained solid blocks of the orthodox–ultra-montane uninfluenced, intransigent, and capable of developing within themselves fierce proselytising movements in favour of a return to the strictest exclusiveness.” This is the bigoted Kashmiri Pandit and the antiquated Mulla in the case of Kashmir.

The population of the valley of Kashmir in 1931 was over thirteen lakhs, of which over twelve and a half lakhs were Muslims. In the census of 1941 the Muslims numbered 13,69,620 out of 14,64,034 one must deplore, with the late sir Thomas Arnold, that definite historical facts which might help us in clearly accounting for the existence of such an extraordinarily overwhelming majority of Musalmans among the population of Kashmir are somewhat scanty. The same view was expressed to me by Sir Aurel Stein once. Whatever evidence is available leads us, however, to attribute the spread of Islam in the Valley, on the whole, to a long continued missionary movement inaugurated and carried out mainly by Faqirs or Friars or Darvishes and the ‘Ulama’ or theologians, among whom where Ismailian preachers from Alamut, a hill fort in the province of Dailam in Iran. In addition to this, (i) the compactness of the area of the valley and (ii) the unusually imitative habits of its people were also reasons for this mass conversion.

Islam is essentially a missionary religion like Buddhism and Christianity, and the Muslim Missionary, be he a pir, i.e., a spiritual guide, or a preacher, carries with him the message of Islam to the people of the Land into which he penetrates. “The spirit of the truth in the Heart of the missionary cannot rest till it manifests itself in thought, word and deed.” It is in this spirit that the Muslim missionary entered the Valley of Kashmir to influence its people by his example, his personal methods of preaching and persuasion at a time when, in the words of Lawrence, Kashmir in the reign of Suhadeva (1300-1319-20 AC) - that is, previous to the advent of Islam- “was a country of drunkards and gamblers,” and where “Women were no better than they should be.”

Sultan Sadr-ud-din, Rinchan or Rinchana, the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir, a contemporary of Edward III of England, was originally a Ladakhi, also called a Tibetan, from western Tibet. He was well disposed towards Islam on account of his contact with Shah Mir, then in the Kashmir State service. Rinchan is believed to have actually owed his conversion to Sayyid Bilal (popularized to Bulbul) in the beginning of the fourteenth Century.

 

Bilal Shah or Bulbul Shah is stated to have visited Kashmir first in the time of Raja Suhadeva, the predecessor of Rinchan. The original name of Bulbul Shah is said to have been ‘Sayyid Abdur Rahman, though some believe it to be Syed Sharaf-ud-Din, while others call him Sharaf-ud-Din Syed Abdur Rahman Turkistani. This much is certain that he was a widely travelled Musavi Sayyid from Turkistan having enjoyed a long stay at Baghdad. Bulbul shah was the spiritual disciple of Shah Nimatullah Wali Farsi, a Khalifa of the Suhrawardi Tariq or School of Sufis founded by Shaikh–ush–shuyukh Shaikh Shihab-ud-din Suhrawardi. Khawaja Muhammad Azam in his History has copied the following about Kashmir from the great Shaikh, but the couplet is from Shihab-ud-din Sindhi of Kashmir, according to Hasan: -

Haji Miskin is of the opinion that Bulbul Shah was a disciple of Mulla Ahmad ‘Allama, who is stated to have accompanied Bulbul Shah when he visited Kashmir on the first occasion, in the time of Raja Suhadeva. The same writer mentions Mulla Ahmad ‘Allama’ as the Shaikh-ul-Islam in the reign of Sultan Shams-ud-din (740-743 A.H). I am afraid, however, that this cannot be accepted, as it is very hard to believe that Bulbul Shah should have taken the lead in the conversion of Rinchan, in the presence of his own Pir or Spiritual guide, who would thus be relegated to a secondary position on an occasion of such transcendent importance. Available evidence appears to establish that Bulbul Shah was a Spiritual disciple of Shah Nimatullah Wali Farsi. Mulla Ahmad was a lieutenant of Bulbul Shah, died in the reign of Sultan Shihab-ud-din, and is buried next to Bulbul Shah. The Mulla was made the first Shaikh-ul-Islam and was the author of two books, Fatawa-I-Shihabi and Shihabi-i-Saqib.

The circumstances that led to the conversion of Rinchan appear to have been the impression created on him by the simplicity of Bulbul Shahs Faith coupled with his own dissatisfaction with what was then professed by the people around him. Different people have attributed different motives to Rinchan for adopting Islam, into the details of which motives we need not enter. Suffice it to say that Rinchan embraced Islam at the hands of Bulbul Shah and assumed the name of Sultan Sadr-ud-din, and claims our attention as the first Muslim ruler of Kashmir. Muslim Historians write his name as Rinchan.

            After the conversion of Rinchan, his brother-in-law and commander-in-chief, and several others-according to one tradition ten thousands –embraced the creed of Bulbul Shah. A place of gathering for the new converts was set up on the bank of the Vitasta and is known as Bulbul Lankar-(Lankar is apparently a corruption of ‘Langar’ meaning a Hospice) and also the first mosque in Kashmir now unfortunately reduced to ruins. The Bulbul Lankar is a three storied decayed wooden building on the Right Bank of the Jhelum, about 200 yards below ‘Ali Kadal’, the fifth bridge, in Mahalla Bulbul Lankar, Srinagar. Bulbul Shah died in 727 A.H, corresponding to 1327 A.C.

The conversions of the people of Kashmir to Islam was further encouraged by the arrival of a host of Sayyids. Prominent among these were: (1) Sayyid Jalal-ud-din of Bukhara, who was known as Makhdum Jahaniyan Jahangasht, the disciple of Shaikh Rukn-ud-din ‘Alam’ and arrived in 748 A.H, and left Kashmir after a short stay. (2) Sayyid Taj-ud-din (the cousin of Mir Sayyid ‘Ali Hamdani or Shah Hamdan), who arrived in 760 A.H, in the reign of Sultan Shihab-ud-Din and was accompanied by Syed Masud and Sayyid Yusuf, his disciples, who lie buried near his tomb in Mahalla Shihampor, a Quarter of Srinagar. (3) Sayyid Husain Simnani , who was the younger brother of Sayyid-Taj-ud-Din, a disciple of Shaikh Rukn-ud-Din ‘Alam, and came in 773 A.H

            It appears that the two brothers Sayyid Taj-ud-Din and Sayyid Husain Simnani were sent to Kashmir by Sayyid ‘Ali Hamdani, revered for the Sanctity and eminent virtues, probably to survey the field for the propagation of Islam, and also to find means of escape from Timur, who was suspected of contemplating, from political motives, the massacre of this powerful Sayyid family. Sayyid Husain lies buried in a beautiful shrine in Kulgam, a tahsil of Islamabad. The other brother is buried just close to the road to Islamabad near Avantipor.

In view of the extraordinary influence that his personality wielded in the spread of Islam in Kashmir, I think a somewhat fuller notice of Sayyid ‘Ali Hamdani, “the apostle of Kashmir” is needed. We shall call him “Shah Hamdan” as he is best known in Kashmir by that appellation.

            The great Sayyid, ‘Ali Hamdani, or Shahi Hamdan, also known as Amir-I-Kabir or the great Amir, or Ali-I-Sani the second ‘Ali, was born on Monday, 12th   Rajab 714 A.H (1314 A.C) at Hamdan in Iran. The chronogram Rahmat-ul-llah gives the date of his birth, viz. 714 A. H. and should be taken as his chronogrammatic name. His Mothers name was Fatima and his Father’s was Sayyid Shihab-ud-Din bin Mir Sayyid Muhammad Hussaini. His genealogy, according to the treatise Khulasat-ul-Manaqib, can be traced to Hazrat Ali through Imam Hussain, he being sixteenth in direct descent from ‘Ali Bin Abi Talib. Sayyid ‘Ali Hamdani became Hafiz -I- Quran (one who knows the Qur’an by Heart) in this very early boyhood. He studied Islamic Theology, acquired knowledge and learnt Tasawwuf or the mysticism of the Sufis under the tuition of Sayyid Alala-ud-din Simnani, who was his maternal uncle. He became, in the first instance, a disciple of Shaikh Abul Barakat Taqi-ud-din Ali Dusti and, after his death, of Shaikh Sharaf-ud-din Mahmud Muzdaqani in Ray. The Spiritual pedigree of Shaikh Muzdaqani has been recorded by Shah Hamdan. Muzdaqani desired him to complete his education by extensive travel in the world, which Shah Hamdan undertook and consequently visited several countries. He journeyed for about 21 years and thus came in contact with several Sufis (mystics) and Ulama (divines) of the age, and profited by association with them. According to Amin Ahmad Razis Haft Iqlim [written in 1002 A.H=1593-94 A.C or according to another account 1028 A.H =1619 A.C], Shah Hamdan travelled three times over the whole world and met 1,400 saints. After the completion of these travels, Shah Hamdan returned to his native place. It was after his return that the rise of Timur forced him to leave for Kashmir. Seven hundred Sayyids are said to have accompanied him to the Valley in the reign of Sultan Shihab-ud-Din in 774 A.H = 1372 A. C. Shihab-ud-Din, the reigning monarch of Kashmir, had gone out on an expedition against the ruler of Ohind (or Und, 16 miles above attock). Qutb-ud-Din, the Sultan’s brother, who subsequently succeeded him, was then acting for him. After four months stay, Shah Hamadan left for the scene of battle, and persuaded the belligerents to come to peace. Shah Hamadan then proceeded to Makkah and came back to the Valley in 781 A. H. = 1379 AC. In the time Mahalla of Sultan Qutb-ud-Din. After a stay of about two and a half years, he went to Ladakh in 783 A. H. en route for Turkistan. The third visit of Shah Hamadan took place in 785 A.H = 1383 A.C. But he had to leave Kashmir on account of ill health and stayed at Pakhli for ten days at the request of the ruler of that place whose name was Sultan Muhammad.

From Pakhli, Shah Hamadan repaired to the vicinity of Kunar (or Kunar-with-Nur-gal in Kafiristan) where, after a short stay, he had a relapse on the 1st of Zilhijja 786 A.H = 1384 A.C. and ate nothing for five days. On Tuesday, the 5th of Zilhijja, he drank water several times, and on the night of the same day he breathed his last at the age of 72. On his death-bed Bismilla-hir-Rahim Nir Raheem was on his lips, and this, strangely enough, gives the date of his demise.

The Khazinatul Asfiya (ii, 293) explains how it came about that Shah Hamadan was buried in Khutalan. He died in Hazara (Pakli) and there the Pakli Sultan wished to have him buried but his disciples, for some unspecified reason wished to bury him in Khutalan. In order to decide the matter they invited the Sultan to remove the bier with the corpse upon it. It could not be stirred from its place. When, however, a single one of the disciples, tried to move it, he alone was able to lift it, and to bear it away on his head. Hence the burial in khtalan. The death occurred in 786 A.H” = 1384 A.C. A monument to the sayyid stands at Pakhli, which is now a part of Tahsil Mansihra, District Hazara, N.W.F. province.

Abul fazl says (The A’in-I-Akbari, Jarret, vol. II. P. 392) that Amir Sayyid Ali Hamadani died here (bajaur near swat) and his dead body was conveyed to Khatlan by his last testament.” But Babur writes: Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani (God’s mercy on him!) coming here (kunar with nurgal in kafiristan) as he journeyed, died two miles (one sh’ar’) above kunar. His disciples carried his body to khutlan. A shrine was erected at the honoured place of his death of which I made the circuit (tawaf) when I came and took chaghan-sarai in 920 A.H " (1514 A.C)_the Baburnama, A.S. Beveridge's English Translation, Vol. I, p. 211.

Shah Hamadan belonged to the kubrawi order of Sufis founded by Shaikh najm-ud-din kubra of khwarizm who died in 618 A.H = 1221 A.C. the kubrawis are a branch of the suhrawardi Sufis.

That the conversion of the valley to Islam was furthered by the presence of Shah Hamadan is undoubted. His prominent co-workers were: 1. Mir sayyid haidar, 2. Sayyid-jamal-ud-din, 3. Sayyid Kamal-I-Sani, 4. Sayyid-jamal-ud-din Alai, 5. Sayyid Rukn-ud-Din, 6. Sayyid Muhammad, 7. Sayyid Azizullah. They established hospices all over the country, which served as; centers for the propagation of their religion in every nook and corner of Kashmir, and by their influence definitely furthered the acceptance of the faith of the prophet of Arabia. The newly converted people, of their own accord, converted temples into Mosques in consequence of their change of Faith. Two well-known incidents, in which two of the leading Sanyasis or Hindu ascetics of the time, together with their followers, accepted Islam at the hands of Shah Hamadan after a trial of their ‘supernatural’ powers, apparently convinced the priest-ridden Kashmiri of the greatness of the Sayyids creed. The present ziyarat or shrine of Shah Hamadan on the Vitasta is said to have been erected in 798 A.H = 1395 A.C on the spot where one of these trials took place. This ziyarat first built by Sultan Qutb-ud-din, therefore, really represents the great Sayyids Chillah-Khana or the place of retreat and devotion, and not his tomb, which is in Khatlan. It is constructed chiefly of the wood of the deodar pine, and is equipped with a pyramidal steeple of timber capped with brass, and altogether is quite fine to look at. The mosque of shah Hamadan evokes the following couplet:

That Sultan Qutb-ud-din himself acknowledged the greatness of the Sayyid is apparent from the fact that the Sultan, who had married two sisters contrary to the Shariat or the law of Islam, had to divorce one of his wives at the instance of Shah Hamadan. The Sultan also adopted the dress then prevalent in Islamic countries, and had such a great regard for the cap given to him by the Sayyid that he always wore it under his crown. This cap was passed on to succeeding Sultans, and was buried with the dead body of Sultan Fath Shah at his special request before his death. It is said that someone prophesied that the burial of the cap would be an indication of the burial of the dynasty, and it is a curious coincidence that the dynasty actually came to an end, with the rise of the chaks           Shah Hamadan was not only a saint but an author too. He wrote the Zakhirat-ul-Muluk, a treatise on political ethics and the rules of good government, in the Persian language. The British Museum Manuscript of the book [Add. 7618,Vol II, p. 447] has 250 folios, 103\4” x 9”, 15 lines, 3 inches long, written in neat Nastaliq. The Zakhirat-ul-Muluk, consists of 10 chapters as follows: -

(1) Faith. (2) Duties of man. (3) Virtue. (4) Rights and duties of parents, wives, husbands, children, etc. (5) Rules of Government, rights and duties of Subjects. (6) Spiritual Kingdom (7) Execution of the lawful and abstinence from the unlawful (8) Gratitude and contentment (9) Patience under visitations (10) Condemnation of conceit and anger and the excellence of humility and forgiveness, the Zakhirat-ul-Muluk was translated into Latin by Ernest Fridrick Carl Rosenmueller in 1825 A.C, and into French by C. Solvent in 1829 A.C. It was a favourite with scholars during the early pre-Mughal regime of India.

Khulasatul Manaqib, is a mystical treatise on various Sufic questions, illustrated by verses of the Qur’an and traditions and an exposition of the virtues of the life of Shah Hamadan. It is by Maulana Nur-ud-Din Ja’far al-Badakhshi, Shah Hamadan’s pupil.

Shah Hamadan was also a poet. His Ghazals or odes are naturally Sufistic. The Chahlul Asraar, is a small collection of religious and mystical poems.

            In stimulating the enforcement of Islamic Shariat or Law in Kashmir, Shah Hamadan was succeeded by his son Mir Muhammad Hamadani. Mir Muhammad was born in 774 A.H = 1372 A.C and was twelve years old when his Father died. It is said that before his death in 1384, Shah Hamdan had handed over to Maulana Sarai for transmission to two of his prominent Khalifas-Khwaja Ishaq of Khatlan and Maulana Noor-ud-din Jafar of Badakhshan-certain documents which contained his Wasiyat nama (parting advice or bequest) and Khilafat-nama (or document conveying successions) Khwaja Ishaq and Maulana Nur-ud-din, in turn, delivered the documents to Mir Muhammad with the exception of the Khilafat-nama, the document conveying succession, which the former retained himself, saying that it could only be made over to one who proved worthy of it. This was apparently a hint for Mir Muhammad that he should exert himself to follow in the footsteps of his great father. Mir Muhammad accordingly studied under these prominent admirers of his Father, and in course of time acquired succession to his father’s position of spiritual pre-eminence. He was the author of a treatise on Sufi-ism and wrote a commentary on the Shamsiyah, A well known book in Arabic on logic.

            When 22 years of age, Mir Muhammad arrived in the valley in 796 A.H = 1393 A.C on his arrival in Kashmir, Mir Muhammad was received with great honour by Sikandar. At this time, Sikandars prime minister and commander of the military forces was Malik Suhabhatta (Sinhabhatta) a Brahman who appears to have been impressed with the personality of Mir Muhammad, the simplicity of his faith, life and teachings, and to have embraced Islam with the whole of his family. Mir Muhammad, whose first wife, Bibi Taj Khatun, had died, was offered by Suhabhatta, after his conversion, the hand of his own daughter, renamed Bibi Baria. Suhabhatta adopted the Islamic name of Saif-ud-Din and was consequently known as Malik Saif-ud-Din the Suhyar Masjid, the Suhyarbal and Suhyar mahalla, near Ali Kadal Keep his memory green.

The tomb of Bibi Baria known as didh Moji, wife of Mir Muhammad Hamdani at Kotar Kralpora five miles from Srinagar on the road to Chrari Sharief)))

At the instance of Mir Muhammad, distillation and the sale and use of wine were prohibited. Sati (self-immolation by a widow on the funeral pyre of her Husband) was forbidden. Gambling and Nach (dancing by girls) were prohibited. Mir Muhammad had a Badakhshan ruby which he gave over to Sikandar. The Sultan in return presented three big villages, namely: (I) Wachi from pargana shavara,(ii) Nunawani from pargana Martanda and (iii) Tral from Pargana Ullar as Jagir or permanent holding, which the Sayyid declared as Waqf for his Langarkhana or hospice. This Waqf-nama or endowment deed, with the endorsement of the Sultan has been copied by Pir Hassan Shah in his Tarikh-I-Hassan.

Mir Muhammad stayed for about twenty-two years in Kashmir, and then left for Hajj in 817 A.H on his return from Mekkah, he went back to Khatlan were he died on 17th Rabi-ul-Awwal, 854 A.H (1450 A.C), and was buried near his Father. Mir Muhammad, on entering the Valley, was accompanied by three hundred Sayyids; Shah Hamadan, his father, having , as already noted, brought seven hundred of them. Kashmir had, therefore, a total influx of one thousand Sayyids from Turkistan. Shah Hamadan, it is said, converted thirty-seven thousand to Islam, Bulbul Shah having already made ten thousand converts. Mostly these were mass conversions.

Before proceeding further, it would appear necessary to realize the magnitude of the change brought about by the advent of such a large number of Sayyids into the Valley. Deeply imbued with the Sufi-ism of the age and country from which they emigrated, these Sayyids and their followers seem to have stimulated the tendency to mysticism for which Vedantism and Buddhism had already paved the way. It may here be remarked in passing that Islam does not countenance the enervating type of Tasawwuf which Iqbal too condemned in the first edition of his Asrar-I-Khudi when he said:

Perhaps also, shocked at the tyranny and self-assertion of Timur, these Sayyids and others ‘may have sought refuge in the regions of abstract thought as a solace for the worldly repression under which their country then laboured.’ “One cannot forget,” says Col. Newall, “that the human mind has ever tended towards mysticism and solitude at times when tyrants flourished.” A striking parallel is provided by the present age we are passing through. The well-known psychologist, C.E.M. Joad, writes discussing the changing mind of Britain:  “there is a renewed interest in questions of Religion and Philosophy touching the nature of the universe and the status and destiny of man within it. Inevitably when a man’s Spirit is troubled, his thoughts turn to fundamental questions. How, he wants to know, is the mass suffering and wickedness of the world compatible with its Government by an Almighty and benevolent Being? Did god will the war? Did he create Hitler? That a realization of the fact and prevalence of evil and suffering in the world should bring a revival of mans interest in religion is understandable.

            “What is surprising is that it should renew belief. Yet there is in many Englishmen today, and especially in young people newly come to maturity, a renewed interest in the religious view of the world and a disposition to examine a fresh in the light of it the traditional answers to fundamental questions, which Christianity has provided, but which most of us have for a generation ignored or derided. Supposing, for example, that the war is the result neither of inept politicians, nor of an out-of-date capitalist system, but of the wickedness in the heart of man? Suppose that is a punishment for that wickedness?

            “The renewed interest in these questions has not yet succeeded in filling the churches. It may be doubted whether it ever will. The new wine which is now fermenting may refuse to pour itself into the old bottles, but that the seeds of a spiritual revival are germinating in the minds of the people of this country, I for one do not doubt.”

            “Today,” on June 18, 1942, cries general smuts: “We witness on a worldwide scale the failure of political nationalism and materialism to satisfy the deeper needs of man’s spirit. This failure with the nameless sufferings of our generation, will lead to the revival of religious faith. The crisis of religion is coming. The man of Galilee is, and remains, our one and only leader.”

The presence of this type of Sayyid naturally influenced the more pronounced Muslim Mystics of Kashmir. These Muslim Mystics, well-known as Rishis or Babas, or hermits, considerably furthered the spread of Islam by their extreme piety and utter self-abnegation which influenced the people to a change of creed. Abul Fazl records his meeting with Wahid Sufi. Faizi had informed Abul Fazl of the presence of the Saint in the following words: “Here an enlightened anchorite has come to my view. For thirty years he has, in an unnoticed corner, been gathering happiness on an old mat. Affectation and self-advertisement have not touched the hem of this garment “Abul Fazl, mentioned this to Akbar, who asked him to go and inquire by great good fortune wrote Abul fazl, “I met with the Saint and the old Sore of the divine longing opened a fresh. For a long time he had lived, like Uwais and Karkhi in a ruined Habitation .He lived apart from joy and sorrow, and took nothing from anybody except broken bread. Though I did not know the Kashmiri language, yet I gathered much edification through an interpreter, and a new vision dawned on me. As his heart was much alienated from the people, he could not come out from his cell. His majesty was delighted with this news and resolved that he would go in person.”

            Jahangir in his Memoirs says that “though they (the Muslim Rishis) have not religious knowledge or learning of any sort, yet they possess simplicity and are without pretence. They abuse no one. They restrain the tongue of desire and the foot of seeking. They eat no flesh, they have no wives and always plant fruit-bearing trees in the fields so that man may benefit by them, themselves desiring no advantage. There are about 2,000 of these people.” Firishta and Abul Fazl have also described them in words of high praise as abstaining from luxury, living on berries and the wild fruits of mountains. In remote corners of the valley, many of them had taken up their abodes for purpose of Meditation and seclusion. G.T Vigne, the traveller, during Sikh rule, met Baba Sayyid he refused to call even on the governor of that time. Maharaja Pratap Singh called on Shah Abdur Raheem Safapuri. When the Maharaja asked if he could do anything for the Saint, the Saint replied that he need not be re-visited by the Maharaja, a reply reminding one of Diogenes (Diyujanus al-kalbi) who, when Alexander asked him if he could do any service, told the Conqueror to let him enjoy the sun.