conveying my message to all human beings.” Will the Muslims of
Kashmir give a response to the call of the Prophet of Islam?
Shah HamadanMission
In the State of Jammu and Kashmir, Mir Syed Shahabuddin Ali
Hamadani (d.1384) holds the position of the spiritual founder of
Kashmir.TheMuslims of Kashmir generally call himAmir Kabir. He
came to Kashmir from Iran in 1379. The present religious ideology
of Kashmir is largely the result of his
dawah
efforts, for the people
of Kashmir followed his mission to the fullest extent. But, in 1947,
in the wake of the revolution on the subcontinent, a reactionary
political movement was launched in Kashmir. Subsequent events
have shown that this political movement only proved destructive for
the Kashmiris. However, there is one positive aspect to this and that
is, that the negative outcome of aggressive politics has proved to be
a form of shock treatment for the Kashmiris. Now the Kashmiri
Muslims are thinking of returning to their past, by opting for the
target of peaceful
dawah
like that carried out by Shah Hamdan.
This new thinking may be seen as a revival of the mission of Shah
Hamadan.
Mir Sayyed Ali Hamadani, born in Iran, was a contemporary of
the Iranian emperor Taimur Lang(d.1405 AD) . For some reason,
Shah Taimur became angry with him and ordered him to leave Iran.
NowAmir Kabir, having a number of followers, could have launched
a movement in opposition to the king but he totally shunned any
kind of political confrontation. Instead of this, he left Hamadan, his
home town, with 40 of his companions and travelled to Kashmir via
Afghanistan, reaching there in 1379.
The programme of Amir Kabir was neither made in reaction
to Shah Taimur’s orders, nor did it come under the influence of the
immediate circumstances of the Kashmiri Muslims. At that time
Kashmir was ruled by a Muslim King, Sultan Qutbuddin. His rule
was flawed by many ideological and practical evils, which Amir
Kabir sought to rectify by writing spiritual letters to him to draw his
attention to the factors in the situation prevailing there, which went
against the spirit of Islam. He did not launch any movement to oust
the ruler from power and replace him with a just ruler. Amir Kabir
instead rose above all negative factors and formulated a programme
based on his own positive thinking. This was a totally silent and
practical venture, to further which Amir Kabir and his companions
spread throughout different parts of the State and began peacefully
conveying the message of Islam among the inhabitants. For this
54
The Dawn Over Kashmir
