Mrs. Assbah Khan Yousafzai
Hamdani was born in on 22nd October, 1314 A.D at Hamdan Iran. He died in Hazara (Pakhli) on 18th January, 1384. His body was laid to rest at Khatlan , Tajikistan. The revered saint Shah e Hamdan (RA ) visited Cashmere thrice between 1365 & 1383.Mir Syed Ali Hamdani came to Kashmir for the first time with 700 Sayyids in the reign of Sultan Shihab ud Din in 1374 AD. Sultan Shahab ud Din himself had gone on an expedition against the ruler of Hind Firoz Shah Taghluq near Attock. His brother Qutb ud Din was acting Sultan on his behalf. Shah e Hamdan Sb Stayed for 6 months in Cashmere. He went to battle front himself and persuaded Sultan Shihab of Kashmir & Feroz Shah Taghluq of Delhi Sultanate to enact a peace deal. After negotiating a successful peace deal between Cashmere & Delhi Shah e Hamdan Sb left for Mecca.Shah e Hamdan Sb paid second visit to the valley of Cashmere in 1379 and stayed for two & a half years. It was during the reigh of Sultan Qutb ud Din. Amir-e-Kabir Shah-e-Hamdan, besides being a mystic saint and an effective preacher, was a man of letters and wrote about a hundred pamphlets in Arabic and Persian: Zakhirat-ul-Malik, a famous book. The book has been translated in many languages. A few of them are: Sharah Nasoos-Ul-Hukm Farisi, Asrar-Ul-Nuqt, Risala Nooriya, Risia Islahat-e-Ilam-Ul-Qafia-o-Qaeda, Moudat-Ul-Qurabi, Rouzat-Ul-Firdous, Firdous-Ul-Akhbar, Manazil-Ul-Salikeen, Khulasit-Ul-Manaqib, Chehl Asrar, etc. He sent two of his followers Syed taj ud din Simnani & Mir syed Hassan Simnani to take stock of situation in Kashmir. The ruler of Kashmir became the follower of Mir Syed Hassan Simnani and because of kings patrionage he entered Kashmir with a large following. The king and the heir apparent Qutb ud Din received him warmly. In Cashmere, Shah e Hamdan Sb started to preach Islam in an organized manner. They were instrumental in establishing Kubrawi Order of Tasawuf in Kashmir. They set up large number of Mosques in every nook and corner of the valley. Both people from Buddhist and Shaivite faith were attracted to Islam because of its simple jurisprudence and interpretation. Buddhism thrived because of the reeling pressure of Samaskaras in daily life. Shaivite religion which made resurgence in 8th Century A.D overthrew Buddhism first from mainland India and later from the soil of Kashmir. The result was Buddhism thrived in peripheries of Ladakh region and Tibet. Pertinent to mention it was Buddhist site of Harwan where 4th Buddhist Council was held attended by People like Nagarjun, Badrabahu, Sthalabadra and unable to reach an agreement it got divided into Hinyan & Mahayan on the sacred soil of Kashmir. By the 14th century A.D there was total decadency in Buddhist Sanghas. Moral, material corruption prevailed which led to creation of Thunderbolt or Vajrayana sect of Buddhism. Kota Rani the last ruling queen of Lohara dynasty had committed suicide way back in 1338. Her son Haider from her Muslim Husband Ranchen Shah had been executed. Her second son from Udyandev had also died resulting in her suicide and creating political vaccum. . In such circumstances time was ripe for the advent of Islam. He was no hermit. He laid stress on earning a livelihood through approved and sanctioned methods and ways. “He rejected the traditional Sufi livelihood supported by patronage because he feared that this would make Sufis parasitic on society. He made his living by cap making, and he encouraged his disciples to work for a living”He was not a routine Sufi who preferred recluses. He was a political thinker. He remained politically engaged and ‘saw no difficulty in meeting and counselling kings because he saw their policies were essential for the welfare of people. His book Zakhritual Muluk is a treatise on politics. His political ideas need to be seen in the perspective of the caste-ridden society of as it was prevailing at the time of the advent of Islam in Kashmir. He was a great revolutionary, and his ideas on governance need to be seen in perceptive of the great gulf that existed between the king and his subjects. For good governance, he laid down certain dos and don’ts. He asked then that “while deciding on matters he should involve people, he should see himself as one of the governed – the people– and pass only such orders as he as a subject he would expect from a benevolent king. He should treat the Muslims in the way he would like to be treated.” A ruler “should not treat his people harshly without good reason”. “He should not keep himself aloof from the people. He should do justice to them and behave sympathetically towards the weak and oppressed. That will endear him to his people.” In modern connotations, the ideas of Hazrat Mir Syed Ali Hamadani (RA) for good-governance could be pronounced as democratic, humane and just. If seen in retrospect, it was his ideas that brought out radical changes in Kashmir society during the fourteenth century, and humanism touched new pinnacle Writes Sir Walter Lawrence he brought 600 trades with him from Central Asia to Kashmir adding that his towering personality was instrumental in establishing practical Islam in the valley of Kashmir.
