Frontline
December  1999
Special Millennium Issue

‘I feel optimistic about the restoration of Kashmir’s cultural
equilibrium and ethos’

SAIFUDDIN SOZ

Liberal Islam needs no definition in Kashmir, where the Rishi Silsila (the hierarchy of Sufi saints) es
tablished its strong influence on Islam from the very advent of the faith, weaving, as it were, Kashmiri ethos into its texture with due regard to the foundations.

Kashmiri Islam could hardly be different in essence from Islam in other parts of the world but visitors from outside could easily discern the presence of peculiar cultural traits around the practices that constitute Islam for the masses. Shaikh Nooruddin (Shaikhul Aalam and Alamdar to most Muslims in Kashmir and Nund Rishi to most Kashmiri Pandits), the most venerated and prominent of the rishis, the national saint of Kashmir, exercised most powerful influence on the way Islam was propagated in Kashmir. Shaikh Nooruddin can easily be cited as the greatest source of inspiration for Kashmiris as far as their faith and identity are concerned.

Kashmiri historians are unanimous in their opinion that the Shaikh had adopted Owaisi Silsila of Sufism, but, then he (the Shaikh) had derived spiritual enlightenment from Mir Syed Ali Hamadani and his son Mir Mohammad Hamadani, who came from Hamadan (Iran) to spread the message of Islam in Kashmir. Mir Syed Ali Hamadani visited Kashmir in 1374 AD for the first time and later he visited again in 1379 and 1383. His son, Mir Mohammad Hama-dani, consolidated the message of Islam and, as it were, fulfilled his father’s mission. Both father and son are buried in Kolyab (Khatlan) in Tadjikistan.

Islam was introduced in Kashmir by a saint called Bulbulshah and when the then ruler, King Renchan, a Buddhist by faith, accepted Islam at the hands of Bulbulshah in 1320 AD, Islam became the popular faith and state religion. But, Islam got consolidated in the real sense through the efforts of Mir Syed Ali Hamadani and his son Mir Mohammad Hamadani.

The propagation of the faith needed some adjustment to suit the typical Kashmiri traditions and, therefore, among other things, Rishi Silsila had to be associated and accommodated. Here lies the fact of wisdom shown by Sadaats - Mir Syed Ali Hamadani, his son Mir Mohammad Hamadani and scores of the Saiyyids who accompanied them to propagate Islam in Kashmir, in the gesture of understanding for Kashmiri infiradiat (identity).

Not only was Shaikh Noor-uddin’s pattern of piety, including his renunciation of worldly pleasures allowed, but Mir Syed Ali Hamadani’s special prayer and praises of God called Aaurade–Fathiya was allowed to be recited loudly and melodiously. This prayer is found only in Kashmir and it is recited loudly in mosques in Kashmir soon after the morning prayers. It is unique to Kashmir and alien to the puritanical Islamists, who always dubbed it as bida (innovation) and, therefore, not acceptable to them.

When militancy started in 1989 it took sometime to get crystallised on the ground ideologically. Initially the young boys got into the fold of JKLF, but subsequently the Jamaat–e–Islami of Pakistan succeeded in making its mark through extremely sensitised cadres and gained control on training, supply of arms, provision of food and money to the boys receiving training in camps in Pak–held Kashmir.

But in the summer of 1990, the Hizbul Mujahideen organised by the Jamaat, spearheaded the militant movement and the JKLF started receding into the background. And, the boys who crossed over to Pak–held Kashmir tasted the ideological fervour at the training camps where they learnt that it was not merely azaadi for which they had to struggle, but azaadi for Islam. While some of the boys returned disillusioned, many joined the mainstream of Jamaat–led Islamic ideology.

Then, we saw the beginning of an ideological rift as also a conflict in operations in the valley. Around mid–summer of 1991, not only did the ideological conflict escalate with the resultant violent strife among the groups broadly described as radical Islamists and the outfits broadly under the influence of JKLF, but some of the militants, who were promptly described by the JKLF and Hizb as fake ones, took to extortion, robbery, kidnapping and other petty crimes.

Some of the radical Islamists did interfere and wanted people to reform their religious practices bringing these in line, with the tenets of Islam, but there was resistance. When a gun–wielding young man tried to interfere in the Zikr, a peculiar tradition of reciting the attributes of God, at Chrar–e–Shareef, in October 1993, it was resisted.

At Batmaloo (Srinagar) the Mujahideen tried to coerce the devotees of the shrine of Batmaloo Sahib to give up the annual practice of Urs. There were quite a number of clashes between the radical Islamists and the broadly liberal elements around the shrine of Hazrat Makhdoom. And when the 250–year–old Masjid at the shrine was burnt down during the night of September 21, 1993, radical Islamists were blamed for it squarely.

But, at the shrine of Zain-uddin Rishi at Aish–muqam, near Pahalgam, the resistance of suggestions such as cancelling the annual illuminations and decorations was so great that on March 27, 1994, the militants had to take into custody 157 men of the village of which two were killed. The Urs was, however, solemnised in an atmosphere of very deep and agonising public resentment against the militants.

The point is that most Kashmiris have adhered to their tradition of a liberal interpretation of Islam without compromising on the basic tenets of the faith. This liberalism has always been associated with Sufism, particularly the Rishi Sisila and it got manifested throughout the ages in Kashmiri traits like spirit of togetherness, mutual respect, piety, concern for guests, service in the neighbourhood on humanitarian lines and an attitude of unique tolerance in social life.

The radical Islamists missed two very important facts in their fervour and zeal to introduce the puritanical order of Islam. One is that Kashmiris have always resisted reformist movements that were militant in character. The second is that there is something powerful in the psyche of the people of Kashmir that has sustained their devotion to rishis and other saints. Their devotion to Shaikh Noor-uddin is particularly overwhelming, perhaps because these men of God were examples in the most perfect sense of the term.

The entire logistics of militancy has now undergone a change. They seem to have submitted to self-discipline and now generally avoid disturbing the civilian population. They, therefore, claim spectacular successes, but it is essentially success of the gun that doesn’t resolve the crisis!

There is a yearning for peace in Kashmir as the on–going militancy has caused a situation of death and destruction all around. Thousands got killed in the cross–fire of the forces and the militants; loss to public and private property has been immense; and, above everything else, the majority of the Kashmiri Pandits have got uprooted and become migrants in their own homeland. There were even incidents that clearly smacked of sectarian and parochial thinking but these incidents have remained as aberrations.

Kashmir’s soul has remained intact. Those of the Pandits who remained with them (Kashmiri Muslims) during these trying times, either out of sheer will- power or persuasion, enjoy love and respect of their Muslim brethren more than the members of their own faith. There are shining examples of how Pandits and Muslims have lived through even the worst of times maintaining their age–old traditions of togetherness.

The return of migrant Pandits to their home and hearth in Kashmir will bring joy to the hearts of millions of Kashmiris. I feel optimistic about the restoration of Kashmir’s cultural equilibrium and ethos, I am so sure of it!


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