The Task Ahead

The Task Ahead If we look at the history of Kashmir over the last 200 years, we can divide it into three main periods. The first period was marked by the arrival of a group of Sufis in Kashmir. They played an instrumental role in the spread of Islam in the region. A vast majority of the Kashmiris converted to Islam. The Sufis gave the gift of Islam in terms of religion, but they failed to give them wisdom in the broader sense so that they might lead their lives successfully in their society. As a result, Islam was reduced to a culture for the Kashmiris. They did not become imbued with awareness, nor did they receive any guidance which might have outlined the proper goal for their lives. That is why we see that the lives of most of the Kashmiris revolve around the graves of ‘saints’ or dargahs. A ritualistic form of religion evolved, which I call ‘dargahi Islam’ or cultural Islam. The harm it did was that no true, deeper understanding of Islam could be developed which would have enabled people to see things in a correct and far-sighted manner, and distinguish broadly between right and wrong. This unawareness made the Kashmiris vulnerable to negative politics which had no relation with real Islam. Neither was such politics going to benefit the Kashmiris from the worldly point of view. One benefit of Islam is that it gives man a spiritual centre to focus on; it tells man how to worship God. Kashmiris did benefit from Islam in this respect, but in another respect they remained largely deprived of the benefits of Islam. This second respect may be termed the training of