The Call to Truth

conveying my message to all human beings.” Will the Muslims of Kashmir give a response to the call of the Prophet of Islam? Shah Hamadan Mission In the State of Jammu and Kashmir, Mir Syed Shahabuddin Ali Hamadani (d.1384) holds the position of the spiritual founder of Kashmir. The Muslims of Kashmir generally call him Amir 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. Now Amir 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