Mir Syed Ali Hamdani

Mir Syed Ali Hamdani

1985 12 December 4-5 Mir Syed Ali Hamdani (639) The Muslim hold over the politics of Kashmir is entirely the legacy of Mir Syed Ali Hamdani, or Amir Kabir, as he is better known. A native of Iran, he was forced to leave his homeland and came to Kashmir when he fell from the favour of King Timur (1335-1405). Once in Kashmir, one of the options he had was to call for a holy war against Timurin order; to establish a fair and honest government in Iran, even at the cost of his own martyrdom. This would have been quite feasible because many of the Iranian monarch’s contemporaries had turned against him on political grounds. He could alternatively have involved himself in championing the rights of the local Muslims who found themselves in the position of a weak and insecure minority who were even – it is alleged – forced to bow to idols. In doing so, he could have become their leader. Another cause in which he could have figured prominently was that of harmonising the various local groups who were perpetually at loggerheads. This he could have done in the name of humanitarianism. But he did not elect to do any of these things in spite of the fact that they would have won him great popularity. The reason was quite simple. None of these activities had any direct connection with true Islamic missionary work, whose purpose was not to direct the attention of the people to the affairs of the world but towards God and eternity.

His main preoccupation then was the preaching of Islam, which he set about in a quiet practical way. He and the forty companions who had come with him from Iran spread out over the state, learning the Kashmiri language and surmounting all the difficulties of adapting to a foreign environment. Everywhere they went they preached Islam quietly, but they were unflagging in their missionary work. Amir Kabir even tried to reform the Muslim ruler, Sultan Qutbuddin, who was very far from perfect from the Islamic point of view. But Amir Kabir made no attempt to depose him and set up an upright ruler in his place. He restricted himself to writing to him, being careful to keep the tone of his letters humble and conciliatory. He was far above political motivations, and based his policies and actions on his own positive way of thinking.

Amir Kabir preached only the fundamental tenets of the faith and did not involve himself in theological issues. He went so far as to conceal from his followers the fact that he was an adherent of the Shafii school. The local people had been Hanafis from the time of Ranjan Shah (AD 1320-1333), a Buddhist ruler who had been converted by Syed Bulbul Shah. If Amir Kabir had urged the new converts to follow his school, this would have lead to factionalism, and the true practices and objectives of Islam would have been obscured in unnecessary wrangling. Because he believed in uniting people and not dividing them, he even used to pray with the people in the Hanafi way, and told his companions to do the same. He was thus able to enjoy the support of all groups and was free to spread the word of Islam. So successful were his efforts that Kashmir became a permanent Muslim-majority area. His work in Kashmir is a classic demonstration of how to spread Islam in a balanced, constructive way.

The message of his life, which unfortunately came to an end at the age of 73, due to poisoning, is that if a true Islamic revival is to be brought about, all thoughts of confrontation must be banished and all political and religious disputes must be eschewed entirely. That is the way to earn divine assistance. That is the way to bring dignity and honour to Muslims and their faith.