‘THE SUMMIT OF HORIZONS, THE CHIEFTAIN OF THE VIRTUOUS’
Story of Hadrat Mir Sayyid Yaqoob and his shrine at Sonawar
KHALID BASHIR AHMAD
After a very long time, on Thursday, 24 November 2022, I visited the mausoleum of Hadrat Mir Sayyid Yaqoob (Allah be pleased with him), popularly known as Saed Saeb or Sayyid Sahib, at Sonawar, my birthplace, and first time in decades, stepped into the shrine building to pay obeisance and offer fateha. During our childhood and youth, the mausoleum, a popular shrine visited by a large number of people, kept me and my coeval cousins anchored in our island of faith. Our frequent, almost daily, visits to the shrine would release our stress and reaffirm our conviction in pressure situations like annual examinations. It was common with my generation of boys to visit the shrine especially on such occasions to pray for our success. We as children believed that Saed Saeb could intervene and get us passed even if we might not have fared well in the examination. If there were a council of ministry for Kashmir in the spiritual realm, I would imagine, Saed Saeb holding education portfolio. Our elders would impress upon us to be very careful against flippancy towards the shrine and the Allah’s friend resting there. “It is a garm ziarat (very powerful shrine)”, we were told. This warning at young age taught me to be very careful, often nervous, and deeply respectful whenever I visited the shrine. As a child and a teenager, a feeling of awe and reverence would overtake me whenever I passed by or entered the shrine complex. Every time after entering the shrine building to pay obeisance, I would, as a mark of reverence, move out taking reverse steps.
Not much is known about the life of Mir Sayyid Yaqoob. Other than a few brief mentions, the local histories documenting spiritual personalities of Kashmir, are generally silent about him. Strange though it may sound, one does not find him among the 1,000 odd aulia-e-Kashmir whose lives were documented by noted historians, Hassan Khoihami and Muhammad Azam Dedmari. However, we come across his mention in Mulla Ahmad bin Abdus Saboor Kashmiri’s Khawariqus Salikeen and Mohiuddin Miskeen’s Treekh-i-Kabir (volume Tahayiful Abrar Fi Zikril Aulia Akhyar). The former was recorded in AD 1698 while the latter was completed in 1321 Hijri corresponding to AD 1903.
Quoting from Khawariqus Salikeen, Mohiuddin Miskeen writes that Mir Sayyid Yaqoob was a cousin of Mir Nazuk Niazi Qadri [1] whose mausoleum is located at Qadi Kadal in old Srinagar city. He further writes, and Khuihami and Dedmari corroborate [2], that Qadri was a descendent of Qazi Mir Ali Bukhari whom Sultan Zainul Aabideen had invited from central Asia and appointed as Qadi-ul-Quda or the Chief Justice of Kashmir.[3] Zainul Aabideen ruled Kashmir for 50 years between AD 1420 and 1470. Mir Nazuk Niazi Qadri was the initiator of the Qadria order in Kashmir.[4] He was “a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence and a man of devotion and piety.” [5] Among the renowned progenies of Mir Ali Bukhari were Sheikh-ul-Islam Qazi Musa Shaheed who was allegedly martyred by the then ruler for refusing a diktat to include a certain verse in the Adhan (call for prayers). Both Mir Nazuk Niazi Qadri and Mir Sayyid Yaqoob were disciples of Hadrat Baba Dawood Khaki, scholar of Islamic jurisprudence and literature, poet of high merit and an illustrious disciple of Kashmir’s patron saint, Hadrat Sheikh Hamzah Makhdoom. Khaki was the Chief Justice of Kashmir during the Chak rule which position he renounced following his meeting with Makhdoom Sahib. Highlighting the blood relationship between Mir Sayyid Yaqoob and Mir Nazuk Niazi Qadri, the annual urs of the former was also celebrated at the shrine of the latter.[6] The Nazkis, a family of writers and poets, originally from Qadi Kadal, claim their ancestry to Mir Nazuk Niazi Qadri. [7]
A shajrah (pedigree) of the Jalali Sayyids, a prominent Shia family of Kashmir, coming to the fore in 2003, suggests that Mir Sayyid Yaqoob belonged to the Shia sect of Islam. According to the shajra, maintained by one Zakir Sayyid Hussain Shah of Dab, Ganderbal and published in Al-Mulahazat wal Taqibaat Ale-Jalali fi Kashmir, Sayyid Yaqoob was one of the four sons of Sayyid Hussain Sabzvari, a descendent of the Jalalis whose ancestors had arrived from Sabzvar (Iran) during the reign of Mughal ruler, Aurangzeb.[8] Hakim Imtiaz Hussain, former Judge of the J&K High Court, who has reproduced the shajrah in his book, The Shias of Jammu & Kashmir, however, also quotes from Sayyid Mohsin al Hussani al Jalali’s Hablul Mateen fi Insaabi Saadatul Muntajabeen offering a complete pedigree of the Jalalis and claiming that Sabzvari had only one son, namely Sayyid Shah Murad-I. [9] The work of Mohsin, a young Kashmiri scholar who has studied in Qum (Iran), was published by the Open School, Chicago in 2006. Significantly, among the several published and unpublished pedigrees of Jalali Sayyids of Kashmir, the shajrah maintained by Zakir Sayyid Hussain Shah is the only claiming Mir Sayyid Yaqoob’s ancestry to the family.
The merit of Mir Sayyid Yaqoob as a disciple was highly regarded by Baba Dawood Khaki which fact can be ascertained from a eulogizing couplet by the latter. In his Qaseedah-e-Laamiya, Khaki writes, “Dar fazayil Mir Yaqoob ast az nawab-e-ma Sayyid ast o’ hast az ajdad o’ Qazi Jamal” [10] (In virtue, Mir Sayyid is our chieftain. He is a Sayyid and among his forefathers is Qazi Jamal [a notable religious personality]. Qaseedah-e-Laamiya is an ode whose every couplet ends with the Persian/Urdu alphabet ‘ل’ (laam). Acknowledging the spiritual power of Mir Sayyid Yaqoob, he was eulogized as Qudwatul Aafaaq (The Summit of Horizons), Zubdatul Ushaaq (Extract of Seekers [like butter is the best extract of milk] and Murshid-e-Margoob (Fond Mentor).[11] Miskeen further writes that the Sayyid was “a seer and an effector” whose left hand and right foot were severed by prejudiced men from a particular sect when, on the fateful day, they found him alone.[12] After the gruesome incident, Mir Sayyid Yaqoob spent the rest of his life in the calligraphy and teaching of Holy Qura’n and in meditation. [13] He is believed to have been an ace calligraphist.
The manuscript of Khawariqus Salikeen available with the Oriental Research Library of the Department of Libraries and Research and translated and printed in Urdu in 2011 under my supervision, does not carry these details about Mir Sayyid Yaqoob. The manuscript briefly mentions one Hadrat Sayyid Yaqoob as a disciple of Hadrat Baba Dawood Khaki who “turned to meditation after becoming his follower.”[14] In an accompanying Persian couplet, the Sayyid is acclaimed as the ‘master of the times in endurance and generosity; leader of the devout and saint of the world.’[15] There is one Mir Sayyid Yaqoob mentioned in the manuscript who had 300 disciples and who settled and died in village Khoor and was buried in the premises of his mentor’s tomb.[16] Obviously, this is not the Mir Sayeed Yaqoob whose shrine is located at Sonawar.
It is probable that while quoting from Khawariqus Salikeen, Mohiuddin Miskeen had a different manuscript under study than the one with the Oriental Research Library. There are instances where a manuscript is found lacking some detail as available in other copies of the same work. For example, the manuscript of Hujjat-e-Qasirah by Mirza Qalandar Baig available with the Oriental Research Library carries 335 couplets while the one published by late Hisamuddin Banday Jauhar comprises 569 couplets. Pertinently, the scribe of the former admits to its incomplete status. Zahoor Ahmad Asmi Qasmi, Urdu translator of Khawariqus Salikeen, finds a pronounced similarity in the writing style of the text quoted by Miskeen and that of Mulla Saboor, thereby pointing to the possibility of an authentic manuscript being Miskeen’s source on Mir Sayyid Yaqoob.
As children, we had heard our elders mentioning that Mir Sayyid Yaqoob had six siblings and all seven of them were Saed Saebs whose tombs were situated in different parts of the city. Apparently influenced by the legend, historian Ghulam Rasool Bhat presumes that the seven siblings were Sayyid Musa (Barzalla), Sayyid Jaffar (Rawalpora), Sayyid Haider (Haiderpora), Sayyid Mansoor (Zaldagar), Sayyid Ali Akbar (Emporium Garden), an un-named Sayyid (Zero Bridge) and Mir Sayyid Yaqoob (Sonawar).[17] According to an inscription on the donation box there, the shrine at Zero Bridge is of Sayyid Masoom Shah. Among the recent works on the spiritual personalities of Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Dar’s Riazul Abrar, mentions the shrine of Mir Sayyid Yaqoob.
Situated close to the Burn Hall School and the office of the United Nations Military Observers Group for India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), the shrine of Mir Sayyid Yaqoob is a simple structure, unlike traditional Kashmiri shrine architecture, the interiors of which offer a soothing spiritual ambiance. It has been renovated and extended in recent years. The annual urs to commemorate the death anniversary of Mir Sayyid Yaqoob is observed on 17 Rabiut Thani, 4th month of Islamic calendar. This year, the day of urs corresponded to 13 November. A great rush of devotees is observed on that day. Special prayers are held for a week beginning 11 Rabiul Thani. The visitors to the shrine include non-Muslims, especially Kashmiri Pandits. Late Vijay Prasar, a Christian laboratory technician and son of Dr. Masih Das, was a frequent presence at the shrine.
A century ago, the mausoleum was a modest structure, literally four raw walls without a roof. In 1914, Umar Bhat son of Jala Bhat of Palpora (Sonawar) and Ahad Mahazan son of Khizir Mahazan of Drugjan approached the Dogra Government for repairs of the shrine which was then in poor state. Sonawar being a restricted area then, the application was forwarded, on 23 June, to the British Resident in Kashmir who conveyed his ‘no-objection’ to the repairs on 22 July.[18] Consequent to this, Bhat and Mahazan were allowed to undertake the repairs. The duo, it appears, were the earliest caretakers of the shrine. The portion of the shrine over the grave, now roofed with fiberglass, was without top and efforts made earlier to cover it were believed to have failed. A huge Brimij (Celtis australis), standing next to the grave since ages, is still in a healthy state. The tree’s branches and leaves loom over the burial place. Over the cemented gravestone, which was earlier only a few inches higher than the surface, was raised recently a high arch-shaped frame with a coloured slipcover carrying religious inscriptions and a turban placed on it as a recent addition. Another addition is the manaqib (praises in verse) of Mir Sayyid Yaqoob in Kashmiri and Urdu languages adorning the interiors of the shrine. These include eulogies by poets Din Mohammad Saboona, Mam Kol Akhoon and Iqbal Gani. In the olden times, oil lamps were kept on open windowsills, now covered by glass panes. There was an iron chain hung from the middle of the entrance that visitors reverently touched while entering or leaving the shrine building. It is no longer there. An enclosure to the left of the entrance inside the shrine was earlier earmarked for women devotees. The partition has been removed and an exclusive prayer space connected with the left wall of the shrine provided for them. The women no longer have direct access to the grave.
Till seven decades ago, the shrine was almost a desolate place with few visitors. Elders of the area say that after nightfall people usually avoided walking through here. Dr. Mohammad Shafi Bhat recalls that during the early 1950s when only a handful of men would assemble at the shrine anyone among them was asked to step forward and lead the prayers since there was no full-time Imam. Quite a few times, a uniformed Muslim soldier from south India, posted on guard duty at the nearby UNMOGIP, led the prayers. The soldier’s unique recitation of Tabbat yada abi lehbiwn wa tab (Perish the hands of the Father of Flame! Perish he!) [111:1] is still etched in Dr. Bhat’s mind.[19] The number of visitors to the shrine began to grow steadily as special prayers were started on Thursdays. On the week-long annual urs, where only residents of Sonawar, Bonamsar and Palpora visited the shrine earlier, now devotees from Amira Kadal, Maisuma, Magarmal Bagh, Batamaloo, Batwara and Shopore started arriving to pay obeisance and offer prayers at the shrine. The urs was a special occasion for the local people. A great festivity was seen at the shrine with children enjoying a great deal. Ladies would specially prepare teher, rice cooked in turmeric water and mixed with fried wild onions with a sprinkle of salt, and, in a large bowl or plate covered with a clean cloth, take it to the shrine where it was distributed among the people present there. Likewise, when a cow would deliver a calf, the owner family, as thanksgiving, cooked rice in milk, known as mayir, and send it to the shrine for distribution. Many households celebrated the urs by cooking multi-cuisine food and inviting close relatives, particularly their married daughters and their families, to have a family feast on the occasion. The centre of attraction for the children at the shrine were the fried-snacks sellers. The naughty among them would discover clever ways to steal handful of snacks while the seller was busy attending a customer. This had been happening since old times. I am told by my octogenarian brother that during his childhood, as evening approached, a gang of such children would extinguish by blowing the oil lamp of snacks seller and make good with a handful of snacks.
Farooq Ahmad Akhoon, a mason who lives at nearby Malteng, recollects that the entrance to the shrine premises was earlier on the extreme left, as against the centre now, close to the boundary wall of the official residence of the Chief Justice of the J&K High Court. In 1959, the main gate was constructed at its present site. The gate was built by mason Woste Ghulam of Malteng.[20] At the top, it had an inscription of a verse from Maulana Abdur Rehman Jami’s Persian naat (poem in praises of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him): ‘Ba sidq-o-safa mee tawa’n gasht Jami Ghulam-e-ghulama’n-i-aal-e-Muhammad’ (With truthfulness and cleanness of heart, Jami has become a slave of the slaves of Muhammad’s family (peace be upon him). Recently, the gate has been reconstructed and extended, and Jami’s verse replaced by a Kashmri couplet of an unknown poet. On the left side of the main gate, there is a shop-line which is the property of the shrine. The earliest shopkeepers included Rajab Monjigor, fried snacks seller, Resh Sheikh, shoe-mender and Lasse Bhat, fruit seller. A wudu khana (ablution place) with a room on the first floor used as prayer space, existed inside the shrine premises to the left of the main gate, which is no more there. A yard or two behind the dismantled wudu khana, now stands a Sulabh toilet.
When Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was released from jail in 1968, he visited different places in Kashmir to raise funds for reconstruction of the Hazratbal Shrine. One day, he arrived at the mausoleum of Mir Sayyid Yaqoob and asked for local caretakers of the shrine. He had a meeting with them and soon it was known that the shrine had been taken over by the Muslim Auqaf Trust. Till then, a group of local residents looked after the management of the shrine. After the change of guard, a double-storey mosque, raised in brick and cement, was constructed by the Auqaf during the early 1970s, following which Friday and Eid prayers began to be held within the shrine complex. The mosque was built after reclaiming marshy land with long reeds. There were also two mulberry trees. Woste Rehman was the head mason who constructed the mosque. Prior to this, group prayers were held inside the shrine.
The earliest full-time Imam of the shrine mosque was Najmuddin, a saintly person. Before him, Sayyid Mohammad Sayed Qadri, an employee of the Radio Kashmir Srinagar, performed this duty part-time. He was stopped from leading the prayers following a controversy involving his person. Mohammad Sidiq Wani of Bonamsar would regularly deliver sermons while Habibullah of Batwara was a constant Friday speaker. Haji Habibullah Wani, who also served as the Manager of the shrine, would give call for Friday prayers. On special occasions like the annual urs, prominent religious scholar and commentator of Holy Qur’an, Sayyid Qasim Shah Bukhari would deliver religious speeches. Imam Najumuddin was succeeded by Afu Saeb. The present Imam, Mohammad Hussain Qadri, was first appointed in 1986 but was later removed from the position and replaced by Akhzar Hussain who too was removed following a complaint of misconduct against him. Currently, the Friday prayers are led by Imam Riaz Khairabadi while Qadri performs the duty five times a day. Before the management was taken over by the Auqaf, the affairs of the shrine and the mosque were looked after by Mohammad Sidiq Wani, Haji Habibullah Wani, Haji Mohammad Subhan Diamond, Ali Mohammad Bhat and Abdul Ghani. In December 1995, the two-storied mosque was dismantled, and foundation of a new massive Jama Masjid was laid, which was completed in 2000 under the supervision of Engineer Ali Mohammad Mir.
As I visited the shrine on Thursday last, I revisited my boyhood memories of which some are comic. My first ever visit to a shrine was to the mausoleum of Mir Sayyid Yaqoob situated, as it was then, close to our residence. As a small child, once when I returned from the shrine on the day of annual urs, I was asked at home what I had seen there. My reply was, “Saed Saeb os monjigooel kenaan” (I saw Sayyid Sahib selling fried snacks). The whole family laughed. Apparently, I had mistook an elderly turbaned man selling monjigooel at the shrine as the spiritual giant whose shrine I had gone to visit on that special day.
When a public address system was installed in the old mosque during early 1970s, it so happened that sometimes the mic would catch broadcast of the nearby radio station, the Vividh Bharti in particular. This happened especially during the interludes of silence during ruku (kneeling) and sajood (prostration). So once, when the Imam and the devotees prostrated and, in their hearts, muttered, Subhana Rabbiyal Aa’la (Glory be to Allah), the loudspeaker relayed the famous Talat Mehmood number, ‘Phir wohi sham wohi gam wohi tanhayee hai’. While the elders controlled themselves, the children had a hearty giggle. At another time, it was a Lata Mangeshkar number that interrupted the silence during ruku and sajood.
As I mentioned, young boys would visit the shrine during and after their annual examinations to seek the blessings of Mir Sayyid Yaqoob. Girls would also follow suit. Once, an innocent small girl from our extended family who had appeared in a primary class examination, visited the shrine with her cousin to pray for her success. As she raised her little hands to say her prayer, her lips betrayed her heart and she beseeched, “Sead Saeba agar syod chum gomut hol kerzem” (Sayyid Sahib, if I did it right, do it wrong) when she had meant the opposite. Coincidently, and as ill-luck would have it, she failed while her cousin, who had apparently said her prayer correctly, got through.
One day, we were in the midst of prayers. To the left of my cousin, Sheikh Nazir Ahmad, stood a mentally challenged boy, Nisar Ahmad Wani. Sheikh Nazir was wearing a half-sleeve T-shirt with a left-side chest pocket. As we prostrated, a fifty paise coin slipped out of his pocket and fell on the floor. Nisar nudged him and, within the hearing range of others, said to him, “Nazir Ahmada, Nazir Ahmada aeth aeni ha peyi” (Nazir Ahmad, fifty paise coin has slipped out of your pocket). He repeated it quite a few times. Nazir Ahmad did not respond. He quietly picked up the coin and put it back in his pocket. As we prostrated the second time, the coin again slipped out of his pocket. Nisar again raised an alarm, “Nazir Ahmada, Nazir Ahmada beyi ha peyi” (Nazir Ahmad, it has slipped out again.) Not to take it anymore and still in prostration, Ahmad forcefully elbowed him and, in an angry tone, admonished him, “Karu tchhope mai ha wuchh” (Keep quiet. I have seen it).
An incident of my teenage days at the shrine left behind a very bad taste. It was 17th Rabiut Thani, the urs day at the shrine. I do not recollect if it was 1972 or 1973 but I vividly recall that, accompanied by his wife, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah who had not returned to power yet arrived in his Plymouth car at the shrine. The couple went inside the shrine and, after some time, as they came out, a large number of people had gathered there to see the leader. At the main gate of the shrine, Abdullah was surrounded by enthusiastic people who jostled each other to go forward and greet their leader. I also happened to be there at that moment and, standing close by, watched the event. In the crowd was a frail man in shreds and excitement in his eyes. He moved forward with great difficulty and extended his hand for a handshake. To his shock, the Sheikh jerked away his hand and warned his wife to watch out against pickpockets. The poor man was crestfallen as the couple rode the car and sped away.
Once, a middle-aged pandit lady after making her supplications, threw some coins towards the grave as offering. A couple of young boys watching this unusual incident laughed. The poor lady felt nervous and thought that she had perhaps committed a blasphemous act. Confused, she looked here and there as if convincing those present that her intention was not wrong. To her comfort, a young man came forward and assured her that it was ok and that she need not feel embarrassed. Only when she felt reassured did she leave the shrine premises.
During the late 1970s, congregational Eid prayers had begun to be held in the mosque and due to rush of people, most of the devout would be accommodated in the compound of the shrine. On one such occasion, as the prayers began and the Imam was reciting the verses of the Qura’n, I suddenly blacked out and collapsed. Next, as I gained consciousness, I heard people asking me what had happened. I did not know what had happened. This was the third and, hopefully, the last time I had suffered blackout: first, during my childhood at a baker’s shop and, second time, at the Rainawari Hospital where I had gone to enquire after my uncle who had undergone a surgery.
There is a story narrated by elders about an incident during an outbreak of cholera when the dread of the epidemic had spread across Kashmir and people were dying in large numbers. Dr. Ernest F. Neve, a missionary medico then posted at the Chest Diseases Hospital Drugjan, assured local residents that the area would not be affected. He told them that his optimism came from a vision he had in which he saw a turbaned horse-rider coming out of the shrine premises and marking the boundaries of Sonawar with a stick. Miraculously, barring two persons who had contracted illness from elsewhere, nobody in Sonawar was affected by the epidemic. As an aside, I recall an anecdote talked about Dr. Neve and a pious local resident, Ghulam Hassan Khan, popularly known as Hassa Khan, who was a tailor by profession with deep religious insight. Dr. Neve would visit his shop at Sonawar Bazar and engage with him in religious discussion. Being a missionary, he would try to convince Khan about the teachings of Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) and why everyone should follow him. One day, Khan retorted, “Sahib aap khud Hadrat Isa ki zindagi par amal nahi kartay aur mujhay unki pairvi karnay ko kehtay ho’ (Sir, you want me to follow Hazrat Isa when you yourself do not take guidance from his life). The doctor was taken aback and asked in disbelief, “How do you say that?” Khan responded, “You know, Hadrat Isa did not marry. How is it that you have a Meem Sahib at your home? Are you not defying your Prophet?” A red-faced Dr. Neve was left speechless and quickly moved out of the shop.
There is this legend, passed on from one generation to another, about pre-dawn visits of a leopard to the shrine on Thursdays to pay obeisance to the saint. However, no one is ever known to have seen the wild cat there. Another miracle associated with the shrine is told about the flood of 1950 when the whole area was inundated following a breach in the right bank of the Jhelum at Batwara and bursting of the Tsunt Kol near the shrine. While the surrounding area was flooded, the flood water did not enter the shrine premises. No such miracle, however, happened during the Great Deluge of 2014 when the shrine precincts were also flooded. Only, the water did not touch the grave of Mir Sayyid Yaqoob for its elevated position.
Maharaja Pratap Singh, the ruler of Jammu & Kashmir (1885–1925) had banned burials in the shrine graveyard as he did not like to see a funeral procession while he passed by. The ban remained in force for about 12 years till the death of Ghulam Rasool Parray, father of Mohammad Sidiq Parray, a centurion who narrated this incident to me on 9 May 2010. The family approached Dr. Neve who was known to them and informed him about their predicament. Dr. Neve contacted the then British Resident and ensured that Parray was buried in his ancestral graveyard. In 1973, when Colonel Ghulam Qadir, brother-in-law of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, died, he was laid to rest in the shrine premises. This caused lot of resentment among the local residents, especially when the dead or his family had no claim over the graveyard. Some agitated youth threatened that they would dig the body out of the grave. However, since the dead was a close relative of Kashmir’s mass leader who was also President of the Auqaf, their objection fell flat. Later on, Colonel’s brother, Sheikh Mohammad Akram and his wife were also laid to rest there. As of now, the shrine management has put on notice boards announcing ban on further burials. Among the prominent persons buried in the graveyard are two un-named disciples of Mir Sayyid Yaqoob whose graves are distinguishable for the high pedestals on which their grave-stones rest. Another distinguished person is the famous majzoob (ascetic), Subhan Mot, who passed away on 21 Rajab 1372 Hijri corresponding to 6 April 1953. He would wear a thick coating of mud on his head and plant Iris leaves in it.
The shrine of Mir Sayyid Yaqoob contributes about one crore of rupees annually to the chest of the Auqaf which comes from donations and rent of commercial assets of the shrine. I am told that the revenue for the year 2021–22 was 9.5 million rupees against which an expenditure of three million rupees was posted. Some devotees like Mohammad Amin Shah of Palpora, my senior at the Government Lower High School Sonawar and a regular visitor to the shrine, complain that in comparison to huge earnings from the shrine, the Auqaf is spending literally nothing on its upkeep.[21] On last Thursday, when I reached the shrine, some men were busy sweeping and cleaning the premises. I thought they were preparing for some VIP visit, but Shah told me that they were men from the police guard who were doing this duty on their own in the absence of any arrangement by the Auqaf. Shah was also very critical of a toilet having been raised over the burial ground.
TAILPIECE: The ignorant among the visitors to the shrine, like at other shrines in Kashmir, often cross the thin line between aqeedat and shirk (devotion and associating partners with Allah) and indulge in acts strictly prohibited by Islam. Allah forewarns such people through the words of those whom, by their word or deed, they associate with Allah as partners: “Enough is Allah for a witness between us and you: we certainly knew nothing of your worship to us!” (10:29). May Allah guide us to the right path.
[I am grateful to Dr. Mohammad Shafi Bhat, Farooq Ahmad Akhoon, Mohammad Amin Shah and Nazir Nazr for their inputs.]
REFERENCES
[1] Miskeen, Haji Mohiuddin, Tarikh-i-Kabir, Tahayiful Abrar wa Zikrul Auliaul Akhiyar, p 56.
[2] Khuihami, Pir Ghulam Hassan, Tarikh-i-Hassan, volume 4 (Tazkirah-e-Aulia-e-Kashmir), p 277; Dedmari, Mohammad Azam, Waqa’at-i-Kashmir (trns. Shamsuddin), p 203.
[3] Kishtwari, Wali Mohammad Aseer, Tarikh-i-Aulia-e-Kashmir, p 450.
[4] Dedmari, Mohammad Azam, Waqa’at-i-Kashmir (trns. Shamsuddin), p 204.
[5] Kashmiri, Mulla Ahmad bin Abdus Saboor, Khawariqus Salikeen, (trns. Qasmi), p 572.
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECWrwdzD-Rk
[7] Kishtwari, Wali Mohammad Aseer, Tarikh-i-Aulia-e-Kashmir, p 451.
[8] Hussain, Hakim Imtiaz, The Shias of Jammu & Kashmir, Vol 1, p 489.
[9] Ibid., p 488.
[10] Khaki, Baba Dawood, Virdul Murideen Wagaira, Mss №2179, Oriental Research Library, Srinagar.
[11] Miskeen, Haji Mohiuddin, Tarikh-i-Kabir, Tahayiful Abrar wa Zikrul Auliaul Akhiyar, p 56.
[12] Ibid.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Kashmiri, Mulla Ahmad bin Abdus Saboor, Khawariqus Salikeen, (trns. Qasmi), p 529.
[15] Ibid., p 67.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Bhat, Ghulam Rasool, Hamara Adab, Aulia Number 2, J&K Academy of Art, Culture & Languages, (1991–92), p 226.
[18] File No. A/12, Part 5/4, Applications of certain persons praying for permission to build their houses in restricted area, Year 1911–14, Ex-Governor, Archives Repository Kashmir.
[19] As told by Dr. Bhat in a conversation with this author on 23 November 2022.
[20] As told by Akhoon to this author on 23 November 2022.
[21] As told by Shah to this author on 23 November 2022.