SRINAGAR: Thousands of devotees, including women, today participated in the special prayers at Khankahi Moula shrine on the occasion of annual urs of Saint Hazrat Aamir Kabir Mir Syed Hamdani who spread Islam in Kashmir.
Devotees joined the night-long prayers in the shrine on the bank of river Jehlum.
The state government has announced a holiday today in the Kashmir valley. Hazrat Aamir Kabir who came here from Hamdan in Central Asia, was the first to invite the people to Islam in Kashmir, which was dominated by Brahmans.
Muslim scholars and ulemas addressed the congregation and highlighted the teachings of Islam and messages of Hazrat. Devotees, who had come from all parts of the valley including far flung and remote areas also joined mid-day prayers, despite rains.
A number of non-muslims, including Kashmiri pandits, were also seen praying at the shrine.
Many saints have graced the valley of Kashmir but no one is identified with Kashmir the way Sahah-e-Hamadan is.
His real name was Ali and he was the descendent of Prophet Muhammad through Imam Zain-ul-Abideen. He was born in Central Asia around 1313. He arrived in Kashmir along with seven hundred Syeds and his followers. He had already sent two of his closest followers into Kashmir.
By the time he arrived in Kashmir, the local ruler had already became the followers of one of his disciple. Hazrat Shah Hamadan did not stay in the valley permanently but visited on various occasions.
First during the reign of Sultan Shahabuddin, he stayed for six months. On his second visit, Qutubuddin was the ruler when he stayed for a year. During his travels, he met one thousand and four hundred Sufi saints and Sadhus and made numerous followers.
Shah Hamadan had a multi-dimensional personality. He was a social reformer besides being a preacher. Among the seven hundred followers, who accompanied him to Kashmir, were men of arts and crafts who popularized Shawl-making, cloth weaving, pottery and calligraphy.
He also introduced the different handicrafts besides teaching of Islam. As a result, the handicraft industry received a fillip in Kashmir. He laid greater emphasis on earning legal livelihood and so rejected all the means available for the support of the Sufis.
He earned his livelihood by cap making. This impact of Shah-i-Hamadan continues to be felt after six hundred years of his death.
On his third visit to Kashmir, he fell ill and died after five days in 1394.
