Visit to Zaingair Sopore without paying visit to the shrine Hazrat Khawaja Hassan Qari RA is incomplete.Recently I visited this shrine .The mystic beauty of the shrine prompted to write this column.
While writing this column, my heart and soul is wandering in the mausoleum of this great saint.Being a student of history visiting the anonymous sufi shrines of Kashmir and writing prospectives is my interest.My interaction with the care takers of this shrine proved very helpfull.They provided me some vital and valuable inputs to gather the written sources.As per written sources I came to know that Hazrat Hassan Qari RA better known as Khawaja Hassan Qari (RA), and reverently as “Khawaja seab” was a member of Suhrawardiyya sufi order.Under the tutelage of Hazrat Shiekh Hamzah Maqdoomi RA, Hazrat Khawaja Hassan Qari RA reached to the great heights.Owing to his commond over seven melodious recitations of the Quran, he is known as Qari.Qari is a person who recites the Quran with proper rules of recitation,tajwid. His resting place in the evergreen woods of a village called Hardu shiva is thronged by the devotees round the year. This village is at a distance of 10 KM from the apple town Sopore . From the availabe written sources this author came to know that Hazrat Khawaja Hassan Qari RA learnt the fibre of’ tasawuf ‘from a towering sufi saint, Hazrat Sheikh Hamzah Makdhoomi (RA).
Hazrat Khawaja Hassan Qari RA was born in a noble and lettered family of Baldimar in Srinagar.Nothing is known about his birth year.As per written sources,his mother, a devoted disciple of Hazrat Sheikh Hamzah Makhdoomi (RA), played a vital role in his spiritual as well religious education. She urged him to fallow Hazrat sheikh Hamzah Makdhoomi (RA).
Hazrat Khawaja Hassan Qari RA taught the recitation of the Quran and other “ulooms”to large number of people. He had his cloth business in srinagar.This probably is the reason that this mystic is famous as Khawaja.
How Hazrat started his mystical journey
His brother Isaq Qari mentions in “Chilchilat al Arifin”that one day Khawaja Hassan Qari felt unconscious.His parents lost all hopes of his recovery. His father went to the masjid to plea the “imam “to pray for the speedy recovery of his son.He saw a man offering prayer there. Some one told him to relate his matter to that man, who went along with him to that man solve the problem. With his miraculous prayers ,Hasan Qari recovered from the unconsciousness and began to feel sound.Latter on his parents came to know that the man was a towering sufi saint of Kashmir namely Hazrat Sheikh Hamzah Makdhoomi (RA).whom they invited to their home and offered their allegiance to him.In this way Khawaja Hassan Qari (RA) became a disciple of Hazrat Shiekh Hamzah Makdhoomi (RA).Thus began his mystical journey.
The author of “Tazkir ul aslaf”writes that his mother who was a devoted disciple of Hazrat Sheikh Hamzah Makdhoomi( RA) played a vital role in his spiritual education and urged him to fallow Hazrat Sheikh Hamzah Makdhoomi (RA.) . From the written sources this author came to know that the personality of Hazrat Khawaja Hassan Qari is beyond explanation.Under the tutelage of his spiritual mentor,Hazrat Khawaja Hassan Qari RA shunned all worldy comforts and luxuries and spend days and nights in “zikir e Allahi” and prayers .As per written sources he would meditate for months with out eating any thing.
Baba Dawud Khaki(ra) refers to him in his “Wird al-Muridin” while saying that under the instructions of Sheikh Hamzah Makdhoomi( RA, ) Khwajah Hasan tasted the flavour of the remembrance of Allah that illuminated his heart and soul. The love of Almighty Allah,the gracious and mercifull, had penetrated the inner depths of his heart and soul.On the instructions of his mentor,he settled at a village called Hardu Shiva Zaingair Sopore.There he guided a large number of people in the Sufi path.He did not accept gifts or money from the people who used to visit him to get his blessings.What so ever reached to him was distributed among pover and destitutes.
Hazrat Khwaja Hassan Qari (RA) was a good scholar too.His “Rahat ul Talibeen”is one of the master pieces.This book besides dealing with the life of his mentor,Hazrat Sheikh Hamzah Makdhoomi (RA), explores a number of mystical facts and principles of Tasawwuf. what is more ” Rahat al-Talibeen” is a fine exploration of the different ways and practices followed by the seekers in the Sufi path. The author of” tazkir ul afireen” writes that his spiritual mentor assigned him a duty to carry water for his kitchen.This kitchen was serving the food for two hunderd sufi saints.Among them Hazrat Mir Baba Hadar Tulmuli (RA) deserves a special mention.From whom Hazrat Khawaja Hassan Qari (RA) benefited much.It is said that he liked The book “saluk ul murqabat” of Hazrat Baba Haider Tulmuli (RA) very much,and used to kiss the every page of that book daily.
On the instructions of his mentor Hazrat Sheikh Hamzah Makdhoomi (RA) he spent his last days at Hardu Shiva zaingair sopore. The author of “chilchilat ul arifeen ” writes that he performed forty “chillas” in solitude”in the forests of zaingar Sopore. Khawaj Hassan Qari RA has wriiten sufi poetry also. The author of “tazkir ul murshadeen’ writes that Khawaja Hassan Qari RA has written history of Kashmir. Being a student of history I first time came to know that a sufi saint has wriiten history of Kashmir. Historian Hassan writes that this.. history is not avilable here.It’s pen script is preserved in Oxford University of UK.
A number of karamaats,miracles so to say are attributed with this mystic which are beyond the words. The author of “tazkir ul Aafreen writes that one night I went to his home.There I saw few strange men.who left at midnight .I asked Khawaja Hassan Qari (RA )about them. He said that one among them was Hazrat Owais Karni (RA ).This author mentions one more karamaat, (a mirracle to say, that once a disciple was walking with him.Meanwhile ,a snake bites him.The disciple cried with pain.On seeing this Hazrat Khawaji Hassan Qari (RA) ordered the snake to present itself before him. The snake came and was asked to took away the poison from the leg of the victim.The snake obeyed him and in this way his servent recovered. Historian Hassan writes that Khawaja Hassan Qari RA was a great saint of his times. As per authentic sources Khawaja Hassan Qari RA left for Heavenly abode in 999 hijri and was burried at Hardu Shiva zaingair in Sopore.The shrine hoists annual urs of this saint on 27th of Safar.
To conclude with the beautiful lines of Professor.Mohammad Ishaq Khan former HOD history university of Kashmir ; “While Hasan Qari regards strict adherence to Shari’ah as a necessary condition for gaining the ma ‘rifah of Allah, he argues the salik(spiritual seeker) to create self-confidence by way of purifying his soul and heart … In his estimation, equal treatment to the ‘high’ and ‘low’ is humility and doing good to the friend and enemy alike is sincerity.”
Khursheed Dar is a sufi scholar and vetron columnist and can be reached at
khursheed.dar33@gmail.com
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