SHAIKH MOHAMMAD MUSA (r.a)

Shaikh Musa was of a pure self adorned with all praiseworthy qualities.He would get lessons of meditation on Allah from his brother (Shaikh Yaqub) and would within himself fight with his cunning self and engage himself to a great extent in remembrance (zikr) and meditation (fikr), but he did not achieve any fame from outside. In short when he passed away, he was buried in Zoonimar graveyard.It was 1086 according to the Hijri calendar and first of Muharram, when he was laid to rest.If you happen to pass near Gilli Kadal facing west on left side or if you pass towards east side, his grave can be seen facing south.There are shaded trees around his grave, May Allah’s countless mercy continue to be showered on it.The thought within has stealthly revealed about his year of death that “Shaikh Musa was our ancestor”-(Shaikh Musa buwad jaddi ma).——–شيخ موسى بود جد ما— (10) Shaikh Musa Zoonimari (RA) (d.1074 AH)He was the son of Shaikh Gazi-ud-Din and the brother of Shaikh Yaqub. After getting training from his father and achieving inner attainments, he got perfected from his brother. He was hidden ‘wali’- friend of God. He spent life in abstinence and fear of God. He passed away on first Muharram 1074 AH. He is buried in Zoonimar near Gil kadal. His chronogram reads “Shaikh Basafa”- شيخ باصفا

SHAIKH-UL-MASHAIKH SHAIKH MUHAMMAD PARSA (QS)- Ghulam Rasool Shaiva

How many different sketches of the high ranking Pir are drawn briefly by the pen that spreads fragrance?I mean, Shaikh Muhammad Parsa, who is an authorized saint, Pir, Faqir and Guide.An person of austerity, after hearing from the straight forward singers, has conveyed about the fore-runners as: That the king of saints, the honored in the religion, the listener of prayers, the person of high status, fully enlightened,The mercy for common and proper people i.e. Hazrat Shaikh Hamza Makhdoom-i-Jahan (QS)Was once upon a time in Kamraj blessed with a cheerful mood and contentment, Visiting all regions, accompanied with a group of dear friends,They were all saints, extremely faithful friends- a group of special people.By chance one day he turned towards a place, where he held a meeting in a green field. (on the bank of Wullar lake)A person of good luck, pious, full of shining light was seen approaching in a rowing boat from far off place.He always used to carry silently like angels, a pack of firewood on his shoulders.From this group, one Zaiti Shah proceeded towards the boat, in his ecstasy, carrying a staff in his hands.He hit the pack of wood repeatedly with his staff, telling him to come out of the boat after casting away this burden of world.So that, I lead you to a king, who will place a crown of “Vilayat”- (knowledge of the secrets of Allah)- on your head.The wood cutter threw away the pack of wood and with folded hands went in the presence of Hazrat Sultan.When Zaiti Shah charged with ecstasy of the light of Allah, reached before his highness,He submitted before Hazrat Sultan, “I hand over this man of God to you”,Hazrat Sultan was kind enough to ask him about his name, to which he replied,“Uptill now I was named Mohind, henceforth my name shall be what you suggest”,Hazrat Sultan named him as Mohammad and as a reward gave him the title of ‘Parsa’ (the pious).Then he became his guide in esoteric knowledge and he attained a high status with this favor of his.He was directed to confine himself in a corner, in solitude and he remained thus for a pretty long time.Later on he came under the fold of Baba Dawood Khaki and thus he got absorbed in this path, For a long time, he remained in solitude at many places and finally his fortune got unfolded.(That is) He selected a place in Khoihama village, for sitting in solitude.This site was a refreshing one, its waters were sweet and had full flowing springs and streams.This place was named Papa-Chan, its perennial spring became famous over the years.In fact the name of the spring was the same; basically the names also come as a revelation from the sky above,Here the people who take bath get benefitted, that is why it was christened as such, in the Kashmiri language.’Pap’ means sin and ‘Chan’ means to wash; meaning that the sins get washed away with the waters of this spring.Whoever reaches a destination for the first time, its spring is christened on the name of that very village.This old saint adopted this place for his residence; the places get blessed by the friends of Allah, that they select to reside.Gazi-ud-Din would visit this great saint with extreme humility and regards, every morning and evening.He would also help in his routine works and would spend out of his kitty for his (Shaikh Parsa’s) daily needs.Since they were like-minded, they would feel a great pleasure in meeting each other.Since both of them were the disciples of one guide, they were the followers of the same path of esoteric knowledge.Their inner connection was with one person only, and outwardly too they were neighbors.Madar is situated on the north of Papchan and both the villages are interconnected.In short when Shaikh Yaqub returned to his home after completing his journey,His friends and all home people were happy and instead, his enemies were perturbed.He took rest in his home for a few days to recover from the tiresome journey.After some days, his parents advised him to meet Shaikh Mohammad Parsa.Due to his careless attitude, he (Shaikh Yaqub) did not attend to the advice of his old father.Instead he uttered improper words, when his father insisted him to go to the Shaikh.Due to this negligence, he suddenly fell ill shivering with fever overtaken with grief.He continued in this state of sickness for a long time, till there was left no hope of his survival.Gazi-ud-Din mentioned about the sickness of his son and the result of his denial of his advice, to Shaikh Mohammad Parsa.He did not mention about it all this time, though he remained upset by heart all along.One day he (Gazi-ud-Din) just carried a cup of mixture of rice and meat besides milk to the Pir.The moment Pir dipped his hand in the cup, there was heard a shriek of weeping and wailing from a far off place.Pir asked his disciple about the cause of this noise, to which Gazi-ud-Din replied with low tone,That, my such and such son, who returned from journey, has fallen ill and is now almost near his end.He must have died, that is why there is this noise of weeping and wailing.From the food of the Shaikh, there was left a little milk in the cup.He directed his servant to rush to the patient along with it and make him swallow it through his mouth.The left-over food of a believer (moomin) is termed to be a cure by prophet of Allah (SAW); with this consideration, he may accept it.The servant instantly gave him this morsel as if he was given the elixir of life,The moment he swallowed this elixir, he came to life again and was freed from death. He rose up with his father and presented himself at the house of the Pir and became his obedient servant by heart and soul.Pir said that he has achieved nothing in reality and that he is wandering between obstacles.That he is helpless, deprived, weak, feeble, and sick and having no treatment.(In this state) what is left with me, that I can give you: on this the seeker (Shaikh Yaqub) asked to leave this story aside,That the heat of sun melts the age-old snow (i.e. the lives of people meet their end), we too are to leave,I too am waiting to clean myself from dirt and ill-will, ahead of time, If you honor me with your favors, I will remain your slave till the dooms day.Otherwise my this time shall get wasted and I shall be left with no alternative other than to seek some other guide,On this type of statement, this guide became angry and shouted, “O’ the unlucky one, go away from me”Then he stood up from his place like a young person and went towards the nearby stream, After performing ablations, he entered the mosque and remained unmindful towards the seeker,Forty days and nights passed like that and the wailing and weeping of the seeker crossed his bearing,He remained at the door of his house, weeping and wailing, without eating any food and in a state of shame and hopelessness.He remaind engaged in praying to God, burdened with hundreds of worries,Suddenly the Pir received a voice from the unknown, this was without doubt, a voice of revelation.That you be quick to lead this lover of Mine towards Me, with kindness and love, so that he does not get disappointed from Our mercy and forgiveness.On this good news, the Pir asked, “who is there at the door?” to which the reply was, “it is me the unlucky slave.””An ashamed, useless slave, undeserving and rejected from all doors,”“A sinner, deceitful, hated by people, killed by self-gratification, shameful and disobedient”The Pir said, “Stop here, my dear come in, bravo! on your this etiquette”He thanked Allah in an attractive manner, that at last the war between love and friendship was over,With great humility and shivering, he came in, with smiling face but silent,He remained standing in front of the guide and opened his arms; he gave him space in his heart,Embracing him, the Pir carried him, kissing his lips, eyes and his forehead.Whatever Pir had achieved in his lifetime, he transferred all that in the chest of the disciple,Whatever was found in the clear chest of the guide, all that got transmitted to the chest of the disciple?Guidance is obtained by the meeting of hearts; the heart is like a mirror and carries a reflection of the good and the bad.He, whose heart gets cleared of all ills, gets the reflection of the light of sun.in short the disciple got intoxicated with this state and gave up the worldly affairs.When a thirsty person quenches his thirst, he forgets the bitterness of the river Jaikhoon of Balkh and that of the Euphrates of Karbala,Thereafter the Pir gave him the directions for hard work and made him aware of the inner secrets of Fikr and Zikr- (meditation and commemoration),For a long time the disciple remained busy in this state and in the long run succeeded in his purpose,Every night both the Pir and the disciple would remain awake till morning in the remembrance of Allah,Till the disciple found many treasures with the benefit of remembrance of God,Now he achieved success due to right conduct and was relieved with ease from his harsh temper,But one bad habit could not go due to habitual helplessness, which continued to remain associated with his nature,That is the disciple was accustomed to smoking occasionally, whereby there was a smoky spot caused on his heart/lungs.

cOURTESY:- The wonderful miracle of kashmir sufi saints compiled by ghulam rasool shaiva

SHAH-E-HAMDAN: Kashmir’s Benefector

Ameer Kabeer Meer Syed Ali Hamdani was a great saint, scholar, and a religious leader of the 8th century Hijri.

Ameer Kabeer Meer Syed Ali Hamdani was a great saint, schlor, and a religious leader of the 8th century Hijri. He was also a philosopher, writer and traveller. An intellectual of repute, he was never hesitant to exchange social and religious views with other scholars irrespective of their race, creed and caste of all the countries he visited to. He enlightened the masses about the universal brotherhood, equality and brought them to the path of spritualism. Raised their social and economical standard. This is particularly true  of Kashmir. Shah Hamdan contributed much for mobilization of Islamic faith all over the world through his teachings, publications and personal propagation.

Hazrat Amir Kabeer Ali Sani, Mir Syed Ali Hamdani, was born in Hamadan (Iran) on 14th of Rajab 714 H (1312 B.C.). Syed Shahabuddin his father was decedent of Imam Hussain and his mother Fatima was decedent of Imam Hassan Hamadan is a famous city in western Iran. It was founded in 800 BC as Ecbatana (Hagmatana) and ever since retained its fame particularly as centre of Islamic thinkers, philosophers and saints.

Syed Ali Hamadani at a young age mastered in all the available knowledge in Theology, Philosophy and Sufism and travelled extensively seeking knowledge and practicing spiritualism till he became a scholar of repute, a mystic and a perfect saint. He spent his life in propagating Islam and undertook several extensive tours through difficult terrains and over hazardous routes. 

Syed Ali Hamdani came to Kashmir for the first in 774H (1372 B.C.) with the message of complete submission to only one God and blessed the people with the true teaching of the Prophet (SAW). This visit lasted for 4 to 6 months. During this brief stay he held intellectual and spiritual debates with scholars and priests of temples. 

Few Muslim saints, traders and soldiers (Abdul Rahman Qalander, Shah Meer, Jalaldine) came before Shah Hamdan to Kashmir, during the reign of Raja Harish and Rachan Shah in (339 H), but there was very little impact.

The second visit lasted for two and a half years (781 H to 784 H) (1378 to 1381 A.D.) When he was accompanied by 700 Missionaries. The third visit lasted for a year in 785 H (1383 A.D). He left via pakhle and breathed his last at the age of 71 years on wednesday night the 6th of zil-hajja 786 h (19th january, 1385 a.d.) at Kuz (Sawad) Pakistan in 786 H. His earthly remains were taken by Sheikh Qavam-u-Din Badakhshi to Dushamba (Khatlan) in Tajkistan.

This was the time when major part of Asia was ruled by ‘Tatars’ and Hind especially by Tuglaqs and our medieval nation was going through misery and depression of poverty, ignorance, corruption and was fractured apart by caste system.  This was the time when Kashmiris were tortured by monopoly of black magic practiced by hundreds of monks and high priests of great temples.

Meer Syed Ali Hamadani freed Kashmiri nation from living in fear, uncertainty, ignorance, inequality of caste system and poverty. He brought new hope, new life of living in peace, with respect, dignity, and equal human rights, in just and fair society. He revolutionized the Kashmiri society by propagation of Islamic teachings and brought prosperity, stability and tranquility for the first time to our nation. 

Syed Ali Hamadani not only uplifted Kashmiri nation morally and spiritually but also socially and economically. He brought highly skilled technicians, engineers and architects among his missionaries from different parts of world (Persia, China, Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Russia) to Kashmir, who taught Kashmiris architecture, agriculture, engineering, different handicrafts, for which Kashmir has become famous ever since. 

Kashmiri’s became highly skilled artists in different handicrafts like pashmina-sazi (Kashmir fabric), carpet manufacture, shawl making, Chinstitch, Paper-mashi, wood carving, silver and copper wear and their carving, book binding, calligraphy, embroidery work, needle work, ( Suzankari) and so on.

Hamadani was not only a religious but also a civil and social reformer. He taught Kashmiri’s the ways of civil administration within a just society with a sprit of communal harmony, universal brotherhood, honesty and equality as is evident also through his writings, particularly through his celebrated book

Hamadani was also a great traveller. He travelled almost round the world three times over. He also travelled to all parts of Kashmir, Leh (Ladakh), Askardoo, Gilgat. Wherever he went he opened manor houses, shrines (Mosques), libraries and industrial units of handicrafts especially in Kashmir, Russia, China, Indonesia, Srilanka, North of India and Pakistan. He started his International Islamic Mission in 738 H at the age of 24 and travelled to Asian countries far and wide where Muslims mostly suffered from lack of understanding the Shariat and also due to ideological differences that emerged from different interpretations of Shariat. He cleared them by discussions with local scholars and through his writings and teachings.

Syed Ali Hamadani was a prolific writer of Arabic and Persian and about 172 writings in the form of books and treatises are credited to him. Most of his writings in the form of manuscripts are found in all the famous libraries of the world. 

Author- Dr Nazir Ahmad Dar published on https://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/opinion/shah-e-hamdan-kashmirs-benefector/

Sheikh ul Alam’s Poetry: The Discourse of Knowledge – Dr.Sumaya Firdous

ABSTRACT
Knowledge is one of the divine blessings of God. The seer of any religion quenches his thirst for wisdom from the ocean
of Knowledge. In the perception of Sheikh ul Alam’s poetry, gaining knowledge of this life and hereafter is the approach
towards knowing ultimate truth and reality. However, it is not hidden from the sight that gaining knowledge insincerely
and impracticably accelerates the deprivation of knowledge. Meanwhile, human’s knowledge about existing things is
insignificant. He is still unaware about numerous things that exist around us. According to Sheikh ul Alam, in the vast
expanse of the universe, man has been able to explore only limited elements of beings. Any high sounding claim of
knowledge by today’s material world does not therefore, seem to be proper. The knowledge of things which has reached
so far is to the extent that how do a particular thing work, but the real cause of its working and what will be the result if
it works in the other way, is still a mystery and will remain a mystery forever.
Key words: Knowledge, faith, truth, heart, storage
Objectives:
The main objective of this study is to find out how Sheikh ul Alam puts forth the discussion of religioscientific knowledge and knowledge of certainty. This work will observe the expression of Sheikh ul Alam in
the discourse of whole knowledge.
Research Methodology:
To complete the research study, incentive came from the study of the poetry of Sheikh ul Alam. The
‘Observation Method’ was applied successfully for this research work. By using this method, the researcher
goes through different literary articles, critical compositions, books and websites to find interrelated study
materials. In order to be acknowledged in the allied topics Different critical books composed by– Adfar, Ishaq
Khan, Khuihami etc. remain supportive for the part of the study on poet’s literary life.
Introduction
Sheikh ul Alam is one of the most popular Sufi saints and poets of Kashmir valley. Sheikh Noor ud Din is
entitled by different venerated names like Sheikh ul Alam, Nund Rishi, Alamdar-e-Kashmir, Taj ul Awliya,
(the crown of saints of Kashmir) and Kashmiri Pundits call him Shahzanand. (Khyuihami, 1954) Sheikh ul
Alam is an encyclopedic man whose poetry touches all facets of life and universe. His knowledge wrapped in
his Shruks (poetry) is most perfect and consistent because an enlightened soul and consciousness cannot be
plagiaristic or a copied consciousness. His consciousness cannot be made up of a multitude of inherited
tendencies, which may deflect or distort the intellectual or a mystic. Sheikh ul Alam, through his transcendent
and sublime knowledge of spiritual acquisition has made it possible to realize the state, which encompasses
and suffuses the entire cosmos, everything animate, sentient, conscious, inanimate and dull. He has
magnificently been able to open the blinded eyes by total darkness of ignorance, disbelief and incredulity with
the collieries-stick of absolute and true knowledge. His Shruks are radiant with the luster and the splendor of
the finest of jewels, and his guiding and steering principles are like the hundred suns that cause the rose beds of knowledge to blossom. He has established himself in the power of knowledge, and has festooned his
authority with the garland of priceless and inestimable principles and has become the torch bearer of human
prosperity and liberation. It seems that his Shruks touch the heights of Truth where there is no higher penance
or any higher attainable out of any spurious or specious source of knowledge. He alone is the knowledge and
wealth, and his knowledge is all that can lead to the salvation. True, He is a Sheikh ul Alam- the Sage of the
Cosmos. His poetry is embedded with the principles of Islam, the Quran and sunnah (sayings of Prophet
Muhammad). Many aspects of his poetry have been discussed so far but the aspect of knowledge has not been
much explored. Therefore, the attempt of this paper would be to locate his poetry in the discourse of
knowledge.

Perception of Knowledge
Humans can achieve knowledge through the organs of perception. Blessed with senses, humans can
understand the world of created things. However, the knowledge of unseen worlds cannot be attained with the
help of reason. Sheikh ul Alam left for searching that unseen world. He had the quest of knowledge, a spiritual
knowledge, a Truth, identification of known and knower. So the transformation did not start with the physical
deterioration but began with the mental, intellectual transformation and generally seeped into a psychological,
soul and body which gradually began to affect his habit of eating, his appetite and his sleep. It is said he
gradually left eating and at his last stage of life he was living just on the glass of water. The event is discussed
in the book of Tarikh- E -Hassan by Kuihami. He writes:
One day he arrived at Daryagam, there he found some women cutting grasses. He felt sad and asked them why
are you making it death? One of the women replied we are doing it for ourselves and for our animals, to be
alive. But what are you doing Sheikh; you are destroying thousands of creatures by your staff, wherever you
sit you trample hundreds of plants. After that Sheikh-ul-Alam cried bitterly and sat on stone and meditated for
one month (Khuihami, 176). When he realized that milk gratifies physical appetite he gave up drinking it.
Afterwards for about two and a half years till his death, he took nothing except water which was used to keep
body and soul together. His whole body loses its strength, only skeleton remains behind. He was seated in a
basket (yaet in Kashmiri) on the back of his attendants and he was guiding people to follow the path of Islam.

Sheikh ul Alam’s concept of Knowledge
As for as Sheikh ul Alam’s concept of knowledge is concerned, he believes that the whole knowledge is
engrossed in the word ‘God’ and ‘faith’ (yaqin). One who contemplates God’s eternal being has acquired the
underneath meanings of knowledge. Meanwhile, he says that the process of universe is unintelligible for man
to grasp. Therefore, the source of knowledge of space or any tiny being is known by God only. He says:
Knowledge founts from truth- the word of God.
Feats do gush from the jet of abstemiousness.
Himself, who knows the source and origin of space.
Find not thou obstruction in ocean cause and key. (Adfar, 417 II)
Sheikh ul Alam admits that the knowledge of macro or micro things can be understood in the unison of faith
and knowledge of Truth (God). The logic behind each existence is associated with the power of God. Saints
and other believers have strong faith that there is great and powerful life force behind each existence.
The Nimaz is to sow the seeds in thy field,
Weed it by thy cultured behavior,
And get thy produce ripened soon.
Knowledge must be accompanied with faith.
Sheikh ul Alam has used a phrase: “storage of gold,” in the following stanza. According to the poet,
knowledge is to store gold in a box which conveys the exchange of knowledge whether at the individual level
or cultural or societal levels or having an instinct of metaphysics. Hence, the poet admonishes that one should

deal with this knowledge cautiously that is with the utmost reliability on Truth. He compares such
complications with the destructive wind and storm that could engulf the burning lamp of faith. Therefore, such
destruction of knowledge can be conquered by conducting nimaz (surrender in prayers before Allah).
The acquisition of knowledge is storage of riches and gold,
The bargain lies in treading the straight path,
The investment in the bargain is truthfulness,
Faith is like candle light, beware of wind and storm.
Sheikh ul Alam puts forth the limited knowledge of humans by discussing the grasping knowledge from the
scripture Quran. However, the whole knowledge is engrossed in the Holy Quran but the appropriate and
hidden meaning is known by God only. Many Islamic scholars claim that they have well enough knowledge
about the Quran but Sheikh ul Alam seems to be aware enough of their limited knowledge. Hence, expresses
it in this way:
How can one comment upon the verses of God’s testament?
How can one explain the words of Gracious Lord?
How can one purge the dross of his five senses?
Impossible art these as to hold the wind in one’s fist. (Adfar, 231 I)
Heart as a seat of learning
By nature, heart tempts towards sins and can be easily possessed by Satan. Heart, being a delicate, is
vulnerable to all sins veiled as weaknesses hence it is not easy to hold it. It always remains the façade of
battlefield of good and evil. The devotion of man is disturbed by Satan who tries to allure him by attracting
him towards mischief. Even a knowledgeable person falls in the trap of Satan. Instead of using his knowledge
for right cause, he starts it for his own benefits. It is through uphill struggle of chiseling and maintaining the
heart with knowledge by which man can stick to his right path. It is heart wherefrom the existence of divine
world beckons into motion and paves the way to perfection. “With it (heart) is joined the mystery of eternity
without beginning and in it the source of sight reached the limit of vision and therewith glorified became.”
(Suharwardi, 219) Self-knowledge is the realization of having a heart or spirit which is absolutely perfect, but
has been covered with dust by the accumulation of passions derived from animal nature. Sheikh ul Alam
believes that inner purification is to eradicate selfish desires and to adopt virtues. He procures the way of
Sufism by holding both hands of belief and practical action. The action is to tear down all barriers in the soul
so that it achieves freedom from everything that is not God. Sheikh ul Alam has commitment of heart to
God’s praise (alhamud) and the greetings to Him (Attahiyat), the Prophet and His righteous servants, which is
recited during the course of five times prayers. Commitment of heart leads to the way of realization of his
essence.
Who has committed to heart,
Alhamud, Qulhu-Allah, Attahiyat,
Realize Your essence, my soul. (Khan, 121)
Let not confine thy physical being O! impude.
Let thou be acquainted to thyself.
Lest Satan may deprive thee of faith in God,
And shalt thou be raised with heretic Abujahal. (Adfar, 218 I)
Thus it is Ma’ rifat of God that occurs after scrutinizing the inner being and marring all hurdles of knowing
Him. Mere senses, intellectualism or logic or philosophy is not enough to know Him. Intellect also cannot
take a stand before its recognition because He is unthinkable. Logic, is also, not the requisite of knowing Him
as it never goes beyond the finite. Philosophy cannot adequately supply the means of comprehending Him for
it makes double meaning. Book learning has a least importance for fulfilling its requirement; it fosters self

conceit and obscures the idea of the Truth with clouds of empty words. Knowledge comes by illumination,
revelation, inspiration that arises from the kingdom of heart.
Attaining Spiritual Knowledge
The ultimate goal for Sufis is to curb desires in order to attain God’s proximity. Sufi thinkers categorized the
path into a series of stages through which the Sufi have unification with God. The acquisition of ma’rifa is not
the result of learning but is a type of gnosis in which the mystic received illuminations by God. “Sufis
distinguish three organs of spiritual communication: the heart (qalb), which knows God; the spirit (ruh),
which loves Him; and the inmost ground of the soul (sirr), which contemplates Him. The qalb, though
connected in some mysterious way with the physical heart, is not a flesh and blood. Unlike the English
“heart,” its nature is rather intellectual than emotional, whereas the intellect cannot gain real knowledge of
God, the qalb is capable of knowing the essences of all things, and when illumined by faith and knowledge
reflects the whole content of divine mind; hence Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) said, “My earth and My heaven
contain Me not, but the heart of My faithful servant containeth Me.” This revelation, however, is a
comparatively rare experience.” (Reynold, 49) In Bukhari Shareef Volume 1, Book 2, Number 49: Narrated
An-Nu’man bin Bashir: I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “(O people!) Beware! Every king has a Hima and the
Hima of Allah on the earth is His illegal (forbidden) things. Beware! There is a piece of flesh in the body if it
becomes good (reformed) the whole body becomes good but if it gets spoilt the whole body gets spoilt and
that is the heart.”
Sheikh ul Alam philosophically sets forth the comparison of the Gnostic and a common man. Gnostic has
divine grace and can grasp the divine light, gets inspired by it and gets absorbed in it. It needs a divine grace
as well as the man’s caliber as weak soul is not capable to surrender all his desires before the Will of Allah,
instead of it he becomes cynical and passes through many uncertainties. His limited knowledge cannot
facilitate the comprehension of Lord’s secrets. For that purpose, God chooses a few who can contemplate
upon the Knowledge and ablaze the whole world with their unique wisdom and knowledge. Sheikh ul Alam
uses a paradox of such chosen ones under the following shruk;
Ready not a ram be for a packsaddle.
Late not a falcon be to swoop its aim.
Curdle not the water under solar radiations.
Listen not a dunce a valuable suggestion. (Adfar, 212 I)
Ordinary knowledge is denoted by the term ilm, all and sundry can possess it because it is natural and
instinctive. With the assistance of ilm, one can distinguish between good and evil and it belongs both to kafir
(Non-believer) as well as to the faithful servant of God. While as the ilm of next world is possessed by only
faithful servants. Ilm is of three kinds; ilm-i-tauhid (knowledge of the unity of God), ilm-i-ma’rifat
(knowledge of the work of God) and ilm of the orders of the shariah (of orders and of prohibitions). All three
kinds have their own distinctive travelers which are known as the sage of God, sage of the next world and
sage of this world. ‘Sages of God’ have full faith in unity of God, in the next world as well as in the work of
God. They not only have the whole knowledge of Islam but utilize it properly and sincerely. Hence, they are
known as the companions of right hand while as the ‘sages of this world’ are known as the companions of left
hand as they are wicked and self-centered ones. “The sages of sin, upon whom have descended threat upon
threat of God’s wrath.” (Suharwardi, 95) These sages are learned ones but they have gained knowledge from
what they have been taught. They lack power of reflection over teachings and do not practice them; they do
not use what they learn. As Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) has said, “No man will be learned unless he puts
knowledge into practice.” (Faris, 147) As for as Sheikh ul Alam is concerned he is a ‘sage of God’ who has
full faith in unity of God, in the next world and in the work of God. He frequently reminds the purpose of
living in this world, rather being negligent of all requiring duties which have been obliged on humans by
Almighty.
Let thou hunt for divine ways of living and means.

To avoid the contact of thy paw with fiercing Hades.
Exhaust not the origin of waters divine and immortal.
Defiled may not devour its sanctity and saccharinely.
Reduced to skeleton wilt be thy hale and hefty configuration.
When torturous reptiles wilt appear before thee. (Adfar, 393 II)
In respect of “knowledge of the work of God”, Sheikh ul Alam staunchly believes that human’s bridle of
knowledge, wisdom, life, death, prosperity, happiness, rewards or punishments is in the hands of God. So, like
other Sufis Sheikh ul Alam believes that mystical knowledge is granted by Lord only. One who is destined to
receive it will receive it under His mercy and he will remain content.
Diviners art donated with enlightenment and sagacity.
Saints art embraced to spiritual founts and springs.
Lovers art inebriated with booze soft while.
Negligent lose their herbariums due to locust swarm. (Adfar, 189 II)
Further, Sheikh ul Alam elaborates the grace of God here as well as hereafter. He expresses his divine
knowledge of here and hereafter in agreement with controlling carnal desires. In resistance lies the key to life
(a real and pious one) i.e., to live for the sake and happiness of Allah. Sheikh ul Alam talks about the mystic
state (ilm-i-hal) that is ‘knowledge which is free from all worldly desires and is eventually the source of
happiness.’ He consciously propounds that losing oneself in the maze of worldly desires is a path of failure
and loss. The proximity of God can be achieved by abolishing all desires. Worldly desires should be mashed
and crushed under the feet and come out as a victorious hero.
I searched Him in the three worlds and ten directions;
I could not get a clue or a glimpse of Him anywhere.
I then inquired from Saints and Rishis performing penances;
They too began to weep on hearing it.
When I gave up desires and passions,
Then I found Him near myself.
Aligned with the passive and wicked learned men
Sheikh ul Alam highlights all kinds of sages, and criticizes their utilization of knowledge on the grounds of
wickedness, hypocrisy, greed and hankers of fame. Umar said, “The thing I fear most for the safety of this
nation is the learned hypocrite.” (Faris, 148) Sheikh ul Alam debunks all those priests and Sheikhs who
hanker after fame and wealth. In another shruk Sheikh ul Alam refers to the wicked learned men who will
suffer intense agonies of torture in the hell.
Priests art pleasured with favors and banquets.
Sheikhs do amock after wealth and self-indulgence.
Mystic art cling to mendacity surrendering diligence.
Thus satisfied remained, they with filled gut… (Adfar, 71 I)
The day when hell wilt get aggravated by the Lord.
That day virtue and vice wilt be evaluated.
Conscious, if thou art to thy defined doctrine.
Triumphant wilt thou be her and Hereafter. (Adfar, 228 I)

Importance of Virtuous Deeds
Sheikh ul Alam comprehends the inner meanings of the Islamic doctrines and delves into ma’rifat (deep
knowledge of God). Sheikh ul Alam severely criticizes the coveting of worldly matters and reminds that
human life is leading towards Judgment Day. Compared with the eternity of next life, this life is almost
insignificant, yet it seals our fate in the world to come. At many places he makes one realize that our
theological convictions are by themselves irrelevant for gaining redemption in the afterlife. Not our good
beliefs or intentions count; only our good and virtuous actions will determine our life in the world to come. It
was not so easy to discover the Truth, for that Sheikh ul Alam went through hardships. To proclaim the secret
of Truth he first was in need to discover promising foundations on which the Truth can be viable:
Knowledge is great and the word of God eternal.
If thou follow the path of Muhammad (S.A.W)- the Prophet.
Thy pious behavior is not less than a pearl treasure.
Swift as air be thy market price to get there-in Hereafter. (Adfar, 230 I)
Knowledge of Certainty
Sheikh ul Alam guides about acquiring knowledge of certainty. For that purpose, the light of faith is
important, not a single ray of trial from Allah should desperate the seer or novice. It is akin to go beyond the
shadow of doubt till he reaches ilm-i-Yaqin (knowledge of certainty) in which the heart frees from all
perturbation of doubt.
Victorious of time and trun wilt be the one O, Nassarudin.
Who wilt be well acquainted with his fellow beings.
Hair grey wilt he grows in contentions and meditations.
Optant wilt he be to nourish others than to fill his gut own.
Ready wilt he be to baths and ablutions ever and always.
Punctual and permanent wilt he be to adorations and venerations.
Firm and stable wilt he be in faith and divinity.
Thus restless wilt he be in search of divine light (Adfar, 57 II).
Sheikh ul Alam’s words and Abu Sulayman (al Durani)’s words are quite equivalent while experiencing the
depth of knowledge. Abu Sulayman once said, “Knowledge is closer to silence than to loquacity.” It was also
said, “When knowledge increases loquacity decreases, but when the latter increases the former decreases.”
(Faris, 181) Sheikh ul Alam in the same manner says:
Those who melt inwardly by pure vision,
They are outwardly deaf and dumb;
They came out cool from a fire of chaff,
They, then, alone are precious rubies.
Inspiration for Scholars
Sheikh ul Alam inspires all scholars through his teachings. According to Sheikh ul Alam, scholar should
practice knowledge. Such knowledge is based on the purity of heart that contains the praiseworthy traits and
will be the fountain-head of good deeds. No room left in the heart for hatred, greed, insolence, anger boasting,
vanity, dishonesty, fraud etc. He believes that the acquisition of knowledge should not be for gaining
materialistic pleasures. He has shown the purpose of gaining knowledge, meanwhile illustrates triviality of
impractical knowledge.
Thou scholars, alas!
Acquire knowledge to derive material gains,

Play tricks and fraud with each other,
(In job hunting and acquisition of wealth),
You are mad after riches, wealth and position,
And feel annoyed when you are to receive a guest,
Do you consider thyself among the chosen few?
But least thee know that none of thee can get salvation.
Sheikh ul Alam suggests those who reach at the final stage (communion with God) should not expose their
knowledge and their secret of communion with God in front of people. They may not understand that level of
knowledge as in the case of Mansur. Some can claim that there is not any such knowledge with which a man
can attain the proximity. Author Farsi puts it in this way, “Likewise others hold that the limit to which our
knowledge of God can reach to admit the inability to know Him.” (Faris, 41) Sheikh ul Alam under this
statement says:
Let not unveil thy secrets and mysteries,
Though pinched and bigoted wilt thou be called,
Bootless art the efforts and the exertions of a poor,
As earnings art adjusted in his borrowings,
Let thou perspire in thy Lords ways and methods
Thou wilt cherish His patronage and protocol. (Adfar, 267 II)
Importance of Peer
Sufis believe that heights of religious knowledge can be touched with the help of teacher or guide/Peer or
Murshid who can guide them to the right path. Meanwhile, it is pertinent to follow the path of real Peer not
fake one. “Sheikh Sharafuddin believed that the true Sufi who realized God was superior to a religious scholar
who only had bookish knowledge. As far as the worldly ulama were concerned, they had to be shunned like
the devil, for they had taken the place of the devil in misguiding humanity.” (Khannam, 186) In the meantime,
novice should clean his inner being (heart) because without purity any Godly work is not possible. Thus
Prophet (S.A.W) said, “Religion has been built on cleanliness.” (Faris, 119) Sheikh ul Alam states that
teachings of guide or peer are nectar, one who is eager to quench the thirst of knowledge he should follow his
Peer. So that disciple could attain serenity and his heart will get enlightened with the recognition of God.
The tutorial inspirations art too delicious as candy and pear,
Let thou be opative in feeling its peculiarity and aroma,
Thus shalt thou strike its bargain with thy guide and advisor?
To absorb fluorescence of knowledge to find soothe and solace,
As alive and active wilt be thy heart without depression and Kotow,
Thus surely wilt ye find thy omniscient and omnipotent God. (Adfar, 391)
Concept of tabula rasa by Sheikh ul Alam
A new emphasis was laid on the tabula rasa by John Lock in the seventeenth century in which it is argued that
mind at its initial stage is like a clean slate, like a white paper, void of all characters and knowledge. “Tabula
rasa (Latin: “scraped tablet,” i.e., “clean slate”), in epistemology (theory of knowledge) and psychology, a
supposed condition that empiricists attribute to the human mind before ideas have been imprinted on it by the
reaction of the senses to the external world of objects.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014) Sheikh-ul-Alam put
forth the concept of tabula rasa in his shruk; how the clean sheet of mind is beaten down in order to transform
it into the form of paper on which knowledge can be imprinted. The process of transformation continues till it
is elevated.

In the beginning the hemp plant grew on a plain;
It was beaten down and made into paper;
Then [after undergoing such affliction] the word of learning was written on it.
Which class was it degraded to? (i.e., on the contrary, it became elevated and consecrated).
Religio-Scientific Knowledge
Sheikh ul Alam’s vastness of knowledge is apparent under the field of science unison with spirituality. He
describes the modern understanding of galaxy, how galaxy rotates around the nucleus and how planets and
solar system have circular orbits around the sun. Further, the origin of clouds has been described that are
formed by the wind energy. When the moist air ascends, the lower pressure at higher levels causes the
expansion of these molecules which leads to cloud formation.
Let thou behold the organization of moon and stars.
Behold the welkin rotations around its axis.
Winds and wafts whirl and stroll the clouds and mists.
Thus shalt thou feel the view of celestial beings and heavenly hosts.
If thou be cognitive to a little deed and action divine.
Thou wilt cherish the passion for goodness and virtuosity.
O, ye the Hindu brethren in trait and custom- my trio neophytes.
Be not devoured with twits but to attain knowledge and faith. (Adfar, 485 II)
Similarly he says about the stiffness of cardiac vessels. Scientists have proved that stiffness of cardiac vessels
results from the bulky and stout body that leads to heart attacks. Sheikh ul Alam in this context says:
Be not desirous of a stout personality.
As obesity is the cause of stony cardiac mass.
Thou shalt melt with pity O, Baba Nasar so that,
Thou shalt find the refuge of thy Lord. (Adfar, 378 I)
Conclusion
Sheikh ul Alam, like other greatest Sufis believes in empiricism. His source of knowledge and its discharge is
quite a sort of revelation. The adage “Rumi has a Book, though he is not a Prophet” can also be fittingly said
about Sheikh ul Alam. In the sublimity of the highest morals and their deepest knowledge, teachings and
enormous qualities of reason and heart, Sheikh ul Alam has a clear and uncontested distinction among other
saints and Sufis of Kashmir. His ‘Volume of ultimate Knowledge’ by all faiths and schools of thoughts
deemed to be the unique commentary of Holy Quran and is named as ‘Kaeshur Quran’- Quran in Kashmiri
inflection. His knowledge is an outcome of his voluntary and whole-hearted submission to the guidance
received through the divine power and from the teachings of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), and love and
respect for the whole of humanity. His idea and concept of knowledge is not “self proclamation” or a “saintly
decree” (which many of the saints of many faiths claim), but is totally a divine program of relation of the
people with their Creator and Sustainer. He teaches piety and excellent virtues and repentance from sins. His
knowledge is based on the warning to the common masses against the wiles of Satan and against worldly
allurements. He teaches love, benevolence, brotherly treatment, wisdom, prudence, civilization and culture.
The full of knowledge sainthood (Wilayat) of Sheikh ul Alam occupies the elevated and wider seat and an
immeasurably valuable cadre in the understanding and the comprehension of divine sources, because it is
through that understanding and comprehension that the utmost realities of universe and spirit are revealed to
us which cannot be achieved by any means through our own faculties, whether mind or brain.

REFERENCES
 Adfar, G. N. Alchemy of Light. Vol I and II. Srinagar: Quaf Printers, 2011-2013. Print.
 Encyclopedia Britannica, 2004 Deluxe.
 Faris, Nabih Amin. The Book of Knowledge. Delhi: Islamic Book Service, n.d. Print.
 Khan, Mohammad Ishaq. Kashmir’s Transition to Islam. Srinagar: Gulshan Books, 2005. Print.
 Khanam, Farida. Sufism: An Introduction. Delhi: Goodword Books, 2009. Print.
 Khuihami, Ghulam Hassan. Taarikh-e-Hassan. Srinagar: Research and publ. Dept. Jammu and Kashmir, 1954. Print.
 Nicholson, R. A. Trans. Mathnawi of Jalal u’ddin Rumi. Vol. III and VI.
<https://archive.org/stream/THE_MATHNAW_III-IV/TheMathnaw_djvu.txt&gt;
 —. Mystics of Islam. U.S: Murine Press, 2006. Print.
 —. The Idea of Personality in Sufism. Delhi: Idarah-i-Adabiyat, 2009. Print.
 Sahih Bukhari Shareef. Trans. Raaz, Maulana Muhammad Dawoodi. Delhi: Markazi Jameyat Ahli Hadeeth Band,
2004. Print.
 Suhrawardi, S.U.M. The Awarif al Ma’arif. New Delhi: Adam Pub. & Distributor, 2006. Print.

Article can be found in :-

International Journal of Engineering Technology Science and Research IJETSR http://www.ijetsr.com ISSN 2394 – 3386 Volume 4, Issue 12 December 2017

SUFI SAINT AND POET JINAB SAMAD MIR SHAIB NAMALHAL DISTRICT BUDGAM FROM 1894 TO 1959

Samad mir shrine

Samad Mir  (1894-1959), known for his outstanding work Akanandun (The Only Son), continued the Sufi-mystic tradition in Kashmiri poetry in the 20th century. Samad Mir has used the folk tale of Akanandun to give expression to his own mystical ideas and present a synthesis between Tassavuf (sufism) and Trika (Shaivism). He has translated spiritual experience into poerty.
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Kashmiri Literature has a history of at least 2,500 years, dating back to the glory days of Sanskrit.
The use of the Kashmiri language began with the poet Lalleshvari or Lal Ded (14th century), who wrote mystical verses. Another mystic of her time equally revered in Kashmir and popularly known as Nunda Reshi wrote powerful poetry like his senior Lal Ded. Later, came Habba Khatun (16th century) with her lol style. Other major names are Rupa Bhavani (1621-1721), Arnimal (d. 1800), Mahmud Gami (1765-1855), Rasul Mir (d. 1870), Paramananda(1791-1864), Maqbool Shah Kralawari (1820-1976). Also the Sufi poets like Shamas Fakir, Wahab Khar, Soch Kral, Samad Mir, and Ahad Zargar. Among modern poets are Ghulam Ahmad Mahjur (1885-1952), Abdul Ahad Azad (1903-1948), and Zinda Kaul (1884-1965).
During 1950s, a number of well educated youth turned to Kashmiri writing, both poetry and prose, and enriched modern Kashmiri writing by leaps and bounds. Among these writers are Dinanath Nadim (1916-1988), Rahman Rahi, Muzaffar Aazim, Ghulam Nabi Firaq, Amin Kamil (1923-) , Ali Mohd Lone, Akhtar Mohiuddin and Sarvanand Kaul ‘Premi’. Some later day writers are Hari Krishan Kaul, Majrooh Rashid, Rattanlal Shant, Hirdhey Kaul Bharti, Nazir Jahangir, Moti Lal Kemmu.
Traditional events are still popular and as in the other parts of Kashmir, poetry is highly appreciated. The art of storytelling, both entertaining and educational, considered a way for the transmission of moral teachings, is valued and a rich oral literature is still alive today.
The main language of Kashmir is Kashmiri. It is said that it is a mixed language and the greater part of its vocabulary is of Indian origin and it is allied to that of Sanskritic-Indo-Aryan languages of Northern India.
Kashmiri poetry begins with the works of great mystic poetess Lalleshwari of 14th century. These sayings are the gems of Kashmiri poetry and true knowledge of yoga. These are deep and sublime. She held a key to many mystic truths. The following stanza illustrates her deep mystic thought:
“So my lamp of knowledge afar,
Fanned by slow breath from the throat of me.
They, my bright soul to my self revealed.
Winnowed I abroad my inner light.
And with darkness around me sealed,
Did I garner truth and hold Him tight.”
(Translated by Sir Richard Temple)
Lal Ded thinks dissolution of ‘self’ (Aham) essential for Realization. According to her, Sadhaka has to reach that mental attitude where there is no difference between ‘Him’ and ‘self’. She says one who considers his own self and others alike ends the distinction between ‘I’ and ‘you’, who treats days and nights alike, who is above sorrows and pleasures, can only realize God in his own self. According to her, differentiation between the human soul and Divine-self was Zero. Lal Ded is the first woman mystic to preach medieval mysticism in Kashmiri poetry. She used metaphors, riddles and other mediums for her expression.
Like Lal Ded, another mystic poet of Kashmiri language is Nunda Rishi, who is known as Sheikh Nur-ud-Din alias Sahajanand.  He has given much importance to yogic practice- breath control for communion with God. Nunda Rishi favoured good action which is the secret of happiness in the world. He preached a disciplined life like this:
Desire is like the knotted wood of the forest
It cannot be made into planks, beams or into cradles;
He who cut and telled it,
Will burn it into ashes.
He considered rosary as a snake and favoured true worship:
Do not go to Sheikh and Priest and Mullah;
Do not feed the cattle or Arkh or leaves;
Do not shut thyself up in mosques or forests;
Enter thine own body with breath controlled in communion with God.
Samad Mir, a wonderful Sufi mystic poet of our beloved soil Kashmir lived in 20th century bequeathed heavenly verses and new approaches of mystic path and divine love. His verses are poetized in great rhythm, meter, deep connotation and knowledge about human behavior, existence of life and divine love. Samad Mir continued the Sufi mystical tradition in Kashmiri poetry in the 20th century.
Almost every poet of Kashmir has used Arabic and Persian dialect in their poetry, writers of the soil are influenced by Persian and Arabic poets but Samad Mir is the first Sufi mystic poet of Kashmir who utilized Sanskrit and Hindi words in his poetry in marvelous manner, it appears he had deep knowledge, cognition and grip on the both languages. Samad Mir had never went to school and was totally illiterate but his poetry is a clean combination of Islamic Sufism, while going through his poetry even well knowing person of Sanskrit and Hindi language could not spot any kind of error, it is pretty evident that even being an illiterate Samad Mir was a man of towering ability having immense knowledge and wisdom.
Alim Gaw Alim-e-Ludni
Tchalim Shakh Aam Badni
Porum Na Kaseh Nish Toosh
Karis Aarasteh Yaari
Knowledge is, knowledge of Deity
Doubt I left when I saw my Mursheed
I did not bow for the sake of knowledge
But my beloved (Mursheed) blessed me
Sammad Mir was born at Narwara Srinagar in the year 1894 and at the age of 65 he died in the year 1959. His Aastaan-i-Aaliya is situated at Agar, nearby village of Nambalhaar. Samad Mir belonged to a Sufi family, originally they were the residents of Nambalhar (Budgam) his father Khaliq Mir was also a Sufi poet who migrated from village Nambalhar to Narwara Srinagar at young age in search of earnings. He started working in a saw mill and eventually got married; he had three sons namely Samad Mir, Rahim Mir and Muhammad Mir. Till the age of maturity of Samad Mir, the whole family rested at Narwara but at the age of twenties Samad Mir decided to return back to Nambalhar whereas the Rahim Mir stayed at Narwara and unfortunately the third brother Muhammad Mir died very young about his twenties.
Samad Mir had two sons Gh. Rasool Mir and Gull Mohd Mir (also known as Aasi, died 8 September 1980) and one daughter Rehti. In the beginning Samad Mir started working as a labour with carpenters and masons but later join his parental job of timber sawing (Aari Kash).
Samad Mir used to visit various places in connection with work, once he went to Wagur, a village in Budgam where he met Habib Najar. When Samad Mir noticed that Habib Najar is influenced by Sufism, he started conversations with him because Sufism was also running in the blood of Samad Mir. After having discussions Samad Mir was very much impressed by Habib Najar so he decided to follow his directives. This way Samad Mir became the disciple of Habib Najar.
After the death of Habib Najar Samad Mir felt he is in need of more consciousness which could end his thirst, so he started search for another Mursheed and came in contact with Khaliq Najar of Batamaloo Srinagar with whom permission he initiated to write and poetized his first verses.
Veseh Kaar Mushkil Baar Gub Goom
Vet Raw Wun Peyoom
Gulaleh Panas Kaaleh Rang Goom
Vat Raw Wun Peyoom
Oh! My friend burden of work is weighty
But I had to endure
My rosy body turned into dark
But I had to endure
After the death of Khaliq Najar, Mir was shocked and suddenly stopped to write poetry, Mir did not wrote any verse for next 13 years but still was very eager to acquire more knowledge. At last he came under the influence of Faqir Ramzan Dar at Anchidora Anantnag Kashmir who pulled out the fire of his chest and ordered Mir to transform this fire into writing poetry so he started to pen down poetry again after a long time which ended till Mir breathed last.
It is not out of place to mention that Faqir Ramzan Dar is a revered and well known Sufi saint of a historical village Anchidora. From early times Sufi Saints from other places of Kashmir love to live their lives here because it a place where so many great Sufi saints used to meditate in divine love; it is a famous village for having the burial place of numerous Sufi saints. Faqir Ramzan Dar was the resident of village Anchidora and acquired fame because of his Karamaat’s, he has shown so many mystic powers during his life, people from far away villages used to give their presence to have a glimpse of spiritual master Faqir Ramzan Dar. His tomb is housed at Anchidora where hundreds of devotees give their presence. A Karamaat of Faqir Ramzan Dar is very famous throughout area which was also shown by his disciple Samad Mir.
After the demise of Faqir Ramzan Dar and Samad Mir both families remained in close touch and maintained good relation with each other. Samad Mir’s family used to visit the grandson of Faqir Ramzan Dar namely Mohammad Shaban Dar, a well known Sufi figure and poet, who looked after the Aastaan-i-Aaliya and the present structure has been built under his supervision. Mohammad Shaban Dar left this world in 2008. Samad Mir’s son Gull Muhammad Mir also known as Aasi with his disciples used to visit their father’s Mursheed. After his death Samad Mir’s elder son Ghulam Rasool Mir still continued to bestow his presence. Khalifa’s of the order of Samad Mir till date continue to visit the Mazar Sharief and family of their Mursheed Faqir Ramzan Dar.
It is in place to mention here that I belong to the family too and Faqir Ramzan Dar is my grand grandfather, Samad Mir’s family never quitted to offer their presence in our home also. At the time of Urs Pak of Faqir Ramzan Dar thousands of devotees from different walks of life visit in turnstile numbers.
When we go through the writings of different poets of Kashmir, we come to know that most of the poets have similar thoughts but variation in presentation. But Samad Mir being the best of bests has written absolutely different concepts. When we read a complete poem it seems to be poetized on Tasawwuf while other side tells the story of this world and living being. In early years of his poetry he was criticized for writing different style of poetry but time expresses the significance, gradually Samad Mir’s poetry attained everyone’s attention and people started to study him and today everyone knows that Samad Mir is a famous, reputed and eminent poet of Kashmir, who did not practiced the previous forms but defined his own versatile thoughts.
Ya Gasseh Guddeh Keh Panas Sanun
Nateh Bale Banun Apziyoor
Nakhoon Setie Aasmaan Khanun
Toteh Ma whatless Toor
Mir Sund Seer Gasseh Gairun Sanun
Yem Devi Abrah Moor
One should understand his own self first
Or to become a liar who perceived naught speaks more
It is as difficult as to make hole in the sky with nails
Still cannot be accomplished
Mir’s secret shall be empathized by general masses
Who restraint his inner self desires
In these above mentioned lines Samad Mir wants people to know his secrets, his scarifies of material wants in the path of love, one should experience how difficult is to outlive in the path of beloved that is why Mir says, “Mir’s secret shall be empathized by general masses”, so that they become known about the condition of Mir.
He did not penned only about mystical deeds, worldly concern things etc. Samad Mir has written numerous poems on Prophets, Wali’s and Sufi Saints of Islam. A beautiful poem composed about Hazrat Adam (ASWS) in which he delineates how did Allah SWT created this entire universe started from the very creation of Hazrat Adam ASWS. In the grand honor, respect and admiration of Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam he has poetized so many poems magnificently and has revealed the best state of bliss for being in mediation of Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam. These Naat-e-Sharief are the best work done, Samad Mir has brought life to his words written in the nobility of Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wasalam. His art of defining is thoroughly unique and beyond any comparison; he has used words such beautifully that reader’s heart melts within seconds. It seems that Samad Mir has burned his blood till late hours of night while writing these endearing, heart winning and mesmerizing lines.
Kad Choonei Wuchh Meh Bala, Ya Muhammad Mustafa (SAW)
Had-o-Lahad Arsh-e-Aala, Ya Muhammad Mustafa (SAW)
Naam-i-Paak Choon Heun Tchu Dushwaar, Nishi Bo Aataar Ga’s-ha
Sad Hazaar Bar Ziev Bo Chal-ha, Ya Muhammad Mustafa (SAW)
I saw you most eminent, Ya Muhammad Mustafa (SAW)
You are beyond the bounds of skies and eternity, Ya Muhammad Mustafa (SAW)
I must go to perfume seller, before reciting you Noble Name,
Thousands of times I shall rinse my tongue, Ya Muhammad Mustafa (SAW)
Har Saba Durood-o-Salwaat Tchen Ma Kar Aikh Chuh Ti Saath
Paneh Sozaan Haq Talla, Ya Muhammad Mustafa (SAW)
In every breath keep reciting Durood and Salaam
Never halt for a fleeting moment
Allah (SWT) with his angels invoke blessings and greetings on You
Ya Muhammad Mustafa (SAW)
These above mentioned lines of Samad Mir get acknowledgment from the Holy Quran also, in Sura Al- Ahzaab Ayat- 56, Allah (SWT) says:
Surely Allah and (all) His angels invoke blessings and greetings on the Holy Prophet [blessings and peace be upon him]. O Believers! You (also) invoke blessings on him and salute him with a worthy salutation of peace abundantly (and fervently).
Samad Mir’s time was unlike than other Sufi poets who lived before him. Earlier Sufi masters or poets most of the time used to remain in meditation, Mehfil-e-Samma or in debates & discussions with their disciples. But time had altered various kinds of inventions took place and it was the time when radio was introduced in the valley Kashmir.
Once Samad Mir was invited by his disciple Mohd Yousuf Parata (worked at Radio Kashmir Srinagar) to be the part of a multilingual literary function (Mushaira), great philosophers, writers and poets of the time were also present in the function. Everyone was waiting for the start all of a sudden it was shocking for the seated people when they saw a man on the stage wearing Feran (Kashmiri outfit garment) with a villager cap on the head. They were astonished while seeing an illiterate man holding the mike to present the programme. The function was multilingual so Kashmiri as well as Urdu writer and poets were present to recite their best Kalaams.
The function was at its zenith when Samad Mir had turn to recite his Kalaam, Samad Mir made everyone speechless when he presented a new style of writing and recited a newest poem written in both Urdu & Kashmiri language, the poem was greatly honored by the critics of the time as well as by the youngsters present in the function. The poem experienced outstanding fame in the entire valley, till date the immortal lines of the poem are memorized by almost every Kashmiri on tip of the tongue.
Padh Padh Ke Gaya Pather, Likh Likh Ke Gaya Chhur
Jiss Padney Sey Sahib Miley Who Padna Hai Aur
By studying one turns to stone and by writing got crashed
By which Deity came to know, that Knowledge is different
The most popular and accepted image of Samad Mir having mike infront is also captured in the same function of Radio Kashmir Srinagar held at Shalimaar garden Srinagar.
Present time Khalifas of Samad Mir’s chain Gh. Nabi Hundoo of Buhri Kadal, Bashir Ahmad Beigh of Safa Kadal and Gh. Rasool Mir elder son of Samad Mir oftenly visits our home. Once having conversation with Gh. Rasool Mir about his father. He said that when Samad Mir started writing poetry frequently and any thought strikes his mind, being illiterate he used to call me (Gh. Rasool Mir) and asked to write down. According to Gh. Rasool Mir, at that time he was a youngster and was not as capable to write down complete words correctly sometimes he missed words and sometimes entire lines. When his father Samad Mir used to ask him another day to recite the lines he wrote, it was almost impossible for him to read his own written words which were roughly and wrongly written which results most of the Kalaam of Samad Mir was lost in the roughly lines of his son. An inhabitant of Wagur village namely Ali Shah (known as Ali Saab) also used to write Samad Mir’s poetry.
A huge collection of his writing was written and memorized by his disciples who used to recite their Mursheed’s Kalaam in functions or in Mehfil-e-Samma. One more name, his contribution cannot be ignored, one of the best singers of Kashmir, king of Chakri (type of traditional song) Ghulam Ahmad Sofi, he remained bonded with Samad Mir for a pretty long time and has sung so many Kalaams in presence of Samad Mir in various functions.
Sag-e-Ashaaf Kahaff Laag Jaananas
Tag yeye Godeh Kaas Panas Tchai
Rag-e-Nistar Dith Lageh Har Taanas
Tag yeye Godeh Kaas Panas Tchai
Be faithful to your beloved as dog of Ashaaf Kahaff
If you can do, eliminate your shadow first
(Shadow makes you two; alter it in oneness because deity is One)
Prick anywhere in vein causes pain in entire body
If you can do, eliminate your shadow first
John Keats says that poetry gets entire fame which is poetized about ones desires, difficulties and painfulness. From hundreds of years a folk tale known as AKANANDUN (The only Son) is being dramatized as well as poetized by so many writers, artists and poets.  AKANANDUN is a story having anguish, sufferings, distress and wishes which magnetizes everyone’s intention. From decades Akanandun has been remembered and has won people’s heart residing in every corner of the valley Kashmir.
AKANANDUN (The only Son) has been written by many poets in their own style viz. Bahadur Ganie in 15th century, Ramzan Bhat in 19th century, Tara Chand (Bismil Kashmiri) in 20th century , Samad Mir and Abdul Ahad Zargar.
Besides usual poems Samad Mir is well known throughout Kashmir for his stupendous work Akanandun, he has used the folk tale of Akanandun to bestow manifestation to his own mystical thoughts. Samad Mir’s Akanandun has been penned in fourteen parts and all the characters are Hindus.
Saneh Truva Sheth Bay Chu Sheytaji Yeh Saal (1346 Hijri)
Kan Thavith Man Previth Wun Meh Haal
Akanandun Tie Hareh Suna Maal Tchuie Ishar
Jugee Galib Peer Talib Kuorr Ti Maar
This is 1346 Hijri I wrote the folk tale Akanandun
Listen carefully the story I tell is heart touching
Akanandun and his parents are just symbolic characters
Jugee (saint) is dominant, sisters are disciples
Samad Mir says that the characters in the story like AKANANDUN his father King HARNAAM, mother SUNMAAL, JUGGEE, SEVEN SISTERS etc. are just symbolic, actually he wants to express his deep thoughts about the actual relation between Mursheed and his disciple, how a disciple should forget and bury his own self for the love of his guide (Mursheed) which is also an imperative stage in Tmasawwuff called FANNA-FI-SHEIKH.

Qutub Shah Qasim Haqqani (رحمۃ اللہ علیہ)

The Epitome of spirituality

Shrine of mir syed qasim shah Haqqani r.a Fateh kadal Srinagar kashmir

The burials of the rulers hardly attract anyone to visit there whereas the shrines of the Sufis are an attraction to thousands.

Besides being a great sufi, Shah Qasim Haqqani was a versatile writer

The auspicious arrival of Mir Syed Ali Hamdani (R.A) heralded a new era in the history of Kashmir. Almost every sphere of the society was impacted as the immigrants who accompanied the great missionary settled in the state. The traditional oral account puts the number of people as seven hundred, comprising religious luminaries, Sufis, artisans and skilled persons which is corroborated by the contemporary and later written sources. In the spiritual sphere the mystic silsilhas or Orders were introduced by these Sufis. Among the luminaries accompanying Mir Syed Ali Hamdani (R.A), mention may be made of Syed Shams ud Din Shami. Almost all the chronicles have noted a brief account about him. However it was his progeny that caught the lime light due to their contribution in the religious and spiritual domain of Kashmir. One such great saint was Mir Syed Shah Qasim Haqani. He was born to Mir Sayyid Mohammad, sixth descendant of Sham ud din Shami, on 29th Rajab in 958 Hijra corresponding to 1551 A.D. Incidentally these were the days when Kashmir was politically unstable as the titular king was Sultan Nazuk Shah but the reins of the state were virtually in the hands of Mirza Haider Dugghlat, a cousin of Babur. Mirza Haider ruled here from 1541 to 1551 A.D. From his very childhood Sayyid Qasim was known for being pious and virtuous. As he entered the threshold of youth, saintly virtues and characteristics were visible from his very appearance. Since his teenage he kept aloof from the mundane and took to search the path of Truth. He committed the Quran to his memory. He led a strict shariah oriented life. Tazkiratul Urfa, chronicled by Mir Syed  Momin Haqani mentions that Syed Qasim would keep distance from hustle and bustle and would wander around the deserted places though he would   maintain the protocol of social contacts with the people. In order to subdue the instincts of Nafs, he took very little, kept fast without eating anything. For continuous eleven years he used to give his breakfast items ( bread etc) in alms to the needy contending himself with fasts. Moving away from the capital city, he would engage himself in praying at the outskirts and sometimes at Harwan Srinagar. It is here that he is said to have had the auspicious meeting with Hazrat Khizar (A.S) who instructed him in Zikr Khafi and then he reverted to Alaudin Pora Srinagar. 

Being extremely inclined, and himself adhering to the Islamic teachings, initially he was against Sama (music). With this in mind, he went to Zowara a locality near Pampore where Mir Mohammad Khalifa, a disciple of Shiekh Yaqoob Sarfi (R.A) was residing and entertaining himself with Sama. Sayyid Qasim intended to punish the disciples of Mir Mohammad Khalifa with hundred lashes each for indulging in an act which he claimed Shariah does not permit. On approaching the Sufi and his congregation, he lost his wits and could not recover himself up to the Zuhar (Noon) prayers. As he opened his eyes, Mir Mohammad Khalifa intimated him that Shaikh Yaqub Sarfi (R.A) had informed him in advance that it was he (Sarfi) who was deputing Sayyid Qasim to get entrapped and that he should be conferred the title of “Shah”. Sayyid Qasim came to be known as Shah Qasim and he chose to be a disciple of Mir Mohammad Khalifa in the first instance and later on of Shaikh Yaqub Sarfi(R.A.) who instructed him in the Kubravi Silsilah granting the Khatti Irshad and the Khirqa also.

The shrines and/or the resting places of the Sufis and Rishis are otherwise also attracting the commoners besides their followers. It is not here possible to trace the causes of the origin of the devotees thronging their shrines or to discuss it being permissible or otherwise. However it is of interest to note that their final resting places are conspicuous for otherwise also. It may be added here that the burial places of the Sultans and kings who held the sway of kingdoms for larger periods and whose fame extends even to present times hardly can offer a comparison to the eternal resting places of the Rishis and Sufis. The burials of the rulers hardly attract anyone to visit there whereas the shrines of the Sufis are an attraction to thousands, the number exceeds lakhs in many instances. The people are regular visitors to the shrines whereas the graves of even prominent kings are not known to their decadents or their counterparts in the present times.  The graves of the ruling class have hardly something to offer to the spiritual thirst of a devout, in fact a state of desolation dawns upon the visitors of their graves whereas the shrines of the Rishis and Sufis are a source of peace, inspiration and thought provoking.  The palaces of the former class reflected shine of their grandeur which in some cases is preserved till date but their graves are a quite contrast to it. The royals possessed and hoarded riches during their lifetimes but the spirituals led a life of austerity. Thousands of hankers-on and others waited and do wait upon the rulers as their sun shines but the Rishis and Sufis have a limited following, so much so even the Rishi of the stature of Sheikh ul Alam Shaikh Nur ud Din Rishi narrates that he roamed about in every nook and corner of the valley but no one invited to his home. 

The ancestors of Sayyid Shah Qasim Haqani had immigrated into Kashmir during the fourteenth century along with Amir Kabir Mir Sayyid Ali Hamdani(R.A.). He became a disciple of Shaikh Yaqub Sarfi(R.A.) in the Kubravi Silsilah. Later on he acquired, at Ujjain, the instructions in Qadriya order from Hujatul Ullah Abul Maqarim Shaikh Fazl ullah, Naqashbandiya from Hazrat Jamal ud Din popularly known as Diwana , Chistiya from Shaikh Salim Chisti Fathapuri, Shazliya from Sayyid Sibgatullah Shariff of Makkah. The grant of the title of Haqani to Sayyid Shah Qasim is more interesting. It is reported that one of the Sufis, Baba Ali Waali approached Hazrat Sheik Yaqub Sarfi, in some foreign land, with the plea that he was intending to visit Kashmir and needs someone to guide him there. The latter recommended him his prominent disciple, Shah Qasim. On his arrival in Kashmir Shah Qasim enquired from Baba Ali Waali about his Murshid. The latter did not refer to Shiekh Yaqub Sarfi (R.A) in the required protocol. Shah Qasim felt hurt so much so that he suffered from acute headache. Almost all the contemporaries and the latter sources reveal that during the following night, the immigrated Sufi(Baba Waali) had a dream where in he saw the Prophet (SAW), and  a person holding a hand fan. Baba Ali requested for the introduction of the person. The Prophet (SAW) referred to the person as “Aishaan” and added that  had you referred to Sheikh Yaqub Sarfi R.A as “Aishan” yesterday the “Haqani” would not have got hurt. It is said that since the morning of that day all began to call Sheikh Yaqub as “Aishan” and Shah Qasim as Haqani.   It is said that besides a leading Sufi, Shah Qasim Haqani was a versatile writer and he had a Dewan(Compilation) to his credit but has been lost to the vagaries of the time.

It was the 19th day of the month of Zul Hajj in 1033 A.D. Shah Qasim Haqani was not feeling well. The condition of the saint was failing day by day. One of his disciples, Mohammad Sharief by name, went to offer the Zuhar prayers at Khanqhai Moulla at Alludinpora (present Fateh Kadal). A dervish while meeting Mohammad Sharief enquired about the condition of his Murshid Sayyid Shah Qasim Haqani. The disciple retorted that considering the feeble state of health of the saint, he might not recover from the illness. The dervish remarked that Shah Qasim is no doubt unique and unparalled in the present times but prayed for his better end. The disciple of Shah Qasim exclaimed that his Murshid has guided hundred of immature (Naqisan) persons to perfection. Considering that why should he doubt his ending at Imaan. The dervish affirmed that Shah Qasim was far better than what Mohammad Sahrief was uttering but since he would arrange Sama which made him to comment so.  Shah Qasim on seeing the disciple feeling dejected gave a detailed sermon to his disciples.  Here it would suffice to quote that he intimated them that after his burial if something sprouts from his grave, they should consider that he had been accepted(by Allah). Many contemporaries reveal that Shah Qasim told his disciples that if the reed(Nai) grows from the upper side of his grave , it should be regarded as a sign of his recognition (Qubuliat) from Allah; if not they should take out his corpse and burn it to ashes so that no one claims to be a dervish like him. During the last quarter of the same night on 29th Rabi Sani 1033 Hijra corresponding to 1624 A.D Shah Qasim left for heavenly abode. It was 29th of Phagun of Kashmiri calendar. Almost all the contemporary historians and hagiographers report that the reed began to sprout from his grave. However some put it that it sprouted the moment the grave was filled with earth, some say that it happened the next day and according to some it happened on the fourth day. However all are unanimous that reed began to sprout from the neighbouring area so much so that it appeared from the kiln/oven of the ironsmith neighbouring the grave yard of Shah Qasim. The entire area was filled with the reeds and the entire Mohalla came to be called as Nar Pir Asthan or the Shrine of the Pir having reed. 

Zubani ke goyed madah dar shaani Haqani

Tu Haqani kuja dani zubani aan sukhan dani

Some interesting observations may be quoted here. The urs of shah Qasim is celebrated on 29th of Phagun as per the Kashmiri calendar but the date surely falls on the 29th of a month of Islamic calendar. If you happen to be on the shrine of Shah Qasim on 29th of Phagun, one is stunt to see the reeds sprouting during the same night every year.

Ein nai ne nai ko ki be fahme to dar aayed

Ramzist nehani ki tura rehabari nai

Syed qasim Shah haqqani shrine

Bashir Ahmad Dar is a Sr.Lecturer 

Reshiyyat: Key to Kashmir Religion and Philosophy

Published as theme paper by the Institute of Kashmir Studies, Kashmir University (2010)Kashmir is traditionally held to be a sanctified or blessed land of the Spirit. Kashmir is indeed a pir-waer and the garden of paradise on earth if paradise is the name of saints dwelling. Kashmir as the fairyland of peace and contentment warped round the devotion and silence of the Himalayas, musical streams and limpid lakes is an ideal location for japa or zikr, for contemplation or meditation. It is no wonder that the history of Kashmir is a history of its saints and sages who have provided the life style and culture to its people. The valley itself was founded and established by a legendry mystic, Kashyapa who drained the waters of “Sati Sar.” He recognised the sacredness of the land and designed it to be the abode of saints. If there is any land where the order of eternity and the order of time, the heaven and the earth, intersect and overlap, where celestial lights illumine everything it is Kashmir.
Our aim is to argue that it is the mystic that defines the ideal of Kashmiri consciousness. Throughout history it is mysticism that has given identity to Kashmiris. It is not dualistic exoteric religion but esoteric or mystical thought that has been central to the definition of Kashmiri culture in all its different forms Buddhist, Saivist or Islamic. If history is any guide to the determination of present identity then mysticism emerges as a strong candidate for it. Kashmiri culture has been and is mystically oriented. It has upheld a mystical or philosophical (more precisely metaphysical) outlook and not simply a religious worldview which could easily lend itself to communal or sectarian appropriation. Kashmir, historically speaking, has never been a theologically oriented culture. Its religiosity cant be measured in terms of more conventional parameters and amazement expressed by many scholars regarding the Kashmiris lax religiosity is not difficult to comprehend. In this paper it is argued that the traditional mystical identity of Kashmir needs to be understood from metaphysical rather than religious perspective and that it could be deployed in charting a response to a host of current challenges social, economical, religious and environmental. Mysticism has ample resources for us to squarely face the problems that bedevil the postmodern West and a world condemned to live in the midst of divergent cultures and identities . So far there has been no comprehensive attempt to study diverse religious traditions of Kashmir simultaneously especially in relation to modern secular thought currents and exclusivist theological voices. In the absence of any attempt to apply by comparativists any comprehensive methodology to deal with divergent religious world-views we have yet to develop outlines of what could be called as Kashmir philosophy. If the most important task of comparative philosophy is to understand common basis of different traditions as Ananda Coomaraswamy said we can say that Kashmiri scholars have yet to contemplate such vital a task. In this paper the task before us is:
Identifying mystical/metaphysical basis of different religious traditions that have informed our heritage.
Attempt to argue for the centrality of the mystical in Kashmir religion and culture.
Salvage the mystical worldview of Kashmir against its modern day critics especially exotericist critics.
Identify misappropriations of the mystical in occultist and pseudomystical circles.
Critique exploiting power structures that trade in the name of the mystics.
I shall be taking a series of questions and attempt to answer them from the perennialist viewpoint to establish the basic theses that Reshiyyat is the integrating and unifying element of all the important religio-philosophical traditions of Kashmir and that the state of Reshi, identified as the sage or the mystic in less precise terms, is the ideal posited by different traditions. The thesis of the paper is that transtheological, transsectarian and thus metaphysical Reshiyyat as Kashmirs quintessential tradition and its defining identity. Reshiyyat approached from the framework of traditional metaphysics unites diverse theological traditions without denying the validity of particular religious traditions. It is unfortunate that it has not been approached from this perspective so far and in fact there is no systematic presentation of Reshi metaphysics available. A lot of religious/theological, sociological and historical studies of it have been done but the profound metaphysical grounding of it has yet to be attempted. Understanding Reshiyyat from metaphysical perspective serves to foreground the essential transcendent unity of contributing traditions and help evolve a response to pluralism and multiculturalism that has become the reality of the postmodern world. The questions I shall take for discussion include What is Reshiyyat and its history? Who is a Reshi? What is the relation between exoteric and esoteric dimensions of religions? Could traditions be under threat from rival traditions and in need of revival.
Who is a Reshi?
How does one become a Reshi and who qualifies as a Reshi? The answer is a good Muslim or Sufi is a Reshi according to Sheikh Nuruddin. The Reshi is Sanskrit equivalent of mystic or inspired person, one to whom the vision of God has been vouchsafed. It signifies mystical consciousness which precedes or transcends diverse theological formulations or expressions. Reshi is a generic term for mystic or enlightened person or anyone who seeks to realize the esoteric aspect of his religious tradition. The fruit of the path that he follows is self realization. Know thyself is first commandment of all mystical traditions, Eastern and Western. Reshi goes on the great adventure to know this self. The debate over Persian vs. Sanskrit origin of the term is hardly warranted in view of the fact that the mystic is a bird of lamakaan for whom these things hardly matter. There has been an attempt by Hasan and certain other scholars to Islamize the term Reshi, its origin and the whole chronology that Nurrudin gives in his famous verses. This should be understood from the same perspective and we need not fight over the literal or historical validity of this Islamized history of Reshiyyat in Kashmir. We need to caution against confounding literal with the symbolic and historical with metahistorical and absolutizing the names and labels. The Reshi, the sage, the self realized one, the inspired poet, is the image of primordial man or Adam. One becomes a Reshi by transcending desiring self or ego and becoming a mirror to Reality or God. When the realm of the known ceases, when thoughts cease, when the mind is transcended, when carnal self goes, man becomes a fit receptacle of divine tajalliyat. When nafs or hawa dont speak, God speaks. The Quran must be revealed to us for authentic existential response from our side, as Iqbal has famously said in his Urdu couplet. The Reshi is name of a medium, an empty receptacle (where no fog of passions and mind obstructs the Unknown, the revelation to descend), a flute, a clean slate on which God writes with his own qalm. One must be gone to be able to assimilate the mighty speech of God. No earthly tongue can be vouchsafed the ability to utter Gods word. The ego or the lower self must be annihilated so that only God remains as happened in case of Mansur. The Reshi passes away from this phenomenal world, as the Beloveds word consumes him, burns him. One cant live (as the ordinary self) and know God. That is what is the purport of the following verses of the Sheikh, the revivalist, the resurrector of Reshi movement in the 14th century A.D. The reading of the Quran should have broken the flashy talisman of your life. In reading the Quran Mansur annihilated himself. These verses explain the meaning and making of a Reshi. God can only speak through man/ to man when man is no longer man in the ordinary sense of the term. To let God speak man must be silent. He must pass through that severe mystical discipline and control his mind and self. It needs, to quote our Shiekh, Consecrating life to the search for Truth. One who tighten the belly to learn (the virtues of) patience/Gives up his ego/ Contemplates Him in seclusion could be eligible for the lofty station of the Reshi. Shiekh Nuruddin, identifying true Muslim with the Reshi, explicates attributes of him. Who longs to live by the sweat of ones mind/ Who shows fortitude in provocation/who shares meals with the hungry / who is obsessed with the idea of removing huger, who scorns anger, greed, illusion, arrogance and self conceit. The Reshi reaches arsh by the load of his nobler actions and then only the grace of the Omnipotent embraces him. The Reshi is one who remains humble despite his substance and sits very low on the wheel of life. Consuming himself in the fire that the kalima generates and realizing the mirage of existential unity he finds the Eternal and transcends space. The Reshi may be ummi or unlettered but by knowing the meaning of kalima which is the source of all knowledge, he appropriates all the essential metaphysical, eschatological and moral truths that are contained in the kalima. The Reshi kindles the lamp of knowledge and religion as he realizes the essence of all knowledge contained in alif, lam and mim. The Reshi realizing the oneness of existence (what Shaikhul Aalam calls kunyr) radiates peace. There is no other for him as he has realized unity by transcending all dualities and dualism. His principle of nonviolence extends to all nature, inanimate and animate. His Unitarian weltanschauung dissolves all exclusions and marginalization. He isnt guilty of any epistemic violence. He is one with Existence. He makes no claims over and against it. He surrenders to Reality and that is why he attains peace within and without. Islam as another name of peace and non-violence and an ethic of social justice has been practically realized by the Reshis. For Nuruddin the Reshi is more a name of a consciousness than a name of particular historical or concrete personality and by virtue of that belongs to all of us. We are all, by virtue of being humans, Reshis or Reshis is the making. This world is the Vale of Reshi making and the Reshi in widest sense of the term is Spirit or its archetypal image. The Reshi possesses the essence of all religious traditions and is heir to everything grand and noble in the history of humanitarian and mystical thought. He sacrifices his desires for the good of others. That is the meaning of his vegetarianism and faqr. He has no self or ego and is epitome of altruism. To be a Reshi is a realization that mere creedal formulae cant save. It is to be the object of ones knowledge or belief. It is not merely consent to a proposition but whole hearted effort to submit to the Truth that makes one a Reshi. Becoming a Reshi is a process and not an event. It is lifelong commitment to follow a different life. It is not consummated at some point of time. It is lifelong odyssey. God is the name of perpetual creativity. Life divine is an unfinished project. One never reaches God. God is a perpetual quest, unattainable ideal. Reshi life is a matter of choices that one makes every moment. Seeing God is the last luxury of life and very few can afford it. It costs one everything including ones soul. It is idle to debate who is a Sufi or a Reshi from outside. Forms must be transcended according to all Sufis if one has to make the great leap to God. There is no address of the man of God. The man of God is trackless, traceless as Rumi says. One wonders how one can judge Sufis or Reshis on the basis of the world of forms which they have realized in depth and then transcended.Reshiyyat, Mysticism and Metaphysics
From the perspective of perennialism one could say that the term Reshi is Indian way of referring to Logos, the Light of Muhammad, and the Christ-Reality. If the first Reshi was Ahmad Reshi and the latter is synonymous with the pole of Existence, the Universal Man, the envoy of the Absolute as elaborated in Sufi metaphysics then Reshiyyat is an integral tradition and formulation of the Sanatana Dharma, the primordial Din, the Sophia perennis, javidaan khird. This makes it truly universalistic. Reshiyyats history doesnt extend only to 4000 years as some have argued but to all eternity, to preeternity. Specifying Muhammad as the first Reshi is not to restrict Reshiyyat to post-Islamic period. In fact the Prophets name is Ahmed in heaven in Islamic tradition. Sheikh Nuruddins specification of the name as Ahmed Reshi seems to be an allusion to this heavenly or timeless transhistorical Muhammad. It is also established that Reshiyyat in Kashmir predates the birth of the Prophet of Islam. The Reshis journey is from pre-eternity to post-eternity and we are all, willy nilly summoned to take this great expedition. We are all fellow travelers on the path of Reshiyyat because to be a Reshi is to be concerned, ultimately concerned with our Ground of Being, which is none other than God who is none other the Self, the ideal pole of man.
What is common between Buddhism, Saivism, Tantricism and Sufism is the religious experience, the fruit of which is the peace that passeth all understanding. The path is transcendence of ego to realize the Infinite, the Unconditioned. Theologies are only different conceptual schemes to make sense of the religious experiences of the prophets and saints and are dispensable. Metaphysics which is the science of the supraphenomenal, the science of the Infinite and the Unconditioned transcends the theologies as it speaks of direct vision or gnosis (irfan). It is non-dualistic and takes Absolute or Godhead rather than the personal God of theology as the Ultimate Reality. Enlightenment/deliverance/ gnosis/ vision of God or the kingdom of God dissolves all questions that conceptual intellect raises. Theologies and forms are transcended as their supraformal referent and ground is realized. The great end is not merely mystical realization but metaphysical realization where the there is no limitation of finitude or individuality and knowing and being are merged as subject-object duality is finally transcended. Transcendence of the desiring self is the unifying element of all traditional religions. Perennialists convincingly argue that that there is no important difference between different mystical paths which constitute the inner reality of all religions. There cant be any difference in the fruit either. They claim to derive logical conclusion from the Quranic verses that speak of the universality of revelation and ad-Deen and that describe the Quran as the testifier of previous revelations. Tawhid, Sufistically interpreted as There is no truth but Truth or there is no reality but Reality,’ is seen to be the essence of all religious and mystical traditions. Iqbals description of the Prophet in such verses as Lowh b tou, kalm bi tou, tera wujood alkitab, Aayai Kaiyinat ka main-i- dareyaab tou/ niklae teri talash mai kafla haay rang-o boo, Nigahi isq-o- masti mai wahi awwal wahi aakhir approximates the metaphysical understanding of Muhammad (upon whom be peace and blessings the very name Muhammad means the praised one. Organized ritual blessing on him is a practice in vogue in Kashmir. Praising Muhammad is, metaphysically speaking, praising and blessing Existence or Life. Durood is at root indicative of the attitude of yes-saying to life which could be contrasted to absurdist attitude of rebellion or nihilistic despair) that perennialists put forward in defence of their thesis that Muhammad is universally acknowledged by traditional communities. Muhammed, seen in mystical and metaphysical terms as the Pole of Existence, the Logos, the Principle of Manifestation, the positivity of existence, the envoy of the Absolute, the First stage of the Tanazullat-i-Sitta, the Praised One in the capacity of perfection of man, the ideal pole of man, the essence of Aadamiyat, the Light that was created before Adam, the revealer of Divine Attributes, the unfragemented integrated perfected manhood, the transhistorical or metahistorical or archetypal Muhammad is not denied by any integral religious tradition. Islam, metaphysically and mystically interpreted as the surrender of the finite self before the Infinite, the Totality, the Existence, is not a religion among other religions but the Religion. It is the religion of all prophets. Islam is not a set of propositions or a mere creedal system. It claims to be the Truth or Reality (Allahs denotative name is al-Haqq) that is Manifest. Allah is the Manifest Truth according to the Quran. Islamic kalima is translatable in such terms that only a spiritually blind person who deliberately chooses to veil or cover the truth. Kafir, in the Quranic parlance, is one who denies the truth that is made manifest to him with dazzling clarity and not the one who denies certain theological proposition. The Quran is not reducible to theology. In fact it is not understandable in purely theological terms. Traditional Muslims have never encouraged kalam. At the stage of metaphysical realization the theological plane which is dualistic and inherently limited is transcended so that no question of exclusivist labels and identities is there. So the question whether Lalla was a Saivite or Muslim belonging to the theological plane cannot be entertained from the metaphysical plane.
Reshiyyat is not to be designated as a religion but as a metaphysic and esotericism that grounds different religions. This metaphysics assumes different forms in accordance with different religious traditions. This metaphysics forms the unifying element of all traditions religions. Religions are adaptations according to different human receptacles of the truths of metaphysics. Doctrinal content or dogmas of different religions are reducible to metaphysical principles. There is a difference between religion and metaphysics. As Guenon points out the metaphysical point of view is purely intellectual while as in the religious or theological point of view the presence of a sentimental element affects the doctrine itself, which doesnt allow of it complete objectivity.1
The fact that Reshi is a transreligious term and cant be spoken of as belonging to only a particular religious universes means we have to see the underlying metaphysical truths that he comes to realize. Forms are relative; only the Absolute is absolute. Theologies are forms. The supraformnal truth that Reshi comes to cognize allows him to penetrate the forms from within and then at the same time transcend them. The fact that Reshis have arisen within specific religious traditions and have remained loyal to a particular religious universe disproves crude syncretistic view that dissolves forms as irrelevant. Forms are also divine though relative. They conceal an esoteric supraformal truth of which they are clothing. It is for the insider only that a journey to the centre of religious universe which is Godhead is possible according to the perennialists. Ad-Deen is the eternal truth that different sharia and theologies express and it is the later that vary across time and space in the history of religions. By virtue of crossing the dark night of the soul and attaining to the stage of haqq-ul-yakeen the Reshi or the Sufi is able to have unmediated vision of truth that ad-Deen is. A Muslim Reshi is born in the bosom of Islam and lives Islam but that doesnt mean the truth in previous revelations is thereby negated but only relived in a different form. Reshiyyat is not approachable as a particular philosophical system. It because it refers to the Universal, the Unlimited cant be contained in a particular system. Metaphysics, being the truth of Universal Principles or the Infinite and All-Possibility isnt definable. One cant make a system or ideology out of it. Only reason constructs systems or ideologies. Darsanas of Indian origin and Sufism are not philosophical schools in the Western sense of the term. So those authors who use such phrases as Reshi ideology, Reshi philosophy or Saivite philosophy misuse the terms. Western philosophy lacks complete metaphysics and is not what Plato meant by it: a way of life and love of wisdom. Philosophy in the primordial sense of the term that prepares one for death and assimilation to God as Plato said is not a rational logical abstract discipline only and is allied to gnosis, a way of life or realization of the good. It is not a prerogative of ratio or mental faculty of reason but of nous, the supraindividual universal faculty of intellect. Metaphysics, the science of supraphenomenal universal principles, the Infinite, that transcends all binaries and dualisms that have plagued the Western philosophical and theological tradition, and resolves all contradictions in the One, the Absolute, coincidentia oppositorum, is intellectual (non-discursive intelligence) rather than rational discipline and postmodern critiques are hardly relevant to it as it is not dualistic, structuralist, or to be identified with metaphysics of presence. It is not a mere theoretical rational inquiry but a realization, intellection or noetic vision that transcends subject-object duality and demands something like ethical discipline that Plato argued for. Platonic philosophy, understood as a spiritual and contemplative way of life leading to illumination or enlightenment; an intellectual discipline based on intellection culminating in union (henosis) with ideal Forms; his Orphic-Indian conception of philosopher as one who seeks release from the wheel of cyclical term concurs with the perennialist understanding of metaphysics and Indian understanding of darsana. Reshiyyat is a philosophy in this sense and not in the typical Western sense.
Reshi metaphysics is not rational construction. It is not a totalizing system either. It is not a metaphysics of presence either as the Supreme Principle or Absolute in Buddhism, Kashmir Saivism or Sufism is not Being but pure Being or Beyond-Being or Non-Being best described as Void or Northing in Reshi literature. Deconstruction and other postmodern philosophies problematize rational metaphysics and theology only. Reshiyyat also doesnt take a humanist view of self which postmodernism challenges. Postmodernism has indirectly helped to strengthen the realm of unreason that mysticism takes care of. Mystical traditions such as Reshiyyat transcend all thought constructions and the binaries of dualistic mind and thought. Reshi talks about the language of silence, of prelinguistic prereflective witnessing of phenomena and deconstruction can do nothing to discredit this discourse of silence.
History shows that mysticism in Kashmir has been the defining element of Kashmiri tradition and identity. Buddhism and Saivism are essentially mystical religions. Ritualism had been questioned from the very beginning in the history of religious thought in Kashmir. Buddhism that coloured Kashmir religious landscape before the advent of Saivism is strongly critical of ritualism. Saivist sages emphasized relativity and even dispensability of forms. Kashmir Saivism was especially Unitarian or nondualistic like Sufism that followed it. Tantricism was extreme development of esoterical viewpoint that led ultimately to disregard of law. Muslim Kashmirs greatest sons have been mystics. Our greatest poets have been mystics. Our art is a reflection of our mysticism.
Genealogy of Reshiyyat
Reshiyyat has been the Great Tradition of Kashmir from preIslamic times. The origins of the Reshi movement go back to pre-Islamic times in the Vedic period. The founder of the Muslim Reshi movement in Kashmir, Nuruddin Nurani (1377-1440), moulded the pre-existing Reshi tradition, transforming it into a vehicle for the spread of Islam, using local institutions and methods to make Islam more comprehensible to the Kashmiris. After Nuruddin Reshi movement made deep inroads in Kashmir. Mystical ethos found newer expressions and continues vigorously in the form of Sufis and their shrines. Most Kashmiris are followers or admirers of some local Sufi.
The first Reshi, from traditional metaphysical and mystical viewpoints is Logos, the Pole of Existence, the Principle of Manifestation. He brings into consciousness the archetype of God. The term Reshi should be seen as a perspective, a standpoint, an archetype of certain dominant historical personalities and even dominant images, a way of looking at experience as a whole, a way of interpreting certain fundamental features of human existence (Khan, 1994). Shiekh Nuruddin has used the term Reshi in this universal transhistorical and transempirical sense. This is evident in his famous eulogization of the legendry Reshis. He wants to convey something more valuable than an elementary historical definition of the term. Mystical quest is perennial. In this sense one could well argue that the Reshi movement didnt originate in the 14th century but has been always there. Consciousness has no beginning in time; rather it creates time and history. The Reshi is the name of this consciousness. The Reshi lives in eternity, in timeless moment. The present author strongly disagrees with traditional historical approach to phenomenon of Reshiyyat which belongs more to metahistory than history and it is only metahistoric or transhistoric dimension of the Reshi movement that makes it perennially relevant. The origin and evolution of the Reshi movement should be discussed in terms of its metahistorical archetypal image rather than in purely historical terms.
All the great names in Kashmirs religion and mysticism which include such Buddhist sages, philosophers and kings as Nagasen, Mender, Nagarjuna, Kumarajivia, Gautama Sanghadeva, Punyatrata, Vimalaksa, Dharmamitra, Ashogosh, Varsobando etc. and suchKashmiri Saivite sages and philosophers as SriKantha, Vasugupta, Kallata, Prodyumna Bhatta, Prajnarjuna, Somanand, Utpal Dev, Abhinavgupta, Jayaratha are links in the Reshi chain. Lalla connects Saivism with Islamized Reshiyyat of Shiekh Nuruddin. Great Khulafa (disciples) of Shiekh Nuruddin and Khulafa of those Khulafa and the Sufi appropriation of Reshi movement by Shiekh Makhdoom and from then on a galaxy of Reshis of 3rd period (Ist period is up to Shiekh Nuruddin and from him up to Harda Reshi is 2nd period and from then on may be labeled) as third period when Reshis modified their socio-economic structure by abandoning strict monkish asceticism and began to earn their own livelihood) have been keeping alive the great Reshi tradition. The Sufi poets of Kashmir have been vital in preservation and transmission of Reshi message. Sufi poetry represents the essence of Reshiyyat. Thus not only the great Reshis such as Bamuddin, Zainuddin, Latifuddin, Nasiruddin, Payamuddin, Lacham Reshi, Reshi, Rupa Reshi, Sangam Dar, Hardi Reshi and later day representatives like Shankar Reshi, Aali Baba Saeb, Rajab Baba Saeb but also great Sufi poets of Kashmir whose names are too well known are links in the great chain of Reshiyyat. Intellectual and religious history of Kashmir is the history of Reshiyyat.
Islam and Development of Reshiyyat
We now take up the discussion of development of Reshiyyat in relation to Islam in Kashmir to foreground the centrality of the mystical in the whole process of conversion and consolidation of power by Muslims. The story of Islam in Kashmir is one of the most interesting stories in the history of civilizational dialogue. There is hardly any similar example in history of peaceful takeover of one religion and culture by the other. This feat became possible because of the role of Sufis. It is a unique story exemplifying Islams resilience and potential to appropriate alien traditions. It shows contours of interfaith dialogue in action. It refutes the dominant perception of Islam as monolithic exclusivist legalistic tradition. The story of Islam in Kashmir is an interesting case of larger story of cultural transformation brought about by mysticism. How mysticism approaches and solves certain important problems is illustrated in Kashmir.
We need to know historical reasons for the ascendency of Islam in Kashmir. Saivism had lost vitality. It degenerated in the course of time as traditions do. No major thinker was produced by Kashmir Saivism after the 12th century. Spirituality had given place to occultism. Buddhism had already yielded to dominant tradition and even adopted the latters many forms. Masses had been alienated from decadent religiosity and oppression of priestly class. Prof. Rattan Lal Hangloo has, for instance, argued in his The State in Medieval Kashmir that the mass conversion to Islam was facilitated by the then Hindu society and polity which produced deteriorating social system, the broadening crisis in economy or political insecurity (Hangloo, 2000). According to him the spread of Islam appeared as an answer and solution to the problem of injustice, disharmony and the peoples misery. Islam filled the vacuum quite admirably. It was Sufism that was destined to play historical role in consolidating and revitalizing centuries of spiritual heritage. Mysticism has been the religion of man from the very beginning. It has adapted itself to diversity of forms. Men are programmed to worship God according to the Quran. There is no escape possible from God who is our Environment, our Origin and our End.
Mansur al-Hallaj, the famous mystic-martyr, is said to have visited Kashmir. It took many centuries, until the advent of Sufis from Central Asia and Persia, for the process of conversion to significantly transform religious and cultural landscape of Kashmir. Islam won mass conversion in the 14th century and from then on it has been the dominant tradition displacing both the already enfeebled Buddhism and the decadent Saivism.
The thousands of years long heritage of Reshiyyat easily adapted to the Sufistic face of Islam. Reshiyyat got Islamized at the hands of Sheikh Nuruddin and his followers. Native thought currents thus got assimilated` in the new synthesis of the Shaikh, popularly called Shaikhul Alam or Jagat Guru. Masses didnt feel alienated from their tradition in embracing Islam at the hands of Sufis and Reshis as Islams spiritual dimension converged significantly with the Hindu-Buddhist Unitarianm outlook. Ibn Arabis wajudi Unitarian version of Islam that Syed Ali Hamdani, the great leader of about 700 Sufis that constituted organized mission for Islamizing Kashmir, advocated could easily get acceptability in already monistically oriented mind of Kashmir. It has been amply demonstrated that conversion to Islam was either by Reshis or Sufis rather than state sponsored enterprise.
New life was breathed into the age old Reshi tradition by Shiekh Nuruddin. He transformed it from the perspective of Sufism and gave it a social dimension. As is usual with the mystics, hardly anything is known with certainty about his life. And we neednt know! One wonders why biographers and historians exhaust so much energy on these issues. The Sufi comes from nowhere and goes to nowhere. Indeed from nothingness to nothingness is mans journey. God who is our Origin and End is both Void or Nothing or Sunyata (in the tradition of negative divine) and Fullness or Plenitude of Being, Goodness, Beauty and Truth or Truth, Existence and Bliss (in the tradition of positive divine). Only God is, man as an independent self subsisting entity isnt. Man can attain baqa only when he ceases to be, when he transcends his I or ego consciousness and only mirrors God by total surrender. This is the essence of mysticism of which Shiekh Nuruddin is the exponent. Body and details of its earthly career which subject of biographies are hardly of any significance from the mystical point of view. So our historians obsession with the facts or concrete details of worldly life of saints is unwarranted. What isnt important for a saint because of his transcendence of all labels, all the coordinates of space and time that could be used to fix his position, shouldnt of much importance to us also and our obsession with it creates such needless controversies as Was Nunda Buddhist or Muslim? or Was Lalla Savite or Muslim?’ These questions neednt be asked and can’t be answered and even if answered by careful sifting of historical evidence, Reshis cause isnt served who essentially belongs to the supraformal world and not to the realm of nasut, to metahistory and not to history. India, the land of the seers, never cultivated history as a discipline in the modern sense of the term. To the extent modern man (and modernist Kashmiri historian) has lost the sense of the Sacred, the Immutable, the Metahistorical, to that extent he is interested in prying in historical facts and details. We have, generally speaking, no biographies of saints available. We need not either. Historical life of a saint has not to do much with the essence of the thing for which mysticism stands. The earthly period of a saint hardly matters as he lives in eternity. The Spirit (which is the purely divine element in man as is clear from the Quranic verse nafiktu fir-ruhi as distinguished from soul) is never born and never dies. It transcends history and time completely. Our inmost reality is constituted by spirit. This is why, generally speaking, saints dont care for biographies. As individuals or egos saints dont exist. They are nobodies, nameless, trackless gone in the experience of fana. Only God is absolutely real; only Gods Face abides and everything else is annihilated and strictly speaking nothing is existent in the real sense.
That is why most modern historians (and this is true of G.M.D. Sufi, A.Q. Rafique and to some extent Ishaq Khan though the last mentioned takes great care to approach it from within and go against the orthodox rationalist historical viewpoint) can’t make sense of hagiological literature with its preponderances of the supernatural. It is modernist historians credulous attitude towards the myth and metanarrative of rationalistic scientism that makes him incredulous towards the element of supernatural in the lives of Reshis. The present author is much pained to see misappropriations of hagiographical accounts of our Reshis in rationalist naturalist reductionist framework of modernist historians. Modernist Kashmiri historians’ representations/appropriations of hagiographical sources or miraculous or supernatural element in the lives of the Reshis have serious limitations and sometimes we see gross distortions on account of their rationalist modernist assumptions. There is no space here to elaborate the point.
While analyzing the question of Islam in Kashmir from a theological viewpoint serious misunderstanding have arisen and scholars are still fighting over unresolved issues regarding the distinctive character of Kashmiri Islam or the relationship between Sufism and Reshiyyat, the religious identity of Lalla, communalist vs. secular interpretation of Reshi movement etc. A purely historical approach has led to unending problems for scholars of Kashmir Studies. There is a need to situate Islam and Reshiyyat in the context of pre-Islamic heritage of Kashmir by foregrounding metaphysico-spiritual dimensions of the respective traditions that have contributed to the formation of Kashmiri identity and culture. The theological as against the metaphysical approach adapted by communalists needs to be transcended. This will put in proper context the role of Saivite mystic Lalla vis-à-vis Islams emergence in the Valley. The origin and evolution of the Reshi movement should be discussed in terms of its metahistorical archetypal image rather than in purely historical terms. Is Reshiyyat different from Sufism in the same manner in which Saivism and other religious tradition of Kashmir are different from Islam? Is Islamic framework dispensable in Reshiyyat as it developed after Nuruddin? The issue of religious affiliation of Lalla or Buddhist influence on Sheikh Nuruudin is also very controversial. How to make sense of popular perception of Sufi connection of this Saivite mystic? These and other problems are best approached, in the opinion of the present author, by taking recourse to insights of perennialist scholars which are represented by Ananda Coomaraswamy in India.
The story of Islam in Kashmir has largely been a story of Islamic mysticism or Reshiyyat as Islam entered the valley through the efforts of mystics called Sufis and Reshis. The legalist exotericist exclusivist version of Islam that attained dominance in certain regions in the world today could not take roots in Kashmir. Kashmir has been a pir-waer, the land of saints and it is mysticism which has been instrumental in determination of its sensibility. The modernist rationalist historian or an exoteric exclusivist theologian can’t fully deal with the transcendery phenomenon of Reshiyyat, the former being uncomfortable with the supernatural ambience surrounding it while as the latter being uncomfortable with its inclusivism and sulhi-kul (peace with all).
Reshiyyat and the Question of Conversion
Another issue that has been subject of much controversy is Reshis role in conversion of non-Muslims. This is also made more complex issue by sensitive issue of conversion itself. For such scholars as Rafiqi the Reshis didnt go out to seek adherents to Islam as proclaimed conscious missionaries, like the immigrant Sufi and their Kashmiri followers. Not did they act as high priests but as the saints who were willing to help the needy on the spiritual path. (Rafiqi:). In contrast Khan credits them with primary role in Islamization of Kashmir. Again esotericist or metaphysical perspective of perennialist authors could be used as a corrective to limitations of traditional historical scholarship. It is a fact of history that despite their tolerance of other faiths and inclusivism the Sufis from Central Asia and Persia and the Reshis have been instrumental in Islamization of Kashmir. It is only in the integral tradition of a particular religious tradition the seed of mysticism grows and fructifies pace the belief of our syncretists and secularists. Sufism is understandable only in the light of Islam. The question of syncretism and borrowing doesnt arise if we understand what Frithjof Schuon calls universal orthodoxy of mysticism. The Sufis/Reshis needed to preach Islam as an integral tradition so that the souls could be weaned for their spiritual growth. Esoterism can’t be practiced in isolation from exoteric religion, despite what libertine mystics like Osho and Krishnamurti assert. What I want to point out is that conceptual framework of our scholars of Reshiyyat and Kashmir history suffers from certain limitations, which could be redressed by recourse to perennialist insights. Then only could the sensitive issue of conversion and the Reshis’ role in it be clarified and the process of Islamization of Kashmir understood in its proper context.
Orthodoxy of Reshiyyat
There is also not much warrant for doubting orthodox credentials of Reshi version of Sufism. From the insiders perspective there is hardly anything such as borrowing from any alien source. The form of spiritual practices and discipline dont constitute the essence of a mystical tradition like Sufism. Masters of tariqah know that in the path of enlightenment or irfan any practice or mode and discipline are substitutable. It is only a saint like Nuruddin who can decipher the esoteric significance of exoteric dimension (sharia) of Islam. There are as many kinds of spiritual practices and disciplines as there are men. There is no such thing as orthodoxy in this context. There is a lack of sound scholarship on mysticism and metaphysics in literature on Reshiyyat. It needs a metaphysician and a mystic of the calibre of Frithjof Schuon (Isa Nuruddin) to clarify the question of origin, orthodoxy/heterodoxy and borrowings in case of Reshi movement. It is the end of the quest or path i.e., enlightenment or irfan (gnosis) that is important for the mystic. Paths, the practices and the modes of discipline are variable even within the same silsilah sometimes. These can’t be made the basis for labelling and categorizing such saints as Nuruddin and Lalla.
One cant properly speak of Reshiyyat as Reshiyyat because ism has the connotation of an ideological system. However the suffix ism has now been used widely on even such non-ideological traditions as Sufism so we may retain the use of such terms as Reshiyyat but without understanding thereby that it is name of an ideology. One can say that Reshiyyat is not a name of some entity over and against different integral religious traditions. It is not a rival religious or philosophical tradition. It is the esoteric and metaphysical content of these religions.The God of Islam is synonymous with truth (God is named the Truth in the Quran) and truth has infinite faces, aspects and layers. One cant impose a version of Islam as orthodox and disqualify all divergent interpretations. The Quran and the Prophetic traditions contain inexhaustible treasures of meaning and are vulnerable to potentially countless interpretations. Purely literal understanding of Islam is impossible. Even an uncompromising Zahiri exotericist or literalist theologians is bound to resort to non-literal interpretation at certain places. All truths are mediated through our linguistic, cultural and conceptual filters. So labelling certain interpretation such as Reshi interpretation of Nurudduin as deviant or heterodox is to be guilty of what Lyotard calls meaning closure. Strictures of certain exoteric authorities regarding the Islamic credentials of mystically inclined Kashmiri peoples understanding of Islam reflect an imposition of certain totalistic and totalizing preconceived ideological reduction of Islam at the hands of these exotericists. Islam has not outlawed any interpretation as long as the frame of reference is the Quran and Sunna. Islam resists and transcends all totalistic ideological reductions because of its universality and timelessness.
There are some huge misunderstandings about the Reshis attitude to orthodox religious forms. For instance, the issue of Sufi connection of this Saivite mystic Lalla is a problem for exoteric authorities. She inherited and organically fused in her own way Saivism, Upansadic wisdom and Sufism. Her transcendence of dualist plane is revealed by the fact that her religious identity is still a matter of dispute. The message of Nuruddin and Lalla is hardly distinguishable. Saivism comes close to Islamic metaphysical doctrines and Sufistic “wahdatul wajoodi” thought and that accounts for Lalla being at home in either of them. It doesn’t regard phenomenal world as unreal but as the self expression of Siva, His poem, His art. It, like Islam, sees God both as Immanent (Shakti) as well as Transcendent (Siva). A Reshi is a bird of lamakaan and every attempt to circumscribe him in conceptual categories or theological labels that are derived from makaan or time is a category mistake. The realm of eternity is incommensurable with the realm of time. In Gods proximity all labels must drop as that station is attained only by the surrender of finite self and individuality before the Nameless Infinite.
One can loosely take Reshiyyat as Perennial Philosophy as it developed in India. Islam is simultaneously a religion and a metaphysic. So Reshiyyat as traditional metaphysics itself is part of integral Islamic tradition. As Sufism cant be practiced outside the formal religious universe of Islam according to perennialists so Reshiyyat after Nuruddin needs the supposing framework of Islam. Esotericism isnt realizable in religious vacuum despite the assertion of libertine mystics to the contrary. Without the background particular religious forms Reshiyyat becomes almost impossible to become a concrete reality. One can loosely say that Reshiyyat as tariqat is the fruit of sharia. Over and above Islamic sharia Reshiyyat has no inalienable doctrinal or practical principle. Reshiyyat is Kashmiri version of Sufism and if it appropriates and accommodates influence of certain local or indigenous practices it is in keeping with the principle that in every age Sufism needs new formulations and adaptations in consonance with the spirit of that age. Kashmirs collective unconscious, its archetypal inheritance necessarily needs to be taken into consideration when a spiritual genius such as Nuruddin wishes to Islamize it. Reshi version of Islamic Sufism is the best creative adaptation of Islam with religious universe of Kashmir that had moulded it from centuries. Local context has always affected the expression of the alien religious tradition. Such praiseworthy innovations as the practices of loud recitation of durood and awrad in Kashmir make smooth assimilation and penetration of alien religious universe possible.Limitations of Historical Approach to Reshiyyat
No purely historical approach will be able to clarify what Reshiyyat is and make sense of its diverse and rich literature. Only the shell of Reshiyyat enters history. That is why our historians have created more controversies than they have been able to resolve. The core of Reshiyyat which consists of ineffable experience of God cant be philosophically, theologically or historically approached and analyzed. The Life of Sprit which Reshiyyat actualizes is living life in a spirit of detachment, as a witnessing self. The Spirit transcends all the humdrum of life. It watches and watches without identifying with any of lifes actions and experiences. The philosophy of actionless action or wu wei wei is what mystics or Reshis advocate. The Reshi transcends mind and lives in the space of no-mind as God is revealed only when we transcend time and mind. A purely historical approach that gives much importance to the life lived in time and the life of mind cant do justice to such a person such as Reshi and his thought that transcends all discursive thought. Authentic life or the life of freedom in mystical perspective is possible only when one transcends ego and the dualistic plane of action, the fret and fever of the life of mind. The joy that the Reshi finds in God is expressed either through dance as in Lalla or in aesthetic contemplation or poetry of love and bliss or in selfless service. What is visible to the historian from the life of Reshi is only a surface or outward face of it.
Reshiyyat does enter history as an institution in a particular spatio-tempioral setting which, however, is to be differentiated from the eternal essence of religion or mysticism. We must not confound the eternal and the temporal dimensions of the Reshi movement. For the temporal setting historical and phenomenological approaches do have ample relevance but must caution against the reductionist tendency that is quite fashionable with modern academic disciplines. It is not a name of an historical movement that began somewhere at sometime in history. It is not in its essence a merely human thing. It is a celestial song, a celestial feast. It is celebration of love and peace that passeth all understanding. It is Kashmiri adaptation of perennial wisdom that is the common property of all traditional civilizations. The modernist rationalist historian or an exoteric exclusivist theologian can’t fully deal with the transcendery phenomenon of Reshiyyat, the former being uncomfortable with the supernatural ambience surrounding it while as the latter being uncomfortable with its inclusivism and sulhi-kul. From the perennialist perspective only a Reshi can authentically talk about Reshiyyat. Reshiyyat aims at self realization which is something very personal and beyond the jurisdiction of any categorical propositional framework. It can’t be discussed, analyzed, proved or refuted in the usual sense of these terms. It is too existential an affair to be handled by abstract philosophical theorizing. It is more akin to a love affair with the Absolute rather than to an abstract philosophy or religious ideology. It is a celestial song, a grand and life long adventure of spirit. It demands transcendence of subject-object duality and that is what metaphysical meaning of tawhid implies. It is a monologue of the Self, heard in silence. It is an unheard melody. It is not a matter of kal (talk) but hal (existential state or taste). It is a concrete living experience. It is synonymous with innocence of becoming and the repose of being. No categorizing conceptual framework could deal with it. Historical/philosophical analytical and ideological appropriations of Reshiyyat may miss its kernel. It is a matter of experience or realization and not of discourse or debate. It demands the whole of our life, a free response to the call from the Absolute.
Societial Dimension of Reshiyyat
Mysticism isnt a flight into dreamy foggy subjectivity but as manifested in concrete historical milieu is Eternity permeating and informing time as supernatural order suffusing natural order, as heaven showering life giving rain on earth, as Presence transmitting and transforming our baser elements into gold. It is deeply concerned with this worldly problems also. It has a deep social concern. The mystic doesnt enjoy the solitary bliss of divine vision but like Buddhisatva is concerned with salvation of whole humanity. He returns from his cave, having reached the other shore after crossing the dark night of the soul, into the world of time and space, of evil and suffering, to transform it in accordance with his transcendary vision. He celebrates mystery and beauty of life and shares woes and sufferings of his fellows and leaves forests to jackals and monkeys and caves to rats. He in no way denies life or this world at the cost of the other world, but only uplifts it, transforms it. All these characteristics of mysticism are evidenced in Reshiyyat and its history.
Political readings of Sufism need to be cautiously appraised. Sulhi kul of Sufis is not passive resignation in the face of adverse socioeconomic and political realities. Though Sufism as such has no ideological commitments but it seeks realization of the God of justice. Sufi care of the self is not at the cost of the world of form and colour. Both Saivism and Sufism transcend the dichotomy of the sacred and profane and take ample care to beautify the world. Both are conscious of our historicity, our temporality. The world is not left to dogs. It is a belief of Sufis that rulers are first chosen in the higher world and monitored strictly according to divine standards of justice. Sufism need not be dragged into the service of ones political belief. Political appropriations of spirituality are at the cost of spirituality itself and always dangerous.
The Sufis have played very important role in the political life of Kashmir. They have been informal advisors to kings. They have been influential in some important decision making. It is a widely shared belief amongst Kashmiri Muslims that Sufis play key role in making and marring of the kingdoms. Most rulers from the great Budshah to Farooq Abdulla, the chairperson and former chief minister, paid obeisance to Sufis, living and dead. The Sufis have been, according to popular belief, closely monitoring performance of authorities in terms of rendering social justice.
Mass Appeal of Sufism
Reshi/Sufi thought has deeply impacted on the development of artistic and literary culture of Kashmir. Sufism has become an integral part of Kashmiri artistic sensibility. Most of the great names in the history of Kashmir Sufism have been great poets. There exists a strong oral literary tradition amongst Sufis. Most Sufis and their students remember great number of verses by heart and routinely sing Sufi poetry in sama gatherings. There are numerous Sufi poets in Kashmir. Almost every Sufi writes poetry as if the latter is a spontaneous expression of a heart tuned to the divine. Sufism has shaped Kashmiri music and given rise to a distinct brand of classical music in Kashmir called Sufiana music All great names in Kashmir literature, until recent times, have been either Reshis or influenced by Reshiyyat. Poetry in Kashmir is either mystic poetry or sort of romantic poetry that we can subsume under the head of mysticism. Many Kashmiris believe that Habba Khatoon wasn’t married to Yusuf Shah and that their relationship was spiritual or platonic. Even modern poets such as Mehjoor, Rahi and Kamil couldn’t afford to extricate themselves from Sufi influences. We need not to be surprised that a mystic verse occurs all of a sudden in their romantic poems. Legends and myths too have been appropriated in mystical terms e.g., five Kashmiri mystic poets have versified the folk story of “Aka-Nandun” and appropriated mystic themes in it. The same is the case with “Heemal Naagraj.” The Gulrez of Maqbool Shah Kralwari, the “Bakawali” of Lassa Khan Fida and such mathnavis and narrative poems as “Heemal Nagraj” appear love poems when superficially read but are “essentially a journey from an outer world towards the inner.” The poet is called gwanimath a word charged with mystic connotations. Didacticism and certain artistic lacunae don’t generally mar the merit of great mystical poetry of Kashmir.
Sufism in Kashmir embodies one of the most interesting experiments in world spirituality. Here is a test case for integration of different traditions. Reshiyyat appropriates the central insights of four different religions of the world. It expresses the metaphysical core of all religions. Though Reshiyyat no longer survives in the form of a movement it continues to live in and impact essentially Sufistic tradition of Kashmir. The shrine of Nuruddin is still the most respected shrine of Kashmir. Nuuddin is called Alamdar or standard bearer of Kashmir. There is hardly any room for any sectarian or fundamentalist outlook in a predominantly Sufistic culture. But the unfortunate political legacy has precipitated certain communal problems which have been misappropriated by political forces.
Walter Lawrence wrote about Kashmir in his famous The Valley of Kashmir that no niche is without a shrine here. It may well be said that Sufism is today the most popular tradition in Kashmir. It has resisted all attacks and campaigns from legalistic theological schools in recent years. Almost every Kashmiri is a Sufi in making. Sufi gatherings and festivals are spread round the year. Kashmirs prayer food culture, niyaz culture and shrine culture all testify to the deep influence of Sufism. Kashmir is traditionally called as a land of mystics (pir waer). Here even many mentally deranged people are respected because suspected to be majzoob Sufis. Most families have a family saint. Though newer generations are critical of antinomian tendencies in some Sufis and of pseudoSufis for promoting polytheistic interpretation of Sufism. However the fact remains that Kashmir culture remains an essentially mystical culture.Perennity of Mysticism in Kashmir
Mysticism survives the change of religious guises in the course of history. The Quran makes it clear that Gods words cant change or dont change. The eternal element in religions that perennialists designate as Sophia perennis and the Quran subsumes in the notion of Ad-din is the living element of mysticism. It ensures continuity of religious thought across millennia. Exoteric religion or the form of religions changes but the essence that forms seek to express remains the same. Metaphysics cant change by definition. God is unchangeable. The Truth is timeless. Metaphysical foundation of all traditional religions is one as perennialists have demonstrated. In Kashmir different traditions have been living and displacing one another and in a way continue to live in different forms today. In fact one may remark here that traditions hardly ever die in the course of history. They get transformed and their spirit gets adapted to newer vehicles. They continue to influence even after their supposed death substituting traditions. This point is illustrated in the fate of Buddhism in Kashmir.
Reshiyyat and Impact of Buddhism
Buddhism penetrated into the heart of Hinduism and transformed it from within so much so that the greatest Vedantic philosopher Sankara is accused to be a cryptobuddhist. Buddhism changed its guise and continued to flourish in Saivism of Kashmir. Similar remarks could be made and applied in case of Islam. Neither Buddhism nor Saivism died here. Their essential spirit and many peripheral practices continued to be, in one or the other form, in Rishiyyat or post-Nuruudin Islam in Kashmir. Risshiyyat has appropriated key Buddhistic elements in its practice. A poem composed in honour of Buddha by Sheikh Nuruddin is ample evidence of impact of Buddhist tradition. Buddhist metaphysics of Void, its eightfold path, its four noble truths, its silence towards speculative metaphysical theological issues, its emphasis on orthopraxy rather than any particular view of Ultimate Reality, its pragmatism, its monkish culture, its ahimsa and vegetarianism all could be traced in Risshiyat of Kashmir in the Muslim period. Kashmiris continue to use, both consciously and unconsciously key Buddhist concepts and formulations in their discourse. Kashmiris blame their karma rather than any external factor or force for their suffering. Whenever something untoward happens he cries panien gunah, aamali baden hienz shamat (My bad karma, bitter fruit of bad actions). Many proverbs and folk stories have possible connection with Buddhism. Many traditional Kashmiris seek refuge in God and in Pir which seems to echo Buddhist practice of talking refuge in the Buddha. The world is described as a place of suffering by common Kashmiri (dunya chu tawan). Impermanence of everything is asserted by such common sayings as dunya chu napayidar, yaet kya chu rozwun(nothing stays long in the world). Permanence is attributed to Spirit or Absolute only, to Void in Buddhist terms. Rozuwun chu bas tamsund naw(Gods name or Essence alone is permanent) is a common saying in Kashmir. One can cite many more similar expressions used in different contexts of which we can find equivalent in Buddhism.
Kashmir remains a land of the Buddha despite centuries of oblivion of Buddhism. Buddhism never really disappeared in Kashmir. It impacted on deeper structures and in subtle ways on Kashmirs history, religion and culture and its impact continues. It continues to live in Muslim Kashmir, not to speak of Leh etc. Contemporary Muslim Kashmir is not understandable without appreciating impact and living presence of Buddhism.
Islam in Kashmir is a fulfillment of socially engaged egalitarian Buddhist project rather than a new faith that negated the spirit of Buddhism and usurped its throne by force. Buddhism is not history here and its study is not of merely historical importance. It lives in archetypes and as a metaphysical and mystical darsana it cant be exiled from the collective unconscious of Kashmiris. Of course its distinct identity may be nonexistent now but it doesnt bother about its distinct identity. Wherever people attempt to conquer suffering and identify desire, the desiring self (nafsi amara) as the culprit) and seek the light (nur in the Quranic terminology) out of existential darkness that constitute samsaric becoming there Buddhism lives. Buddha will have nothing new to teach our Sufis and Sufism, properly understood and shorn of its theological dress, is living and authentic expression of timeless wisdom of which historical Buddhism was one expression.
Buddhism has a very sublime conception of tawhid, understood metaphysico-mystically. Originally it rejected image worship. It completely rejected anthropomorphism in its theology. It guarded against shirk so successfully that even now after centuries of development and even distortion Buddhism refuses to allow any human conception of the Ultimate Reality any validity and strictly advocates silence. Kashmiri Sufi poets have appropriated essential Buddhism in their conceptions of fana, devotion to Unitarianism, and sublime conception of divine transcendence. Qadir Sb Keyna is a Sufi poet who has specifically composed verses on void. I am the Void, you are the Void/ What shall I speak of the Void. Lallas vaakhs too have echoes of the Buddhist formulation regarding the Void. Nuruddin Reshi, popularly called the Sheikhul Alam (world teacher) has emphasized mingling of the Void and Shiva and thus foregrounding Islamic integral metaphysical formulations that take care of both the positive and the negative divine. Negation of all gods in Islamic terminology is what Buddhism asserts in its doctrine of impermanence of all manifested things. Kashmiri Sufi vision is strongly centred on this negative view of divine. A Kashmiri is fond of using tasbih and forms of collective meditation such as durood and azkar. Relic culture has Buddhist origins. Keeping photographs of pirs and parents and grandparents is a substitute for image culture which flourished from Buddhist times in Kashmir.
Though none can deny differences at theological plane the question is what differentiates Islam from Buddhism in such sharp terms at metaphysical or ethical plane. Metaphysical unity of diverse traditions which claim to be founded on religious experience of its founders has been amply demonstrated by various scholars, most importantly and most cogently and forcefully by perennialists. Theological differences when translated in terms of more foundational metaphysical or esoteric principles (of which theologies are distant and inexact or crude translations) get dissolved and can be easily reconciled. Let us analyze differences between Buddhism and Islam of which such critics as Harun Yaha make much fuss.
The doctrine of rebirth, anatta, absence of theism or agnosticism, different doctrines concerning hell and heaven, asceticism or world negation, which are part of Buddhism are found to be irreconcilable with Islam according to most scholars. But a deeper analysis of all these doctrines reveals remarkable convergence with Islamic doctrines. Here a very brief explication of these doctrines could be attempted in the following paragraphs.
There is no such thing as rebirth understood in animistic sense of transmigration of soul or personality in integral traditions according to Comaraswamy. God is the only transmigrant as Shankara put it. There is no reality behind the façade of ego/personality which could survive and transmigrate according to all religions. As long as man is trapped in the illusion that there is really a person So and so he is condemned to suffer and in the symbolic language of Scriptures to rebirth. Really there is no birth, no autonomous soul or self, no death. The Buddha taught suffering bred from illusion of desiring self and a way of escape from it. About the whither and whence of souls he is not concerned. His problem is salvation or conquest over suffering and ignorance. Islam too has not entertained discussion over those questions which have no bearing on human salvation. Discussion divine Essence, destiny, eschatological states, origin of the world of manifestation are not encouraged. The only problem is correct knowledge or right view which leads to right conduct, to God or Truth.
The doctrine of annata is the integral part of Islamic conception. Only the Spirit, a transindividual faculty, the luminous centre of consciousness/knowledge is immortal or divine element in man. The body and the soul are subject to sin and suffering. The Spirit transcends all the individualities of existence and is not liable to sin or corruption. The Spirit constitutes our buddha nature. Nirvana is a blissful experience because our Spirit is made of the substance of joy or ananda. Sufism ceaselessly talks about transcendence of nafs or desiring soul. The Quran asserts mortality of the soul (nafs) in clear terms (for every individual soul is death it says). All compounded things are mortal but the spirit is not a compounded thing. It is not born and death cant approach it.
About the posthumous states there also is little difference amongst traditions. The final destination is no destination, the Garden of Essence where there is no separate individual desiring self hankering for pleasures. It is a state of utter contentment where Spirit comes to enjoy its eternal repose. Like parinirvanic state it is a state of unalloyed bliss. All seeking, all questioning is laid to rest. Nirvana is unimaginable as is the joy of contemplating God in the other world. Seeing God one is lifted above all cares and transcends all desires. Nirvana too is a state of cessation of desires. For the soul under divine tuition there are states and stations in hells and heavens according to Buddhism. Islam is in essential agreement with the conception of posthumous life on different planes. Hell is not the everlasting abode of any sinner. The flames of hell are finally cooled. Eternity belongs to God only and not to any created or manifested realm. God is the only Permanent entity. Everything is annihilated and only Gods face remains declares the Quran.
The question of theism/atheism loses its significance from the Sufistic metaphysical viewpoint. When doctrine of tawhid is approached as Unity of Existence the question of personal divinity is almost bracketed off. Personal God of Muslim theology is not the Absolute of Buddhism and Islamic metaphysics. The former is in Divine Relativity and the Absolute transcends it.
It must be acknowledged that Buddhism is less open to the graces emanating from the world of hue and colour. Islam takes a more positive view of the world, of women and sexuality, of seculer pursuits. However Buddhism too, according to Mahayana school, declares samsara and nirvana as one. It too is compatible with worldly pursuits taken up in the sprit of detachment.
Attachment to doctrines, to rituals, to forms is to be transcended for attaining the ultimate goal. Buddhism has no quarrel with any religion, no truck with identity problem. The dispute for superiority of a doctrine or creed is vain from a Buddhist viewpoint thatis committed to no-view or transcendence of all views. Buddha is a mirror with no form of its own. It is the plain light of Spirit that shines inside all of us. Kashmiri Sufis have often used the metaphor of mirror for the arrived souls and for expressing the mystery of creation. The only significant question from Buddhist viewpoint is how free we are from the bondage of desires and attachments to perishing things. All other questions are secondary. Buddhism can enter into a dialogue with world traditions so readily because it has no views of its own to impose. Kashmir as a land of Rishis has been a land of Buddhist Reshis. Reshi movement of Kashmir has appropriated Buddhist wisdom and made it a part of Kashmir culture and heritage. What emerges from the above discussion is that there is little divergence at deeper mystical-metaphysical plane between Buddhism and Islam. It is no wonder that Islam found a receptive audience in the Buddhist world. I wonder why some Buddhist leaders of Kashmir should be pained at Rinchanas conversion and see it as betrayal of Buddhist community.
The Question of Identity
It is the question of identity of Kashmiris that has been hotly debated in recent times. In the light of perennialist insights this vexed issue could be resolved in a satisfactory way. We can’t write off any period of history or any of the major traditions Kashmir has been hosting in determining its present identity. Here we may turn to Reshiyyat and its revivalist Nuruddin who is acknowledged as the patron saint of the valley by both Hindus and Muslims. He is remembered as Sheikhul Alam or Jagat Guru (The World Teacher) by Muslims and as Shahjanand (The Blessed One) by Hindus. Reshiyyat that can’t be identified with or subsumed under any one historical movement or religious tradition and thus provides a transcendentally grounded identity. Nationalistic and religious appropriations of Kashmiryat (lately introduced term for Kashmiri consciousness and identity) are not quite warranted have been increasingly questioned in recent times. We must note that Kashmirs identity cant be defined in isolation from the distinct mystical and metaphysical ethos that has traditionally defined Kashmir. Kashmir has housed or appropriated most of the major world traditions. It has been argued that to its sacred ambience most of great religions and civilizations Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim have contributed. Reshiyyat seeks to transcend all local, regional, divisive identities perpetrated by various groups and to be grounded in the universal or cosmic or divine Reshi identity that duly encompasses and appropriates other identities as well. Shiekh Nuruddin and Lalla, the patron saints of Kashmir, have emphasized transcendence of all identities of self, caste, race, nationality and even religion taken in its exclusivist sense. In the Sheikhs universalistic inclusivist humanitarian transcendental cosmopolitan vision of Reshiyyat could alone be true Kashmiriyat grounded. Kashmir has been hosting some of the most important world religions and has been largely unfamiliar with sectarian strife. Its values of tolerance and non-violence are attributable to its mystical (Reshi) identity. Reshiyyat should be taken not in the narrow historical sense as a cult of Sheikh Nuruddin but in the wider sense as mystical dimension of Kashmir and that alone safeguards its universalism.
Kashmirs resistance to all sectarian divisive identities and cults, to exclusivist fundamentalist dogmatic theological voices and to this worldly oriented secular visions that are divorced from the wellsprings of transcendence is attributable to its deep mystical ethos. It has been more interested in exploring inner landscape, in the great adventure of consciousness than in looting and plundering the neighboring territories. Believing in the gospel of truth and love it has not worshipped the Mammon of power and it has too readily succumbed to political subjugation from non-natives. Its cosmopolitan consciousness has assimilated Sayyids and Pathans, Mugals and Dogras. It knows no nationalism in the constricted sense of the term. Like India it has been a soft target of all imperialist forces. But it must be noted that the hell modern man is in is because the mystical gospel of love and compassion that has been promulgated by Reshis has been forgotten. In a postmodern globalized transnationalistic world only the kind of identity that mysticism gives could give us an abiding peace. All borders are becoming irrelevant and it is the renunciatory ethic that gives us transcendent grounding and identity that needs to be foregrounded.
Reshiyyat vis-à-vis Hinduism and Islam
It is also to be noted that Hinduism or Buddhism and Islam are not as divergent at deeper level as exotericist theological reading of Islam would have us believe. Originally every human collectivity has been blessed by the presence of prophets according to the Quran. Vedanta, Kashmir Saivisnm and Buddhism are not dualistic or polytheistic but essentially Unitarian or tawhid centred traditions if one grants Sufistic-metaphysical understanding of tawhid as the correct view of it in place of dualistic theological reading. These are all Absolute-centric tradition and this Absolute is not to be subsumed under the theistic theology. At the level of Absolute (Zat) theism is transcended. Islam and other religions are not opposed in fundamentals of faith as all have originally been recipients of revelation in accordance with the Quranic dictum that all human collectivities have received revelation. Despite distortions and extrapolations in subsequent centuries it is still possible to unearth the core of Tawhid in these religions. Spiritually or mystically one can easily see how all religions are oriented towards God and none allows associating partners with God, the popular polytheistic idolatrous interpretation or mask of Hinduism not withstanding as it is quite heterodox reading of originally monistic/monotheistic traditions. Tawhid, according to the Quran, is the one message of all prophets and if we presently see anything that deviates from pristine conception of Unitarianism or Tawhid it is surely a product of misinterpretation according to perennialists. But one must first be sure that some doctrine alleged to be polytheistic/animistic etc. is really so. It needs great mastery in comparative religion to be able to understand different doctrinal formulations in different religions. There are few comparativists in the world, not to speak of Kashmir. Dismissive remarks and generalizations are too readily made betraying ones ignorance of the traditions in question. Just one instance may suffice here. Abdul Wahid Yaha and Isa Nuruddin, arguably the greatest metaphysicians and authorities on comparative religion in the 20th century, demonstrate that there is no pantheism, no idealism, no rebirth, no individualist subjectivist mysticism as ordinarily understood in orthodox Hindu traditions.
Some critics here are needlessly apologetic about using the word Reshi by Sheikh Nuruddin. It suffices to mention that it was the Sheikh who opted for this terminology and found no need of another term such as Wali for describing himself and his disciples. Had the Shiekh adopted the strategy suggested by our critics which emphasizes differences instead of common points and wishes to prove that the advent of Islam was a radical break from the traditional past of Kashmir Islam could hardly have been firmly planted in Kashmir. It was great catholic, assimilating and appropriating genius of the great Shiekh to Islamize Reshi movement and it opened natives for Islam. Loud recital of durood, awrad etc. was another strategy to show Islams assimilating potential. Thank God Syed Ali Hamdani had no advisors to censure him for these unIslamic innovations as otherwise Islams diffusion in the masses would have been more difficult. Our Sufi poets have appropriated pre-Islamic notions and allusions and nothing can be done to edit them from a supposedly Islamic perspective. Sufis are at home in different traditions and dont feel Islam is polluted or in danger if one appropriates other than Islamic mythological or linguistic resources.
It must be noted that Sufism cant be practized outside the doctrinal framework of Islam. The fact is that the post-Nurudin Kashmir is Islamic Kashmir that has already appropriated the best of spiritual genius of India. Islamized Reshiyyat appropriates, for all practical purposes, Buddhist, Saivite and other Indian traditional philosophical thought currents and is not to be construed as an appendage to them. By practicing Islam in all its depths, one practices all religions, as Abdul Wahid Yaha (Rene Guenon) said who wrote, despite being a Muslim, many greatly acclaimed and sympathetic work on Hinduism. We must not allow encroaching of Islamic identity of Sufism or present day Reshiyyat in the name of superficial syncretism. It is not for nothing that many of the greatest spiritual minds of the 20th century in the West became Sufis. Muslims dont need to look here and there in the past for inspiration and metaphysics. Saivism, Buddhism etc. are to be read as historical religions in Kashmir and as independent traditions and not to be confounded with or grafted with or privileged in any sense against the Islamic context and framework of present Reshi thought. We need to respect uniqueness of all traditions and not attempt syncretism.
Some further clarifications are in order to put in right perspective the charge of Brahamanism against Kashmiri Muslims. Sufism isnt to be confused with Vedantic Islam or Islam in Vedantic dress. Rumis or Ibn Arabis Unitarian (as distinguished from dualist monotheistic exoteric Islamic) perspective has also been well appropriated in orthodox terms. Islam has shielded diverse theological, mystical and philosophical schools in its history. Its tradition is far more catholic than usually conceded. The catholicity of Sufism is well known and if we grant that Sufism is indeed the esoteric dimension of Islam and not an alien growth on its soil we hardly need to argue for universalism or catholicity of Islam. Some passages of Ibn Arabi would appropriate even seeming atheists in the salvific scheme. In fact much to the delight of many ecumenists Islam transcends theistic/nontheistic binary. Islam is acceptance of truth in its widest sense. It isn’t an interpretation of truth despite the claim of exclusivists to the contrary. Islam doesn’t talk about truth but talks truth. It is witnessing the truth and that truth is the truth of Infinite and All-Possibility. The Quran identifies God as Al- Haqq or the Real. Truth has no face; it has infinite aspects. Whatever partakes of the Reality or truth is affirmed in Islamic shahadah which is translated by the Sufis and perennialists as “There is no reality but Reality.” Islam means surrender to God, Truth and Reality, for God is Al- Haqq. It is too inclusive to be guilty of any exclusion which Foucault and others fear Thus Islam shields a great heterogeneity and the image of pure monolithic homogenous traditional Islam isnt vindicated by its history, the protest from certain ultra orthodox sections notwithstanding. To be a Muslim is to be in a placeless place. He declares with Rumi (who is generally recognized by the orthodoxy as one of the greatest representatives of esoterism):
I have expelled duality from myself. I have seen the two worlds as one
Let me seek one, say one, know one and desire one
He the First, He the Last, He the Manifest, He the Hidden./Without Him and other than Him nothing else I know.
I am drunk with the soul of love and the two worlds have passed from my hand
Further remarks seem to be warranted here for elaborating Sufi view of man- God relationship which has been misinterpreted by exoteric critics of Islam and Hinduism. The first premise of the doctrine of unity to which Rumi and the Ibn Arabi adhered is the vision of God in man, be it male (Shams in case of Rumi) or female (Nizam in case of Ibn Arabi) before which one feels ones nothingness. It is after this vision of God, and love for it, that one strives to attain God Himself and finally becomes His vision, His proof (Ali), His testimony, Shahid (Hallaj) or His manifestation (Ibn Arabi), the perfect man. God and the world/man according to the Quran arent two poles apart. God is the other, the ideal pole of man as far as the latter is the Spirit or the abode of the Spirit (God having breathed the Spirit in him). Man as an ego or soul, as creature is of course not one with God. Ibn Arabi for whom God is the essence of all existence including man was nevertheless emphatic in maintaining that man can never become God and vice versa. Islam rejects hulul in no uncertain terms. It is only when the ego is gone in the experience of fana and only God remains that An’al Haq (I am the truth can be asserted). In fact this claim is made by the Spirit which is in man but is not his. The Qurans conception of Unity perceives both God and the man as the two aspects of reality by underlying the apparent duality of God and the world/man on the one hand and their essential oneness on the other. This is best manifested in the Quranic conception of Jesus, who was a man like any other human being but he was at the same time the word of God (kalimatullah) or the one in whom God had breathed His own spirit (Ruhullah). The Sufi conception of the perfect man or Insan-i-Kamil also problematizes the absolutization of man-God polarity. The question of man’s relation to God is better approached from the Absolute-relative rather than the Lord-creature framework as the perennialist metaphysicians have argued. Theological controversies are resolvable at the metaphysical plane and it is losing sight of this point that has contributed to unwarranted dualistic polemical quibbles between Sufis and different theological schools and between Hindus and Muslims. The Quran emphasizes both Gods transcendence as well as His immanence in creation (man/world). A typical verse in this connection is Nothing is like Him and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.
How perennialists reread theological differences may be shown with reference to the notion of Avatara in Hindu traditions. As Schuon explains:Muhammad was not and could not be an Avatara; but this is not really the question because it is perfectly obvious that Islam is not Hinduism and notably excludes any idea of incarnation (hulul); quite simply, and using Hindu terminology, which is the most direct or the least inadequate, we would reply that a certain Divine aspect took on under particular cyclic circumstances a particular earthly form, something in full conformity with what the Envoy of Allah testified as to his own nature…,
In any case, if the attribution of divinity to an historical personage is repugnant to Islam, that is because its perspective is centred on the Absolute as such, as is show for instance in the conception of the final leveling before the Judgment: God alone in this conception remains living and all else is leveled in universal death including the supreme Angels, and so also even the Spirit (Er-Ruh), the divine manifestation at the luminous centre of the cosmos (Schuon,1963:90-91).
For Schuon (Isa Nuruddin) Islam is the way of intelligence; it is simply objective perception of the Reality. Allah means Reality, Truth as such which both transcendent and immanent. Islam in its deepest meaning is that which is everywhere And that which has always been(Schuon, 1963:104) and the Prophet represents both universality and primordiality (Schuon, 1963:104). Perennialist perspective conceives Muhammad as Logos, as pole of existence, as one through whom God is known, manifested. As a spiritual principle the Prophet is not only the Totality of which we are separate parts or fragments, he is also the Origin in relation to which we are so many deviations; in other words the Prophet as norm is not only the Whole Man but also Ancient Man(Schuon, 1963:103). Thus to be as Muslim doesnt require belief in a certain proposition, a certain narrative or an ideology. It transcends all linguistic and conceptual categories and thought constructions. Metaphysics isnt absolutization of certain viewpoint or aspect to the exclusion of other possible perspectives. It is the vision of totality of the Real as such and this is achieved by transcendence of merely rational faculty, by becoming a mirror that will reflect the truth, the Essence. Intuition of the mystic isnt subject to any critique such as that of deconstruction. It is prereflective prelignuistic apprehension.
Schuon explains the limitations of the theological approach and thus of all those statements made by exoteric authorities while appraising doctrines of other traditions.
The ordinary monotheist theologies are hardly capable of giving adequate account of theism, owing to the fact that they operate only with the utterly inadequate alternatives of the created and the uncreated. For these theologies there is only God and the world m the creator and the created, whereas inn reality, there is first of all the Absolute and the relative, and then within Relativity itself, the Uncreated Creator, not the Uncreated in itself and all creation… .The alternative in question could be transposed to the Divine level and the distinction between the created and the Uncreated expressed instead as a distinction between the personal God and the impersonal Divinity, and hence between Being and Beyond-Being( Schuon, 1963: 185-86).
Schuon doesnt see any essential contradiction between Muslim and Hindu eschatologies unlike exoterism that finds them simply irreconcilable. He finds the meeting point between the monotheistic eschatology of Islam and Indian transmigrationism in the concepts of Limbo and Hell and also in the resurrection of the flesh in which the being isnt however invested with a new individuality (Schuon, 1969:139). Ananda Coomaraswamy, Schuon and other perennialists reject popular animistic conception of rebirth as do they reject exotericist conception of afterlife, of perpetuity of hell or eternal damnation.
Sufism and nondualistic Saivism are, from the perennialist viewpoint, subsumable under the rubric of common traditional metaphysics as both share the conceptions of Absolute and nondualism. Both advocate almost analogous schemes of descent of the Absolute towards the increasingly grosser or impure states of existence. Both share a realist ontology taking the world of phenomena as real rather than illusory as they share the understanding of Divine Relativity or Maya. We see affirmative transcendence in both of them. Both recognize the importance of diverse approaches to God realization. Both are against a renunciatory life negating ascetism as they believe in metaphysical transparency of phenomena. Sufistic Unitarian perspective harbours an epistemology that could readily appropriate Kashmir Saivistic doctrine of recognition or pratibijna. Both see man as microcosmos. Mystical disciplines or meditational techniques and spiritual anthropology and psychology in both traditions show a remarkable convergence. Exoteric/esoteric division and a respect for exoteric formulations are noticeable in both traditions. One can also discern convergence in metaphysics of Beauty between the two traditions. However if we approach the two traditions from purely theological viewpoint certain differences are easily noticeable. Theology and metaphysics are confusingly mixed in usual expositions of Saivism. A lack of philosophical rigour in theistic appropriations of Saivism is evident. Panentheistic reductionist tendency in most of modern expositions of nondualistic Saivism compromises orthodox or traditional character of Saivism. There is a need of approaching Saivism from the perennialist perspective to put Saivism in the proper context of traditional Indian darsanas. Dualistic schools of Saivism are to be seen as stopping short of pure metaphysics. We need to reject against fashionable uniformitarian syncretistic approach to Saivism and Sufism and attempt to situate them in their respective traditions of Vedantic and Islamic frameworks that respects their unique character and different theologies while also emphasizing their shared metaphysics.
Reshiyyat and Environmentalism
Perennialists have made major strides in ecological reading of the sacred scriptures. The great relevance of perennialist perspectives lies in pointing out metaphysical errors of modern man and science that have contributed to ecological crisis. However they have been compelled to lean primarily on premodern traditional civilizations while showing the concrete examples of practice of ecological wisdom. I think we could point out to Kashmir as living example of traditional outlook that concretely embodies ecological consciousness even today. A very important dimension of Reshi thought is its ecological consciousness and that makes it vitally relevant to the world that has lost ecological health. The Reshis aversion to causing injury to all animate beings including plants, insects and animals; their concern for conserving forests; dissuading hunters from hunting hangul; personal care of pets, tamed animals and birds; planting trees throughout the length and breadth of Kashmir all these things show how deeply eco-conscious has been the Reshi movement. Long before ecological crises occurred Shiekh Nuruddin had anticipated it. Mysticism provides the only valid ideological framework for practizing sound ecology. Kashmir has traditionally been ecologists paradise. How ecological consciousness has been achieved in Kashmir is a forgotten chapter of history of ecology and it is again our duty to present ecological face of Kashmiri Reshiyyat to the world. Shiekh Nuruddin could well be proposed as patron saint of ecology.Appraisal of Major Criticisms of Kashmir Mysticism
Kashmirs mystical credentials have been questioned only very recently by some circles. Progressivist writers found fault with Kashmirs mystical bias. More recently some exotericist theologians have questioned authenticity of Kashmiri Muslim identity as they believe mysticism to be alien to Islamic tradition. Sheikh Nuruddin has been seen as social reformer and preacher rather than a mystic. To these points one may reply that for good or worse Kashmiris are mystically oriented. I think it is for good in the age that swears by pluralism and is fed up with self styled advocates of God. It is gross misreading of the text of Sheikh Shruks and history to write off the mystic in the great Sheikh. Sufism understood as spiritual dimension of Islam is inalienable from it. Nothing in Islam makes sense except in light of this spiritual dimension. AntiSufi rhetoric is modernist heresy. It is good to censure excesses and perversions and misuses of Sufism in Kashmir but to reject the esoteric in the name of literalism and supposed fidelity to scripture is quite unacceptable. Sufism is the metaphysical face or even basis of Islam. History of Islam is largely the history of its saints and philosophers and mystically oriented ulema. The most illustrious thinkers of Islam have been influenced by Sufism. Islamic art and architecture is incomprehensible without the knowledge of Sufi symbolism. Kashmirs arts and crafts express Sufi symbolism. From turban to carpets everywhere we see symbolism in work. No wonder the Dargahs of Hazratbal, of Makhdoom Saheb and of Sheikh Nuruddin continue to attract millions of Kashmiris today.
Mysticism in Kashmir has been attempting to obliterate class and creedal divisions. Shrines have been acting as public guest houses providing food and shelter to anyone regardless of class. Shrines act as cohesive and integrating centers. They are retreat centers. Today newer generations nostalgically recall their immediate past that is believed to incarnate certain values of simplicity, honesty, purity of conduct and thought which we usually associate with saintly life.
One may point out that class analysis of Kashmir society is yet to be made. But one needs to note that Reshis were not complicit with ruling class. Neither were they associated with the rich. It might be objected that they were parasitic on common peoples properties. This too is contravened by history. It is only recently that a class of beggers and begger priests has been thriving in the name of past saints.
Mysticism is a million dollar industry in Kashmir according to critics. Of course abuse of mysticism is a huge industry in itself but we need to note that mysticism contributes significantly to Kashmir economy. Shrines are amongst the most visited tourist spots. Local tourism is largely concentrated on shrines. Much donation money is with Wakf Board which could be used to finance thousands of welfare projects if steps are taken in this direction. The Board could well experiment with a variation of interest free Grammein banking or Islamic banking that could potentially benefit thousands. Prayer food culture is a huge industry in Kashmir that contributes to cohesion of social bonds as well.
There is a pir class, occultist class and the class of so-called majzoobs that largely exploit the name of mysticism and contribute to discrediting it in the eyes of many. A large number of social drop outs and parasites support their living by masquerading as mystics. Salafi onslaught against abuses of mysticism in Kashmir is not quite unwarranted. Illiteracy and gullibility of local people contributes to their exploitation at the hands of many dabblers in the spirit business, black magic and the like.
Mystic class continues to be among the most influential one in todays Kashmir though some mystics claim that there is hardly any genuine mystic living today. Too many are masquerading as mystics as mysticism sells like anything and could be resorted as a means of livelihood by all kinds of charlatans.
Mysticism is the best antidote to communalism and sectarianism. Communal violence does flare up occasionally. But it is ironic to note that the religious group playing the card of mysticism (Berelvees) is also the most dogmatic in certain issues and highly rejectionist and exclusivist. There are few traceable or accessible authentic mystics and mystical thinkers in Kashmir today. The serious and systematic study of mysticism is yet to be a prerogative of any academic institution. Masses are either simplistic believers in claimants of mystical power or alienated from the founts of traditional mystical wisdom on account of propaganda from certain antimystical quarters.
Reshiyyat vs. Humanism
Reshiyyat is often labelled as humanistic tradition . This is incorrect because humanism is a loaded term that arose in the Western against theocentricism of traditional Christianity. Reshiyyat though stressing the dignity of man as a mystical and metaphysical worldview is an antithesis of humanism which severs all ties with transcendence and defies man at the cost of God.. It shifts the emphasis from Being to being, from Nature to man, from universalism to individualism, from metaphysics to science. It rejects heart in favour of head. In place of traditional pontifical man it puts Promethean Faustian man. Man is considered as an end in himself. It takes man for granted as he stands, and takes man the world of mans experience as it has come to seem to him. Man is defined as or identified with Ego. Science and reason are its idols. Supernatural or higher degrees of reality or vertical dimension is rejected by such different varieties of humanism as Huxleys evolutionary humanism, Sartres existential humanism, secular theological humanism or scientific humanism, Marxist humanism. Humanism in Guenons words implies a pretension to bring everything down to purely human elements and thus to exclude everything of a supraindividual order. Sartre thus gives a representative humanist statement There is no other universe except the human universe, the universe of human subjectivity This is humanism, because we remind man that there is no legislator but himself: that he himself, thus abandoned must decide for himself It surrenders not to God but to human finitude and severes all ties with transcendence. Humanistic theologian by identifying the Truth of God with this worldly truth degrades the essence of religion.
Contemporary Significance of Reshiyyat
Regarding contemporary significance of Reshiyyat which has been challenged by certain modernists it may be remarked that for modern man salvation and recovery of meaning could be possible only through the mystical. If theology no longer convinces and philosophy stands challenged from various quarters it is mysticism alone that fits the bill it is no wonder that many (post)modern writers and philosophers are mystically oriented. Reshiyyat as a formulation of timeless perennial philosophy cant be dead as long as man remains man in need of transcendence. Reshis have not been inflexible with regard to any dietary, juristic, theological, meditational prescriptions. No institutional framework is indispensable for practising mysticism. All of us who take transcendence or sacred seriously are Reshis or would-be-Reshis, to a little or greater extent. Man is condemned to be a meaning seeking or self transcending creature. He is bound to transcend himself and look heavenward if he is not to be reduced to beastly status. God is the ideal pole of man. He is our ultimate concern. Any search for fuller and larger life, a more creative life, a more celebratory and more authentic life, is basically a search for God as God is really another name for Life. This is the purport of the Quranic name al-Hayy for God. God is our Environment (al-Muhit) as the Quran says. We live by transcendence and breath it. Transcendence is accessible through search for values. According to Plato anyone who chooses to seek beauty, truth and goodness (the three defining attributes of God) would qualify as a lover of wisdom or mystic. Man is properly called human only when he seeks to realize these values. In broader terms we can say that we are all travellers on the path (salikeen) of Reshiyyat. All travelers on the path of life who have faith in life and seek to beautify it are in a way Reshis.
There is something about Kashmir mysticism whether Saivist or Sufistic that makes it quite interesting and relevant for modern man. Its attitude of affirmative transcendence, affirmation of world and life, despite its renunciatory ethic or asceticism characterizes Kashmiri mysticism. If Shiva is all or God is the only existent then by affirming life we affirm God. The body too is a temple of God and thus its needs can not be ignored. There is no escapism but positive acceptance of Immanent existence. Don’t torment your body with the pangs of thirst and hunger/Whenever it feels exhausted take care of it. For a non-dualist Reshi like Lalla there is no difference between “I” and the “other”(par te pan); immanence and transcendence, universal and individual; consciousness, subjective and objective reality being but aspects of the ultimate reality which is indivisible.
Reshiyyat is not dead or history; it continues to live as it has always been living in the unconscuious or preconscious of Kashmiris. It continues to inform our movement forward in history and every aspect of Kashmiri culture and spirituality. Shiekh Nuruddins verse dominates preachers sermon at pulpit, it has been lulled on the strings of Sufiana musician, it along with Lal waakh devises the introductory tunes of light music Chakri, it is quoted by the house wife when the souring prices exhaust has small purse and it is usually quoted by common voters against the monkeys of such ruling cheques which misrule the country. The piercing sarcasm against Mulla retains its freshness. He is living in the language that he helped to shape. One could well transpose the words of French president de Gaul about Sartre on him and assert, Shiekh is Kashmir.
Eco-conscious earthly matriarchal socially conscious world-view of Reshiyyat is presently being advocated as a remedy of so many ills that affect not only Kashmir but also the whole globe. The need is to interpret Reshi message in contemporary language. This contemporary language that postmodern man can understand is not the language of moralism or theology but the wordless language of mysticism. Only the religion of the heart, whose language is silence, is experiential and existential and is synonymous with selfless service of man could be the religion of (post)modern man and in the context of Kashmir what else besides Reshiyyat, which after Nuruddin is an adaptation of Islamic esoteric kernel, could provide it. Sufism of which Reshiyyat now is a tested historical manifestation has the best resources to address our post-Nietzschean postmodern ages that claims to be posttheological.
Notes
1 The emotional element nowhere plays a bigger part than in the mystical form of religious thought. Contrary to the prevalent opinion he declares that mysticism, from the very fact that it is inconceivable apart from the religious point of view, is quite unknown in the East. (Guenon, 1945:124) The influence of sentimental element obviously impairs the intellectual purity of the doctrine. This falling away from the standpoint of metaphysical thought occurred generally and extensively in the Western world because there feeling was stronger than intelligence and this has reached its climax in modern times. (Guenon, 1945:125) Modern theistic appropriations of mystical experience by choosing to remain at the level of theology and not cognizing the metaphysical point of view (that brilliantly and convincingly appropriates such apparently divergent varieties of mystical and metaphysical realization as that of Buddhism and Christianity) cannot claim total truth as theology itself cannot do so. And it is not always possible to fully translate metaphysical doctrines in terms of theological dogmas. Antimetaphysical anthropomorphism comes to the fore in this realm of individual variations. Reshiyyat is thus misdescribed as mystical. However it has been almost universally used to describe it by scholars. So we may follow the accepted though inaccurate description while at the same time qualify it by foregrounding the metaphysical content of it and its supraindividual and intellectual character
References
Guenon, Rene, Rene Guenon, An Introduction to the Study of Hindu Doctrines, 2000 (1945) Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi,
Hagloo, R. L., The State in Medieval Kashmir, Manohar Publishers , New Delhi, 2000.
Khan, Ishaq, Kashmir’s Transition to Islam: The Role of Rishis, Manohar Publishers, New Delhi,1994.
Lawrence, Walter, The Valley of Kashmir.
Rafique, A. Q., Sufism in Kashmir, Varanasi, Bharatiyya Publishing House, n.d.
Schuon, Frithjof. Dimensions of Islam trans. T.N. Townsend George Allen & Unwin, 1969
Schuon, Frithjof, Understanding Islam .George AlIen &Unwin, 1963,
Wani, M A., Islam in Kashmir Oriental Publishing House, Srinagar, 2005.

Reshiyyat, Mysticism and Metaphysics: Clarifying the Question of Kashmirs Spiritual Heritage

Muhammad Maroof Shah
marooof123@yahoo.comThere is much loose talk and conceptual confusion in the use of such terms as mysticism, Sufism and Reshiyyat in writings on Shaikhul Alam and his legacy or Kashmiris spiritual landscape. I propose to turn to scholars of perennialist school to clarify key terms and accordingly explicate the convergence and divergence between Reshiyyat and Mysticism. As mysticism is not the precise term either for understanding Indian traditions or such traditions as Buddhism or Saivism that preceded Islam in Kashmir or for Sufism that took over after the advent of Islam in Kashmir and what is called Reshiyyat is not a species of mysticism we better take care with this term while explicating Kashmirs past or present religio-spiritual landscape. Reshism as a term may be replaced by another term Reshiyyat to distance it from connotations of the suffix ism that implies an ideological or exclusivist stance. Reshiyyat is an adaptation of traditional metaphysics in Kashmir. Shaikhul Alam should be seen as a contributor to this project of adaptation of Perennial Philosophy and not be described as mystic. His own description of himself as Reshi, understood in accepted sense in indigenous traditions and read in perennialist metaphysical language is to be respected. Tasawwuf that Shaikhul Alam championed is to be read not as a species of mysticism but esoteric content of integral tradition and seen in light of Metaphysics instead of theology that has often been the case in modern writings on it. Thus the paper argues for precise use of the terms and adopting the hermeneutical tools of comparative religion and philosophy best articulated in the approach of perennialists in my view to clarify great deal of conceptual confusion in current discourse of Reshi heritage. I will argue against characterizing Reshiyyyat or Kashmiri Sufi poetry as syncretist, as simply a species of mysticism, as something that can be approached in purely historical terms, as cryptobuddhist adaptation of Islam, as exclusivist theological-moralistic school, as simply a socio-cultural movement. Employing the tools from the perennialist metaphysical school, I argue for a nuanced reading of the whole philosophical-spiritual heritage of Kashmir that does away with often proposed rather loose and inaccurate terms or concepts used in the academia.The Question of SyncretismMany scholarly and journalistic writings on the question of Mysticism, Reshiyyat Sufism and religious identity in Kashmir employ, while discussing Shaikhul Alam or Lalla or Sufi poetry in general, the much loaded term syncretism and attempt to foreground it as the defining feature of Kashmir culture. The present paper seeks to clarify the fundamental issues involved in understanding Kashmirs complex religious identity and question the deployment of the notion of syncretism in this connection. The present paper tries to argue that it is the perennialist metaphysical approach to the study of religion that alone provides viable orthodox perspective on diversity of religions by positing the transcendent unity of religions which follows from the idea of Unity of Revelation and rejects exoteric dogmatist, and exclusivist theological claims which are behind fundamentalism and theological imperialism. However importance of religious forms and exclusivity at a certain plane associated with religions are maintained. Communalist appropriation of religion in Kashmir can be best tackled by resorting to perennialist approach to the issue. I start by clarifying the notion of religion as appropriated in fundamentalist exclusivist and equally problematic syncretist response to it while arguing for a more nounced metaphysical view of it and then approach the familiar story of Islam and its encounter with the religious other from this perspective.
The phenomenon of diversity of religions has been a problem for modern scholarship because of its lack of principial knowledge which is the domain of traditional religion and metaphysics. Fundamentalism with its attributes of exoteric theological exclusivism, religious bigotry and theological imperialism is the unfortunate consequence of misunderstanding the significance of diversity of religions due to lack of comprehensive approach to the issue. Eclecticisms, sentimental ecumenism, secularist indifferentism, relativism and most version of religious pluralism and uniformitarianism and certain versions of libertine-spirituality all fail to do justice to the phenomenon of religious diversity. Perennialist approach doesnt commit reductionist and unformitarian fallacies, that doesnt marginalize the significance of exclusivist claims of religion in the name of vacuous pluralism and inclusivism and that doesnt reduce unique theological genius of each religion to monochoromatic uniformitarianism.
Against that sentimentalism that sees all religions as being the same or that brand of Neo-Vedantism which became popular after the second world war, perennialists stress importance of orthodoxy which they dont limit to the exoteric level but also apply to the esoteric. Exoteric theologies are duly respected at their own level (and this differentiates them from syncretists and shows their respects for exclusive character of theologies) and at the higher level their exclusivism is transcended also at a plane on which theological approach by its very definition cant reach or encroach being influenced by individual and sentimental elements. Distinguishing between the Principle and manifestation, Essence and form, inward and the outward, it places absoluteness at the level of the Absolute and this means transcendence of purely theological plane. Contradictory claims of different religions have a warrant only at the theological plane. But what is needed is to transcend the theological plane and be at the plane of pure truth that is accessible only at the metaphysical plane. It asserts categorically that only the Absolute is absolute. It refuses to commit the cardinal error of attributing absoluteness to the non-absolute, the error which Hinduism and Buddhism consider as the origin and root of all ignorance. Every determination of the Absolute (theisms personal God is also a determination of the Absolute) is already in the realm of relativity. True unity is to be sought only in the One, the nondual Absolute.The Question of MysticismThe perennialists critique misappropriation of mysticism by many a scholar and even mystic in so-called religious synthesis for limiting their perspective to that kind associated with love. This oversentimentalized approach studies religions on the basis of so-called universal spirituality related to mysticism but devoid of its intellectual content. As Nasr notes that justifiably a reaction has set in against this approach by many a scholar who point out the differences rather than the similarities between religions and various sacred forms. But these scholars have also usually been unable to distinguish between a unity which transcends forms and a supposed unity which disregards forms or rather seeks to melt them into a solution whose coagulation cant but result in those conglomerates of religious ideas which characterize the so-called religious syntheses of the modern world (Nasr, I988: 288). As Nasr has pointed out, Metaphysically speaking, unity lies at the opposite pole of uniformity and the reduction of religions to a least common denominator in the name of religious unity of mankind is no more than a parody of the transcendent unity of religions which characterized the traditional point of view (Nasr, I988: 288). Authentic mysticism, as perennialists argue, isnt formless and duly respects particularity of a religion and its sacred scripture e.g., one cant speak about Sufism without referring to the Quran or Kabbala without Torah. It considers crucial significance of the sacred form as necessary means for the attainment of the formless. However, as Schuon has repeatedly emphasized, one must be aware that sacred form is not only form as a particularity and limitation but also that it opens unto the Infinite and the formless. One must oppose the sentimentalism of the syncretists but must be on guard against idolizing the forms also. Perennialists value total integrity of a tradition above everything and are critical of those who place mutual understanding between religions above it.Schuon explains the term mysticism to foreground the distinction between mystical and metaphysical viewpoints:The word mysticism denotes anything that refers in one way or another to a supra-rational communication with Divinity; since this word is European it must of necessity coincide with the mode of spirituality known in the West, which is a way of love. The word is, however, often used to designate, either a way that is without a method properly so called or one that is characterized by a predominance of a moralistic and sentimental individualism. It may be added that in German the word Mystik has the meaning of spirituality whereas Mystizismus means only a play of fantasies, and that in French Mystique refers to true and Mysticisme refers to false mysticism. The theological definition of mystical states is doubtless too extrinsic, and this is explained by the fact that the way of love is nurtured on faith and asceticism and not on intellection, and is centered on grace and not on knowledge (Schuon, 1987).The concept of Tradition is central to the perennialist point of view. That is why the perennialists are critical of that type of bhakti spirituality practiced and advocated by some moderns which is based on vague and emotional universalism, sentimentalism which opposes intellectual discernment, and supposed universalism which opposes the particularity of each tradition on the level of that particularity, thus fails to understand respective distinctive character and genius of each form being unable to penetrate into the meaning of each form (Nasr, I988: 287). Spiritual libertines and syncretists have misappropriated bhakti and what is loosely called as spirituality. Those who advocate liberalism, or libertine spirituality and open mindedness in observance of rituals, dos and donts of religion, mixed gatherings for worship or doing away with doctrines and dogmas and law (e.g., personal law); and idolize time or progress in historicist terms are expectedly scorned by the perennialists.The Question of Interfaith DialogueThus, from the perennialist perspective we see that the question of interfaith dialogue is the question of proper understanding of ones own faith, of practically realizing the higher or inner reality of ones own tradition. Religions unite at the apex and it is only the chosen few who undertake the necessary discipline and cultivate the necessary virtues who reach this apex. Great sages and metaphysicians have demonstrated this unity and integrity of primordial Din. The question of interfaith dialogue is the question of taking seriously ones God, of being loyal to ones own Self. One must cease to be a disputant or rhetorician and be at home in silence that was before the Word to realize what religion or God is. Ultimately religion is not about Truth but truth itself and it is the truth rather than any discourse about it or any representation of it that saves. The perennialist approach is an invitation to experience rather than talk about that Which alone is. To one who has achieved metaphysical realization all disputes, all questions are irrelevant. In a way even the binary of theism/atheism is transcended. What unites religions is not any doctrine about Truth but the Truth which is one and the vision of which is the raison detre of all religions. Religion is not an ideology; metaphysics is not a system of propositions. Pure consciousness, objectless consciousness or what the Sufis would call God consciousness transcends all talk, all thought, all argumentation. It is an experience and those who have had their experience alone are entitled to share its fragrance or talk about it. Only a sage can carry an interfaith dialogue. To the pure in heart only is given the kingdom of God and those who are there dont indulge in vain talk.Reading Reshiyyat MetaphysicallyThere are a huge number of questions hotly contested for want of a proper framework to deal with them. These include, among others, Nunda Rishi vs. Sheikhul Alam debate, radical break thesis supported by ideological exclusivists, religion of Lalla, orthodoxy of Sufi poets, supposed marginization of Buddhist-Saivist heritage with the advent of Islam, Islamist verses vs. syncretist verses in Shaikhul Alams poetry, Budshahs supposed betrayal of orthodox Islam, antinominan tendencies in certain spiritual paths and contours of interfaith dialogue.
All these and related questions could be tackled if we shift the focus from historical, theological, and philosophical approaches which have hitherto dominated the scholarly scholarship to transhistorical and metaphysical one. This is the purport of the present study. The shift in perspective argued here needs a detailed and systematic work to be concretely applied. Our presentation of Reshism might look more poetical than academic or historical as I believe that Reshiyyat transcends not only history but theology and philosophy as usually understood and it is poetry that best captures its essence. It is not accidental that illustrious Reshis such as Lalla and Nuruddin have adopted the medium of poetry to convey their thought and experience. Abstract academic studies of mystical traditions have a danger of missing the very essence of the thing which is the subject of discussion. Strictly speaking Reshiyyat cant be rationally or discursively approached, it cant be analyzed. It can only be lived and experienced. Purely philosophical approach or phenomenological study by an outsider would create more problems than solve. Reshiyyat is an experiential path, a spiritual odyssey and it asks for quite different methods than cool abstract academic study to be properly appreciated. The essence of all mysticism can only to be appreciated by direct tasting by plunging deep into it and appreciating it from within. The so-called objective study by a neutral outsider is least suited to treat mysticism. Modern academic discipline of philosophy of religion is gravely mistaken in applying phenomenological approach to the study of religion and mysticism. I here refer to only one example to make my point. The vexed issue of Hindu or Muslim identity of Lalla cant be decided by a purely historical and phenomenological objective study. Reshiyyat doesnt talk about God because it is not mere theology but talks God and lives God because it is, in its authentic and original sense, direct experiencing or tasting God. The realm of about is the realm of theology and rational philosophy and that is ever open ended and never conclusive. A purely theological approach will miss the essence in which alone are all metaphysical questions (dis)solved. In the peace that passeth all understanding, which is the fruit of mystical journey are all questions resolved.
Reshiyyat includes a path and a doctrine. The path is the same old well tested ofte treaded path. Some of its important elements are clearly spelt out in Shaiks and Lallals poetry. I note a few of these points from the Shaikhs poetry:
The path calls for Consecrating life to the search for Truth. One who tighten the belly to learn (the virtues of) patience/Gives up his ego/ Contemplates Him in seclusion could be eligible for the lofty station of the Reshi. Shaikhul Alam, identifying true Muslim with the Reshi explicates attributes of him. Who longs to live by the sweat of ones mind/ Who shows fortitude in provocation/who shares meals with the hungry / who is obsessed with the idea of removing huger, who scorns anger, greed, illusion, arrogance and self conceit. The Reshi reaches arsh by the load of his nobler actions and then only the grace of the Omnipotent embraces him. The Reshi is one who remains humble despite his substance and sits very low on the wheel of life. Consuming himself in the fire that the kalima generates and realizing the existential unity he finds the Eternal and transcends space. The Reshi may be ummi or unlettered but by knowing the meaning of kalima which is the source of all knowledge, he appropriates all the essential metaphysical, eschatological and moral truths that are contained in the kalima. Reshi kindles the lamp of knowledge and religion as he realizes the essence of all knowledge contained in alif, lam and mim. The Reshi realizing the oneness of existence (what Shaikhul Aalam calls kunyr) radiates peace. There is no other for him as he has realized unity by transcending all dualisms.
Human soul knows no chronology and the Sufis journey is from pre-eternity to post-eternity. The Reshi, the sage, the self realized one, the inspired poet, is the image of primordial man, the Perfect Man or Adam. He has no history because he transcends history. The Light of Muhammad was there before the heavens and the earth were there. And the first Reshi is said to be Ahmad Reshi (S.A.W). And Ahmad, from traditional metaphysical and mystical viewpoints is Logos, the Pole of Existence, the Principle of Manifestation. He brings into consciousness the archetype of God. Thus the term Reshi should be seen as a perspective, a standpoint, an archetype of certain dominant historical personalities and even dominant images, a way of looking at experience as a whole, a way of interpreting certain fundamental features of human existence. Shiekh Nuruddin has used the term Reshi in this universal transhistorical and transempirical sense. This is evident in his famous eulogization of the legendry Reshis. He wants to convey something more valuable than an elementary historical definition of the term. Mystical quest is perennial. In this sense one could well argue that the Reshi movement didnt originate in the 14th century but has been always there. Consciousness has no beginning in time; rather it creates time and history. The Reshi is the name of this consciousness. The Reshi lives in eternity, in timeless moment. The present author strongly disagrees with traditional historical approach to phenomenon of Reshism which belongs more to metahistory than history and it is only metahistoric or transhistoric dimension of the Reshi movement that makes it perennially relevant. The term Reshi and its etymology tell half of the story. Our historians have fought over the issue of its Islamic and Hindu appropriation and thus missed the import of Nuruddin and the whole Reshi movement. Some medieval Muslim scholars of Kashmir have tried to Islamize origin of the term and have preferred to see its derivation in the Persian word raish or rish which means the feathers of a bird, abundance of means of life, beard. Other historians have argued for the Hindu origin of the term. If due attention had been paid to the signified of the signifier Reshi all this debate would have appeared irrelevant. The Reshi is Sanskrit equivalent of mystic or inspired person, one to whom the vision of God has been vouchsafed. It signifies mystical consciousness which precedes or transcends diverse theological formulations or appropriations.
Reshiyyat in its deepest sense is an appropriation of Eternal Religion of God, what the Quran calls Ad-Din. It makes Kashmir a traditional society as it embodies timeless metaphysical and religious insights. It gives it an identity that is universal and timeless and cuts across all divisive sectarian loyalties. It is not a name of an historical movement that began somewhere at some time in history. It is not in its essence a merely human thing. It is a celestial song, a celestial feast. It is celebration of love and peace that passeth all understanding. It is Kashmiri adaptation of perennial wisdom that is the common property of all traditional civilizations. The modernist rationalist historian or an exoteric exclusivist theologian can’t fully deal with the transcendery phenomenon of Reshiyyat, the former being uncomfortable with the supernatural ambience surrounding it while as the latter being uncomfortable with its inclusivism and sulhi-kul.
From the perspective of perennialism one could say that the term Reshi is Indian way of referring to Logos or the Light of Muhammad. The Reshi is more symbolical than historical figure and is more a name of consciousness than a person and we are all potential Reshis. Reshiyyat is timeless trans-historical transcendental movement. If the first Reshi was Ahmad Reshi and the latter is synonymous with the pole of Existence, the Universal Man, the envoy of the Absolute as elaborated in Sufi metaphysics then Reshiyyat is an integral tradition and formulation of the primordial Din, the Sophia perennis, javidaan khird. This makes it truly universalistic.
From metaphysical perspective of perennialists one could well argue that Reshiyyat as indigenous order of Sufism appropriates (though it isnt a synthesis) Hindu, Buddhist and other local mystical traditions of Kashmir. If mysticism is the common denominator or essence of all traditional religions we could well argue that Reshiyyat has been the religion of this Rish-waer always. All religious traditions are variants of the Great Tradition of Reshiyyat. There is no space available for detailed defense of this assertion on perennialist grounds.
Reshiyyat approached from the framework of traditional metaphysics unites diverse theological traditions without denying the validity of particular religious traditions. It is unfortunate that it has not been approached from this perspective so far and in fact there is no systematic presentation of Reshi metaphysics available. A lot of religious/theological, sociological and historical studies of it have been done but the profound metaphysical grounding of it has yet to be attempted.
Kashmir has been hosting some of the most important world religions and has been quite unfamiliar with sectarian strife. Its values of tolerance and non-violence are attributable to its mystical (Reshi) identity. Reshiyyat should be taken not in the narrow historical sense as a cult of Sheikh Nuruddin but in the wider sense as mystical dimension of Kashmir and that alone safeguards its univesalism. Discussing it in terms of such parameters as vegetarianism, asceticism, conversion, theological binaries, orthodoxy/heterodoxy and the like reduces its scope and distorts its pristine vision of spiritual democracy and dignity of life, its humanitarianism and universalism. All its practices (which dont form its essence, however and are not inviolable or sacrosanct per se) are directed towards achieving the supreme end achieving divine consciousness which needs crossing the dark night of the soul. It is too existential a matter to the ignored or just discussed on purely historical lines and approached from the outside. It concerns us (out credulity/incredulity towards it not withstanding) deeply, vitally, existentially. Reshi vision is geared towards our very Ground of Being, our salvation. Persian derivation of the term, if that is the case, only serves to foreground its universal existential dimension. Dawood Mishkati, arguing on etymological grounds, says that the Reshi is a bird without feather which means it is unable to dictate its will and just surrenders to universal will or cosmic will. Reshi is one who has transcended his desiring self or ego (nafs) in Shiekh Nuruddins terminology and thus harmonized his will with the cosmic will or will of God. He trusts Existence and makes no demands on it. He celebrates innocence of becoming, to use an expression of Nietzsche, which originally belongs to Buddhism and Sufism. He is perfectly at home in Gods world and it is thus supremely eco-conscious person. Non-violence and non-injury to life in any of its forms is the fundamental tenet of Reshiyyat.Mysticism or Reshiyyat?
The thesis of conflict between Islam and indigenous traditions in Kashmir may be best contextualized by taking note of difference in spiritual types or approaches/sensibilities of Semitics and Aryans. Schuon offers these profound insights to clarify the issue.The Aryan, insofar as he is observer and philosopher, has a tendency to describe things as they are, while the Semite, who is a moralist, readily presents them as they ought to be according to his pious sentiment; he transcends them by sublimizing them before having had time to extract from them the arguments comprised in their nature. This tendency obviously does not prevent him from being a philosopher when he wants to be, but we are speaking here of the most immediate and most general predispositions (Schuon, 1981).
It is perhaps not too hazardous to say that the Aryan spirit tends a priori to unveil the truth, in conformity with the realism sacred or profane that is proper to it, while the Semitic spirit whose realism is more moral than intellectual tends towards the veiling of the Divine Majesty and of its secrets that are too dazzling or too intoxicating; as is shown, precisely, by the innumerable enigmas of the monotheistic Scriptures in contrast with the Upanishads and as is indicated by the allusive and elliptical nature of the corresponding exegesis (Schuon, 1981).For the Semite, everything begins with Revelation, and consequently with faith and submission; man is a priori a believer and consequently a servant: intelligence itself takes on the color of obedience. For the Aryan on the contrary and we are not thinking of the Semiticized Aryan it is intellection that comes first, even if it be indeed thanks to a Revelation; Revelation here is not a commandment which seems to create intelligence ex nihilo while at the same time enslaving it, but appears rather as the objectivation of the one Intellect, which is both transcendent and immanent. Intellectual certainty has here priority over obediential faith; the Veda does not give orders to the intelligence, it awakens it and reminds it of what it is.
Grosso modo, the Aryans except in cases of intellectual obscuration in which they have only retained their mythology and ritualism are above all metaphysicians and therefore logicians, whereas the Semites if they have not become idolaters and magicians are a riori mystics and moralists; each of the two mentalities or capacities repeating itself within the framework of the other, in conformity with the Taoist symbol of the yin-yang.
Or again, the Aryans are objectivists, for good or ill, while the Semites are subjectivists; deviated objectivism gives rise to rationalism and scientism, whereas abusive subjectivism engenders all the illogicalities and all the pious absurdities of which sentimental fideism over-zealous and conventional is capable. It is the difference between intellectualism and voluntarism; the first tends to reduce the volitive element to the intelligence or to integrate it therein, and the second on the contrary tends to subordinate the intellectual element to the will; this is said without forgetting the fluctuations necessarily comprised in the concrete reality of things. It is sometimes necessary to express oneself in a schematic manner for the sake of clarity if one is to express oneself at all (Schuon, 1981).The following point about difference between belief and gnosis, moralistic and intellectual approaches is thus in order.In reality, gnosis is essentially the path of the intellect and hence of intellection; the driving force of this path is above all intelligence, and not will and sentiment as is the case in the Semitic monotheistic mysticisms, including average Sufism. Gnosis is characterized by its recourse to pure metaphysics: the distinction between Atma and Maya and the consciousness of the potential identity between the human subject, jivatma, and the Divine Subject, Paramatma. The path comprises on the one hand comprehension, and on the other concentration: hence doctrine and method. The modalities of the latter are quite diverse: in particular, there is on the one hand the mantra, the evocative and transforming formula, and on the other hand, the yantra, the visual symbol. The path is the passage from potentiality to virtuality, and from virtuality to actuality, its summit being the state of the one delivered in this life, the jivan-mukta (Schuon, 1991).Reshiyyat has the two components of path and doctrine. After Shaikhul Alam it is Sufi tradition that supplied both. Before the advent of Islam Buddhism and Saivism provided these two things. Schuon, a modern Sufi and metaphysician of the first rank, elucidates the Man of Faith/Man of Gnosis distinction to further clarify his point:It is the difference between the believer, who in all things has in view moral and mystical efficacy to the point of sometimes needlessly violating the laws of thought, and the gnostic, who lives above all from principial certitudes and who is so made that these certitudes determine his behavior and contribute powerfully to his alchemical transformation (Schuon, 1986).René Guénons approach to mysticism can be gleaned from his provocative remark that there is no mysticism in India (and this would apply to Kashmir as well). He approached mysticism, from the point of view of initiation and saw it as affected by a sort of sentimentalist mentality that prevented it from going beyond a narrow individual perspective in relation to (the subject of) transcendence.
This “influence of the sentimental element, René Guénon notes, affects the intellectual purity of the doctrine, and marks a degeneration in relation to metaphysical thought.” He adds in this connection that “a sentiment is only relative and contingent and a doctrine which addresses and reacts to it can itself only be relative and contingent. This can particularily be observed regarding the need of ‘consolation’ to which responds, to a large degree, to the religious point of view.” Mysticism being coloured by elements of individuality and emotions “cannot any longer be identified with absolute and total Truth; a profound modification which produces in it the introduction of a principle of consolation is correlative of an intellectual deficiency of the human collectivity to which it addresses itself.”
A Guenon scholar has pointed out that:
Although those mystical states are not super-individual, and very often fall into the disorder imagination and exaggerated sensibility which are liable to the least interior or exterior manifestations, or to non-explained phenomena, to visions and expressions, they never-the-less imply an extension of the individual possibilities (which are) infinitely superior to the common general level. Certainly, this ‘realization’ does not have a universal significance such as the ‘metaphysical realization.If we claim that Reshiyyat is universal or Sheikh Nuruddin is world teracher, jagat guru, Shaikhul Alam, we must be able to show how this universality follows from the framework that his teaching best embodies. In my view it is the framework of Traditional Metaphysics that best explains certain elliptic expressions and seeming contradictions in his poetry. His denunciatory verses on Hindu practices despite his more accommodating view of the religious other can be put in perspective. His adoption of certain cultural practices from indigenoius traditions or previous Reshis is also thus comprehended.
Noting that the ‘mystic realization’ as distinguished from metaphysical realization does “never imply any identification, but on the contrary, always leaves there (remaining) the duality of subject and object”, he sums up the point regarding limitations of mysticism in comparison with metaphysics:To sum up, mysticism does not go beyond the dualism of subject / object which belongs to the religious exoteric domain, and does not focus its attention on the objective to reach pure Knowledge, but places itself into a ‘passive’ attitude, in which the expectation [of experiencing a mystical state] is taken as sole spiritual ‘method’, always starting from an isolated and individual approach, therefore not joining any initiatory ‘chain’ where it would be possible to transmit [to the person in question] a veritable ‘spiritual influence’, [so this doctrine of Mysticism] can only be very limited and incomplete, [and only] presenting numerous very minor aspects.The question is: If this is what mysticism connotes how can we reduce the Reshi tradition that appropriates or assimilates indigenous traditions and Islamic tradition to mysticism? Isnt it quite narrow and inadequate? So why continue to use loose terms? Or it is the case that scholars use such term in more conventional rather than precise technical sense? I grant this possibility but this doesnt absolve us of responsibility to be careful and to employ adequate terms only.Reshiyyat as Metaphysics or Theology?Guenon is his monumental work An Introduction to the Study of Hindu Doctrines forcefully advocated metaphysical perspective and pointed out why theology stops short of pure truth though he grants the possibility of translating key theological statement in terms of metaphysics but notes that it constitutes an inadequate translation. He illustrates his thesis through the example of Being/God binary. The immediate metaphysical truth Being exists gives rise to another proposition when expressed in the religious or theological mode God exists. But as Guenon says the two statements would not be strictly equivalent except on the double condition of conceiving God as Universal Being, which is far from always being the case in fact (Tillich comes close to holding this view of God), and of identifying existence with pure Being or what the Sufis call Zat or Essence which is metaphysically inexact. The endless controversies connected with the famous ontological argument are a product of misunderstanding of the implications of the two formulae just cited. It is the inadequate or faulty metaphysical background that contributes a lot to controversies on either side of the debate on religious experience in modern discourses of philosophy of religion. As Guenon says:
Unlike purely metaphysical conceptions theological conceptions are not beyond the reach of individual variations. Those who discuss such matters as the proofs of Gods existence, should first of all make sure that in using the same word God they really are intending to express an identical conception. However this is hardly the case usually and we see altogether different languages being used. Antimetaphysical anthropomorphism comes to the fore in this realm of individual variations (Guenon 128-129).
Conclusions
Regarding Rishis whom Guenon identifies as the Sages of the first ages and hails as recipients of revelation. As such we can appreciate the advocacy of Rishis as Book centric, Revelation centric approach and this helps put Islam in the proper perspective as the last great Revelation or Book-centric adaptation of the Tradition (Ad-Deen).
Asking such questions as religion of Lalla or raising an issue of Nunda vs. Shaikh simply betrays ones lack of the metaphysical basis of realization centric path that both of them championed.
There cant be a politics or business over religious other if we concede that mankind has never been without witness, that prophets/Rishis have come to all nations, that the Deen has remained a constant and identifiable Presence always.
We need to avoid such terms as mysticism and reject identification of Reshiyyat with mysticism.
Theological approach cant adjudicate on the question of spiritual heritage of Kashmir as it falls short of accessing pure truth due to inherent limitations of language and representation.
Sufism is to be carefully distinguished from often used term Islamic Mysticism. Metaphysical/Intellectual aspect needs to kept in consideration.
References
Guenon, Rene, An Introduction to the Study of Hindu Doctrines, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, New Delhi, 2000 (1945)
Nasr, S.H., The Need for a Sacred Science, State University of New York Press, Albany,1993
Nasr, S.H, Knowledge and the Sacred, Gifford Lectures,1981, Suhail Academy Lahore,1988
Schuon, Frithjof, The Essential Writings of Frithjof Schuon, ed. S. H. Nasr,Element, 1991.
.. Roots of the Human Condition. Bloomington: World Wisdom Books, 1991.
.. Survey of Metaphysics and Esotericism (trans. G. Polit). Bloomington: World
Wisdom Books, 1986.
. Spiritual Perspectives and Human Facts (trans. P. N. Townsend). Bedfont:
Perennial Books, 1987.
Sufism: Veil and Quintessence (trans. W. Stoddart). Bloomington: World Wisdom Books, 1981.
Understanding Islam. Bloomington: World Wisdom Books, 1994.

HAZRAT SYED MOHAMMAD AMIN MANTAQI BAYHAQI OWAISI (RAHIMAHUMULLAH)

THE Mausoleum of his holiness SYED MUHAMMAD AMIN OWAISI ALIAS OWAISI SAHAB(rahimahumullah) is located in the historical mohalla of Srinagar known as aali kadal just 6 km away from lal chowk. His holiness amin owaisi alias Owaisi sahib(r.a) was the second son of syed hussain mantaqi bayhaqi son of syed noorud din bayhaqi, the name of his first son was mir syed Hassan bayhaqi mantaqi(r.a) whose shrine is situated at the highway of awantipora tehsil pulwama Kashmir. His holiness owaisi sahib has his education in quranic language and sunnah i.e, tradition of prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) from baba haji adham(r.a) who was from Afghanistan, in the field of mystic life as well as the realization of things his holiness mir owaisi got so much benfit from syed hilal naqshbandi(r.a). Syed hilal naqshbandi(r.a) was himself disciple of his holiness Khwaja bahaud din naqshbandi(r.a) the blessed one. Later on his holiness owaisi sahib(r.a) the blessed one associated himself with owaisi school of thought,this way of life has its source and way of life from the chief saint known as his majesty owais karani(r.a). As per the chronologists, sultan zainul abidin budshah was a devout follower of his holiness mir owaisi sahib(r.a) the blessed one. Sultan did construct a grand mosque for the up keepment and seclusion of his mentor and guide at asham, before this his holiness owaisi sahib got his secluded position from some time in the bottom of Kohi maran. According to a tradition, once his holiness syed mohammad amin owaisi(r.a) the blessesd one set for visiting the mausoleum of syed Muhammad zakariya Multani(r.a) in multan. In the way thieves demanded cash from him, the saint asked them to dig the ground, hence they got one lac rupees from the earth. At the second time the thieves again halted him in the way, at that time the saint owaisi sahib(r.a) looked at the sky at once, heavy rain and hail storm fell down. Thieves did not find their way to escape their selves from the natural catastrophe and they got the side of saint in order to save their selves. At last this sort of gangs asked him for pardon and followed the saint on the right path. After this event he arrived in Kashmir by virtue of spiritual means. It is said that the famous commander of Kashmir namely Tazi Bhat and malik ahmed yatoo felt annoyed by the saadats of bayhaqia, as they were from foreign land, the annoyed dignitaries killed the elders of the same sect in a single night. His holiness saint owaisi sahib(r.a) was one among them. The historians do mention that the deceased got his head cut while bleeding in the grand mosque of mohalla Malchimar. People felt wonderstruck on this extraordinary miracle. They buried the saint in the same khanqah. He was martyred in the month of zilqaidah 889 hijri which deposed the dead of death in alphabetic system of Persian order. His holiness owaisi sahib(r.a) was quite eloquent in Persian language. His mausoleum is one of the famous shrine in Srinagar which is esteemed by sub urban people on the occasions of religious festivals. The people throng over there for having favours and blessings.

Prof Hamid Naseem rafiabadi mentions the owaisi sahib(r.a) in his book SAINTS AND SAVIOURS OF ISLAM and i quote that paragraph of his book here. Prof. Rafiabadi says “ first naqshbandi saint syed hilal naqshbandi(r.a) left only one disciple i.e, owaisi Sahib(r.a). Some of verses of his holiness syed owaisi sahib(r.a) seem very pertinent to be quoted. For example

“The world and man of the world one endowed with the essence of the eternal, if you look deeply, you will find everything in the human being.”

He says further “The entire universe is with me. My abode is beyond lamakan(spaceless world).O Alim(religious scholar)! My body is itself a universe . Know! The soul of universe is in my soul.”

Prof. Hamid Rafiabadi further writes that “Owaisi sahib(r.a) was a broad-minded sufi, above all religious prejudices. He says, ‘Do not scorn infidelity to those who have found out truth, it is not different from faith.’ Again he (owaisi sahib) says, ‘To an Arif (Gnostic) the difference between the mosque and temple are meaningless. Men endowed with spiritual eminence, find both good and evil identical.’ About the mystical with god he says, ‘I want wisaal (Union). I do not wanteither this world or the other. I worship God; I do not worship houses or walls.”

Visiting Rasool Mir’s Village in Kashmir – Shahbad Dooru Gaste Vesiye

Courtesy:- Brother Dawood