KASHMIR: THE LAND OF SUFI SAINTS By Aqib Iqbal

Kashmir : The land of sufi saints

Aqib Iqbal , Civil 1^st Semester

Kashmir how to define it, how to discuss it; I don’t know as I am neither a researcher nor a historian. I am just connected with Kashmir in the sense that I was born here and I am living here. I asked many people what this Kashmir is, a tourist spot or just a simple piece of land. Their answers were confusing so at last I asked myself what this Kashmir is. I found that from the period when Islam entered the valley , not only it was a religious movement as lot of new things visited valley along with the saints carrying message of Islam.

Kashmir having a special connection with Iran as a result of these saints preaching Islam in the valley, lot of new skills were introduced by the Iranians here and even now people are practicing these skills. The first Muslim ruler Sadarudin shah was converted to Islam by Sayed  Sharifudin commonly known as Bulbul Shah. I personally feel a lot of contributions by these Sufi saints to the Kashmir as they not only preached Islam here but introduced Iranian culture and skills also. If I will tell about Iranian language Farsi I feel it like my own language without properly understanding it, as it is actually feel and love for the Persian language as my grandfather told me about the influence of Farsi in Kashmir. A good number of words people using today are also used in Farsi language e.g. word for water in Kashmiri is also same as in Farsi language. Persian poetry is highly admired in Kashmir even today in valley.

Iranian architecture is common in Kashmir as it is one of the most important and valuable component of Kashmiri culture. Even today if we will look at some old houses we will see the Iranian architecture present almost everywhere on them. Our old built mosques are also beautified with same architecture. So it was not only a religious movement, it gifted Kashmir lot of new and valuable skills which played a great role in Economic Stability and development of valley and making it really Jannat-e-Benazeer.

Actually if we will look today at our condition we will definitely feel that we are loosing our cultural fundamentals at a greater speed. If I will tell about our Kashmiri language then situation is even worse as compared to other elements of our culture. We should promote our culture; as our it is extremely admirable, so it should be shown to world instead of staying away from it.

If we will look at these Sufi saints how they promoted their culture in Kashmir, can’t we do the same? They promoted their culture in the way that even now Persian festivals are celebrated in the valley e.g. Nowroz. In my village when this festival is celebrated people use to go to their ancestral graveyards to remember their ancestors and also pay a visit to each other so that the religious harmony will remain alive in the village. If we will look deeply visiting each other’s homes on a special occasion; it is also a Kashmiri culture and this culture is preserved by the Iranian festival, so from this we can imagine what we got from these Sufi saints. Our culture is preserved by our festivals, our occasions e.g. Eid, Nowroz etc.

How can we promote this Sufi culture? A question for those who cares for Kashmiri culture. It is I think easy as I constantly noted an activity and from this activity I got my answer. The activity which taught me is an Islamic activity and from this I got idea how to promote and preserve Kashmiri culture. It is the Namaz which gave me answer, there were two brothers in a house and it was a Muslim family, the parents of both guys were daily angry over the boys as both didn’t pray namaz. Once the father asked a saint about this situation and saint said that he wants to meet the boys, next day both the boys met the saint and the saint asked them about their activities as per schedule. Both boys explained their family schedule and saint observed that their parents also didn’t  pray namaz. The next day saint advised parents to pray namaz and then, come after a month. After a month both parents confirmed that not only they but their children also pray namaz. So what I understood is that same if we will first accept our culture and be in a bond with it, it will be preserved and after that when we will practice our cultural activities e.g. wearing pharan, using Kangiris, actively participate in cultural festivals it will be not so far that in the whole world our culture will be highly admired as well as accepted. If American dress is used in Kashmir why Kashmiri pharan couldn’t be used in America, it is the hashtag for upcoming period in Kashmir; In shaa Allah..

My question was finally answered, and the thing which answer my question was Kashmiri culture.

My answer was “Kashmir is the land of Sufi saints.”