Ali Hamadani (Sufi saint and apostle of Kashmir, 1314–1385)

Ali Hamadani was a Sufi saint of a sayyid family of Hamadan, born there on 12 Rajab 714/22 October 1314, and the apostle of Islam in Kashmir. ¹

He came to the valley of Kashmir for the first time in 774/1372, with 700 sayyids, during the reign of Shihab al-Din, and stayed four months before leaving for the Hijaz. He returned in 781/1379, in the reign of Qutb al-Din, and stayed two and a half years; he came a third time in 785/1383. He died on 6 Dhu l-Hijja 786/18 January 1385, after passing through Pakhli near Kunar, and his body was carried to Khuttalan, where his mausoleum survives at modern Kulab. ¹

The Khanqah-i Shah-i Hamadan in Srinagar, built on the site where he is said to have prayed, is a frequented place of pilgrimage. His son Muhammad built the mosque at Tral during the reign of Sikandar, and the khanqah and the mosque became centres of Islamic propaganda in Kashmir. His pupil Ishaq Khuttalani was the spiritual master of Muhammad Nurbakhsh, the founder of the Nurbakhshiyya. His best-known works are the Awrad-i fathiyya, a collection of Arabic prayers, and the Dhakhirat al-muluk, on political ethics. ¹