Part I: Chapter 11

'SUFI-FACE OF ISLAM' THESIS DEBUNKED

The true face of 'Sufi Islam' got revealed and fairly exposed when Mir Mohammad Hamadani, the son of Mir Ali accompanied by 300 proselytizers entered the purlieux of Kashmir in the times of Sultan Sikandar. His advent in Kashmir proved a water-shed in the history of Kashmir. What he had acquired through the Zakhirat-ul-Muluk as the prized legacy of his father, he dutifully and without qualms put it into actual praxis and instigated his mentor, Sultan Sikandar, whose soul he had captured, to launch a genocidal war against the Hindu infidels, who, despite tremendous pulls and pressures, had stuck to and continued with their faith and precepts. Following the footprints of Muslim proselytizers, he converted a Hindu to Islam, re-christened him as Malik Saif-ud-Din and married his daughter. He as supported by evidences from Muslim sources had no pretensions and claims to learning and spirituality. Highly motivated and biased, he is said to have signed the death warrant for the Hindus, which was already issued by his father in the form of a fiat cloaked as advice.

Writes Jonraj, "The king (Sultan Sikandar) waited on him (Mir Mohammad) daily, humble as a servant and like a student he daily took lessons from him. He placed Mir Mohammad before him and was attentive like a slave."

Records Rafiqi, "Both Hindu and Muslim sources are unanimous that Sultan Sikandar introduced Islamic orthodoxy on the advice of Mir Mohammad."

He further writes, "The medieval Muslim sources inform us emphatically that infidelity was extirpated from Kashmir through Mir Mohammad's influence."

Mir Mohammad was categoric and relentless in organising and waging a punitive war on the Hindus as they were condemned as Kafirs and could not be accorded even a semblance of protection as Dhimmis, a status reserved and meant for Christians and Jews only.

In a striking comment, Rafiqi puts, "Mir Mohammed was not ready to give the status of Zhimmis to the Hindus of Kashmir and treated them as Kafirs, who were not obedient to Islam, but were at war with it."

Mir Mohammad Hamadani was perhaps not held in high esteem and respect even by men of his own tribe and was squarely blamed and held responsible by Saiyid Hissari for the genocide and exodus of the Hindu population. To be lair to Saiyid Hissari, he, despite being ignored by the Sultan, castigated him for his enormous blunder of getting trapped by Mir Mohammad and was unhesitatingly critical of and vociferous against the Sultan for not having paid heed and attention to his advice and suggestions relating religious matters especially the treatment to be meted out to the Hindus in a Muslim state.

In a low key comment, Rafiqi has exposed the personal feud and acrimony between Mir Mohammad Hamadani and Saiyid Hissari. "Mir Mohammad was no match for Saiyid Hissari, in fact, the Mir recognised him as superior to himself when sought a Khilafat-nama from him.... it is not unlikely that Saiyid Hissari did not like the way in which Mir Mohammad and his patron were preaching Islam and his complaint to the Sultan was against the unhealthy influence of the Mir", writes he.