Qalandar-I-Sadat (Ra) and Salat Sanz
Salat Sanz or Salar Sanz, a member from the royal family of Kishtwar was wandering in the forests and deserts due to cruelties and hardships imposed on him. He had developed hate against the world and he was in search of a guide in the path of spiritual world (tariqat). One day he received a message from an unknown source, saying, “In Pargana Devsar in Kulgam town, there is a Chief of Awlya, whose name is Hazrat Mir Sayid Muhammad Hussain Simnani (QS). Go and be in his company and achieve your goal.”
Salat Sanz rushed fast towards Kulgam, and on reaching there, he bowed his head before Hazrat Sayid Simnani (RA). Hazrat Sayid removed from his neck the chain of waywardness and enriched him with the religion of Islam and the light of faith (Iman) and named him as Shaikh Salar-ud-Din and posted him in his service. Thereafter, this beseecher of truth continued to cover various stages of the spiritual path after remaining round the clock in the blessed service of his preceptor.

The guard of Qaimoh village
The following narration is recorded in history:
One day, a guard of Qaimoh village attended in presence of the honoured Sayid (RA) and described his life story as:
“O Hazrat, how can I describe through which hardships have I passed due to my ill-luck. There is a secret hidden in my heart since a long time, which I want to disclose in your honour. One chief of royal family of Sanz dynasty came to Kashmir and stayed at Dard Kote on reaching here. Due to his good etiquette, he turned out to be a trustworthy and an honourable person. So much so, the Raja of Dard Kote, Ram Chandar, made him his successor. After some years this Raja passed away and he had none as his successor son. So, all his kingdom became loyal to this nominated member of Sanz tribe. Thus all Parganas and villages came under his control. After some time when he too passed away, his son was crowned in his place. This successor Raja was gifted with a daughter by Almighty Allah. She was so beautiful that her face was shining like silver and she was named “Sundar”. Those days I was living at Pargana Adwin Khiya village along with my family. My wife was appointed as maid servant of this princess and she was brought up in her lap.
“In those very days a cruel warrior entered Kashmir, who killed this Raja of ours. I hid this daughter and finding a chance, I ran away from Khiya and brought her to Qaimoh village. When this princess reached adulthood, I brought a young person to my home and performed his marriage (nikah) ceremony with this daughter, but I had not yet married them that this young man passed away from this world. O’ my Pir Dastgir (Hazrat Sayid Hussain RA), because of this my heart got vexed as this good daughter belongs to a royal family, hence her marriage should not take place with a mean or ill-natured person. So I was thinking of marrying her with a pious boy of royal family. My wife advised me that both of us go to our Pir Dastgir (Sayid Hussain Simnani ‘RA’) and present this girl as a gift in his durbar with the hope that Hazrat Pir shall accept this girl. Thereafter whatever our preceptor will direct us, we shall comply wholly and solely.”

The Nikah of Shaikh Salar-Ud-Din
After hearing this woeful story, a strange condition prevailed on Hazrat Mir Sayid Muhammad Hussain Simnani (QS) and:
“The preceptor got engrossed in meditation (muraqaba) to enquire about the fate of this pious daughter of Sanz family. After the passage of about one hour, Hazrat Sayid lifted his head from the meditation and with a smile on his face said: The marriage (nikah) of this priceless pearl has been fixed with (my honored disciple) Shaikh Salar-ud-Din and it is due to the fact that the blessing of a pious son already given by my ancestor Prophet Muhammad (SAW) shall be fulfilled from this couple. Since Shaikh Salar belongs to Sanz family and Sundar also belongs to the same royal family, so this light of eyes, who shall be the Chief of Awlyas, will take birth by one “noor” only physically and spiritually.
To sum up, these two parts of moon, (Shaikh Salar and Sundar) were tied up in marriage personally by Hazrat Mir Sayid Muhammad Hussain Simnani (QS) and Baba Shaikh Salar-ud-Din chose his residence on the direction of his preceptor, in the house of Chowkidar of Qaimoh, who was the adopted father of Sundar. Thereafter he would often visit Kulgam to meet his perfect guide in his durbar.”

The cause of sanctity of Khia-Jogipora
On the west of Kulgam, about five kilometers away, there was a village named Khiya. There is a spring in this village, where by dint of Allah, Rishis of Kashmir would visit frequently. By their frequent arrival, this place got the name of Jogipora (i.e the place of faqirs who abandoned the world) and overall this village was called Khia-Jogipora. Hazrat Sayid (RA) would also sometimes visit this place for advising and preaching Shariah and would perform his ablutions on this very spring. Thus along with him his other companions, particularly his Khalifa Hazrat, Lalla Arifa, too used to come to this spring.
One night it so happened at Qaimoh that Shaikh Salar-ud-Din told his wife Sundar that this night I passed near the house of an astrologer who was making a prediction to his own wife, that tomorrow early in the morning, whoever reaches near the spring of Khi-Jogipora shall be very lucky, because early in the morning two bunches of flowers will bloom in this spring. Whoever catches the first bunch, she will give birth to the chief of Rishis and who catches hold of other bunch she will give birth to the disciple of the Rishis.
On hearing this prediction, Hazrat Sundar insisted to Shaikh Salar, why not we go to Khia-Jogipora spring just now, so that we get the chief of Rishis as son. In the last quarter of the night, this lucky couple went rushing from Qaimoh to Khia-Jogipora spring and there they saw that their Pir Dastagir Hazrat Mir Sayid Hussain Simnani (RA) and Bibi Lalla Arifa and also Yasman Rishi (RA) were seated there and all the three were looking eagerly towards the spring, and suddenly the two bunches of flowers appeared from the spring waters, one was of “Chanbeli” and the other of “Adhar”.
Hazrat Bibi Lalla Arifa directed the Chanbeli bunch to come towards her and it floated towards Arifa. Hazrat Arifa lifted and kissed it and then presented it to Hazrat Sayid (RA). Hazrat Sayid Simnani (RA) kissed it and hugged it to his breast and then presented it to Yasman Rishi, who too kissed it and touched his forehead with it and then presented it to Lalla Arifa. Hazrat Arifa addressed to the wife of Shaikh Salar-ud-Din, asking “what is your name?” she replied “Sundar”. Lalla Arifa handed over the bunch of ‘chanbeli’ to her and said: “Hold this priceless pearl. The moment Sundar held this bunch of flowers, she felt such a heavy weight on her that her back touched a rock and she tried to stand up, pressing her fingers on the rock and miraculously the marks of her fingers got inscribed on the rock. Hazrat Sayid (RA) told Sundar, “Carry this ‘trust’ of ours on your head and become the inheritor of our heritage, who will be famous by the title of Alamadar-i-Kashmir.”
This stone still exists at the spring. After this event, the astrologer of Qaimoh and his wife reached up to this spring and they got the bunch of ‘Adhar’ flowers.
It is because of these events and signs that Khia-Jogipora and its spring are viewed with respect. And the water of this spring is used for healing sick people and blessing for farmers. (Besides, there is an impression of camel’s hoof on this stone.)

Alamdar-i-Kashmir in his mother’s womb
A few days after this event, Hazrat Sayid Simnani (RA) directed Lalla Arifa that:
“O Arifa, go to that place (Qaimoh) and stay there for the time being, so that no stone is left unturned in guarding and protecting this priceless pearl.”
So, Hazrat Lalla Arifa went to Qaimoh to stay there for some time and continued to take care of Hazrat Sundar Maji.
After a few months, when Lalla Arifa came from Qaimoh to convey the welfare of Sundar to Hazrat Sayid in his room (at Kulgam), Hazrat Sayid asked: Has that pearless pearl taken birth? Arifa replied that he is still in the womb of his mother. On hearing this Hazrat Sayid said, “Let us proceed to meet his mother.”
Hazrat Lalla Arifa returned to Qaimoh along with her Pir-i-Roshan Zameer and when they sat in the house of Baba Salar-ud-Din, it so happened that: Baba Salar-ud-Din was very vexed for the fear of pain of birth to his wife, that is why (to solve his problem), he presented a goat as a gift to Hazrat Sayid (RA). Hazrat Shaikh-ul-Alam (RA) said in his mother’s womb with great respect to Pir-i-Roshan Zamir Hazrat Sayid Hussain Simnani (QS): “Assalam-u-Alaikum wa rahmatullah-i-wabrakatahu”. Hazrat Sayid (RA) praising him replied “Walaikum-us-Salam wa rahmatullah-i-wabarakatuhu”. On watching this miracle Sundar fell on the ground unconscious. Hazrat Sayid stood up taking support of his staff and showered a blessed sight on Sundar. Thereafter the mother of Shaikh-ul-Alam gained consciousness and then told Hazrat Sayid (RA), “O Hazrat Sayid (RA), whenever there is a call for prayer (azan) from the mosque, I feel great pain.” Hazrat Sayid (RA) said that at every time of Farz prayers, you should turn your back towards Qibla, so that the chief of Rishis can offer prayers.

In some history books the arrival of Hazrat Mir Sayid Ali Hamadani for the first time is recorded as under:
“When Shah-i-Hamadan (RA) left Khatlan in Rabi-ul-Awal 774 AH, he reached Kashmir through the route of Pir Panchal and stayed at Mohalla Ala-ud-Din Pora with Sayid Hussain Simnani (RA)”
In the “Encyclopedia of Islam”, “Tahaif-ul-Abrar” and “Kashmir aur Islam” etc, the arrival of Hazrat Amir Hamadani (RA) in Kashmir is recorded as 21st Rabi-ul-Awal 774 AH and his first period of stay in Kashmir is stated to be between 40 days to six months maximum.
Thus the birth of Hazrat Shaikh on 779 AH being correct without doubt, the statement that Hazrat Amir Hamadani (RA) met Hazrat Sundar Maji during pregnancy is in no way based on facts and according to Baba Dawood Mishkwati, if at all it is written anywhere as such, it has happened because of the mistake of the scribe.
The third and last arrival of Hazrat Amir Hamadani (RA) in Kashmir took place in 785 AH corresponding to 1383 AD according to all references of history. Ghulam Rasool Bhat has stated in his book (pages 17, 18) that: It is established beyond doubt from consultation of history books that Hazrat Amir Ali Hamadani (RA) had arrived in Kashmir in 785 AH and the chronogram of his arrival has been framed by Sutan Qutb-ud-Din himself, which has been quoted by his disciple Baba Haidar Bakhshi in his book “Manqabat-ul-Jawahir” (written in 844 AH).
Similarly, the historian Sayid Ali Kashmiri records the chronogram of the arrival of Hazrat Amir (RA) in Kashmir which has been framed by Hazrat Sayid Muhammad Khawari, a close disciple of Hazrat Mir Muhammad Hamadani (RA) confirming this year of 785 AH.
In this connection one must consult the well-researched article of Ghulam Rasool Bhat “Hazrat Mir Sayid Ali Hamadani and Kashmir”, in which he has proved the fact that Hazrat Amir-i-Kabir Mir Sayid Ali Hamadani (RA) arrived in Kashmir in 785 AH once only.
The crux of the discussion is that in 785 AH the age of Hazrat Alamdar-i-Kashmir was around six years. So Hazrat Shaikh (RA) would have met Hazrat Amir (RA) in this very year without any doubt.

—To be continued

(Extract from the book, ‘Introduction of Islam in Kashmir through Qalandar-I-Sadat Hazrat Mir Sayid Mohammad Hussain Simnani (RA)’, translated by Mohammad Ashraf Fazili)

Mohammad Ashraf Fazili