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Indian president to visit Kashmiri saint’s shrine in Tajikistan
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: Indian President Pratibha Patil’s forthcoming week-long visit to Russia and Central Asian country of Tajikistan has an important link with the Kashmir region.
Besides other engagements during her visit, she will visit the shrine of Mir Syed Ali Hamadani, a poet and a prominent scholar who brought Islam to Kashmir in 14th century.
An Indian dignitary will be visiting Hamadani’s tomb for the first time, apparently to carry a message back home.
Among other dignitaries, Ladakh MP Hasan Khan will also be accompanying the Indian president.
Syed Ali Hamadani invokes a similar veneration for Kashmiri Muslims, as Khawja Moinuddin Chisti of Ajmer invokes for the Muslims of India and Pakistan.
Hamadani not only spread Islam in Kashmir, but had a major role in shaping the culture of Kashmir as well.
Known as Shah Hamadan (King of Hamadan, Iran, as he was born there), he wrote several works on spirituality and Sufism and an advisory for Kashmiri kings.
He is buried at Kulob in Khatlan, near Tajik capital Dushanbe, where people to this day gather in large numbers to pay homage.
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