Mir Shamsuddin

Mir Shamsuddin

Mir Shamsuddin the Iraqi (died 1526) was a Sufi Shi'a missionary who managed to convert nearly two-thirds of Kashmir's Hindu population to the Shi'a sect during the reign of Fath Shah (1496–1505).[1][2] These conversions were made using force as described in the Persian book 'Bharistan -e-shahi' written during those times, as also in his biography 'Tohaful Ahadab'. In fact in one single instance in 1517, 960 Kashmiri Hindus who resisted conversion were slaughtered under his guidance at a place on the edges of Dal Lake, now called the 'Bata Mazaar' meaning the graveyard of the Hindus.

He was able to influence the Chuk Royal family who persecuted the Sunnis. Many of their scholars were forced to leave Kashmir. Shaikh Yaqub Sarfi who was also a sufi went to the Mughal Akbar to invade Kashmir and ensure religious freedom for both Muslims and Hindus. [3]

Mir Shamsuddin, who was a disciple of Shah Qasim Anwer, came from Iraq to promote the doctrines of Nur Bakshi.

References

  1. ^ [1] Advanced History of Medieval India, by S. R.Bakshi
  2. ^ [2] Messianic Hopes and Mystical Visions, by Shahzad Bashir
  3. ^ [3]

Mis Shamsudin wad not from Iraq . He was from Persia and sofi of Norbaksh order which in itself is off shoot of Hamadani Silsilla.He did convert hindus into his faith, but it is not correct that he used force to convert hindus or sunis. In fact there was a great power struggle between kashmiri nobles those days and it is true that sheikh Yaqoob Sarfi invited mughals to invade kashmir under the pretext that Chakks were shia and were harsh to Sunis. Baharistan e Shahee though written during that erra unfortunately does not have the name of the auther. There are other histories written by Khallil merjanpuri, Malik Haider Chadorra, mohammad Azam, Hassan Koihammi etc which do give some account of the situation that time. Chakks were real patriots who defeated mughals few times, but it was some persons like Yaqoob Sarafi and likes who invited mughals to invade. Since then Kashmir remains under the occupation of Non-kashmiris