Sayyid ‘Ali Hamadani, known in Kashmir by elegant epithets of Amir-e-Kabir, Shah-i-Hamadan and Bani-e-Musalmani was an outstanding personality of 14th century Muslim world. He has great scholarship and socio-spiritual contribution to Muslim episteme. In fact, he has left a treasure of knowledge on the subject of Islam. It is basically the legacy of Hamadani, repercussions of which are found in Kashmir. Sayyid ‘Ali Hamadani as a great scholar and a prolific writer left indelible marks on the dynamic subjects of Islam viz Tawhid, Tasawwuf, Ikhlaq, Polity etc in both Arabic and Persian languages. His works dazzle the multi-dimensional character of his personality and scholarship. Awrad-i-Fathiyyah—the book of Awrad and ‘Aqa’id, is one of the great Arabic works of Sayyid ‘Ali Hamadani which he compiled and later gifted to Kashmiri populace. The booklet had been published a number of times and translated in a number of languages viz English, Urdu, Persian etc. Manuscripts of it are available in different libraries of the world like Ayatullah Marrashi library Iran, Maulana Azad Library Aligarh. Numerous commentaries on the book came out from ‘ulama’ like Hakeem Ghulam Nabi, Shafkatullah Beigh, M. Qasim Shah Bukhari, Ghulam Mohammed Haqqani, Assadullah Shah Dwarki, Maulana Assadullah Misbahi etc. But the profundity of Awrad becomes more and more source of attraction.
The book under-review “Sharh-i-Awrad-i-Fathiyyah” compiled by Sayyid Ajaz Ahmad Andrabi is a commentary of Awrad-i-Fathiyyah in Urdu. It is a comprehensive commentary based on more than three hundred pages. The author in the ‘preface’ provides the details about the annotation, layout, collection and compilation of the book. According to him, an incomplete commentary was found in the personal library of his father, Sayyid Muhammad Sa’eed Andrabi. After repeatedly studying the incomplete available commentary it however, came to his mind that it is better to publish it for the mass readership. The difficulty was that the opening pages of it were not available and the name of commentator was not also identified. In the ‘Foreword’ written under the title of Khuz Hazih al-Fathiyyah by S.A. Waheed Kirmani, depicts the general description about Awrad-e-Fathiyyah. The author, at the very outset, provides a brief introduction of the life of Mir Sayyid ‘Ali Hamadani.
The commentary proceeds from Bismillah (In the name of Allah, the most Merciful, the most Kindness) and ends with Dua’ Riqaab. At the end of the book, the author added certain poetic appreciations (Manqabat) of the famous Sufi saints of Kashmir written in love of Mir Sayyid ‘Ali Hamadani. The commentary, however, depicts the devotional qualities of the compiler and uniqueness of the booklet. He mentions the Arabic text under the title of Meem (Matan/text), translation under Taa (Tarjamah/translation) and commentary under Sheen (Sharah/commentary). The commentary is fully supported by the Quranic verses and the Prophetic traditions including the poetic verses of some prominent Muslim’s poets’ predominantly of Persian poets. Virtues of forgiveness, meaning of witness, mystery of Allah, prophetic supplications and virtues of benedictions including the significance of Awrad etc are the primary themes round which the whole commentary revolves. Although, the commentary is meant for common masses but holds a sort of significance for the intellectuals too.
It is an established fact that ample number of commentaries are already available that too authored by reputed personalities. The first and foremost available manuscript commentary in Persian is written by Muhammad Ja’far Jafari. The manuscript copy of it lies in the Research Publication Department (RPD) Srinager. Therefore, this study could not be considered as something new but essentially an addition regarding the comprehension of Awrad. The compiler succeeded to a very great extent to present the book in context of Allah’s uniqueness in His essence and attributes along with Awrad as a book of litanies and supplications.
The content of the book is rich, fully supported by Quran, Sunnah and the wise sayings of Sufi saints. The language is very simple, intelligible and understandable. It attracts the reader, transports his mind to a sort of spiritual journey. Besides, these qualities, the book exhibit minor loopholes too. It witnesses poor academic taste and the meager methodological aspect of research. However, the compiler does not mention the name of any manuscript of Awrad here in Kashmir or other places and it does not remark any reference of the earlier available translations and commentaries of Awrad. it would have added to the importance of the book academically.
Nevertheless the book is very rich in content and in terms of having a spiritual taste which indicates essential feature behind the writtings of Hamadani. It refreshes the belief of a Muslim on the unity of Allah (Tawhid) and molds the reader towards the experiential aspect of Islam.
The author is Research Scholar at Shah-i-Hamadan Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Kashmir
sartaja01@gmail.com