Eid e Milad un Nabi: Celebrating Spiritual heritage

In few of the local traditions  Kashmir is referred TO as Baghi SulAiman , the garden of king Solomon. Interestingly  there is a   hillock  in Srinagar,  still  named as Kohi Suliman or suliman taing.  

Most of us know that  King Solomon is a historical character, well mentioned in the sacred Scripts – Jewish, christian and Muslim- and very much known as Prophet Solomon or  Suleiman (AS), who lived centuries before Prophet Issa (AS). 

   

This character is also mentioned in a few curious local legends to have helped this water body to get drained off.   This may have been the reason to title this land as Baghi Sulaiman, the Garden of Prophet Solomon.

Prophet Sulaiman (AS) is the first Prophet mentioned  in local traditions and a hillock known nowadays as Shankeracharya hill was originally attributed to  king Solomon and was known as Sulaiman hill, a little plateau  is still called here as Sulaiman Taing.

Although Prophet Sulaiman (AS) is mentioned in local traditions and a hillock is also named after this Prophet but no relics of this prophet are found or housed anywhere in this piece of land. 

If relics of any prophet are well preserved and documented here those are of Prophet Mohammad (SAW) , the last messenger of God, the hair of his beard popularly known  as Moie Muqdas

The relic  as is recorded, was first brought to Kashmir by Syed Abdullah Madani, known to be a descendant of the holy prophet who left Medina and settled in the South Indian city of Bijapur in 1635, at a time when the Islamic Mughal Empire was rapidly expanding across India.

Following Abdullah Madni’s death, his son Syed Hameed is learnt to have inherited the relic. The region was conquered by the Mughals shortly afterwards, and Hameed was stripped of his family estates. Finding himself unable to care for the relic, he passed it to Khwaja Nur-ud-Din Eshai, a wealthy Kashmiri businessman. There is a long story of how the holy relic traveled and arrived in Srinagar. When Moi-e-Muqqadas, or the holy relic, arrived in Kashmir in 1699, it was first kept at the Naqashbad Sahib for some time, before becoming a part of the Hazratbal.

 The place where the mosque stands today was originally the site of Ishrat Mahal and a garden, which were built in 1623 by Shah Jahan’s subedar Sadiq Khan. Upon his arrival in 1634, Shah Jahan ordered to convert the garden and accompanying into a place for offering prayers.

Hazratbal Shrine was initially established by Inayat Begum, the daughter of Khwaja Nur-ud-Din Eshai and the custodian of the holy relic. The first building of the shrine was constructed in 17th century by Mughal subedar Sadiq Khan during the Emperor Shah Jahan’s reign.

The classical spiritual buildings no more exist at this site here, as in early 20th century this classic heritage building, which symbolized the local spiritual architecture, was dismantled and a new building formed of white marble symbolizing the Arabian Muslim architectural. The Moie Muqdas these days is enshrined in this shrine and is showcased to its devotees during the Muslim festivity days, particularly during Eid e Milad celebrations.   

It is not only at Dargha  Hazratbal , but there are other scared places where the holy relics of Prophet Mohammad  (SAW)  are  enshrined and showcased to the devotees.  These included Sharie KalashPura, Soura, Pinjura Shopian, Khiram Dargha,  Kaba Marg  etc.

In fact Kashmir is also known  as Peervier, the garden of the mysticism. This is because of its rich spiritual legacy, which it carried since the times of Prophet Suleiman.  The evidences of this wonderful heritage is still showcased   by this mountain locked land in shape of its sacred  site names, tombs,  caves  and   relics, associated with the Prophet (SAW),   his descendants, and scores of Sufi and Reshi saints. The land preserves wonderful Sufi practices, collections of Zikir (dikir) and relics at its most Sufi centers.      

Indeed Kashmiris have got  deep love with their Prophet, his companions and his descendants. They also care for this spiritual legacy but in their traditional way. They still handle this heritage in their traditional way, while as the modern scientific conservation technologies have not been adopted to preserve and maintain this heritage.  The wooden Sufi shrines, their sacred relics and artifacts in most of Sufi shrines of Kashmir are decaying as there is no proper mechanism even for their preventive preservation and conservation.

Unscientific storage, non professional handling and lack of conservation facilities within these shrines have posed a threat to the historic relics and artifacts. The threat is felt more in those Sufi shrines which are located in distant villages and maintained by local shrine management committees.

The sacred relics which kashmiris treat as  (‘Tabrukaat’)  are those things or artifacts which are associated with the different Sufi saints and are housed in their respective tombs and Khanqahas. These collections include the sacred  scriptures,  robes of many saints, collections of  scared  scripts, hand-written documents’, manuscripts, garments, slippers, embossed feet impressions, tomb covers  ‘charders, terracotta and wooden chandeliers, candles,  inscribed utensils and other such many artifacts and objects  used by  Sufis and saints.

Experts view that the shrine attendants have got hardly any technical know-how in dealing with these delicate objects for they are usually concerned with their spiritual value and are less concerned about their physical, historic and cultural value.  At places these delicate artifacts   are simply dumped in unsound boxes and showcases, and absence of necessary chemical treatment to them is catalyzing their decay.

Almost all the Sufi shrines besides housing the mortal remains of the respective Sufi saints, have scores of sacred relics and artifacts. But most of these historic objects are not properly conserved.

In the absence of proper inventories and documentation, it is very much difficult to safeguard the genuine relics and artifacts. Most of these relics are undocumented and unclassified. These items are not usually exposed to fresh air and are exhibited only on few special occasions. There are many such abandoned shrines, located in the distant corners of this land which have no care-takers. The Sufi relics enshrined there are unpreserved.

The new generations are not introduced  to this spiritual heritage. The   Wakaf  Board authorizes, religious and cultural institutions should come forward and preserve this heritage on modern scientific lines  in physical, written and audio visual formats.  

The local shrines and khanqahs shall also be equipped well with modern conservation technologies so that the Sufi shrines and there enshrined relics are preserved well. The shrine care takers and shrine attendants shall also be provided the necessary trainings in preventive conservation which shall include its handing techniques as well.    

Since the land is celebrating its spiritual heritage, these days involved in Eid e Milad celebrations in connection with birth day of Prophet Mohammad (SAW) and devotees are thronging various shrines to have glimpses of Prophet Mohammad (SAW)’s , holy relic – Moie Muqadas, let us pledge that besides celebrating our spiritual heritage, we shall also come forward to preserve it for the forth coming generations.       

Let us take concrete steps to document the spiritual heritage relics.

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