Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani and Sikandar Butshikan

Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani (1314 to 1385)

• Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani, a Kubrawi Sufi and scholar of Hamadan (Iran), is called Shah-i-Hamadan, Amir-i-Kabir and Ali Sani.
• He is said to have fled from the armies of Timur. Sources give three visits to Kashmir, between about 1372 and 1383, in the reigns of Shihab-ud-Din and Qutb-ud-Din. He came with many disciples.
• He died in 1385 at Kunar (Afghanistan) while returning, and is buried at Kulob (Tajikistan).
• His works include the Zakhirat-ul-Muluk (a book on kingship and ethics) and the Aurad-i-Fathiyah (prayers), still recited in Kashmir.
• Tradition says he taught Kashmiris many crafts: shawl-making, carpet-weaving, wood work and papier-mâché. Kashmiris call him "Shah-i-Hamadan" and still honour him.

Khanqah-i-Mualla

• The Khanqah-i-Mualla (Shah-i-Hamadan mosque) stands on the Jhelum in Srinagar. It was built in 1395 by Sultan Sikandar, on the site where Hamadani prayed.
• A great wooden building in Kashmiri style, with papier-mâché inside. It is one of the best examples of wood architecture in Kashmir.

Sultan Sikandar (1389 to 1413)

• Mir Muhammad Hamadani, the son of Hamadani, came to Kashmir in 1393 with many followers and gained great influence over Sikandar.
• Persian chronicles describe Sikandar as "Butshikan" (idol breaker). They say he pulled down or converted temples, taxed non-Muslims with the jizya, banned wine, music and Sati, and pressed Brahmins to convert. The convert minister Suha Bhatta (Saif-ud-Din) is named as his chief adviser.
• Many Kashmiri Pandits fled or converted, but the number is debated. Jonaraja's account is more mixed than the later Persian writers.
• He began the Jama Masjid, Srinagar in the 1390s; it was completed about 1402. It stands on 378 wooden pillars of deodar, around a square courtyard, with four towers. It was burned several times and rebuilt, including in the Mughal and Dogra period.

Sikandar's rule as the exam notes describe it

• He decided to enforce Islamic law strictly and spread the faith by force. He was helped by Mir Muhammad Hamadani and his Prime Minister Malik Suha Bhatta.
• He broke gold and silver idols and used the metal as money, ordered that only Muslims could live in Kashmir, banned the tilak on the forehead and banned Sati.
• As a result some Hindus took poison, some left Kashmir and some converted to escape his anger. After the migration he ordered temples to be pulled down, and was called Butshikan (destroyer of idols).
• Sacred Hindu books were destroyed, and even recent converts were made to pay the jizya.
• Timur and Sikandar: the Zafarnama (Sharaf-ud-Din Yazdi) and Timur's own Malfuzat-i-Timuri speak of their relationship.

Buildings

• Khanqah-e-Moula (also called Shah-e-Hamadan Masjid and Khanqah) is in the old city of Srinagar, built in memory of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani, one of the finest examples of Kashmiri wooden architecture.
• Jama Masjid, Srinagar, was commissioned by Sultan Sikandar in 1394 and completed in 1402, at the wish of Mir Muhammad Hamadani, son of Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani.