Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani

Founder of the Hamadaniyya branch of the Kubrawiyya order; a Sufi who had an important influence on the Islamisation of Kashmir. His full name is 'Ali b. Shihab al-Din b. Muhammad Hamadani; he is known by titles such as Mir Sayyid 'Ali, Amir-i Kabir, Sayyid 'Ali Hamadani, 'Ali-yi Thani and Shah-i Hamadan.

He was born in Hamadan on 12 Rajab 714 (22 October 1314). His lineage goes back to the fourth imam, 'Ali Zayn al-'Abidin, son of Husayn; his mother Bibi Fatima was also a descendant of 'Ali. His father Shihab al-Din was governor of Hamadan. He began his education with his maternal uncle Sayyid 'Ala' al-Din.

On his uncle's advice he became a disciple of Mahmud Mazdaqani, deputy of the Kubrawi shaykh 'Ala' al-Dawla al-Simnani. After staying for a while in his shaykh's lodge at Mazdaqan he met another of Simnani's deputies, Taqi al-Din 'Ali Dusti, and received the cloak from him as well; after Dusti's death he returned to Mazdaqan. Mazdaqani advised him to travel and to meet other shaykhs in order to reach perfection. Having received the cloak of futuwwa from Muhammad Azkani, one of Simnani's deputies, Hamadani set out; on this journey, which lasted twenty years, he travelled through Turkestan, Transoxiana, India, Iraq, Syria and Anatolia.

In the reign of Sultan Shihab al-Din of Kashmir he went to Kashmir with 700 sayyids (774/1372) and stayed there four months. On his second visit, seven years later, he was received by Sultan Qutb al-Din, brother and successor of Sultan Shihab al-Din. His good relations with the sultan, and his success in persuading him to abandon practices contrary to the principles of Islam, were influential in the acceptance of Islam by the non-Muslim people of Kashmir. After staying two and a half years he set out to return to Hamadan; learning that Timur had driven the sayyids out of Hamadan, he passed through Turkestan and Khuttalan and returned to Kashmir again in 785 (1383).

He did not stay long in Kashmir; on the pilgrimage journey he undertook he fell ill and died at Kabrusvar (6 Dhu al-Hijja 786/19 January 1385). His body was first taken to the town of Khuttalan, where his deputy and son-in-law Khwaja Ishaq Khuttalani lived, and was later buried in Kulob, today within the borders of Tajikistan.

His Circle of Influence — In his lifetime many disciples gathered around him, and they contributed greatly to the Islamisation of Kashmir; the source records that many mosques and lodges were built in Kashmir in this period and that some Hindu temples were converted into mosques. After his death his son Mir Muhammad continued this activity in the reign of Sultan Iskandar. After the shaykh's death some members of the Hamadaniyya followed his deputy Khwaja Ishaq Khuttalani. When some followers of Khuttalani, who was executed by Shahrukh in 826 (1423), pledged allegiance to his deputy Sayyid Muhammad Nurbakhsh (d. 869/1465) and others to his other deputy 'Abd Allah Barzishabadi (d. 872/1468), the Hamadaniyya split into two branches: the Nurbakhshiyya and the Dhahabiyya (Ightishashiyya). There is also a further branch called the Barzanjiyya, attributed to Sayyid 'Isa al-Nurbakhshi al-Barzanji. Qiwam al-Din Badakhshi, who accompanied him on his journey to Kashmir, and 'Abd Allah Shattari, founder of the Shattari lineage, are also named among his disciples. Devotion to the Prophet's family continued in his deputy Khwaja Ishaq Khuttalani and in Nur al-Din Ja'far Badakhshi, author of his hagiography Khulasat al-manaqib.

His Poetry and Sufi Line — His holding some ideas different from those of his shaykhs, his writing many works on Sufism, and his disciples' spreading of Islam through the lodges they founded in Kashmir led to the emergence of the order named after him, the Hamadaniyya. Because many of his writings have not yet been studied, little is known about this order; according to the source, he generally remained faithful to the principles of the Kubrawiyya while adding some new elements. He was also drawn to Muhyi al-Din Ibn 'Arabi, wrote a Persian-Arabic commentary on the Fusus al-hikam known as Hall al-Fusus, and sought to reconcile the principles of the Kubrawiyya with Ibn 'Arabi's views. Some of his poems are collected in Chihil Asrar.

His Works — He wrote more than 100 works, most not exceeding four or five pages. The principal published ones are: ① Dhakhirat al-muluk: a Persian work of the mirror-for-princes genre in ten chapters; Muslih al-Din Mustafa Sururi (d. 969/1562) translated it into Turkish, and a certain Muhammad b. Husayn also translated it in the name of Sultan Ibrahim as Hilyat al-muluk; a copy of this translation written in the translator's hand in 1052 (1642) is in the Topkapı Palace Museum Library. ② Risala-yi Futuwwatiyya: it shows the relationship between the Kubrawiyya and the institution of futuwwa. ③ Risala-yi Talqiniyya (Risala dar Tawba). ④ al-Risala al-i'tiqadiyya and ⑤ Risala-yi Bayan-i I'tiqad. ⑥ Risala-yi Dah Qa'ida: a translation of Najm al-Din Kubra's al-Usul al-'ashara. ⑦ Chihil Asrar. ⑧ al-Waridat al-ghaybiyya: in the manner of the intimate prayers of Harawi. ⑨ Risala-yi Dhikriyya and ⑩ Risala-yi Quddusiyya. ⑪ Masharib al-adhwaq: a commentary on thirty-two couplets of Ibn al-Farid's Wine Ode. ⑫ Kitab al-Mawadda fi al-qurba: a work in fourteen chapters containing hadiths on the virtues of 'Ali and the Prophet's family. ⑬ Awrad al-fathiyya: the litany he arranged. ⑭ Kitab Asrar al-nuqta: a commentary on the saying attributed to 'Ali, “Knowledge is a single point; the ignorant multiplied it.”

His Tomb and Complex — The source states that his body was first taken to Khuttalan and then buried in Kulob, today within the borders of Tajikistan; it gives no information about the tomb building.