Khanqah-e-Moula

The mosque was commissioned by Sultan Sikandar Butshikan in 1395 CE in memory of the Islamic preacher Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani, the central figure involved in the widespread conversion to Islam in Kashmir. Also known as Shah-e-Hamadan (the King of Hamadan), the preacher came to Kashmir from the city of Hamadan in Persia in the 14th century. He is credited for the spread of Islam in Kashmir. In 1480 AD, the shrine was destroyed due to fire. The then ruler, Sultan Hassan Shah, expanded its premises and rebuilt it. In 1731 AD, the Khanqah was again destroyed by fire and then rebuilt by Abdul Barkat Khan.

Sketch of Shah Hamadan mosque dating back to 1906

According to some sources, the current mosque structure was constructed after destroying an ancient temple dedicated to Hindu goddess Kali and a sacred Hindu site,[3] It is believed by some that Sayyid Ali Hamdani had the temple of Kali demolished and built the present mosque with its material.[4][5] and that a spring dedicated to Kali is still inside the mosque. The railing at the back of the mosque complex leads to a bright orange marking on the stone just below that suggests to the foundation belonging to the destructed Kali Shri temple.[6]Local Hindus were involved in various communal disputes and repeated altercations by 1942, agitating for the right to build a covered shrine adjacent to the Muslim shrine,[7] which eventually led to a boycott of Muslim-owned shops by Kashmiri Hindus.[8]

In ‘Eminent Personalities of Kashmir’, a book edited by a Kashmiri Hindu, Krishan Lal Kalla, mentions that according to Hindu belief, Khanqah was first the Kali temple. The book claims: “When Hazrat Ameer Kabir returned from Makkah, he went into the temple and offered his prayers. After he left the place, it was found that he had left footprints on that stone plate where he had bowed before the God. That temple was converted at once into Khanqah-e-Moula.[9]

However, others have questioned the validity of such claims, and believe it to be a revisionist attempt to re-cast history as traditional Kashmiri Hindu historians, such as Kalhana, Jonaraja and Shuk Bhatt make no mention of the existence of any temple at the site of the structure. The counterclaim stemming from the fact that a Hindu religious site also exists adjacent to the shrine and the historians have suggested that the two sites have in fact always been adjacent to one another,[9] their proximity being representative of communal tolerance.[10] Kashmiri Hindus have also historically held the Khanqah in high reverence.[11]

Archaeologist R.C. Kak in Ancient Monuments of Kashmir[12] and historian P. N. K. Bamzai in Culture and Political History of Kashmir while writing about the Khanqah, do not altogether mention anything about the possibility of the existence of a temple where the present structure stands.[13] Historian Ashiq Husain Bhat further argues that re-purposing of Hindu shrines into Muslim ones wouldn’t have been unusual, given that the overwhelming majority of Kashmiris converted to Islam, and a similar conversion of the site into a church would occur were Kashmiris to convert en masse to Christianity.[9] The construction of Muslim shrines at Hindu sites has also been interpreted by some as an attempt by Kashmiri Muslim to maintain links to their Hindu past.[14]

Adjacent Kali Shri Shrine

Toward the River Jhelum, there is a wall marked with Sindoor (or Sindooram, a traditional vermilion red or orange-red colored cosmetic powder from India, usually worn by married women along the parting of their hair) but not a temple and water oozes at a place, which Kashmiri Hindus say is dedicated to goddess Kali.[9][15]

Sign of Hindu goddess Kali Temple symbolised by Saffron Marks on the mosque structure where Hindus offer prayers

Saleem Beg, a member of INTACH, states that the holy place of Hindus and the Khanqah co-existed together.[9]

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