A leading Islamic scholar and historian Maulana Showkat Hussein Keng emerges from his ancestral home in the old city, one of those parts of Srinagar where the lanes are still narrow enough to feel like corridors. 

Keng is on his way to a familiar destination. For him, it is another morning spent attending and leading a Sufi gathering a few miles away, at the shrine of Mirza Muhammad Akmaludin Badakhshi, commonly known as Mirza Kamil.

Mirza Kamil was a 17th-century Turkic Sufi saint whose resting place is now a locus for gatherings of remembrance, pedagogy, and invocation. 

“We come from a lineage of custodians and devotees who have always served these sacred shrines and kept the flame of truth and spiritual wisdom alive,” Keng tells TRT World. “This connection and mission are embedded in our very blood. It’s not merely a spiritual affiliation, it is the essence of our being.”

It is difficult to miss the weight Keng gives to the word being. The gatherings he leads are continuations of a tradition that dates back to the early days of Islam in Kashmir.

“We are striving to walk the same path our ancestors charted centuries ago,” he says. “We are not only guardians of their spiritual legacy, but are also responsible for bringing their practical wisdom, compassion and inner knowledge to today’s generation.”

Centuries-old Central-Asian connection

According to historical accounts, a small Muslim presence in Kashmir is believed to have existed as early as the 8th century..

However, Kashmir’s formal introduction to Islam, as recounted in popular hagiographies, begins in the 14th century, when Rinchana, a Tibetan Buddhist prince, embraced the faith after meeting Syed Sharafuddin Turkestani, of Uighur Turkic origin, commonly known as Bulbul Shah.

Rinchana’s decision paved the way for Islam in the region. But the real transformation came later with Mir Syed Ali Hamadani, known locally as Shah-e-Hamadan. 

Mir Syed Ali Hamadani’s arrival from Central Asia to Kashmir around 1372 AD, with 700 artisans and scholars in tow, offered not a new faith but an entire civilisational grammar: crafts, poetry, jurisprudence, and above all, Sufi metaphysics. 

As Dr Zubair Khalid, a historian of medieval Kashmir, tells TRT World, “As in much of the Islamic world, these family and order-based affiliations served as authoritative channels for transmitting various aspects of Islam and Sufism in Kashmir, including religious knowledge, practices, and the establishment of Sufi institutions.” 

For centuries, the Kashmir valley has been home to shrines of mystics and saints. 

Each shrine is tended by a hereditary custodian (Sajadnisheen) and caretakers (Mutawalli), often belonging to families with long spiritual genealogies. Their oversight today is managed, albeit loosely, by a government department. 

The Kamili family cares for the shrine of Mirza Mohammad Kamil Badakhshi – a descendant of Khawaja Ahmad Yasawi, founder of the Yasawiyya Sufi order. 

Mirza Kamil came to prominence in Mughal-era Kashmir. 

He descended from 11th-century scholar Hodja Ahmad Yasawi, founder of the Yasawiyya order, one of the earliest Turkic Sufi lineages. 

Born in 1642, Kamil was raised under the patronage of Emperor Shah Jahan and grew up alongside princes Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb.  

His grandfather, Malik Mohammad Quli Khan, served as governor under Akbar. When Akbar annexed Kashmir in the 16th century, he dispatched Mohammad Quli Khan to Srinagar, where the family eventually lived and settled. 

His grandson, Mirza Kamil, born in 1644, was raised with Mughal princes and granted a jagir (land grant under Mughal rule) by the emperor himself. 

Mirza Kamil’s early education mirrored his elite upbringing, but by age 12, he had renounced courtly life to become a disciple of Khawaja Habibullah Attar. 

He went on to receive spiritual authority in multiple Sufi orders: Kubrawiyya, Qadriyya, and Suhrawardiyya, earning him the title Jami al-Salasil, or “master of all lineages.” 

Kamil’s poetic output was formidable. 

His magnum opus, Bahrul Irfan (Ocean of Knowledge), is an 80,000-couplet spiritual epic written in the masnavi form, drawing inspiration from Mevlana Rumi and Fariduddin Attar. 

“Hazrat Mirza Muhammad Kamil stands as a pillar of Kashmiri Islamic culture,” Keng says. “He was not only a great Sufi, exegete and poet, but his scholarly and spiritual stature shaped an entire era.”

Kamil died in 1718 and is buried in Hawal, a historic neighbourhood of Srinagar, where his shrine continues to draw devotees. 

At the shrine, Keng sits across from Syed Shafat Ahmad Kamili, the current Sajadnisheen and a retired bureaucrat. Together they recite verses, Arabic, Persian and Kashmiri, from canonical Sufi poets like Rumi, Jami and Shah-e-Hamadan, alongside local figures such as Sheikh Hamzah Makhdhoomi and Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani.

According to Maulana Keng, Kashmir follows two traditions of Mawlid: the Mawlid-e-Barzanji (a verse composed in honour of Prophet Muhammad by 18th century Kurdish Shafi jurist Abd al-Karim al-Barzanji) and the style adopted at the Urs of Hazrat Mirza Kamil.

In the 16th century, according to Keng local Sufi figures like Sheikh Niamatullah Kaloo and Sheikh Abdul Wahhab Noori chose to recite devotional poetry without musical accompaniment, in an atmosphere of spiritual intensity. The practice became a lasting tradition.

Intersectionality of Sufism and screens 

The annual commemoration or Urs of Mirza Kamil is now an intergenerational affair and takes place on the 30th Dhil Hajj. Shoaib Kamili, a member of the diaspora living in Southeast Asia, returns regularly for the commemoration. 

“I carry the responsibility of maintaining these traditions in changing times,” he said. “Our family legacy motivates me to return whenever I can.” 

Raised in a home visited by scholars and mystics, Shoaib speaks of a spiritual heritage that shaped his identity. 

“It made our homeland such a unique place,” he said. “I cherish my childhood and the role it played in shaping me. Of course, it felt heavy at times, but with age, I’ve come to see it as a privilege.”

For younger Kashmiris, Sufi traditions increasingly intersect with digital life. Instagram accounts and YouTube channels offer devotional poetry, short explainer videos, and clips from Urs celebrations.

But Keng, too, is active online. His videos on Sufism in Kashmir regularly go viral among local audiences and the diaspora.

“Modes of expression may evolve, but the essence of spiritual truth remains constant,” Keng says. “Sufism’s appeal isn’t limited by class or religion, it’s a universal message that reconnects the soul to its origin - love. That pull will never fade.”