Promotion of Learning In Kashmir

Under Sultan Shihab-ud-Din

At the instance of Shah Hamadan, Sultan Shihab-ud-Din established the first Madrasatul-Quran ( a college for the study of the Qur’an). Abdu’l Masha’ikh Shaikh Sulaiman, who was originally a Hindu, received his education in this school after his conversion and in course of time distinguished himself as an exponent of the Quran and was given the tittle of Imam-ul-Qurra, the leader of the Qaris. Madrasas for the teaching of the Quran and the Hadith were established in all important villages.

Under Sultan Qutb-ud-Din

Sultan Qutb-ud-Din (1373-1389 AC) built a college in his headquarters at Qutbuddinpor in Srinagar and named it after himself. Pir Hajji Muhammad Qari was the head of the institution, which continued its existence till the establishment of Sikh rule in the Valley. Then it closed for want of Patronage. It had a long roll of well known professors and scholars. Mulla Jauhar Nanth was the head of this institution during the reign of Jahangir. Mulla Muhsin Fani, the eminent philosopher-poet and Mulla Abdus Sattar Mufti taught their pupils here. Shaikh Rahmatullah Tarabali, Mulla Tahir Ghani Ashai the poet, Muhammad Zaman Nafi Ashai the historian and the Younger brother of Ghani Khawaja Qasim Tirmizi and Mulla Muhammad Ka’us, are some of its distinguished alumni. The locality of the school is known as LANGARHATTA, signifying that the Sultan had set up a langar of free boarding house for teachers and pupils. Qutb-ud-Din thus laid the foundation of a residential system of education in Kashmir, which provided for free association of teachers and pupils after formal hours of instructions and thus led the way for Sultan Zain-ul-Abidin, in after years, to establish his University of Nau-Shahr close to modern Srinagar. Soibug, eight miles west of Srinagar (in Tahsil Badgam or Pratapsinghpor), Khuyahom ( in Tahsil Handwara) and one more villages were assigned for its maintenance.

Khawaja Azam, Abdul Wahhab Nuri and Pir Hasan Shah mention in their respective works the institution of Sayyid Jamal-ud-Din Muhaddith, known under the name of the Urwatul-Wusqa ( literally, the firmest handle) abbreviated into Kashmiri as Aravat and is seen in ruins to this day in Kucha Ashai, Fateh Kadal. Jamal-ud-Din was induced by Sultan Qutb-ud-Din to settle in Srinagar when he came as the companion of Shah Hamadan. Jamal-ud-Din taught, lived nad died here

Under Sultan Sikandar

Sikandar (1389-1413AC) was an exceedingly generous man and “his liberal patronage of letters attracted learned men from Iraq nad Khurasan and Mavara-un-Nahr (Trans-Oxiana) to his court in such numbers that it became an example to courts of other provinces.” Near his Jami Masjid, he built a college, which was known as the college of the Jami Masjid. Attached to this college was a hostel. For the expenses of the college and the hostel, several villages of the paragana of Magam were declareda waqf or endowment. Qazi Mir Muhammad Ali Bukhari, a descendant of Chingiz Khan, was appointed principal of the college on account of his erudition. some of the noted lecturers were: Mulla Muhammad Afzal Bukhari for Hadith, Mulla Muhammad Yusuf for Philosophy and Mulla Sadr-ud-Din Kashi for Mathematics. Syed Husain Mantiqi, the well-known logician, taught logics and metaphysics.

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