In stimulating the enforcement of Islamic Shariat or law in Kashmir, Shah Hamadan was succeeded by his son Mir Muhammad Hamadani. Mir Muhammad was born in 774 A.H. and was twelve years old when his father died. It is said that, before his death in 1384, Shah Hamadan had handed over to Maulana Sarai for transmission to two of his prominent Khalifas-Khwaja Is-Haq of Khatlan and Maulana Nur-ud-Din Jafar of Badakhshan- certain documents which contained his Wasiyat-nama and Khilafat-nama. Khwaja Is-haq and Maulana Nur-ud-din, in turn, delivered the documents to Mir Muhammad with the exception of the Khilafat-nama, the document conveying succession, which the former retained himself, saying that it could only be made over to one who proved worthy of it. This was apparently a hint for Mir Muhammad that he should exert himself to follow in the footsteps of his grand father. Mir Muhammad accordingly studied under these prominent admirers of his father, and in course of time acquired succession to his father’s position of spiritual pre-eminence. He was the author of a treatise on Sufism and wrote a commentary on the Shamsiyah, a well known book in Arabic on logic.

Conversion of Malik Suhabhatta

When 22 years of age, Mir Muhammad arrived in the valley in 796 A.H. On his arrival in Kashmir, Mir Muhammad was received great honour by Sikandar. At this time, Sikandar’s prime minister and commander of the military forces was Malik Suhabhatta, a Brahman, who appears to have been impressed with the personality of Mir Muhammad, the simplicity of his faith, life and teachings, and to have embraced Islam with the whole of his family. Mir Muhammad, whose first wife, Bibi Taj Khatun, had died, was offered by Suhabhatta, after his conversion, the hand of his own daughter, renamed Bibi Baria. Suhabhatta adopted the Islamic name of Saif-ud-Din and was consequently known as Malik Saif-ud-Din. The Suhyar Masjid, the Suhyar-bal, and the Suhyar Mahalla, near Ali Kadal, keep his memory green.

At the instance of Mir Muhammad, distillation and the sale and use of wine were prohibited. Sati was forbidden. Gambling and nach were prohibited. Mir Muhammad had a Badakhshan ruby which he gave over to Sikandar. The Sultan in return, presented three big villages as Jagir or permanent holding, which the Sayyid declared as Waqf for his langar Khana or hospice. This Waqf-nama or endowment deed, with the endorsement of the Sultan, has been copied by Pir Hasan Shah in his Tarikh-i-Hasan.

Mir Muhammad stayed for about twenty-two years in Kashmir, and then left for Hajj in 1817 A.H. On his return from Mecca, he went back to Khatlan, where he died on 17th Rabi-ul-Awwal, 854 A.h. and was buried near his father. Mir Muhammad, on entering the valley, was accompanied by three hundred Sayyids; Shah Hamdan, his father, having, as already noted, brought seven hundred of them. Kashmir had, therefore, a total influx of one thousand Sayyids from Turkistan. Shah Hamadan, it is said, converted thirty-seven thousand to Islam, Bulbul Shah having already made ten thousand converters. Mostly these were mass conversions.

Reference:

Sufi,G.M.D (1996). Kashmir Under The Mughals. Kashir: Being A History Of Kashmir(pp.92-94) Delhi:Capital Publishing House.