Srinagar/New Delhi, Dec 30
When cultural heritage is sought to be safeguarded, the traditional values that instil catholicity and inclusiveness might be expected to be lighthouses standing amid rough waves—but quite the contrary nearly happened in Kashmir. The mere gesture spoke volumes and drew out voices loud and assertive.
When a school curriculum was altered, it was deemed “blue-pencilling” and “cultural terrorism.” The omission of a chapter on Sheikh-ul-Alam from the English syllabus of class 9 was a vehemently opposed move.
CPI-M MLA from south Kashmir’s Kulgam, Mohammed Yousuf Tarigami found it “deeply troubling that an entire chapter on the revered Sufi saint Sheikh-ul-Alam has been dropped from the Class IX textbook.”
Pointing to the backdrop of this development, he posted on X: “This blue-pencilling, carried out prior to the Assembly polls, is unacceptable to a society rooted in rich Sufi traditions.”
Turning to the state to redress, he urged Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to “intervene and ensure that this crucial chapter is reinstated, thereby preserving and honouring our rich cultural and Sufi heritage.”
Who was Sheikh-ul-Alam?
A Sufi saint by the name of Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Wali, said to have been born in 1377 in present day Kulgam, was a mystic, poet and Islamic preacher who wielded great influence over the masses. Counted as one of the founders of the Rishi order in Kashmir, he was bestowed the title of ‘Sheikh-ul-Alam’, meaning spiritual guide of the world.
He continues to be known as Nund Rishi as well, as he was fondly called. “Nund means beautiful in Kashmiri,” said G. N. Adfar, author of ‘The Alchemy of Light’, a trilogy compiling verses by the mystic poet translated in English, in conversation with IANS.
“He lived 700 years ago. Kashmir has not produced another Nund Rishi,” he said. “There is no home in Kashmir—whether Muslim or non-Muslim—where people will not be aware of Nund Rishi—because his teachings are for humanity, not for a particular sect,” he added.
He explained that Rishis were people who lived in forests, away from society and devoted themselves entirely to the worship of God. With the advent of Sufism, a fundamental change of perception came along that the great wisdom that the sages held was meant for common people to practice for their relevance to be truly justified; and for that, the rishis must return to society and be open to interaction with the masses.
So, the Rishi era was marked by the return of rishis to society to share their wisdom with commoners because wisdom is meant to be applied by people for the greater good of humanity.
Though not out of alignment with mainstream belief system, the rishi’s teachings were about transcending common religious practices guided by the clergy to the spiritual realm of faith.
However, Kashmir has witnessed a host of epochal changes over the past seven centuries. Notwithstanding the sweeps of these changes, Adfar vouches for the relevance of this saint in contemporary times.
“Great men are always great," he said. "His teachings are for humanity, and what was right for humanity at one point will always be right,” he asserted.
Sharing one of Nund Rishi’s timeless messages, Adfar recounted that at the UN Conference on Human Environment in 1972, Late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in her address drew from a verse of Nund Rishi that translates as “food is safe till forests are preserved.”
Spotlighting one’s personal quality of being just to another human, the author explained the saint’s teaching that believing in the Almighty and acting with the spirit of justice together is held higher than dutifully engaging in prayers.
The international airport at Srinagar is named after this saint. In 2006, a year after the airport turned international, the defence airport was renamed Sheikh-ul-Alam International Airport. In 2020, there was a proposal to rename the facility after Major Somnath Sharma—he had secured this airport with his life in November 1947, and stopped Pakistani militia from invading further into India—the first recipient of India's highest military decoration, the Param Vir Chakra.
Stir over school book
Sajad Gani Lone, a Jammu & Kashmir People's Conference legislator and a prominent voice of opposition, strongly rebuked J&K’s Board of School Education (BOSE) for omitting the chapter on Kashmir’s patron saint.
Taking to X, Lone expressed: “BOSE has removed a chapter based on the saintly life of the greatly revered saint of Kashmir Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Wali, from text books of class 9.”
“We have all revered him, and people irrespective of religion hold him in highest esteem. This is pure cultural terrorism. It is an assault on our culture and ethos. I as a Kashmiri strongly condemn it,” he asserted.
Highlighting the significance of the Sufi saint and the indelible impression it has on Kashmiri culture, Lone said: “More than any time in the past, the current times are smudged with violence, greed and hatred. In these times our great Saint is a beacon of hope and role model for emulation. And for the BOSE removers—Our great saint and his saintly ways were etched in our hearts and minds much before BOSE came into existence.”
IANS repeatedly tried reaching the concerned authority at BOSE, but in the absence of a credible voice, it remains unclear why such a decision was made at all and what led to its reversal.
On the surface, what comes across as a mere alteration in the J&K state board’s syllabus is seen as a much more serious thing with greater implications in the larger context of a sequence of events over the last few years, according to valley-based writer and activist Mushtaq Sikandar.
He views it as a development akin to introducing changes in other parts of India where “Muslim history is being systematically erased from textbooks. It is alleged that the same policy is implemented in Kashmir.”
“It is also viewed as an attack on cultural identity,” he said. However, chapters on Nund Rishi remain intact for Kashmiri and Urdu languages curricula for other classes. But the call to delete the said lesson for the English syllabus is seen as an attempt at “Hinduising Kashmiri society,” as Sikandar said.
“There is an apprehension among the masses that by bringing in demographic change planned for over a long period of time, the intent is Hinduisation of Kashmiri culture,” he said, making a reference to certain landmark episodes in recent history such as Amarnath land row (2008) and abrogation of Article 370 (2019), along with systemic changes like giving land lease, hotel contracts in the famous tourist destination of Pahalgam, Srinagar smart city project contracts conspicuously to outsiders.
Shedding light on general public perception, the critic said that the state institutions are at work to “deislamise” and create an environment of threat and fear for Muslims, “that’s how the common Kashmiri sees it.”
“But the resistance does not show openly as the state agencies for the past years have been under the control of the Central government,” Sikandar said, adding “The undercurrent of Right-wing Hindu ideology is rendering the Omar Abdullah government helpless.”
However, as announced by the Chief Minister after objections were raised from across party lines, that the chapter will be reinstated, it remains to be seen if the textbooks will have any surprises when the academic session resumes in March after the winter break.
Until then, for a society so deeply in reverence of a saint, whose values are expected to be instilled in Kashmiri ethos irrespective of school curriculum or faith, how much does the symbolism of a chapter in a school book mean?
“It is a matter of ethics to pass to the younger generations the knowledge of great people, our ancestors and forefathers so that they too live up to their teachings. So, it has a place in the curriculum, just as Gandhi ji is known to all irrespective of textbook chapters based on him,” said senior scholar Adfar.
