Better wait and watch, but Muslims ought to be Muslims first,’ says Syed Ahmed Sayeed, the Grand Imam of Kashmir Grand Mosque
YJameel
The Taliban, was assumed to gave suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the U.S.-led “alliance,” and, after remaining in hiding for a few years, are regrouping in Afghanistan. Late Osama bin Laden and his Taliban ally, Mullah (Mohammed) Omar, continue to evade arrest. Both are accused by India of helping the Kashmiri groups in their fight against New Delhi’s rule over the disputed Himalayan region, “officially” called (by India-ed.) the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
Their direct involvement in the Kashmiri struggle, often termed “terrorism” by India and unleashed on its territory by genuinely foreign groups, is doubtful. But it is an undeniable fact that many of the foreign Mujahideen fighting alongside the Kashmiri Mujahideen are Afghans. Meanwhile, it is the presence of these Afghan that seems to validate the prophecies of the 14th century Syrian-born Muslim saint, Shah Naematullah Qadiri, who foretold the escalation of such unrest into insurrection and “Doom for India”, much to the comfort of Kashmiris.
The saint prophesied with uncanny precision many events that took place centuries after his death. Translated into Persian verse, the prophecies are esteemed good literature, and sold in Kashmir like hot cakes in 1965 and 1971, years when India and Pakistan were at war. A forerunner of Nostradamus, Qadiri also could envision tomorrow. A host of his predictions have been fulfilled to the last word.
Among his predictions are details of World Wars I and II. As well as the duration of WW I, he foretold the number of its casualties as “Yak sadoosi wa yak lak” (13.1 million), amazingly the same as arrived at by the commission tasked by the British government with ascertaining the human loss in the Great War.
Other prophecies concerned the ascendancy of the Mughals (Mughal is the Persian word for Mongol-ed.) in India and their rule of seven generations, “seven generations . . . will rule India and . . . suddenly disappear)”; the fall of the Muslim empire; the occupation of India by “people who will arrive as guests”; wars between England and Germany; the two world wars; the 1923 Japan earthquake, in which he said “1/6th of the country would be devastated”; the fall of the British Empire; the partition of India; the communal frenzy in which “Muslims would be butchered by a neza band spear-wielding quaom nation.”
He correctly foresaw World War I as lasting six years and the second starting 21 years later and which would be more devastating than the first.
The saint was born in 1331 and died aged 100, with as many books to his credit. Kashmiris believe he is buried at Safa Kadel, a congested locale in the state’s summer capital of Srinagar on the banks of the river Jhelum. There is a mausoleum known as the roza (grave) of Shah Naematullah Qadiri on the riverbank there.
His prophecies have been printed and reprinted many times. Maktaba Quraniat in Hauz Suiwalan in Delhi published his predictions in 1993.
The renewed interest here in the prophecies can be attributed to the predictions he made about India. He foretold “good news for Muslims in their state of despair, who will be engaged in a brave battle with the infidels; and during the month of Muharram (the first month of the Muslim Hijra calendar) Muslims will pull out their swords and launch an offensive.”
“The brave men from the frontier will march like swarms to achieve their objective, and the earth will tremble like a grave with their fury (Az gaazian-e-Sarhad larzad zameen chu marqad , Behr-e-hasool-e-maqsad aayand waalihana).”
“The Afghans will proceed like an army of ants and locusts and will be victorious (Galba kunand hum chu mor-o-malakh shaba shab, Hata ki quam-e-Afghan baashad fatehana).”
The prophecies go on to say that deserts will overwhelm mountains, forests, rivers, and their firepower; and Punjab, Delhi, Kashmir, and Jammu will fall to them with an “unseen aid (from God).” The forces inimical to religion and faith deen-o-imaan will be wiped out.” All of this is widely mentioned and discussed among Islamist fighters and their supporters.
The predictions about India are followed by those about the fate of Europe, breaking out of World War III, an alliance between Russian and Germany, the annihilation of England – its name would be traced only in history books (Illa ki ism yaadish baashad morikhana). This verse incurred a ban on the prophecies by Lord Curzon during the British Raj.
Muslims believe that, as doomsday nears, Allah will send Mehdi, the last Imam, who, by the Allah’s command, will demolish forces hostile to Islam and usher the world into an era of peace and tranquility.
In year 1999, Kashmiris, generally regarded as anti-Indian, were interpreting the prophecies about India in the context of its worsening relations with Pakistan regarding the mountains of Kargil. But resistance in Kashmir say that the “good news for Muslims in a state of despair” was the successful nuclear tests by the first Muslim nation (Pakistan) in 2000.
The renewed interest is also attributable to the mention of Afghans by name who, many say, are some of the main players in the present Kashmir imbroglio. They point out that in the 1965 and 1971 wars between India and Pakistan there was no Afghan presence in the Kashmir conflict. Though the withdrawal of the Taliban from northeast Afghanistan was interpreted differently by them, the reports that they (the Taliban) are regrouping in that country only rekindles hope among their cohorts in Kashmir. It is not just Afghanistan or Kashmir but also Iraq, the Middle East, and the West where they see a new chapter of history being written sooner or later for the benefit of Muslims.
How? “Better wait and watch,” comes the prompt reply from Syed Ahmed Sayeed, the Grand Imam of historic Grand Mosque in Capital Srinagar. But the cleric makes the “imminent victory” of the Muslims subject to the condition that they first become “true followers of Islam.” Many things that happen and actions that are committed in the name of Islam around of world today go against the principles of this religion,” he laments.
Occupied Kashmir | مقبوضہ کشمیر 