Dr Muhammad Maroof Shah

Reshiyyat , Mysticism and Metaphysics From the perspective of perennialism one could say that the term Reshi is Indian way of referring to Logos, the Light of Muhammad, and the Christ-Reality. If the first Reshi was Ahmad Reshi and the latter is synonymous   with the pole of Existence, the Universal Man, the envoy of the Absolute   as elaborated in Sufi metaphysics then Reshiyyat is an integral tradition and formulation of the Sanatana Dharma , the primordial Din, the Sophia perennis , javidaan khird .   This makes it truly universalistic. Reshiyyat ’s history   doesn’t extend only to 4000 years as some have argued but to all eternity, to preeternity.   Specifying Muhammad as the first Reshi is not to restrict Reshiyyat to post-Islamic period. In fact the Prophet’s name is Ahmed in heaven in Islamic tradition.   Sheikh Nuruddin’s specification of the name as Ahmed Reshi seems to be an allusion to this heavenly or timeless transhistorical Muhammad. It is also established that Re

  Buddhism penetrated into the heart of Hinduism and transformed it from within so much so that the greatest Vedantic philosopher Shankara is accused to be a cryptobuddhist. Buddhism changed its guise and continued to flourish in Saivism of Kashmir. Similar remarks could be made and applied in case of Islam. Neither Buddhism nor Saivism died here. Their essential spirit and many peripheral practices   continued to be, in one or the other form, in Rishiyyat or post-Nuruudin Islam in Kashmir. Risshiyyat has appropriated key Buddhistic elements in its practice. A poem composed in honour of Buddha by Sheikh Nuruddin is ample evidence of impact of Buddhist tradition. Buddhist metaphysics of Void, its eightfold path, its four noble truths, its silence towards speculative metaphysical theological issues, its emphasis on orthopraxy rather than any particular view of Ultimate Reality, its pragmatism, its monkish culture, its ahimsa and vegetarianism all could be traced in Risshiyat of Ka

Reshiyyat has been the Great Tradition of Kashmir from preIslamic times. The origins of the Reshi movement go back to pre-Islamic times in the Vedic period. The founder of the Muslim Reshi movement in Kashmir, Nuruddin Nurani (1377-1440), moulded the pre-existing Reshi tradition, transforming it into a vehicle for the spread of Islam, using local institutions and methods to make Islam more comprehensible   to the Kashmiris. After Nuruddin Reshi movement made deep inroads in Kashmir. Mystical ethos found newer expressions and continues vigourously in the form of Sufis and their shrines. Most Kashmiris are followers or admirers of some local Sufi. The first Reshi, from traditional metaphysical and mystical viewpoints is Logos, the Pole of Existence, the Principle of Manifestation.   He brings into consciousness the archetype of God. The term Reshi should be seen as a “perspective, a standpoint, an archetype of certain dominant historical personalities and even dominant images, a way

A communalist turn to Kashmir conflict has been given from the very beginning by those with vested interests and this has been used as an excuse to create mass hysteria that led to Pandit exodus. Ironically certain strains of separatist forces, unwittingly or deliberately by playing foul, have been upholding exclusivist interpretation of religion while demonizing the religious other. Religious differences and effort to preserve religious identity have been politicized. Another contested issue has been Islamist turn to separatist movement on the supposed ground of Islamic identity of Kashmir. Yet another development has been the growth of Salafi (neotraditionist or neofoundationist thought that is often described as Wahabi) influence that defines itself against what it dubs as syncretic Sufi culture supposed to be a product of alien nonIslamic influences. Main separatist factions have been harping on the Islamic cause or legitimacy of the movement and in fact jihadi rhetoric and in