A sonorous chorus of male devotees fills the air at dawn in many parts of Kashmir. After the conclusion of the fajr prayers at dawn, devotees have been chanting the Awradh-e-Fatiha in Kashmir’s mosques since the fourteenth century.
The Awradh is an anthology of Quranic verses and the centrality of monotheism in Islam. A large part of the Awradh also consists of the prophet’s sayings, the names of Allah, and expressions of gratitude and praise for Allah.
It was introduced by the traveler saint, Mir Syed Ali Hamdani, popularly known as Shah-e-Hamdan, who arrived in Kashmir in the fourteenth century and popularised Islam among Kashmir’s masses.
In this week’s podcast, host Sarwat Javaid takes a dive into the mysticism and politics of the Awradh in Kashmir. We have with us, Qurat-ul-Ain, who is a Ph.D. scholar in Islamic Studies from Shah-e-Hamdan Institute of Islamic Studies at the University of Kashmir, and Mohammad Ashraf Wani, who is a historian.
