Professor's Kashmir Legacy

From prison classrooms to remote villages, Prof. M. Aslam’s decades-long mission illuminates the transformative power of education.

- Ansar Hussain

The screen flickered to life. A photograph appeared: an old black-and-white image of a man whose eyes seemed to hold generations of wisdom. “This is Sayyid Meerak Shah Kashani,” Prof. M. Aslam began, his voice soft, reverent. “I would call him my grandfather, my spiritual guide, my first teacher.”

In that old photograph, a young boy stands next to Fakeer-e-Millat, Kashmir's cherished mystic. “That boy,” the professor added, “is me.”

In that moment, the modest conference hall at the University of Kashmir erupted in applause as the audience gathered to turn the pages of the professor's life.

Students, faculty, friends and scholars watched with reverence and wonder as Prof. Aslam recounted the story of his spiritual guide, a man who had lived through the upheaval of colonial India and regarded learning as a light that could illuminate life's darkest corners.

“He used to say,” Prof. Aslam continued, “knowledge is not just for the mind, but for the heart. It is the seed we carry, even when all else seems lost.”

That image of Meerak Shah Kashani marked the start of a journey that would span nearly fifty years, a journey of dismantling barriers in India’s education system.