The Kashmiri Scholar Who Traveled Beyond Time

An investigative journey into North Kashmir uncovers a forgotten scholar whose devotion, knowledge, and service shaped communities across time and distance.

- Syed Majid Gilani

I arrived in Handwara in the autumn of 2018, carrying a notebook, a pen, and a sense of anticipation I could hardly explain.

This was a town my great-grandfather, Maulana Syed Mohammad Yasin Shah Gilani, had once walked, prayed, and taught.

Growing up, I had heard stories of him. Tales from family friends, mentions in letters, and the pages of his diaries that survived time in careful hands.

Most of his work was in Persian, elegant but unintelligible to me. His Kashmiri writings were more approachable, but it was his Urdu that spoke directly to me, offering glimpses of his voice across decades.

The first stop was an old compound shadowed by walnut trees. A marble plaque, with worn edges and intact letters, announced his name: Maulana Syed Mohammad Yasin Shah Gilani - Khanqah Moulla.

Beneath it, the inscription noted he had laid the foundation of the Eid Gah. I touched the cool marble, trying to imagine him here: calm, devoted, and deeply present among the people he served.

It felt as though time had compressed, letting me witness the weight of his actions in a single, still moment.

The legacy of Maulana Syed Mohammad Yasin Shah Gilani is not only in the monuments or manuscripts but in the lives he touched, the guidance he offered, and the principles he embodied.