Srinagar, June 3 -- In the fall of 1372, a man from Hamdan walked into Kashmir with fewer than a hundred companions. The king was away on a campaign. The people were uncertain. And yet, this group of travelers would change the course of the Valley's story.

They followed Hazrat Amir Kabir Mir Syed Ali Hamdani. Most people today simply call him Shah-i-Hamdan, the King of Hamdan. Others call him the man who brought Islam to Kashmir.

He was born in faraway Hamdan, in present-day Iran, on October 21, 1314. His parents, Syed Shahabuddin and Syeda Fatima, traced their roots to the Prophet Muhammad [PBUH]. His father ran the affairs of the city, but it was his mother's brother, Syed Alluddin Simnani, who raised the boy. Under his care, young Ha...