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{{Short description|Kashmiri Poet, physician and courtier}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox nobility
| name = Mulla Hakim Muhammad Azim-al Din
| image = Mulla Maqbara, Hassanabad, Srinagar, Kashmir.jpg
| caption = Cemetery of Poets, Sringar (early 19th century CE)
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1804|08|01}}
| resting_place = [[Mulla Maqbara]], Hassanabad, Srinagar
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1853|06|23|1804|08|01}}
| death_place = Babapora, [[Srinagar]]
| issue = *Mulla Hakim Abdul Rahim
*Mulla Hakim Muhammad Muqim
| title = Kashmiri Poet (Marsiya Nigar)
| occupation = *Chief Royal Physician (''Shahi Hakīm'')
*Custodian of Sericulture (''Darogha i Abri Resham''')
| parents = Mulla Hakim Muhammad Javad
| native_name = مُلا حکیٖم مُحمد عظیٖم الدیٖن (عظیم صٲب)
| birth_place = Babapora, Srinagar, Kashmir
| residence = Srinagar, Lahore, Amritsar, Jammu
}}
'''Mulla Hakim Muhammad Azim-al Din''' ({{langx|ks|{{nq|مُلا حکیٖم مُحمد عظیٖم الدیٖن}}}}); 1220–1269 AH / 1805–1852/63 CE) was a Kashmiri polymath, [[Hakim (title)#Hakīm (حكيم)|physician]], philosopher, astronomer, a polyglot who wrote both in Kashmiri and Persian, and a courtier, who is widely regarded amongst the foremost [[Kashmiri Marsiya]] writers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Sajjad |first=Maqbool |title=Kuliyat-i Hakim Azim wa Munshi Muhammad Yusuf |publisher=Imam Hussein Research & Publishing Centre |year=2000 |edition=2nd |location=Srinagar |publication-date=2000 |language=ks}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Hamdani |first=Hakim Ghulam Safdar |title=Aush ti Aab |publisher=Skyline Publications |year=2009 |publication-date=2009 |language=ks}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Kazmi |first=Anees |title=Kashir Marthiya hunz Tarikh |publisher=Gulshan-i-Adab |year=1975 |location=Budgam}}</ref><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Budgami |first=Shahid |title=Kashir Marsy Hund Tawareekh |publisher=Taj Printing Service |year=2014 |edition=3rd}}</ref><ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Ansari |first=Shaukat |title=Kashiren Marssiyen Hund Intikhab |publisher=Sahitiya Academy |year=2015 |isbn=978-81-260-4855-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-05-18 |title=Kashmiri Marsiya-Evolution and Transition: The Sustainment of Grief |url=https://kashmirobserver.net/2019/05/18/kashmiri-marsiya-evolution-and-transition-the-sustainment-of-grief/ |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=Kashmir Observer |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last1=Shauq |first1=Shafi |title=Kashir Zaban ti Adabuk Twarikh |last2=Munwar |first2=Najji |publisher=Ali Muhammad & Sons |year=2008 |location=Srinagar |pages=125–27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=migrator |date=2020-08-29 |title=Marsiya: Beyond the "literal lament" |url=https://www.greaterkashmir.com/opinion/marsiya-beyond-the-literal-lament/ |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=Greater Kashmir |language=en-US}}</ref> One of the leading personalities of the Kashmiri Shia community and Kashmir itself in the nineteenth century,<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Hamdani |first=Hakim Sameer |title=Shiʿism in Kashmir: a history of Sunni-Shiʿi rivalry and reconciliation |date=2023 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-0-7556-4395-0 |edition=First published in Great Britain |series=Islamic South Asia series |location=London New York Oxford New Delhi Sydney}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6" /> Azim is also known in history as Mulla Azim, Hakim Azim and Hakim Azim Kashmiri.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Ibrahim |first=Moulvi Muhammad |title=Tazkira-i Khushnavisan-i Kashmir |publisher=Moulvi Muhammad Ibrahim Trust |year=1997 |location=Srinagar |pages=124 |language= }}</ref> He served as the Chief Physician at the court of [[Gulab Singh|Maharaja Gulab Singh]] (r. 1846–1857), the first Dogra ruler of Kashmir.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Zuthsi |first=Chitralekha |title=Languages of Belonging: Islam, Regional Identity, and the Making of Kashmir |publisher=Permanent Black |year=2003 |isbn=81-7824-060-2 |location=Delhi |pages=73}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Hamdani |first=Hakim Ghulam Safdar |title=Tārīkh −i Shiyan-i Kashmir |publisher=Imam Hussein Research & Publishing Centre |year=2014 |editor-last=Sajjid |editor-first=Maqbool |edition=3rd |location=Srinagar |editor-last2=Hamdani |editor-first2=Hakim Sameer}}</ref><ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Sufi |first=GMD |title=Kashir: Being a history of Kashmir |date=1974 |publisher=Gulshan Books |isbn=978-8183392389 |edition=1999 |location=Srinagar}}</ref> Before this, he held positions at the court of [[Ranjit Singh|Maharaja Ranjit Singh]] in Lahore and under [[Shaikh Ghulam Muhy-ud-Din#:~:text=Shaikh Ghulam Muhy-ud-Din ( d.,and 1841–1846, respectively.|Shaykh Ghulam-Mohyi-al Din]], the Sikh governor of Kashmir.<ref name=":4" /> A prodigious talent, he began composing marsiya (elegiac poetry mourning the martyrdom of [[Husayn ibn Ali|Imam Hussayn]]) at a young age. By the age of twenty-five, he had already written notable works such as ''Qafas'' ("Cage").<ref name=":2" /> Among his celebrated marsiya are ''Kitab'' ("Book"), ''Baradari'' ("Brotherhood"), ''Musa'' ("Moses"), ''Peeri'' ("Oldness"), Sarafi (“Money Changer”), Rau (“Face”)and ''Chah'' (“Well”) which reflect his poetic depth and thematic range.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> He is remembered as the poet who was largely responsible for transforming the Kashmiri ''marsiya'' from a simple elegy into an intellectual and artistic feat unsurpassed in Kashmiri language.<ref name=":0" /> His legacy endures in Kashmir, particularly among the Shia population, where his marsiya remain a vital part of [[Muharram]] observances. On his death, he was buried at his ancestral graveyard, Mulla Maqbara, located in Hassanabad, [[Srinagar]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

== Life ==

=== Early life and education ===
Azim was born in 1219 AH (1804 CE) into a prominent Shia family, the Mulla Hamdani lineage, in the Babapora mohalla of Srinagar. The family traces its lineage from Mulla Muhammad Said-al Din Hamdani ({{lang|ks|مُلا سعید الدین ہمدانی}}) also known as Mulla Said, the first ''mutawali'' (custodian) of Khanqah-i Maulla at Srinagar.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" /> This neighbourhood had been established by his ancestors, who first arrived in Kashmir during the fifteenth century alongside the Persian Sufi saint Mir Muhammad Hamdani.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":8">{{Cite book |last=Shauq |first=Shafi |title=Tareikh-i Hassan: A History of Kashmir |publisher=Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages |year=2016 |location=Srinagar}}</ref> Azim's forebear, Mulla Said-ud-Din Hamdani, served as the first custodian of the [[Khanqah-e-Moula|Khanqah-i Maulla]], the principal hospice of the Hamdani order in Srinagar.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /><ref name=":8" /> His great-grandfather, Mulla Abdul Ghani ibn Abi Talib Hamdani (d. 1755), was a distinguished Shia jurist who, in 1749, completed the first Persian translation of [https://en.wikishia.net/view/Shara%27i%27_al-Islam_fi_masa%27il_al-halal_wa_l-haram_(book) Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām], a foundational text in Shia jurisprudence authored by [[Muhaqqiq al-Hilli|al-Muhaqqiq al-Hilli]] (d. 1277 CE).
[[File:Hakim Azim's copy of Risala.jpg|thumb|Risala-i Safi copied by Azim at Lahore]]

[[File:Manuscript painting of Abdullah Khan Alkozai surrounded by courtiers, Kashmir, 1798.jpg|thumb|Abdullah Khan holding durbar in Srinagar]]
Azim was one of seven male siblings. His father, Hakim Mulla Muhammad Javad, held the position of Chief Physician at the court of Sardar Abdullah Khan Barakzai, the Afghan governor of Kashmir (r. 1795–1807). Due to Abdullah Khan's anti-Shia policies, Javad distanced himself from the governor and aligned with the royal army dispatched by Afghan king [[Zaman Shah Durrani]] under Mukhtar al-Dawla to depose Abdullah Khan.<ref name=":8" /> It is believed that Hakim Javad died during or shortly after these tumultuous events.<ref name=":2" /> Not much is known about Azim's teachers but the early part of his education would have been undertaken at home with family elders. Maqbool Sajid mentions that Azim studied under Mulla Muhammad Muqim, a distinguished Shia scholar from Nabdipora in Srinagar, but this is in no way certain.<ref name=":0" /> At the age of 27, we find Azim was already associated with the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singha at Lahore.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /> It was at Lahore that in 1832, he completed his copy of ''Risala-i-Safi'', a work on [[Persian metres|Persian prosody]] written in 896 AH/ 1464 CE by the poet Saifi Bukhari.<ref name=":0" /> The manuscript is indicative of Azim's masterly grasp on the subject, as can be seen in the way he has expanded on the original text. In addition to [[Kashmiri language|Kashmiri]], [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Arabic]], Azim was also well versed in [[Urdu]], [[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] and [[Dogri language|Dogri]]. During his stay at Lahore, Azim also visited Amritsar, where he had two books on Arabic grammar and rhetoric copied: ''Risala-i Kafi'' and ''Risala-i Zinjani''.<ref name=":7" /> The author of ''Tazkira-i Khushnavisan-i Kashmir'', lists Azim amongst calligraphers of nineteenth century, and writes about him:<blockquote>Mulla Muhammad Azim Kashmir in addition to his command over grammar and rhetoric was also well versed with the knowledge of medicine. Probably he was employed in Amritsar, where he also used to give lessons in Arabic.<ref name=":7" /> </blockquote>Well versed in all traditional medieval Islamic sciences, Azim was known during his life as the Bu-Ali Sina ([[Avicenna]]) of his time.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /> A poet, physician, scholar, courtier well versed in philosophy, calligraphy, astrology, numerology, he had a penchant for knowledge and men of knowledge.<ref name=":4" /> Almost half a century after his death, Allama Sayyid Baqir Rizvi remembered Azim in his description of the prominent Shia figures of Kashmir with these words: <blockquote>‘The one with the dignified countenance Mulla Muhammad Azim may Allah Bless his soul’.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rizvi |first=Sayyid Muhammad Baqir |title=Risala Saif al Saram |publisher=Self published |date=n.d. |location=Lahore}}</ref></blockquote>

== Career ==
[[File:Quran commissioned by Hakim Azim in 1851.jpg|thumb|Quran commissioned by Azim in 1851]]

=== Chief Royal Physician and Courtier ===
Mirza Saif-al Din the author of Akhbarat writes, that Azim was one of the few jagirdar of Kashmir whose name was registered in a special diwan at Lahore, and whose land holdings were left undisturbed by Gulab Singh on assuming the control of Kashmir in 1847.<ref name=":10" /><ref name=":2" /> Earlier, the Sikh governor of Kashmir, [[Shaikh Ghulam Muhy-ud-Din#:~:text=Shaikh Ghulam Muhy-ud-Din ( d.,and 1841–1846, respectively.|Shaykh Ghulam-Muhy-al Din]] had entrusted Azim with settling the political affairs in [[Gilgit]] after its conquest by the Sikh army in 1843. The governor had ample trust in Azim's wisdom, and was of the opinion that there was no one else at the court as, ''‘mʿūtabar (reliable), danā (prudent), and fahmida (intelligent) as ʿAẕim’''.<ref name=":2" />

A multi-faceted personality, Hakim Azim was also responsible for organising the silk industry in Kashmir, which witnessed a boom under his supervision. In this regards, GMD Sufi notes,<blockquote>In 1855 two years before Maharaja Gulab Singhs death, there was an outbreak of a silkworm disease in Europe. Two Italian experts obtained from Kashmir 25,000 ounces of seed in 1860 which registers improvement in the industry. Maharaja Gulab Singh had entrusted silk production to his Chief Physician, Hakim Azim.<ref name=":11" /> </blockquote>
[[File:Mirza Saif's discription of Azim.png|thumb|Mirza Saif's on Azim at the Sikh court]]
In his account, Mirza Saif mentions that Azim had also managed the Sericulture industry for the Sikh subedar, Shaykh Ghulam Mohyi-al Din. Pandit Raj Kak Dhar who was serving as the ''Daroga-Dagh-i Shawl'' (Custodian of the Shawl Industry),<ref name=":11" /> suggested Azim's name to Maharaja Gulab Singh for reviving the silk industry. Though initially Azim declined Gulab Singh order, he was finally forced to take own the additional duty of ''Daroga-i Abi Resham'' (Custodian of Sericulture).<ref name=":2" />

It was on Azim's advice that Mulla Fazal Ansari (d. 1263AH /1846CE), a Shia scholar from a village in North Kashmir, relocated to Srinagar settling down in Khanqah-i Sokhta.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> During medieval period the area had served as the centre of Shia activities in the city, centred around the Khanqah of Baba Khalil,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chadurah |first=Malik Haidar |title=Tarikh-i Kashmir |publisher=Bhavna Prakashan |year=1991 |location=Delhi |translator-last=Banoo |translator-first=Razia |trans-title=History of Kashmir by Haider Malik Chadurah}}</ref> a leading Shia scholar, respected by the Chak Sultans. After the khanqah was burnt down in Shia-Sunni riot, most of the Shia population migrated from this neighbourhood.<ref name=":4" /> During the 19th century the area had emerged as the family seat of the powerful Hindu Dhar family, headed by Raj Kak Dhar, who served both the Sikh and Dogra court.<ref name=":10" /> Azim used his courtly ties with Raj Kak, to facilitate the relocation of the Ansari's. When a Shia-Sunni riot broke in the city in 1831,<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":9" /> the house of the Mulla Fazal was also burnt and the family found refuge with the Dhar family.<ref name=":2" />

In 1852, an Iranian scholar, Sayyid Ibrahim Qazvini<ref name=":2" /> arrived in Srinagar and started preaching in the [[:simple:Imambara Zadibal|Zadibal Imambada]]. His teaching became popular amongst the Shia working classes and enraged many wealthy Shia ''karkhana'' owners who were involved in the lucrative Kashmir shawl trade. These traders approached Azim and accused Qazvini of being critical of Shia faith. Convinced of the charges, Azim had Qazvini banished from Kashmir. Later on when Azim came to know about the actual facts, he was deeply grieved and would always recall the event with great sorrow.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" />
[[File:Hakim Azim's verdict on Imambara Zadibal.png|thumb|Azim's verdict on Imambara Zadibal]]

In 1850, when the Kashmiri Shia community was divided on the custodianship of Marak, the historic imambada at Zadibal.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" /> This issue would in later decades result in a deep rift within the Kashmiri Shia community, dividing it in two groups. Azim was asked by the Shia ulema to intervene and give his judgemen.t<ref name=":0" /> In his verdict, Azim supported the claim of the Marakdar family who had served as the traditional custodians of the imambada:<blockquote>Since old times, the Mʿārakdarī (looking after Mʿārak) of Mʿārak -i Zadibal (the imāmbāda) from generation to generation has been the responsibility of the descendants of the marhum-o magfur (the forgiven on him Allah’s mercy is bestowed) Mīr Muhammad Razā, may he be forgiven, for carrying the service of burning lights (chirag-i sozī), etc. In the said Mʿārak, the descendants of the above mentioned have fulfilled their responsibility with competence. For the moment, they are retained in their old authority [. . .] no one has the authority, on his own without the permission of the descendants of the fore mentioned to appoint someone else to this responsibility.<ref name=":2" /></blockquote>Oral traditions accuse Azim of having persecuted, Aga Sayyid Mehdi Mousavi (d. 1309AH / 1892 CE), a religious scholar, on his return to Kashmir. Mehdi was seen as a leading supporter of the claim of Marakdar family, and would repeatedly clash with ulema of Ansari family who were backed by Azim. Maqbool Sajid in his research rejects this view based on the fact Azim predeceased Mehdi's return to Srinagar by twenty-seven years.<ref name=":0" />

=== Revival of Shiism in Kashmir ===
Sameer Hamdani is of the opinion that Azim was a pivotal figure involved in the revival of Shiism and Shia symbols in Kashmir.<ref name=":2" /> His short life spans across the Sikh and early Dogra rule in Kashmir, which also mark the reorganisation of Shia community life in Kashmir. As the leading Shia figure in both Sikh and Dogra durbar, he used his influence for the advancement and safeguarding of the community which had suffered extensively under the earlier Afghan regime.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":2" /> The relocation of the Ansari family proved to be consequential in this revival of intellectual and religious traditions in the city. As Sameer Hamdani writes:<blockquote>Given the geographical distance between Kashmir and the hawza's in Iran and Iraq, Azim saw the scholars of the Ansari dynasty as the natural choice of circumventing the near -impossible possibility of approaching the hawzas in the shrine cities for direction in the day-to-day life of the community.<ref name=":2" /></blockquote>
[[File:Hakim Azim's letter.jpg|thumb|Hakim Azim's letter to Khan Bahadur Sayyid Rajab Ali Khan Naqvi]]
In doing so, Azim was following the pattern adopted by Khan Bahadur Sayyid Rajab Ali Khan Naqvi,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rizvi |first=Syed Athar Abbas |title=A Socio Intellectual History Of The Isna Ashari Shi'is In India (2 vols.) |publisher=Marifat Publishing House |year=1986 |location=Canberra}}</ref> whose close association with the British colonial authority had resulted in a Shia revival in Punjab.<ref name=":2" /> Azim was intimately connected with Rajab Ali and in one of his letters to him he writes about his efforts to popularize the commemoration of Imam Husayn's martyrdom in Kashmir.<ref name=":2" />

A major activity for this revival was the devotion that Azim gave to development of Kashmiri marsiya. Given its popular appeal, marsiya served as the most important tool for dissimulation of Shia thought and history in the nineteenth century. Simultaneously with public enactment of marsiya at Imambara Zadibal, Azim in co-operation with other community elite was successful in remaking of this space as the central symbol of Shia revival in Kashmir.<ref name=":2" />

== Azim and Kashmiri Marsiya ==
In the early nineteenth century, Khwaja Hassan Mir, a poet from rural Kashmir, introduced Azim and his two cousins, Munshi Muhammed Yusuf and Munshi Shah Muhammad, to the craft of Kashmiri marsiya (Kạ̄shir Marsī کٲشِر مَرثی) writing. This was a pivotal encounter, described in folklore as a "serendipitous act".<ref name=":2" /> Azim wholeheartedly embraced this art form, and his letter to Rajab Ali Khan reveals his deep passion for harnessing marsiya as a powerful medium for Shia awakening:<blockquote>Having sent that for such a long time at an adverse fate, I necessarily intended to bring out the shinning pearls of its sad contents, which I had spun together in new ways, and arrange it on the lines of a Kashmiri Marsiya.<ref name=":2" /></blockquote>Azims's remarkable skill and talent in transforming a literary form—previously rooted in oral folk traditions—establish him as a foundational figure in the development of the structured marsiya tradition (maqam bandh marsiya).<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" /> Recited across the length and breadth of the valley in ''majalis'' these ''marsiya'' mark a high point of Kashmiri literature.A contemporary researcher, Maqbool Sajid, credits Azim for introducing the elements of portraiture (''sarapa nigari''), narrative-description of events ''(vaqah navisi)'' and imagery (''manzar nigari'') in Kashmiri ''marsiya,'' thus dramatically affecting the overall context. This experimentation widened the scope of individual artistic expression beyond the limits of the elegiac and religious temper of this genre. Azim was also responsible for transforming the marsiya into a highly intellectualized literary genre with the use of elaborate metaphors and images, often suggesting multiple readings and meanings.<ref name=":0" /> Given his interests in politics and revival of Shia identity, we also find references to significant political events in his poetry. One of his marsiya, Qafas (“Cage”) is set within the background of Shia-Sunni riot of 1831 in which many Shia lost their lives and property:<blockquote>O Master! you are our guardian

fortify our souls,

for our wings are clipped, flights aborted.

…..

Secure us under your wings,

we are devoted to you, do not abandon us

O you with a phoenix wing.

We are caught in the talons of a tyrant,

like an innocent dove in a hawk's,

there's no refuge for us except you,

redeem us, O Master!<ref name=":2" /> </blockquote>It is said that in one of his marsiya, Sheer (“Milk”), Azim is said to have mocked some of his senior contemporaries from rural Kashmir.<ref name=":4" /> In ''Kitab'' (Book), one of the most highly regarded Kashmiri marsiya, composed by Azim in 1253 AH/1837 CE,<ref name=":0" /> his command over the language remains unsurpassed:

Lord! Bestow thy grace that I may pen thy book of eulogy.

Accept my offering of shukur, so I may commence my learning.

And, the light of thy essence may dawn in the gloom of my ignorance,

so that I may remember anew that eternal pledge of allegiance.

Men learned listening of thy attributes fall into veils of despair.

Oh! That one may grasp but an atom of thy creation, thy purpose.

Even the Prophet, that eloquent tongue, read la ohsee there instead.

What disrespect then, that tongue-tied I, may extol thy creation.

The universe itself is a whirl teaching thy essence.

The moon outshining the stars in perpetual motion-lighting thy creation: teaching.

And yet men at the nadir of life glaze at that page of enlightenment: first and still unread.

..........

The page of thy messengers was sealed, when for his last message,

the Lord from the seminary of creation choose Muhammed, The Seal of Prophets.

to correct, to complete his teachings.

Angels and spirits salute:

“Praise the teacher who made the sun re-read its course, split the moon, a sign to learned men.

The un-lettered who opened the pages of God’s testament.

All learners, aspirers cried, no knowledge that knows not he”.

What can I then extol his grace whose eulogy is in the Quran itself.

He for whose sake, Ibrahim, Adam nay, the universe itself

was created from the uncreated self!

............

In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate.

Lo! I praise Ali, the door of all knowledge, all essence.

The one who cleaved, truth from untruth.

The Spirit of Islam, keeper of the Prophet's Garden, his helper.

Verily, they are the two who from the Lord received knowledge in its essence.

If all the leaves and flowers were penned in his praise

still would remain un-written, unread, his nobility, his grace.

For the Prophet and Gabriel praised him as the Lord had praised himself.

He was the speaking Quran raised on the Prophet's shoulder.

Whose pulpit was out of the grasp of the sky and heaven.

What then, can I say of that martyr?

Come let us raise the cry of salutations, heavens are his who but pens a line in his praise.

..............

Oh! What calamity, what times? What befell the Imam?

Look how the Kufi's, bookless, repaid the Prophet for his teachings.

How they honour him? How they respect his sanctity?

Look how the heads of his children's

Are raised on lances; offerings of Shumr to Yazid.

With the Quran around his neck Husayn had approached Ibn Saad at Karbala.

“Oh, tyrant! I am the sage ever ready for the death,

but know you not, that Quran was revealed to us.

Surely the world knows of it or have you not read the Sura Muhammed?

My Grandfather had preached in his sermons time and time again

Oh! Muslims I leave but two gifts with you, the Book and my Family

maintain their sanctity always for they represent me.

Lo! Today you are forsaking the Prophet’s teaching,

how then will you face him tomorrow in mehshar?

Lo! But which religion asks of you to kill me?

From which book of the law do you issue my death warrant”.

Alas! What had fate written for Zainab?

To re-live, re-read, recite the woes of Muharram!

Alas! her night, her days spent in anguish, in fear, in lament!

When the day would dawn in the dark dungeon

she would remember anew her nephews, her lost children,

and cry:

“Wake! The time for lessons has come it honors you nought to dwell in slumber.

The teacher is in waiting, go and pay your salutations,

Or, if with Grandfather you are studying, tell him then of Umar-i Saad

his tyranny, his acts of terror.

Alas! What fate? What destiny? I am left to lament, my family; my burden,

my arms tied; my back broken.

Oh! but that I could see,

Ali Akbar opening his book, Asghar; stammering in his lessons.

Alas! The Prophet’s progeny rendered desolate.

Alas! Eighteen brothers of Zainab, slaughtered under the sword.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hamdani |first=Hakim Sameer |title=Kashmiri Marsiya |journal=Harmukh}}</ref>

One of Azim’s most famous marsiya remains ''Baradari'' (Brotherhood). Verses from this marsiya are invariably recited in the [[Ashura]] procession, especially in the procession accompanying the [[Zuljanah|Zuljinah]]. These include Lady Zainab’s lament on the martyrdom of Imam Husayn:

And then Zainab wept,

Oh, leader of my tribe,

May I be your sacrifice;

None remains here to mourn you,

Shall I not call out to Abbas?

“Come, wash your brother; do not let the waterskin fall, yet”.

When the wayfarers see you in this state on the road,

Will they not be moved to grief?

Will they not ask,

"Who is this dead traveler—poor and alone?

Unaware of the ways of life?

Did he not have a son?

To bury him?

To mourn him in his death."<ref name=":0" />

=== Marsiya written by Azim ===
The total number of marsiya written by Azim vary from twenty four to twenty eight.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" /> In addition he also wrote a number of shorter dirges including ''van, ravana, vazn-i doum'' and ''vabandh''. Some scholars are of the opinion that Azim wrote those marsiya jointly with his second cousin, [[Mulla Munshi Muhammad Yusuf]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hashmi |first=Manzoor |title=Hussaniyat |publisher=self published |location=Srinagar |publication-date=1996}}</ref> The main marsiya written by Azim include:
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! colspan="7" |Title of the Marisya
|-
|Aftab
{{lang|ks|آفتاب}}
|Darakht-i Touba
{{lang|ks|درخت طوبی}}
|Khaliq al Kalam
{{lang|ks|خالق الکلام}}
|Mar
{{lang|ks|مار}}
|Qafas
{{lang|ks|قفس}}
|Sarafi
{{lang|ks|صرافئ}}
|Zangir
{{lang|ks|زنجیر}}
|-
|Baradari
{{lang|ks|برادری}}
|Hawa
{{lang|ks|ہوا}}
|Khawab
{{lang|ks|خواب}}
|Musa
{{lang|ks|موسی}}
|Rau
{{lang|ks|رو}}
|Sher
'''{{lang|ks|شیر}}'''
|Laskhar
{{lang|ks|لشکر}}
|-
|Chah
{{lang|ks|چاہ}}
|Kassa
{{lang|ks|کا سہ}}
|Kitab
{{lang|ks|کتاب}}
|Namak
{{lang|ks|نمک}}
|Sal o Mah
{{lang|ks|سال ہ ماہ}}
|Shir
{{lang|ks|شیر}}
|Kheema
{{lang|ks|خیمہ}}
|-
|Dar
{{lang|ks|در}}
|Khakh
{{lang|ks|خاک}}
|Koh
{{lang|ks|کوہ}}
|Peeri
{{lang|ks|پیری}}
|Sar
{{lang|ks|سر}}
|Tasbih
{{lang|ks|تسبیح}}
|Safar
{{lang|ks|سفر}}
|}

== Anecdotes ==
It is related that while he was in Lahore, the Azim developed a likening for astrology and a renowned astrologer of the city offered to teach him against payment of money for each class. After attending a couple of lessons, Azim ceased his classes. One day he came across the astrologer in the streets of Lahore, who enquired from him as to why he had ceased attending the classes. Azim replied that after studying a few lessons he simply did not feel the need for attending any more classes. Incensed by this reply, the astrologer asked him to solve certain astrological problems, and immediately Azim kneeled and drew the required sketch there itself on the dusty street. Displeased and angry the astrologer remarked that if he had known that the Azim was blessed with this intelligent, he would not even have taught him those few lessons.<ref name=":4" />

GMD Sufi, in his book, ''Kashir'', writes about Hakim Azim:<blockquote>Hakim Muhammad Jawad’s son, Hakim Mohammad Azim, rose to the position of the chief physician of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Lahore. The hakim was a great scholar of Arabic and a poet. Like his father, there is a curious tradition about him also. It is said that, while going on a boat, he saw a man bathing at a ghat on the river, and perceived that he was suffering from a certain disease of which the man himself seemed quite ignorant. The hakim stopped his boat, and warned the man that he would have serious trouble if he did not immediately rub fresh cow-dung on his body, and then sit in the sun till the cow-dung dried up completely, and fell of his body. The man obeyed the hakim, and when the dried cow dung fell of his body, it was found full of lice.<ref name=":11" /> </blockquote>While travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, the Azim's entourage once camped at Sular, Dooru-Shahabad a halting place on the route. Here Azim met a Sunni astrologer, Ayatollah (''Aya Baba''). Impressed by the astrologers’ knowledge, Azim bought him home, to reside and teach his son Hakim Abdul Rahim, saying,<blockquote>It is a disgrace that such a knowledgeable man should be lost in the dusts of obscurity.<ref name=":4" /></blockquote>The incident highlights Azim's ecumenical nature, patronising a Sunni man of knowledge at a time when the two communities were still torn apart by sectarian differences, misunderstandings and conflict.

== Death ==
Azim died at the age of forty-eight on Ramzan 19, 1269 AH (July 26, 1853). The date is significant in the Shia liturgical calendar as it marks the day when [[Ali|Imam Ali]] was assassinated. The funeral prayer was offered by Akhund Mulla Javad Ansari who was with Azim on his deathbed. Historians Mirza Saif and Hakim Safdar both note that Azim's death was unexpected, and deeply shocked Gulab Singh, though Azim himself was aware of his approaching death.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" /> According to Saif, upon learning of Azim's demise, Gulab Singh sent Shaykh Illahi Baksh, a senior Muslim court officer to Azim's home to offer his condolences. On his return to Srinagar, Gulab Singh honoured Azim's son, Hakim Abdul Rahim, in an open court session, and presented him with two Pashmina shawls. Additionally, Rahim was appointed to succeed his father as Chief Physician and ''Darogha-i Abi Resham''. Azim was laid to rest in his family's ancestral graveyard in Hassanabad, a predominantly Shia neighbourhood of Srinagar, in vicinity of a mosque built by his father.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />

== References ==

<references />

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1804 births]]
[[Category:1853 deaths]]
[[Category:Kashmiri poets]]
[[Category:Writers from Srinagar]]
[[Category:Indian male poets]]
[[Category:Shia Muslims]]
[[Category:Kashmiri Muslims]]
[[Category:Kashmiri writers]]
[[Category:Islamic philosophers]]

Mulla Hakim Muhammad Azim - Revision history

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