srinagar:Some lives don’t just touch the world—they illuminate it. Prof. Shams-Ud-Din Ahmed was one such soul. Today, on his death anniversary, we bow our heads not in silence, but in gratitude — for a life that became a lamp lighting the path of Kashmir’s literary, spiritual, and scholarly heritage.
Prof. Ahmed was not just a professor, not just an author — he was the heartbeat of a tradition that refused to fade. Born in a Kashmir where the soft melodies of Persian still echoed through classrooms and homes, he grew up cradled in the lap of language and lore. And in return, he gave that heritage everything — his mind, his pen, and most of all, his heart.
As the Head of the Persian Department at the University of Kashmir, he didn’t just teach — he inspired. He didn’t just translate texts — he resurrected the forgotten voices of Kashmir’s past and made them sing again. His Urdu translation of Khawaja Mohammad Azam Dedmari’s Waqat-i-Kashmir wasn’t just a literary feat — it was a love letter to his motherland’s history. Every word carried the weight of memory, the scent of soil, the echo of ancestors.
Prof. Ahmed’s legacy is stitched into more than 16 scholarly masterpieces — from Hayat-e-Karamat to Tarikh Hassan, Zakhira-tul-Muluk to Hayat-ul-Anbiya, Imam-e-Iraqash to Nafis Shaa’iri. Each page he wrote breathed with honesty, intellect, and an unshakable sense of purpose. His translation of Waqi’at-e-Kashmir into Kashmiri became a bridge — between languages, between generations, between hearts.
Even after retirement in 1989, his pen refused to rest. The ink of his soul continued to flow in the form of deeply personal reflections — Safha-e-Zindagi, Dam-e-Raftah Yaad Aaya, Dil Choron Ke Kaar Aashiqi, Sukoot-e-Dil — books that felt like intimate conversations with a wise old friend, whispering truth, love, and longing.
His writings were not left to gather dust in silence — they were embraced, celebrated, taught. The JKBOSE and University of Kashmir preserved his thoughts in curricula, ensuring that his voice would echo in classrooms long after his body returned to dust.
But today, we remember more than his books. We remember a man whose soul was stitched with sincerity. A scholar who walked with humility. A Kashmiri who held the past not as a burden, but as a treasure to be passed on.
On this solemn day, we pray:
May the heavens greet him as he greeted every word — with reverence.
May the gardens of Jannah bloom with the fragrance of his thoughts.
May his pen never stop writing — not even in paradise.
Prof. Shams-Ud-Din Ahmed, your light has not gone out. It still burns — in books, in memories, and in the hearts of those who dare to dream through words
