Sheikh Nur-ud-Din Noorani: His Life, Lineage, Spiritual Journey and Legacy in Kashmir Introduction   Sheikh Nur-ud-Din Noorani (RA), reverently known in Kashmir as Sheikh-ul-Alam, Nund Rishi and Alamdar-e-Kashmir, occupies a unique place in the religious, literary and cultural history of the Valley. He was not merely a mystic and saint but also one of the earliest great voices of Kashmiri literature . Through his '' Shruks ''— brief yet profound mystical utterances in the Kashmiri language — he addressed the common people in their own tongue and spoke of God, death, human conduct, simplicity, social justice, compassion and the transience of worldly life. Modern scholarship places his lifetime broadly between 1378 CE and 1440 CE and regards him as the founder of the indigenous Rishi order of Kashmiri Sufism and one of the most important figures in the religious and literary history of medieval Kashmir .   His Ancestry and the Family's Journey from Kishtwar to Kas...