Shaikh ul Aalam Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies, or SACMS, has had a distinguished history within the University of Kashmir. The Centre was established in 1998 as Markaz-i-Noor Shaikh ul Alam Chair. The chair bore the honorific accorded to the renowned Sufi saint of Kashmir, and the progenitor of the indigenous Rishi Sufi order, Shaikh Nur ud Din, also known as Nund Rishi. Its building, a unique specimen of Kashmiri architecture, was completed in 2004.

The Chair was transformed into a research centre in 2012, and was renamed as Markaz-i-Noor-Centre for Shaikh ul Aalam Studies (CSAS). This centre promoted scholarship around Sufism, especially around the life and thought of Nund Rishi. This centre brought out many different publications on the life and message of Shaikh Nur ud Din, including an annual journal titled “The ‘Alamdar,” which started in 2008. The  centre also started an M.Phil and PhD programme in which scholars from History, English, Islamic Studies, Linguistics, Arabic, Urdu, Kashmiri, etc. were  admitted to undertake research in Sufism and Spirituality, with a special focus of Nund Rishi. 

In 2022, the Centre metamorphosised into a full-fledged multidisciplinary Centre, enlarging its scope and reach.  The Centre, in its current form, promotes scholarship across the spectrum of humanities and social sciences, while keeping intact its relationship with Spirituality, Sufism, and Nund Rishi. The centre admits students from across the disciplines of humanities and social sciences, promoting an interdisciplinary outlook to undertake research. The journal of the centre, “The ‘Alamdar” has also expanded in its scope and presently publishes papers across the fields of humanities and social sciences. The journal has also been enlisted in the UGC-CARE list, recognising the academic rigour and social efficacy of the journal.



Vision

Shaikh ul Aalam Centre for Multidisciplinary Studies, or SACMS, is a research centre promoting research and scholarship across the streams of humanities and social sciences.  In consonance with the guidelines and recommendations of the New Education Policy (NEP-2020), the centre encourages multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship of critical nature on topics such as spirituality, linguistics, culture, society, pluralism, history etc. The centre aims to equip scholars with diverse techniques to enhance their capabilities to understand contemporary issues and bring forth unique and novel perspectives to ameliorate them. In these respects, this centre is one of its kind among the different departments of the University of Kashmir.  Additionally, the centre through its publications, especially the peer-reviewed and UGC-CARE listed journal, “The ‘Alamdar,” seeks to promote the exploration on issues of societal significance and cultural importance. In particular, the journal and publications of the centre attempt to promote and disseminate the Sufi epistemology of Kashmir, including the Rishi order, and in particular, Nund Rishi.  SACMS aims to become a leading centre of multidisciplinary research across the country, an arena of foundational research of interdisciplinary nature, and a platform to promote social cohesion, interfaith harmony, brotherhood, prosperity, and peace.