Yesterday we visited the Khanqah Shah-i-Hamadan Mosque, built in the 1730’s, just as prayers were called and all the local people came streaming in from the street.  It’s Ramadan, and this permeates everything we do here … hal-way through a transaction or a conversation, watches will be consulted and people will excuse themselves and jump in the car to get to the local mosque.

This mosque is an astoundingly beautiful place, and like all the mosques we have visited, very welcoming.  We couldn’t go inside during prayers but were invited to look through the window and take pictures.  The front and interiors are covered in papier-mâché reliefs and elaborately coloured khatamband (faceted wood panelling).  The building stands on the site of one of Kashmir’s first mosques, founded by Persian saint Mir Sayed Ali Hamadani who arrived in 1372, one of 700 refugees fleeing Timur’s conquest of Iran.