Mirza Kamil Badakhshi

Mirza Akmal al-Din Muhammad Kamil Beg Khan Badakhshi (, – 1718), commonly known as Mirza Kamil was a Kashmiri Sufi poet, scholar, and mystic of Turkic-Central Asian ancestry. He was associated with several Sufi orders. He is best known for his Persian work Bahr al-'Irfan (Ocean of Gnosis), a lengthy Masnavi reportedly consisting of approximately 80,000 couplets, devoted to Sufi metaphysics and spiritual instruction.

Mirza Kamil was a figure in the development of Sufi thought and devotional culture in the Kashmir Valley during the Mughal period. His shrine, located in the Hawal area of Srinagar, remains a site of his annual urs (death anniversary) commemoration.

Birth and background Mirza Akmal al-Din Muhammad was born in Kashmir in 1644 CE (1054 AH), into the Badakhshi family of Central Asian origin. According to Hagiographical accounts, his grandfather, Muhammad Quli Khan Badakhshi, migrated from Tashkent to India during the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar. Various historical sources describe him as serving in the Mughal administration and holding official positions in the Mughal Kashmir. The family subsequently settled in the Kashmir Valley. His father was Mirza Adil Beg Khan. Some sources trace the family's lineage to Ahmad Yasawi, while others link it to Abu Hanifa.

Hagiographical accounts state that Shah Jahan gave him the title Kamil, granted him a Jagir, and raised him under imperial patronage.