Fida Hassnain

Who is Fida Hassnain?

Fida Hassnain is a Kashmiri writer and Sufi mystic. He studied law and received his Ll.D. in 1946.

He started his career as Professor of History & Civics in the year 1947. He started his service career as Professor in 1953 and retired as Director of Archives, Archaeology, Research and Museums in 1980.

In 1953 he joined Jammu and Kashmir State Government service. Before retiring in 1980, he held several posts, such as that of Director of General Records & Archives; Director of Archives, Archaeology, Research & Museums; and State Editor of Gazetteers of India.} He became a Lecturer at S.P. College in Srinagar.

Later, he became Professor of History and Research. He became the Director of the State Archives, Archaeology Research and Museums in 1954 and continued as such until his retirement in 1983. His study tours resulted in the salvaging of several hundred manuscripts in Arabic, Sanskrit and Persian, which were housed in the Archives and Oriental Research Libraries. As an archaeologist, he has conducted several excavations.

He has written several books on the subject of Lost years of Jesus and Kashmir, which have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Japanese. He has made frequent guest appearances in documentaries about the tomb of Roza Bal supporting the teaching of the founder of Ahmadiyya Islam Mirza Ghulam Ahmad that Jesus of Nazareth died in India. Academic reception of Hassnain's works has been highly critical - academics dismissing these claims include the academics Günter Grönbold, Wilhelm Schneemelcher, Norbert Klatt, Per Beskow, and Gerald O'Collins.