Dr Ali Jan, Kashmir’s Hakeem Luqmaan ‘the magic healer’
Ali Mohammad Fazili popularly known as Dr Ali Jan was born on September 3, 1914, at Gojwara, Srinagar, in a prominent family of educationists and spiritual Fazili family. He completed his MBBS degree from King Edwards Medical College, Lahore, and topped the course in 1937. The College still has the name of Ali Mohammad Fazili as a topper on its honors board. The brilliant mind that he was, Dr. Ali Mohammad Fazili passed DCH and MRCP from Edinburgh, UK, in mere nine months.
He served mostly in the rural areas of Kashmir and Jammu regions for more than 10 years before leaving to the UK for higher studies.
Family
Dr Ali Jan belonged to the famous clan of Fazilis, who have a written history tracing back to their Hindu ancestor Dattaretya Ganesh Koul who converted to Islam and became Sheikh Ghazudidin. Ali Jan was the third among his eight siblings – six brothers and two sisters. Their father Ghulam Rasool Fazili was a well-known scholar of Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and the Holy Scriptures.
One of his brothers Abdul Ghani Fazili is a well-known poet. Two of his brothers A A Fazili, and Umar Jan retired as Indian Administrative Service officers. Another brother Ehsan ul Haque Fazili has retired as the Chief Engineer in the J&K government. He is the only surviving brother of Dr Ali Jan.
Legacy
Dr Ali Jaan’s legacy continues as his children and grandchildren are known by his name. He had three sons and two daughters. His two sons Gowhar Ali Jan, who was in the J&K civil services, and Ali Akbar Jan, who worked for Air India and had settled in Darjeeling have passed away. Their younger brother, Dr. Ali Ahmad Fazili, whose wife is also a doctor, is settled in the Uta State of the USA. Among Dr Ali Jan’s daughters, Razia Fazili, married to one of her cousins, Khursheed Anwar Fazili lives in Srinagar, while Dr Aamina, married to the son of a senior doctor and colleague of Dr Ali Jan, is settled in New York (USA).
House
The house of Dr Ali Jan at Magharmal Bagh in Srinagar is today being looked after by a caretaker appointed by Ali Ahmed Fazili. The separate single-story structure that served as the clinic of Dr Ali Jan lay desolate since his second wife, Dr Tajwar’s passed away. For many Kashmiris, this house constructed by Ali Jan after his return from the UK brings back the memories of the great healer.
“His fans and others as well attribute to him many miracles of clinical diagnosis—–if his ancestors performed miracles through spiritualism, Dr Jan performs miracles through scientific methods of modern medical sciences. Beyond doubt, his clinical diagnosis superb and he has , so far, overshadowed all other doctors, at least in the valley”. Dr A Wahid, physician and former HOD Medicine, SKIMS, says, “People would say Dr Ali Jan would do miracles as he would make a diagnosis with exceptional accuracy. I don’t believe in miracles as they don’t happen now. How could Dr Jan make them?”
Dr Manzoor Fazili in his book, Hassan: Kashmir Historiographer (1983), who also belonged to the Fazili clan and lived in Bandipore, says: “Dr Ali Mohammad (Jan) Fazili is not only a name but a legend, at least in the vale of Kashmir. Assuredly, he is known to every family and all people of any creed, caste, color, opinion, opponent, and friend. His fame as a doctor extends over all areas of Northern India. His prescription holders are proud of their health, which they believe to be the cause of Dr Jan’s “Dast-e-Shifa.
He says the reality is that Dr Jan would keep himself updated with the latest advances in medicine and apply his knowledge most scientifically. He would recognize the disease and through successful diagnosis, it would look like a miracle to a common man. Dr Jan was not only a great physician but he had achieved an enviable social stature too. He is still a household name. No doctor has received such wide fame and popularity in Kashmir so far. His professional opinion would be taken as final.”
Though the Fazili dynasty of peers and seers originally belonged to Srinagar, for the past more than 400 years, one of its members, Ghulam Rasool Sheva, had shifted to Gamroo village in Bandipore, North Kashmir. The eldest of his four sons, Peer Hassan Shah, is well known as the 19th century Kashmir historiographer. “He has documented Kashmir history in Persian, in four volumes– Geography, Political history – while two later volumes have been devoted to an account of Saints, Rishis, scholars, and poets of Medieval and modern times”, writes Manzoor Fazili in his book Hassan: Kashmir Historiographer. The historians have also credited Hassan “for bringing forth the records of those 35 lost kings which (Kalhana) had not been in a position to incorporate in his chronicle (Kalhana’s Rajatarangini).”.
The well-known Urdu poet of India, a lyricist, Nida Fazli is also believed to be from the Fazili clan of Bandipore. This had been confirmed by him in an interview from Mumbai with a Srinagar-based Urdu monthly, “Belaag”, in one of its earlier issues. The newspaper, launched in 2014 had to suspend its publications in 2016. Nida Fazli was quoted as having said that he was originally from Gamroo in Bandipore, where his father had migrated to Bhopal, somewhere in the first quarter of the 20th century. In support of his statement, he had referred to the “chronological chart” that his father had carried with him.
Death
His death on October 31, 1988, plunged Kashmir into the gloom, for their healer who treated people with compassion was gone. Ali Jan set a new benchmark for the doctors and his work, and nobody matching his skills and compassion was even born again. After his return from the UK, Dr. Ali Jan joined the government. he quit it later to serve the people.