'ABDUL RASŪL KASHMĪRĪ, a native of Srīnagar who was in trade at Amritsar as a shawl merchant, was for a time a close confidant of Mahārājā Duleep Siṅgh, the last Sikh king of the Punjab deposed by the British in 1849. Kashmīrī acted as the deposed Mahārājā's liaison man with governments of Turkey and Egypt. In 1860, Abdul Rasūl moved from India to Egypt, and thence to London where he joined the Nile expeditionary force as an interpreter. Owing to his secret connection with the Mahdī, he was discharged from the service. He was again in England to seek redress when he met the deposed Mahārājā Duleep Siṅgh who employed him to further his cause. When Duleep Siṅgh returned from Aden to Europe he sent for Abdul Rasūl from London to Paris and through him met Assud Pāshā, the Turkish Ambassador in Paris. 'Abdul Rasūl travelled to Constantinople with a view to contacting the Caliph. Through his good offices Duleep Siṅgh seems to have befriended Patrick Casey, an Irishman, whose passport he used when travelling from Paris to Russia. Summoned by the Mahārājā, 'Abdul Rasūl also arrived in Moscow and campaigned to rally the local Muslims to his cause. Early in 1890, Duleep Siṅgh sent him to India. He was arrested on board the ship and upon landing in Bombay despatched to Asīrgaṛh Fort for detention. A few months later, he was released and provided passage to go to London. In March 1892, 'Abdul Rasūl sued Mahārājā Duleep Siṅgh in a Paris court seeking a life pension for the services he had rendered him.