In these divisive times, when the world seems to be falling apart and every good thing of the day is beginning to “droop and drown”, it is heart-warming to revisit some forgotten chapters of Indian history. One such chapter is that of Sufi music in India.

Do we ever think for a minute what some of our favorite songs that we love to listen and sometimes hum really mean? Take for example, “Kum Faya Kum” from Rock Star, or “Aaya Tere Dar par Deewana” from Veer Zara, or “Khwaja Mere Khwaja” from Jodha Akbar. Yes, there is a long history behind each of these songs – some thousand-year-long history. The history of Sufi music in India is one of the most memorable histories that Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, and Buddhists wrote together in India. As waves of forgetfulness sweep through continents, the glorious past of music in India is on the verge of being wiped out altogether. Let us revisit it.

“Calling upon the name of my beloved (Ranjhan) 
I myself became Ranjha 
Call me Ranjhan for I am no longer Heer!” 

-Madho Lal Hussain

The greatest similarity between Sufism and Bhakti movement in medieval India was that both arose as symbols of revolt against religious dogmatism and orthodoxy. Rising against religious and social hypocrisy, doughty crusaders of both the movements advocated a liberal, syncretic, and humanitarian approach towards life and fellow beings. Both became the movements of the downtrodden and the outcast. Thus, over time, India emerged as a country where Muslim musicians and poets would sing of Goddess Kali and recite Meera’s Bhajans addressed to Lord Krishna and where musical offerings to Hindu deities by the greatest masters of the Indian classical music would be in ragas that had developed in the Mughal court!

Sufi music is the epitome of India’s rich syncretism. Sufism, which spread like wildfire in large parts of Asia in the twelfth century defying persecution, reached India when Sultanate Dynasty was flowering. Indian became the refuge of the banished Sufis. By the thirteenth century, Sufis had started using music and poetry to connect with the divine. These harbingers of love, peace, piety, austerity, and compassion founded khanqah, which had room for everyone. The Khanqas, where socially downtrodden people of India would find love, support, shelter, respect, food, and education became the social, religious, cultural, and theological epicentres of the society. 

Sufi music flowered in India primarily in the form of Qawwali, a Sufi devotional music, which is a beautiful adaptation of Hindu Bhajans. Harmonium, dholak, and clapping of hands – both have the same structure. Qawwali upholds a love for God that is without any hope of heaven or fear of hell and it attempts to unite the singer and the listener with the divine. Qawwali is a highly emotional rendition of powerfully worded poetry in Farsi, Hindi, or Urdu in the form of songs. The repetitive and hypnotic rhythmic beats of dholak serve the task of arousing a deep ecstasy in the listeners. 

The generous and highly popular order of Chishtiyya established by saint Chishti in the twelfth century in India gave birth to Sufi saints like Nizamuddin Auliya who became Amir Khusrow’s main inspiration. Amir Khusrow (d. 1325) changed the musical scenario of India forever. The legendary poet, whose couplets are still quoted and sung by illiterate people in India, is credited with the invention of Tarana as well as the Ghazal. The song “Kahe ko Byaahe Bides. . .” (Why do you send me to a far-off land, my father. . .) is its beautiful example.

It was the intermingling of two beautiful cultures that gave birth to the divine poetry of saints like Madho Lal Hussain (in whose memory Hindus and Muslims hold the festival of Mela Chiragan in Lahore and sing his songs) and Piro Preman, the revolutionary Punjabi Sufi poet. Madho Lal became one with Shah Hussain and so did Piro with Gulab Das defying all social mores. It was the union of two cultures and two religions and out of this marriage and deep love, the transcendental Sufi music was born!