The contemporary qawwali (mystic chorus) sung and listened with harmonium, tomtom, i.e. with musical instrument, is not lawful according to Shariah. Furthermore, today most of the qawwal (chorister) are clean shaved, drinker and far away from salah. Their qawwali with musical instruments is not lawful at any rate. What is said about some pious personalities that they listened qawwali, actually, they used to listen it from pious persons and the poems used to be good and virtuous. Their qawwali used to be free from musical instruments (i.e. tomtom, harmonium). If any poem is composed of hamd (praise of Allah) and naat or contains the words of wisdom or chastisement, then it is allowable to listen to it. It is also proved from the holy Prophet Muhammad (   ). But, it is absolutely haram to listen to qawwali of unfair contents with musical instruments. It is nothing but sensual pleasure. Every Muslim should avoid it.

Instead of ignoring my roots, I now feel a burning desire to run towards and reclaim them. I want to embrace them fully and wholly, to drink them in and be infused with the blessed land that God chose for me to hail from. As I listened to the qawwali melody floating around the room, the mesmerising beat of the tabla drum speeding up and slowing down, the heavenly praise ascending to the skies above in the eloquent tongue of my ancestors, it felt as if a veil was lifted within me.


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Traditional qawwali practice is built upon a system of hereditary training in which qawwals are part of the service community connected to a particular shrine. Their primary function to the shrine is to service formal activities, primarily the death anniversaries of Sufi saints (Urs).[7]

Since the intention of qawwali is to act as a bridge toward the experience of Sufi mystical love and builds upon religious chants and chanted poetry, the practice is viewed as permissible in what Islamic scholar Lois Lamya al-Faruqi refers to as non-musiqa.[8][9] Qawwals themselves are central figures within qawwali ritual but are not regarded as the focus and are still regarded as part of the servant class.[10]

The songs which constitute the qawwali repertoire are primarily in Persian, Urdu, and Hindi,[13][14] although Sufi poetry appears in local languages as well (including Punjabi, Saraiki, and dialects of northern India like Braj Bhasha and Awadhi.)[15][16] The sound of regional language qawwali can be totally different from that of mainstream qawwali, as in the case of Chhote Babu Qawwal, whose style of singing is much closer to the Bengali Baul music than to the qawwali of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, for example.

The central themes of qawwali are love, devotion and longing for the Divine. The Sufi poets whose texts have made up the qawwali repertory often used worldly images to convey mystic spiritual love. As such, it is not uncommon to see mentions of worldly or forbidden concepts such as romantic longing, wine, and drunkenness, which are used as metaphors for the mystic state.[17] Qawwals bear the responsibility of maintaining a spiritually appropriate context for such songs, so as not to distract from the religious focus of the Qawwali occasion.[18]

A group of qawwali musicians, called a party (or Humnawa in Urdu), typically consists of eight or nine men including a lead singer, one or two side singers, one or two harmoniums (which may be played by the lead singer, side singer or someone else), and percussion. If there is only one percussionist, he plays the tabla and dholak, usually the tabla with the dominant hand and the dholak with the other one (i.e. a left-handed percussionist would play the tabla with his left hand). Often there will be two percussionists, in which case one might play the tabla and the other the dholak. There is also a chorus of four or five men who repeat key verses, and who aid percussion by hand-clapping.

Women used to be excluded from traditional Muslim music, since they are traditionally prohibited from singing in the presence of men. These traditions have changed, however, as is evident by the popularity (and acceptance) of female singers such as Abida Parveen. However, qawwali has remained a predominantly male business and there are still not many mainstream female qawwals.

The longest recorded commercially released qawwali runs slightly over 115 minutes (Hashr Ke Roz Yeh Poochhunga by Aziz Mian Qawwal). The qawwali maestro Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan has at least two songs that are more than 60 minutes long.

The singing style of qawwali is different from Western singing styles in many ways. For example, in words beginning with an "m", Western singers are apt to stress the vowel following the "m" rather than the "m" itself, whereas in qawwali, the "m" will usually be held, producing a muted tone.[citation needed] Also in qawwali, there is no distinction between what is known as the chest voice and the head voice (the different areas that sound will resonate in depending on the frequency sung). Rather, qawwals sing very loudly and forcefully, which allows them to extend their chest voice to much higher frequencies than those used in Western singing, even though this usually causes a more noisy or strained sound than what would be acceptable in the West.

After the deep voice of Ghulam Farid Sabri was called up to heaven in 1994, it was his son, Amjad Sabri, who carried on the legacy of qawwali music. Imagine our collective shock to hear that Amjad had been assassinated on June 22 of this year, in the month of Ramadan, after singing a beautiful poem in honor of the Prophet on Pakistani live TV. It would be akin to hearing that someone of the stature of Mahalia Jackson had been shot and killed on Christmas morning.

This devotion to the Prophet shines through the entire repertoire of qawwali poetry. Here is the translation of the poem that Amjad sabri sang the very last Ramadan morning on live Pakistani TV, before he was assassinated.

After that, I sought some more qawwali music, and immersed myself in Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and others. But my heart kept seeking the Sabris. Some years later, I came across a magical poem of theirs which refers to the Prophet as nothing less than the light of God embodied:

The qawwali tradition of South Asia is a magnificent spiritual treasure for all. It beautifully brings together the Indo-Persian Sufi tradition, the courtly refinement of Indian music, and the poetry tradition of Persian, Urdu, Punjabi, and local vernaculars. With the exception of the Mevlevi (Mawlawiyya) order in Turkey and beyond, perhaps no other Sufi community has made such extensive use of music than the Sufis of South Asia.

This is the legacy of qawwali. The legacy of the Sabri brothers and Amjad Sabri. Today, the attention of the world is on the Taliban, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and so much violence. How good and lovely to remember that this violence today, especially in South Asia, was not always the case. The tensions in South Asia go back largely, as they do in so many places, to a disastrous colonial experience under the British, and an even more disastrous partition plan into what eventually became India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

The structure of qawwali also features a taqrar or friction. The way the main lead throws the verses and is retaliated by the supporting vocalists creates a pattern of quick and challenging revert, a dialogue, or a to and from rhythm.

In qawwali, the lyrics are composed in qual or qalbana. Qual refers to Arabic verses that sing praises of the Prophet or his divine sayings. Combined with tarannum or melody, it creates a complete musical repertoire. The songs are also composed in qalbana which refers to verses that are derived from Arabic and Hindi.

Amir Khusro, a Sufi saint and music composer used distinguished ragas such as Yaman, Bageshri, Basant, and Sohoni to compose qawwali. Later, these compositions were further enhanced by including Persian verses.

Body movements or actions form one of the significant features of qawwali. The lead singer uses gestures with open arms towards the onlookers as well as upwards toward the sky. It seems like an inviting gesture suggesting that the singer has already embarked on a divine journey and is urging the onlookers to join him in his ecstatic experience.

The qawwali singers came to be known as the qawwal ke bacche. Having discussed the most significant features of the basic structure of Qawwali music, there are several features of qawwali that include - alaap, anga, band, bandhana, band sama, bari ka gana, bol, bol samjhana, chachar or beats, chal, chalat phirat, dhun, dhoha, dohrana, and ghazal among many others.

Contemporary instruments and the use of amplifiers, significant up-gradation to the modern stage set up from the traditional white circular sheet indicating the area for performance, and doing away with the vel or cash collection, are some of the significant changes in qawwali performances.

It was the legendary vocalist, Late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan who initiated the journey of qawwali to reach the international stages.


A musical prodigy who made his mark on the international audience from fifteen years of age, he spearheaded several experiments and collaborations to create a universal appeal for qawwali as a musical genre.

Later, several other acclaimed vocalists such as Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Abida Parveen, Farid Ayaz, and Sabri Brothers worked towards making qawwali songs enjoyable for the contemporary audience across the globe, while keeping the traditional flavor intact as well.

Qawwalis delivered in Urdu were rare, even though some attempts had been made in this context in India before Partition. But during the period when the state was attempting to divorce the provincial and the so-called Hindu influences from folk music and South Asian classical music genres, and consequently bring them in line with the still-nascent ideas of Pakistani nationalism and Muslim identity, the qawwali began to be featured on Radio Pakistan. 0852c4b9a8

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