Qawwali

Qawwali is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing originating in the Indian subcontinent. Originally performed at Sufi shrines throughout the Indian subcontinent, it is famous throughout Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan and has also gained mainstream popularity and an international audience as of the late 20th century.

While hereditary performers continue to perform Qawwali music in traditional and devotional contexts, Qawwali has received international exposure through the work of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Aziz Mian and Sabri Brothers largely due to several releases on the Real World label, followed by live appearances at WOMAD festivals. Other famous Qawwali singers include Fareed Ayaz & Abu Muhammad Duo, Abdullah Manzoor Niazi, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Badar Miandad, Rizwan-Muazzam Duo, Qutbi Brothers, the late Amjad Sabri, Qawwal Bahauddin Qutbuddin, Najm Saif and Brothers, Aziz Naza, among others. Out of these Fareed Ayaz & Abu Muhammad Duo, Abdullah Manzoor Niazi and Qawwal Bahauddin Qutbuddin and Najm Saif and Brothers, belong to the famed 'Qawwal Bachon ka Gharana' school of Qawwali, which was based in Delhi before 1947 and migrated to Pakistan after the Partition of British India.

Qawl (Arabic: قَوْل) means 'utterance (of the Muhammad)'. A Qawwāl is someone who often repeats or sings a Qawl. Qawwali is the music that a Qawwāl sings.

The Delhi Sultanate's Sufi saint Amir Khusrow of the Chisti order of Sufis is credited with fusing the Persian, Arabic, Turkic, and Indian traditions in the late 13th century in India to create Qawwali as we know it today. The word sama is often still used in Central Asia and Turkey to refer to forms very similar to Qawwali, and in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, the formal name used for a session of Qawwali is Mehfil-e-Sama.

Originally, musical instrument use in Qawwali was prohibited. The following conditions were initially placed on Qawwali:

Sima' (to listen to Qawwali) is permissible if a few conditions are met. The singer must be an adult and not a child or a female. The listener must only listen to everything in the remembrance of Allah. The words that are sung must be free from obscenity and indecency and they must not be void. Musical instruments must not be present in the gathering. If all these conditions are met, Sima' is permissible.

Someone complained to the Sultan of the Mashaa'ikh that some of the dervishes danced in a gathering where there were musical instruments. He said, they did not do good as something impermissible cannot be condoned.

— Siyar al-Awliya

Sufi Saints such as Nizamuddin Auliya, the teacher of the famous Sufi singer Amir Khusrow, were quite blunt about the prohibition: