His Master’s Voice

So we are back to medieval times and the medieval discourse whether music is halaal (permissible) in Islam or is explicitly haraam (forbidden). A deeply disturbing news item appeared in sections of the Pakistani press this past weekend. On August 27, 2012, a senior journalist and the op-ed editor of a major national English newspaper, Zain-ul-Abedin was roughed up at his house in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi, apparently for listening to music, more specifically Qawwali, in the privacy of his own home. Whether the authorities will ever take note of this most unfortunate episode and bring the attackers to book, remains to be seen.

But what exactly is Qawwali, our listening to which even today can spring the religious vigilantes into action? In the Chishti Sufi order, Qawwali has profound and refined connotations for both the master saints of this order and how they initiate newcomers into the fold and groom them along their spiritual journey. The institution of Qawwali holds a pivotal place in the liturgy, i.e. the public meditational and devotional religious practices of the Chishtiyah. Qawwali is indeed a sine qua non, and culmination, of the Urs celebration of the various saints.

Before the Chishtis codified Qawwali as an essential ingredient of their esoteric devotional protocols, the practice of Sama, meaning listening or audition through the ‘ear’ of one’s heart had been a part of Islamic ascetic traditions. Professor Leonard Lewisohn notes,

“The creation of a specific liturgy composed of prayer, litanies, singing, music and sometimes dance, known as Sama, integrating music into the practice of meditation, is an important aspect of the contemplative life in Islamic Sufism.”

Lewisohn goes on to quote Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali:

“Know that heart and consciences are treasuries of secrets and mines of jewels...There is no way of extracting such hidden things save by the flint and steel of audition to poetry and music (Sama), and there is no entrance to the heart save by the antechamber of the ears. So musical tones, measured and pleasing bring forth what is in it and make evident its beauties and defects.”

Despite his writings favouring dogma and orthodoxy, al-Ghazali was the most ardent proponent of Sama and music compared, for example, to Ibne Arabi who was equivocal on the issue or the fanatic legalist, Ibne Taiymiyah who had declared music haraam and its connoisseurs, infidel.

The point however remained that no matter how refined and receptive the antechamber of the ears were, the essence of audition could not be complete without the right voice and more specifically the right statement of Sufi affirmation falling upon those eardrums. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Ajmeri pioneered the Chishti order in India and was followed by Khwaja Qutubudin Bakhtiyar Kaki and subsequently by Khwaja Fariduddin Masood Ganj Shakkar. The latter passed on the divine light to Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya Mehboob-e-Illahi. The historian, Zia-ud-Din Barni, records that once Khwaja Farid Ganj Shakkar was visiting Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya and after the meditation assembly of dhikr — the cantillation of the prescribed lines and names of God — it was time for Sama. Nizamuddin Auliya instructed his favourite disciple, Amir Khusro, to start the Sama. Just when Khusro was about to commence, Khwaja Farid stopped him by a wave of his hand. He then instructed Khusro to start the Sama with the Qaul — the famous saying of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), which is as follows:

Man Kunto Maula, 
Fa Haza Ali-un Maula 

(Whoever I am master to
This Ali is his Master too).

This Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), which he had pronounced upon returning from the Last Pilgrimage, had been the central pillar of Sufism since the earliest days of the ascetic movement. All Sufi orders, with the exception of the Naqshbandiyah, draw their spiritual lineage to Hazrat Ali Murtaza (RA) and through him to the Prophet (PBUH) himself, based on this very Hadith. What the Sufi master Ganj Shakkar had done was to complete the voice-audition combination. From that point on, the Sama in the Chishti order was renamed Qawwali — to always denote the Qaul. The musical genius in Khusro obliged. He extemporaneously composed the Hadith to the following rhythm, which was to become known as taraanaa-e-Amir Khusro:

Dara dil e dara dil e dar e dani
Hum tum Tanana nana, tana nana ray
Hum tum Tanana nana, tana nana ray
Yalali Yalali ala, Yala ray
Tanana Tanana Tanana Tanana
Hum tum Tanana nana, tana nana ray.

The late Ustad Muhammad Hussain Sarahang, the foremost Afghan exponent of the Patiala Gharana of classical music, had once noted that contrary to popular belief, the taraanaa was not idle or abstract Sufi chants. He said that Khusro created the rhythm based on his own ruba’ee (quatrain) that alludes to the Creation:

Aan roz keh rooh-e-pak-e-Adam ba badan
Guftand dar aa, na meshad az tars ba badan
Khwandan Malaikah ba lehn-e-Dawood
Dar tan dar tan, dar aa dar aa, dar tan dar tan.

[On that day (of Creation) the pure soul of Adam said (to the body)
I am scared to enter the mortal body
(Upon God’s instruction) sang the angels in Dawood’s melody
Worry not and enter this body, enter this body...]

Until this day the Chishti devotional gatherings start with dhikr, include recitation of the Chishti shajarah (spiritual ancestry) all the way to Hazrat Ali (RA), who is thus considered Imam-al-Auliya (the pinnacle of all saints) and ends with the performance of the Qawwali. The Qawwali session opens with the Qaul followed by the Hamd, Na’at, Manqibat (praise of Allah, the Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] and Hazrat Ali [RA] respectively) and customarily ends with Rang. The Rang or colour is again Khusro’s verse and composition celebrating the Chishti association with his master and friend, Nizamuddin Auliya.

Amir Khusro was never anointed formally as a Chishti saint. Before his death, Nizamuddin Auliya passed on his mantle to Naseer-uddin Chiragh-e-Dehli. Even if granted such a position, it would have meant little for Khusro for he was to pass away within six months of his beloved Nizamuddin Auliya’s demise.

Just as the fanatical thugs were slapping a defenceless, honourable man in Karachi, history may have slapped them back in the face. The outrageous episode coincides with the start of the Urs of Hazrat Amir Khusro Dehlvi, the father of the Qawwali genre as we know it today. Delhi, India celebrates the Urs on the 17th of Shawwal every year or satarhveen sharif as it is called. Khusro and Qawwali — his Master’s Voice — live on.

Dr Mohammad Taqi is a columnist for Daily Times, Pakistan, where this piece appeared first. He can be reached at mazdaki@me.com. He tweets at http://twitter.com/mazdaki