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12 - Music in Chishti Sufism

from Introduction: Locating Devotion in Dissent and Dissent in Devotion A Thematic Overview

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 October 2014

Raziuddin Aquil
Affiliation:
University of Delhi
Vijaya Ramaswamy
Affiliation:
Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
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Summary

Kushtagan-i khanjar-i taslim ra

Har zaman as ghayb jaan-i digar ast

[The victims of the dagger of submission

Get a new life from the unseen every moment]

Khwaja Qutb-ud-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki, a music aficionado and second in a chain of five great Chishti Sufis who flourished in the Delhi Sultanate in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, died in 1235, after bouts of ecstasy caused by the above couplet recited by the qawwal in a mahfil-i-sama, music assembly, organized by the Khwaja himself. Chishti memory recounts that the Khwaja was in rapture for over three days, and every time he would regain consciousness, he would ask the qawwal to recite the same couplet. Eventually, the Khwaja breathed his last in that state of bliss, ascending to the heaven in anticipation of achieving union with his beloved Allah. He was buried at a site selected by him in advance and the shrine soon became a major centre of pilgrimage. This was a perfect finale to a Muslim mystic's career devoted to God, marked by night-long prayers and meditation, a refined taste for poetry and music, an informed understanding of the classical traditions of Islam and occasional performance of miracles either as an expression of benevolence towards the faithful or to silence the antagonists, especially the aggressive Sunni Hanafi ulama of the Delhi Sultanate, who sought to censor the ways of the Sufis. It was no coincidence that the five great Chishti masters and the later upholders of Chishti traditions shared their love for poetry and music as central to their spiritual activities.

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Publisher: Foundation Books
Print publication year: 2014

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  • Music in Chishti Sufism
  • Edited by Vijaya Ramaswamy, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
  • Book: Devotion and Dissent in Indian History
  • Online publication: 05 October 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9789384463090.016
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  • Music in Chishti Sufism
  • Edited by Vijaya Ramaswamy, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
  • Book: Devotion and Dissent in Indian History
  • Online publication: 05 October 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9789384463090.016
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Music in Chishti Sufism
  • Edited by Vijaya Ramaswamy, Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University
  • Book: Devotion and Dissent in Indian History
  • Online publication: 05 October 2014
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9789384463090.016
Available formats
×