Qawwali

What it is

Qawwali is sung devotion in the Sufi tradition. The name comes from qawl, an Arabic word for a saying, because the earliest songs set sayings attributed to the Prophet Muhammad. A performance is a meeting for listening, where a line of poetry is repeated and drawn out until it lodges in the heart. Singers and listeners alike treat the occasion as worship rather than entertainment. Its themes are love, separation and the wish to be near the Divine. Qawwals say their own part is not the centre of the evening; the remembrance of God is.

Origins and history

Qawwali took shape in the Delhi Sultanate, and its beginnings are widely credited to Amir Khusrau, a thirteenth-century poet and musician. He was a disciple of the Chishti saint Nizamuddin Auliya, and he brought Persian and Indian poetry and music together for gatherings called mehfil-e-sama, assemblies for listening, held at the saint's lodge in Delhi. In the Chishti order, listening itself was accepted as a spiritual practice. Instruments were argued over later. Some masters called them forbidden, yet the harmonium, tabla and dholak became usual in qawwali parties.

Songs and poetry

The words matter as much as the tune. A classical programme opens with a qaul, a song of Prophetic sayings, then a hamd praising God, then a na'at in honour of the Prophet, then a manqabat for Imam Ali or a saint. A ghazal, built from couplets that stand on their own, is the form heard most often; its repetitions let a singer dwell on one line, which is itself a kind of remembrance. Poets write of wine and longing as images for the soul's search. Other pieces include the Punjabi, Seraiki and Sindhi kafi, and the munajaat, a night prayer often credited to Rumi.

The performers

A qawwali party, called a humnawa in Urdu, usually brings together eight or nine men: a main voice, further singers, harmonium and drums. Where two drummers play, one keeps the tabla and the other the dholak; a single drummer may handle both. Most qawwals learn through family lines attached to a particular shrine, and they serve its formal occasions, above all the Urs, the death anniversary of a saint. Others learn inside Sufi teaching circles. Training covers music and Sufi thought, and it takes literacy, since so much rests on poetry.

Today and change

Until the late twentieth century qawwali was little known outside South Asia. Recordings and festival appearances by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Sabri Brothers and Aziz Mian carried it far beyond the shrines. A long line of other qawwals, among them Fareed Ayaz and Abu Muhammad, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Amjad Sabri and the Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali Group, work both the concert stage and the shrine repertoire. Scholars note that it still rests on Sufi mysticism even when the audience is not religious. Regional styles differ; one Bengali singer's qawwali sounds closer to Baul music than to the Pakistani mainstream.

How Qawwali is kept

A qawwali occasion gathers a party of singers before listeners seated on the floor. The lead voice begins, the others answer, and a harmonium and drums carry the pulse. Songs follow a rough order, from praise of God and the Prophet to verses for a saint. A phrase is repeated, the tempo rises, and some listeners enter wajd, an absorbed state. The evening may last hours, commonly through the night at a shrine. Qawwals see themselves as servants of the gathering, present to help others remember God rather than to perform for applause.

When and where

Qawwali has no single date. It is heard right through the year, most often at a shrine's Urs, the yearly commemoration of a saint's death, and at other Sufi gatherings. In concert halls it is scheduled like any other music. Some evenings run from late night until dawn, which many consider the best time for listening.

The tradition belongs to South Asia. It is strongest in Pakistan and India, and it is widely heard in Bangladesh. Its historic home is the Chishti shrine of Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi, where the early listening assemblies took place. Today it also travels: qawwals appear at festivals and in concert halls in many parts of the world, while the shrine circuit continues alongside.

What Qawwali means

For those who keep it, qawwali is a way of remembering God and of opening the heart to love of the Divine. The poetry is not meant literally: wine, drunkenness and romantic longing stand for spiritual states, and the scorned lover stands for the soul parted from God. Singers hold responsibility for keeping the mood reverent, so that a worldly image does not pull listeners away from worship. Sama, the act of listening, is understood as a practice that can awaken love and draw a person nearer to the Divine.

Questions people ask about Qawwali

See also

GhazalA short rhyming poem of love and parting, recited and sung from Arabia to South AsiaPulikaliPainted tigers and leopards dance through Thrissur on the fourth day of OnamBhangraA Punjabi harvest dance, first kept by farmers and now performed worldwideDandiya RaasA stick dance from Gujarat performed in pairs during the festival of Navaratri

Good reading and sources

• Encyclopaedia BritannicaArticle
• BBC Radio 3 - World Routes, Songs of the Sufi Mystics, The Nizamuddin shrine in DelhiBBC, Article
• Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Womad 1985: the qawwali star invokes raptureThe Guardian, Article
• BBC Radio 3 - World Routes, Songs of the Sufi Mystics, The Nizamuddin shrine in DelhiBBC, Article
• Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Womad 1985: the qawwali star invokes raptureThe Guardian, Article

• Qawwali on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.