Sounds of Sufism
One of the disciples would start to sing a devotional song in praise of their Sheikh. Many of Abdul Qadir's followers were musicians. There was Richard Thompson who sang with Fairport Convention , Ian Whiteman who was with Mighty Baby ; Roger Powell who was with a group called The Action ; and Peter Sanders, a photographer with a beautiful voice. In fact the Zawiya was a veritable den of stunning voices. In no time, the zihr session would be raised to another, more etheral plane. Then the fuqara would stand up, form a circle holding one another's hands, and be led by a high-ranking member of the Zawiya, standing in the middle of the circle, in chanting La ilaha illa'llah ('There is no God but Allah'), La ilaha illa'llah . The dancing disciples would inhale with La ilaha and collectively exhale with illa'llah . The chanting would start gently but as it gathered pace, the circle would become more of an octagon, and fuqara would begin to sway, throwing t