Music cannot be partitioned


Muslims and Hindus often play together in India together to celebrate the universal message of humanity, with Hindus singing Sufi qawwali, and Muslims singing Hindu bhajans. The music tradition of the Indian subcontinent stretches back to the Vedic period (c. 1500-500 BCE) and is notable for its religious neutrality. One of the many products of the pluralism practised by the early Sultans of Delhi was qawwali music, which sprang from the poetry of the 13th century Indian Sufi Amir Khusrau. Qawwali is still performed every Thursday evening at the dargah (shrine) of his spiritual master the Sufi Chisti saint Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya in the old Muslim quarter of Delhi. The dargah welcomes non-Muslims, and I took the photo above of a qawwali session there. But despite the prevailing pluralism Nizamuddin Auliya was accused of heresy, namely indulging in music and dancing with both Muslims and infidels, by the ulema - Muslim scholars - of the court of the notorious Sultan Balban (1200-1287). Nizamuddin Auliya survived the accusations by answering that for him there were no differences between Muslims and Hindus, because they are both children of God.

Also on Facebook and Twitter. Any copyrighted material is included as "fair use" for critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s).

Comments

Recent popular posts

Happy birthday to the paradoxical Dalai Lama

David Munrow - more than early music

Classical music's biggest problem is that no one cares

Soundtrack for a porn movie

Composer with very mixed feelings about the digital world

The Accidental Pilgrim

In the shadow of Chopin

No big bearded imam was going to tell me music was haram

Word quickly spread that the old composer had lost it