Sufism

Sufism is a path within Islam that focuses on devotion and a personal, inner search for God.

Sufi music became an important part of spiritual life in India. Sufi saints sang devotional songs called qawwālīs.

How were qawwālīs made? By mixing local Indian classical music with the Sufis' own music. So the song form itself was a meeting of two traditions: words about love, faith and unity, sung to tunes Indian ears already knew.

Great Sufi saints such as Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti and Nizamuddin Auliya encouraged music as a way to connect with God.

Two words to know:

• a whirling dervish is a member of one Sufi order; the whirling is a kind of meditation that takes a lot of practice;
• zikr is remembering God by repeating God's names, aloud or silently.

Sufis also took up yogic and Vedantic practices, such as inner silence, simple living (asceticism) and meditation, to reach union with God. This is much like the Vedantic paths to mokṣha.

Dara Shikoh believed these paths lead to the same truth. He arranged for some Upaniṣhads to be translated into Persian, and saw Vedanta and Sufism as meeting in one universal truth.

The famous Sufi poet Rumi wrote: "Why should I seek? I am the same as he. His essence speaks through me. I have been looking for myself!" The search for God is a search within.

So Bhakti and Sufi traditions often overlapped. Poets brought ideas from different religions together, enriching Indian literature with themes of unity and devotion.