qawwali group has a lead singer, a few back-up
singers, a harmonium player, a tabla player, and
a chorus of men singing and clapping. The rhyth-
mic drive of qawwali is powered by the clapping
and the percussion, and this provides a dynamic
backdrop to the searching and soulful singing
associated with qawwali. Qawwali incorporates
within its structure the classical music forms of
raag (melody) and taal (rhythm).
Qawwali is the music of the South Asian
Sufis, especially those belonging to the chishti
sUFi order, who ultimately seek a complete
spiritual union with God. Unlike orthodox Islam,
sUFism uses poetry and music in order to induce
a mystical experience. The lyrics sung in qawwali
include praises of God and mUhammad, and they
often employ metaphoric language and symbolic
imagery in order to illustrate the pain of separa-
tion and the ecstasy of reunion. The poet is often
characterized as the spurned and dejected lover,
tirelessly searching for the Beloved/God. Thus,
these Sufi compositions are profound on a num-
ber of levels; a mundane reading of the poetry
paints a picture of a lover gone mad separated
from the beloved, while a more symbolic reading
illuminates the pain an individual soul feels when
alienated from God. This is evident in the follow-
ing lyrics from a poem by Bulhe Shah (d. 1758)
of the Punjab:
Falling in love with you
Was like taking a sip of poison
Come my healer, forsaken, I am sad
For your love has made me dance like mad
(trans. Kartar Singh Dugal)In addition to Bulhe Shah, qawwali singers use
the compositions of other renowned South Asian
medieval mystical poets in their songs, such as
Amir Khusrow (d. 1325), Kabir (15th century),
Guru Nanak (d. 1539), and Shah Husayn (d.
1599). The range of languages represented in
qawwali is indicative of the great cultural and
geographical diversity that Sufism seeks to incor-
porate. These languages include Persian, Arabic,
Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Braj Basha, and Rajasthani.
See also maJnUn and layla; soUl and spirit.
Varun SoniFurther reading: Vikas Bhushan and Varun Soni,
“Intoxicated Spirit: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and the Art
of Qawwali,” Sufi 44 (1999): 8–12; Regula Burckhardt
Qureshi, “The Mahfil-e Sama: Sufi Practice in the
Indian Context,” Islam and the Modern Age 17 (1986):
133–166; Regina Burckhardt Qureshi, “Sama in the
Royal Court of Saints: The Chishtiyya of South Asia.”
In Manifestations of Sainthood in Islam, edited by Grace
Martin Smith and Carl W. Ernst, 111–127 (Istanbul:
Editions Isis, 1994); Hiromi Lorraine Sakata, “The
Sacred and the Profane: Qawwali Represented in the
Performances of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,” The World of
Music 36, no. 3 (1994): 86–99.qibla
The qibla is the Arabic term for the direction all
Muslims face when they pray—toward the kaaba
in mecca. In mosqUes the qibla is indicated by
the mihrab, a concave niche located in the wall
that faces Mecca, usually to the left of the pulpit
(minbar) inside the main prayer hall. In addition
to serving as the orientation for daily prayer, the
qibla is also the direction toward which the dead
are oriented when they are buried, and animals
are turned toward it when sacrificed in accordance
with Muslim dietary laWs. Conversely, observant
Muslims avoid facing the qibla when they relieve
themselves, and they avoid sleeping or sitting
with their feet toward it so as not to insult the
holiness of Islam’s most sacred place.
Orientation in prayer had become a practice
among Jews and Christians in the Middle East
well before Islam’s appearance in the seventh cen-
tury. Ancient Jews, the Israelites, faced toward the
temple on Zion in JerUsalem. Later, the Holy Ark
containing the scrolls of the torah was placed in
front of the synagogue wall that faced Jerusalem, so
that worshippers prayed toward both the Torah andK 568 qibla