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Qawwali tradition

Tradition
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The Qawwali tradition is a South Asian Sufi devotional practice where mystical poetry is sung with rhythmic intensity to induce spiritual ecstasy.

Detailed Definition
Qawwali tradition is a devotional musical-poetic practice originating in South Asia within Sufi Islam, where poetic lyrics—often in Urdu, Persian, or Punjabi—are sung with rhythmic intensity, call-and-response vocals, and instrumental accompaniment to induce spiritual ecstasy (wajd); drawing on the verses of poets like Rumi, Amir Khusrau, and Bulleh Shah, qawwali blurs the line between poetry and performance, using repetition, improvisation, and emotive delivery to express divine love, longing, and mystical union.
Example
Example in poetry:
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s qawwali “Allah Hoo” uses repetitive divine names to induce spiritual ecstasy; Amir Khusrau, 13th-century Sufi poet, pioneered qawwali with Persian-Urdu fusion verses; Contemporary poet Fatimah Asghar references qawwali in “If They Come for Us” to evoke diasporic longing; Qawwali’s call-and-response structure mirrors poetic antiphony in works by Faiz Ahmed Faiz; The rhythmic tabla and harmonium in qawwali underscore its poetic meter and devotional urgency.
Additional Notes
Sufi devotional music tradition incorporating poetry. Features repetition and ecstatic performance. Related to ghazal. Study Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Note spiritual and mystical themes.
Also Known As
Sufi mystical poetry Islamic devotional verse
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