URS TODAY-Hazrat Baha-ud-din Zakariya (RA) Multan

Iftikhar Chaudri’s excellent note on the great saint: Hazrat Baha-ud-din Zakariya(RA) was a Sufi of Suhrawardiyya order (tariqa). His full name was Al-Sheikh Al-Kabir…

The priest thrives on self promotion

A Bait from Sultan Bahu “Haafiz parh parh karan takabbur, mullaan karan vadaaee hoo Saavan maah de badalaan vaangoon phiran kitaabaan chaaee hoo Jithe…

“I have never become less from dying”

Rumi departed earthly life on 5 Jumadi II, 672 A.H (according to the Islamic lunar calendar; Dec 17, 1273 A.D., according to the Christian…

Reclaiming Pakistan’s soul

By Rizwan Qureshi The Sufi Council was formed in October 2006 with the aim of popularizing pristine Sufi music and disseminating Sufi thought among…

Itihaas : Was Hussaiyn bin Mansour Al Hallaj inspired by India?

By Akhilesh Mittal In the third century of its advent Islam and its world were in ferment about forms of polity such as the…

Lal Shahbaz Qalandar of Sehwan

Lal Shahbaz Qalandar‘s shrine is full of devotees these days. His Urs is a major cultural event in Sindh. The Qalandar has followers across…

Miracle Worker Explores Sufism

By Archana (Mail Today) WHEN it comes to weaving a web of words, no one does it as well as Khushwant Singh. The nonagenarian…

Sadia Dehlvi’s book – Sufism: the Heart of Islam

Finally Sadia Dehlvi’s book, Sufism: The Heart of Islam (HarperCollins), is published and was launched last week in Delhi. India’s eminent writer Khushwant Singh…

Pakistan’s Sufis Preach Faith and Ecstasy

Read this great blog and was tempted to cross-post a few bits here: Every year, a few hundred thousand Sufis converge in Seh- wan,…

Saluting Rehman Baba who braved bigots through the ages

Pakistani women hold flower arrive at the shrine of 17th century sufi saint Rehman Baba in Peshawar on March 7, 2009. Multiple bomb explosions…

Sufi Art Festival in Ajmer

My friend Syed Salman Chishty, from Dargah Ajmer Sharif sent me this message. I would have loved to be there but such are the…

Mystical power

Philip Jenkins writes why Sufi Muslims, for centuries the most ferocious soldiers of Islam, could be our most valuable allies in the fight against…

Khowaja Fareed – The Mystical Voice of Southern Punjab

A friend, for the lack of a better term (why are we always hankering after labels and identities for some associations that lie beyond…

Khowaja Fareed – the Sufi voice of Southern Punjab

A special friend, for the lack of a better term (why are we always hankering after labels and idenitities for some associations that lie…

Of saints and sinners

James Astill writing for The Economist says that the Islam of the Taliban is far removed from the popular Sufism practised by most South…

Amir Khusro’s lasting tryst with love

PRANAV KHULLAR writing here At the heart of the Sufi mystical experience lies the Zikr or remembrance of God. In its musical expression through…

On Damadam Mast Qalandar

Renuka Narayanan writing for the Hindustan Times So many wake-up calls The unrelenting terror trail across India recalls young Pakistani author Raza Rumi’s wistful…

Fana: When the ego gets annihilated

Source Sufi thought is centred around the two fundamental doctrines of the Transcendent Unity of Being or wahdut al-wujud and the universal or perfect…

No One Is Left Hungry at Ajmer

 “No one goes hungry in Ajmer during Ramadan” – NDTV – New Delhi, India By Rajan Mahan, For Muslims of south Asia, the Sufi…

Origins and traditions of Sufism and its music

By Rasha Elass Sufism is the ascetic element of Islam and it derives from the Sunni tradition. Scholars trace the word to two possible…