Karbala and the Imam Husayn in Persian and Indo-Muslim literature – Schimmel

Thanks to a friend on Twitter I rediscovered this essay by the great Annemarie Schimmel which I had read in the pre-internet times. The…

Marta Franceschini: H Nizamuddin Auliya’s devotee

This message cheered me up. Amazing that some of us have never met yet there is a bond we share – the calm space…

Love and the Law: An exerpt from Bulleh Shah (Required reading if you have studied the law)

By Sovmind Bulleh Shah (1680 – 1757) was a Punjabi Sufi poet, a humanist and philosopher from what is now considered Pakistan. As one…

The Sound of Data Darbar

NEW YORK, May 6, 2017 — Me and classical singer Tahira Syed. We explore Lahore’s, and arguably Pakistan’s, cornerstone of Sufism, the shrine of…

The sufi solution

“…The Chishti school of Sufism did not exclude any religion and gave way to a plural Indian identity. This is why the extremists in…

Chisht? Sufis in the Sultanate of Delhi (book review)

When the shrine of Baba Farid Ganj Shakar in Pakpattan was attacked last year, the real significance of the incident was not fully understood.…

Is Islamic Mysticism Really Islam?

By Omid Safi There is a lovely story from the life of the Prophet Muhammad, remembering that a mysterious visitor came upon him and…

Mian Mir’s 384th Urs

Mian Mir’s death anniversary celebrations are commencing today. Mian Mir is regarded as one of the greatest Sufi saints of the Subcontinent. He belonged…

Mian Mir

Yesterday, devotees were lighting lamps at the shrine of Mian Mir in Lahore to commemorate the saint’s 383rd Urs (death anniversary). Hazrat Mian Mir…