The other side of Islam - Abida Parveen (last.fm) sings verses by the Sufi saint Bulleh Shah. and here is Main Nara-E-Mastana and Mast Qalandar. She is sometimes called the natural sucessor of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan though there is also his nephew Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Begum Abida is associated most closely with the verses of the Sufi saint Shah Abdul Latif, (wiki) some of whose illustrated veses are shown here. She has also sung the verses of other Sufi saints, including Amir Khusrau, Bulleh Shah, Sachal Sarmast, Sultan Bahu, and others such as Kabir and Waris Shah.
More about Qawwali (Related: - kosem's outstanding post [more inside]
posted by adamvasco on Oct 14, 2009 - 5 comments

The Story of India : PBS HD
posted by vronsky on Jan 12, 2009 - 28 comments

Religious popular music from Upper Egypt Munshidin sing devotional songs, Tartil (a melodic recitation of the Qur'an), and Tawashih, which uses call-and-response . One of a number of interesting music resources at bolingo.
posted by Abiezer on Dec 24, 2006 - 12 comments

A previously unheard of group, The Sufi Muslim Council, claims to speak for the silent majority of Muslims. Others see it as an attempt to co-opt Sufi-ism to push neoconservative ideals. One of the main authors, Zeyno Baran has even authored a report for the conservative think tank, The Nixon Center, suggesting just that. Other think tanks have also made similar suggestions [pdf] in their publications. ( via Craig Murray )
posted by mulligan on Aug 24, 2006 - 19 comments

"White Muslim." Converting to which Islam? Most of the new Muslims I read about in the usual media feel impelled to join the "orthodox" Sunni (if not outright Wahhabi) variety, as if there is no other. But, as many of you no doubt already know, a non-negligible minority of the world's Muslims are Shi'ite, whose biggest "Twelver" branch was made famous by this Ayatollah. To further refute the image of "monolithic" Islam,within the Shia minority are a minority known as "Seveners" or Ismailis , whose biggest branch is run by this gentleman , whose conception of Islam as "a thinking, spiritual faith, one that teaches compassion and tolerance" seems more congenial to the self-selected strata inclined to, oh, post to MetaFilter, perhaps especially to "Secular Humanist" atheists like me. (I'll bet some of you can even relate to his divorce.) Further reading from these links (perhaps with Google's help) should further belie much of the dumbed-down propaganda "mainstream" Americans are spoon-fed about Islam, showing the kaleidoscopic nature of one of today's One True Faiths. (And then there are the almost Zen-like Sufis, and ....)
posted by davy on Dec 7, 2004 - 58 comments

A single photograph taken in 1913 of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba Mbacké—the Santé Serigne Touba, founder of the Sufi sect known as the Mouride (Murid) Way, followed by millions in Senegal and elsewhere—when he was put under house arrest by the French, has provided remarkable consistency to the sect's iconography. Images of the cheikh: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and more. Story on an art exhibit and the web site of the exhibit, including more images of the cheikh. History of Bamba's life in French and in English. More on Muridism.
posted by Mo Nickels on Sep 6, 2003 - 4 comments

The Pakistani Sufi-Rock band Junoon have released their new English single "No More" which remembers the innocent victims of 9/11 and terrorism everywhere. Penned by Polar Livine of Polarity 1 and Salman Ahmad of Junoon the song can be heard/downloaded at the Junoon Website along with they lyrics. They might not be household names in the US but they are big in the subcontinent and elsewhere. They have appeared on US media many times including NPR took a deeper look in their role in presenting another face of Pakistan. Together Salman Ahmed, Brian'o'Connell, and Ali Azmat have relentlessly called for peace between India & Pakistan and raised enough controversy domestically to be banned by several "Democratic" governments in Pakistan.
posted by adnanbwp on Sep 11, 2002 - 8 comments