Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

Donate

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Email
  • RSS
  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2021 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Culture

Pakistani Sufi Anthem: Jhule Lal Dam Mast Qalandar by Nusrat Fateh Ali

Juan Cole 03/23/2014

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email
0 Shares

Qawwali is the South Asian Muslim equivalent of African-American Gospel music. This particular song celebrates the thirteenth-century Sindhi mystic, Sayyid `Uthman Marwandi, known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1177 – 1274 AD), a Sufi master of the Suhrawardi order. His epithet means “Red Royal Falcon, the wandering mystic.” He was one of four great masters at Multan whose work formed the matrix of spirituality in what is now Pakistan.

The most famous rendering of the qawwali in his honor is that of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (d. 1997).

Jhoole Jhoole Lal Nusrat Fateh Ali khan Live At Rivermead Festival 1994]

Lyrics.com has this:

“English Translation:

Intoxicated, intoxicated
Upon My breath and in my intoxication is the great Qalander.
My worship and upon my breath is the name of Ali.
I am intoxicated with the beloved Qalander
I am intoxicated with Jhoole Laal who is intoxicated with Qalander
Keep repeating his name you follower of Ali
You Ali !!! Keep saying his name.”

The shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Pakistan:

Filed Under: Culture, Music, Pakistan, poetry, Sufism

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

Support Us

Help keep independent journalism alive and donate online, or make checks payable to:
"Juan Cole"
P. O. Box 4218,
Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2548
(No parcels, please)

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter and have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.


Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2021 All Rights Reserved