Qalandar
Qalandars (Arabic: قلندر, Hindi: क़लन्दर) are wandering ascetic Sufi dervishes who may or may not be connected to a specific tariqat. They are most prevalent in Central Asia, India and Pakistan, in the latter "qalandar" is also used as a title.[1] Some famous Qalandars include Lal Shahbaz Qalandar and Bu Ali Shah Qalandar.[2]
Contents |
Qalandar as Honorific Title [edit]
Qalander is a title given to a unmarried saint who is at a very high level of spirituality. Qalanders are considered chosen saints of God Almighty. They are different from other saints and they have a very strong feelings of love in them. Qalandars, amongst the saints, are those persons who may enjoy freedom from the ties and bounds of Time and Space. All the living things are given in their charge and command, every bit and part of the universe may be at their disposal but these holy persons are far above temptations, greed or lust. When people request them they feel duty-bound to listen and rectify the cause of miseries of people because they have been appointed by Nature for this very purpose.
They are the ones about whom God Almighty says, "I befriend My servants and become their ears, eyes and tongue in order to make them talk, and touched through me". Qalandars have always spread the message of love and humanity. Among the contemporary people who hold the title Qalandar are [GirdGaush DataHayat Qalandar]Hazrath MASOOM SHAH BABA in WestBengal state of india Dist Bardhman Memari Sarif Takhtipur Hazrath Syed Shah Mohammed Khalandar Shah peeranvaliallah al Qadri al maroof Javagal Baba at Javagal Shareef(Hasan Dist.) in Karnataka state of India, Shahbaz Qalander, Nathar Vali of Trichy, Baba Fakruddin of Penukonda India and Syed Mehmood ul Hassan Shah Khaki Mastwaar Qalandar amongst others.
Songs honoring famous Qalandars are called Qalandri dhamaal in Pakistan and India. Dhamaal are a popular South Asian musical sub-genre about Sufi saints such as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. These songs typically incoporate qawwali styles as well as different local folk styles, such as bhangra and intense naqareh or dhol drumming.[3]
Origin [edit]
The Qalandariyya were a unorthodox tariqa of roaming Sufi dervishes that originated in medieval al-Andalus as an answer to the fundamentalist onslaught of the Almohad Caliphate. From there they quickly spread into North Africa, the Mashriq, Greater Iran, Central Asia, Pakistan and India.[4][5]
See also [edit]
- Dervish
- Fakir
- Qalandar (caste)
- Qalandariyah
- Lal Shahbaz Qalander
- Mast Qalandar
- Rabia Basri
- Tando Jahania
- Sadhu
- Mastwaar Qalander
References [edit]
- ^ Baldick, Julian (2000) Mystical Islam: an introduction to Sufism Tauris Parke Paperbacks, London, p. 66, ISBN 1-86064-631-X
- ^ Schimmel, Annemarie (1980) Islam in the Indian subcontinent E.J. Brill, Leiden, page 34, ISBN 90-04-06117-7
- ^ Malik, Iftikhar Haider (2006) Culture and customs of Pakistan Greenwood Press, Westport, Connecticut, page 171, ISBN 0-313-33126-X
- ^ Ivanov, Sergej Arkadevich (2006) Holy fools in Byzantium and beyond Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, page 368, ISBN 0-19-927251-4
- ^ de Bruijn, J. T. P. "The Qalandariyyat in Persian Mystical Poetry from Sand'i Onwards" In Lewisohn, Leonard (ed.) (1992) The Legacy of Mediæval Persian Sufism Khaniqahi Nimatullahi, London, pp. 61-75, ISBN 0-933546-45-9
Sources [edit]
- Ewing, Katherine Pratt (1997) Arguing sainthood: modernity, psychoanalysis, and Islam Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina, ISBN 0-8223-2026-6
