ECKHARD NEUBAUER/VERONICA DOUBLEDAY
5. Calendrical and weekly observances.
6. Prayers, praises and devotional songs.
Islamic religious music, §I: General
The consideration of religious singing and instrumental music in the context of Islam is fraught with complexity and ambiguity. Strictly speaking, the words ‘Islamic religious music’ present a contradiction in terms. The practice of orthodox Sunni and Shi‘a Islam does not involve any activity recognized within Muslim cultures as ‘music’. The melodious recitation of the Holy Qur'an and the call to prayer are central to Islam, but generic terms for music have never been applied to them. Instead, specialist designations have been used. However, a wide variety of religious and spiritual genres that use musical instruments exists, usually performed at various public and private assemblies outside the orthodox sphere.
General terms relating to music within Islamic cultures require some clarification. The word samā‘ is used to distinguish between licit (halāl) and illicit (harām) music as understood by the schools of Islamic religious law and in discussions between representatives of the law schools and Sufi orders. The Arabic word ghinā’ (literally ‘song’) has sometimes been used generically for musical practice. The traditional term mūsīqī (which is classical Arabic) has been used in writings dating from the 9th century, is a loan and theoretical concept inherited from the ancient Greeks. In the countries of Islam it was rarely used in the sense of singing and instrumental music: reference to musical practice was made through a series of individual terms. The modern Arabic term mūsīqā is not representative of the traditional Islamic understanding of musical practice, but has connotations more akin to the Western sense of ‘music’. Current usage of the word mūsīqī in modern Persian is similarly general. 20th-century scholars have used some of these terms in attempts to elucidate categories of music that have been accepted or rejected according to Islamic (Shari‘a) law (see Al-Faruqi, 1985; Nasr, 1997). See Table 1.
Since its birth in the 7th century, Islam has spread over a vast geographical area stretching into China, South-east Asia, Russia, many parts of Africa and elsewhere (fig.1). From an early period orthodox jurists expressed hostility to certain kinds of music in principle, and the legal status of music has been continually contested and discussed. Sufism evolved as the mystical branch of Islam and some Sufis actively opposed the extremist puritans. Their musical practice, inspired by the message of Islam and personal religious experience, had a broad influence. Another important development was the music of commemoration and lament specific to the Shi‘a sects (see §III, 1 below).
The many forms of Muslim musical religious expression present considerable diversity, and they are often strongly local in flavour. However, there are significant unifying factors: the consistent presence of Qur'anic recitation and, within that, the influence of Egyptian style; the importance of Arabic as the language of divine inspiration in the Qur'an; and the widespread use (albeit in varied ways) of dhikr, repetitive vocalizations of names of God (see §II, 3 below).
Religious and devotional musics are variously performed by professional, semi-professional, amateur, male and female adults (and occasionally children) in solo or group styles. Some are accompanied by musical instruments or include dancing. With very few exceptions, instrumental music is not performed in mosques, where only certain types of religious recitation and singing are permitted. Other performance settings include shrines, Sufi lodges, Shi‘a religious meeting-places, homes and encampments, streets, concert platforms and recording studios.
Our present knowledge and understanding of religious and devotional music within Muslim cultures is patchy and incomplete. There are many areas where research has not been undertaken; some regions have been closed or inaccessible, and the musical role of women has not been adequately studied. From the 1970s onwards, sweeping changes precipitated by Islamization (also known as ‘fundamentalism’) and globalization have compounded the situation with fresh impulses and reactions. This survey draws upon available material and does not claim to be comprehensive.
Islamic religious music, §I: General
There is no statement in the Holy Qur'an explicitly condemning music. Evidence in the Traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (Hadīth) clearly demonstrates that on occasion he listened to music with pleasure, but these texts are open to many interpretations. From an early period, Islamic jurists felt concern about the perceived dangers of music and began to differentiate between admissible (halāl) and inadmissible (harām) music, both sacred and secular. Between these categories there is an intermediate zone consisting of material not expressly forbidden (see above, ‘controversial’ categories, Table 1). The simple chanting of the Qur'an and the call to prayer have an uncontested lawful status, and certain types of devotional singing have been variously tolerated within the different Islamic law schools.
A rejection of music was expressed immediately after the Prophet's death, and the jurists' condemnation extended to court musicians of the Umayyad dynasty (661–750). Concern about inadmissible music increased in the 9th century, when Sufi communities introduced dance and spiritual audition (samā‘) into their ecstatic rituals. In Islamic thought, the basis of hostility to music lies in its power to stimulate the ‘lower passions’ (nafs). Individuals such as Ibn Abī al-Dunyā (d 894) theoretically condemned almost all instrumental and vocal music, yet Majd al-Dīn Ahmad al-Ghazālī (d 1126) and Abū Hāmid Muhammad al-Ghazālī (1058–1111) defended the practice of listening to music, including its usage by the Sufi orders. Arguments in favour of music have stressed the individual's ability to listen (samā‘), drawing close to the Divine. An extensive literature in Arabic, Turkish and Persian discusses admissible and inadmissible music with constant reference to verses of the Qur'an and the Hadīth. The most exhaustive collection of learned opinions is contained in the Kitāb al-imta bi-ahkām (‘Guide to the application of the rules for listening to music’, c1300) by Kamāl al-Dīn al-Adfuwī.
See also Arab music, §§I, 3(iii) and II, 2.
No universally acceptable agreement about the legal status of music was ever reached, leaving interpretation open. This has led to ambiguities. In Iran at the beginning of the 1979 Revolution, the broadcasting and public performance of music was banned. Yet, shortly before his death in 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced that music was admissible, except in the case of women singing to men and as long as it did not incite sensual passions.
Islamic religious music, §I: General
The sacred words of the Holy Qur'an pervade the experience and practice of Islam. Great importance is placed upon the proper articulation of its sound patterns in the original Arabic. In all Islamic cultures, Qur'anic recitation is performed by lay people, in a plain style, and by prayer leaders and specialist Qur'an readers, sometimes in a highly embellished form. Islamic education prescribes that children learn to recite the Qur'an by memory, a task requiring concentration upon rhythmic aspects of vocalization.
Qur'anic recitation has many applications. Verses are silently recited within the ritual prayer (Arab. salāt) performed five times daily by pious Muslims. Public recitation precedes congregational prayers and occurs within most religious rituals, and the entire Qur'an (khatm al-qur'ān) is performed during the month of Ramadan and for commemoration of the dead. At the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, teams of reciters provide continuous recitation of the Qur'an inside the room housing important relics of the Prophet Muhammad. Although usually performed solo, collective recitation occurs; for instance in some Iraqi mosques on the ‘eve’ of Friday, or in Liberia, where collective recitation for the dead is termed fidao.
As a unique and divine text, the Qur'an is set apart from other religious texts and praises. Specialist Arabic terminology is used. Qirā'a designates Qur'anic recitation; qāri' is a trained reciter (both words derived from the same Arabic root as Qur'an). Tilāwa is a general formal term for all Qur'anic; in pre-Islamic Arabia it simply designated recitation of poetry. Tartīl, another term for recitation, especially implies slow deliberate attention to meaning, for contemplation. Tajwīd is the exact science of correct recitation.
For 300 years Egypt has been regarded as the centre of Qur'anic recitation both for accuracy and artistry, and its Qur'an readers are very respected and highly paid. There two styles are distinguished: murattal (ex.1), a plain style used in private devotion and for teaching, and mujawwad (ex.2), an embellished style reserved for public audition, performed by specialists trained in tajwīd (sharing the same Arabic root as mujawwad). Tajwīd, the system of rules regulating the correct oral rendition of the Qur'an, governs many parameters of sound production. These include precise duration of syllable, vocal timbre and pronunciation, with characteristic use of nasality and special techniques of vibration. Echoing silences between text sections add to the dynamic nature of presentation. Public Qur'anic recitation has a distinctive sound which has been profoundly influential as an aesthetic ideal.
Qur'anic recitation has developed considerably since the time of the Prophet Muhammad (570–632), who apparently enjoyed the mellifluous recitation of the holy words. By the mid-7th century, simple chanting was extended into a kind of conventional artistic concert performance. This reached a peak between the 9th and 12th centuries. Verses of the Qur'an were sung like secular poems to existing tunes, including folksongs and dance-songs: the court reciter of the Abbasid caliph Hārūn al-Rashīd (786–809) made the Qur'an sound almost like secular song. Florid styles of recitation spread to many cultural centres in the eastern Caliphate, North Africa and Muslim Spain. Orthodox legists condemned this as qirā'a bi-l-alhān (‘recitation to secular melody’). Such extreme secularization has not recurred, but the artistic limits of Qur'an reading are still discussed.
Today the science of recitation (tajwīd) is taught in specialized schools. These may exist for women as well as men, and in Egypt, Malaysia and Indonesia female Qur'an specialists have attained prominence. Qur'anic recitation has always been orally transmitted; notation is opposed. As a consequence, personal and regional variants developed. A significant aspect of qirā'a is the lack of regulations with regard to melody, except that it must enhance comprehension of the text and not be based on secular material.
The relationship between Qur'anic recitation and local traditional musical idioms is open. In West Africa, South Asia and South-east Asia, lay people generally modify the qirā'a towards the tonal idioms of their local traditions. In many areas Qur'anic chanting takes the form of a recitative mostly independent of the Arab art music tradition (maqām). But some complex and richly ornamented melismatic styles show a pronounced influence of the maqām tradition in their tonality and melodic construction. In countries including Egypt, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran, chanting is taught in the tonal tradition of certain maqāms. Iraqi Qur'anic reciters usually excel as secular maqām singers (also known as qāri'), but when reciting the Qur'an they do not follow the formalized melodic ordering of the Iraqi maqām. Learning the Qur'an is sometimes the first stage of a secular singer's musical education.
International communication networks are strengthening the impact of Egypt and Arabia within global Islamic culture through education, travel and the export of materials including audio-cassettes of Qur'anic recitation. Egyptian reciters visit other Muslim countries to perform during Ramadan, and Arabization in style is evident in parts of Africa, South Asia and elsewhere.
See also Egypt, §II, 1; Iraq, §II, 2; Saudi arabia.
Islamic religious music, §I: General
(Arab. adhān/azān). The adhān is performed five times daily, loudly and in public, a prominent aspect of Muslim soundscapes. Its deliberately attractive sound invites Muslims to perform the ritual prayer (salāt), regulating daily life and creating sacred time within it.
The Prophet Muhammad is said to have instituted the vocal call in order to distinguish Islamic practice from those of other religions. The first prayer-caller (muezzin, mu‘adhdhin) was Bilāl, an Abyssinian slave and early convert to Islam. The post of muezzin soon attracted great respect, and important mosques came to employ as many as 20 muezzins at a time; in the Ottoman empire they formed their own guild. The call has not always been exclusively vocal. From the 10th century in some urban areas, military/ceremonial bands, variously called tablakhāna, Naqqārakhāna, mehterhane or naubāt, sounded the prayer times on a daily basis. By the 19th century this practice had mostly died out, but in the shrine of Imām Rezā at Mashhad, Iran, a remnant of this tradition (consisting of drums and horns) sounds out at dawn and dusk (see Iran, §III, 2(iv), fig.15). In West Africa a prayer-drum (tabula) was later replaced by a vocal call.
The vocal call consists of seven or (in Shi‘a areas) eight passages, with repetitions and certain variations according to the time of day and importance of the specific prayer. It is chanted once from the minaret, then again (called iqāma) inside the mosque, directly preceding congregational prayer. Nearly all branches of Islam allow it to be sung. The text must be clearly understandable and its pronunciation impeccable.
The musical form has no rules. Styles vary from calls at a measured pace on a single note, or within a narrow range centred on one note, to richly melismatic chants with a wide range. Regional schools may assert rules based on the choice of certain maqāms; these seldom gain general acceptance, but sometimes melodic structures are related to the maqām. Rhythmic structure is influenced by the length of the syllables in the text. Melismas seem to be associated with particular words and formulaic endings. Textual repetition often leads to repeated musical phrases differing only in their final note. Unusually, the call may be collective (see Syria, §4(i)).
Broadcasting, commerce and international travel have spread the influence of the Egyptian call, considered the model and widely imitated. The use of audiotapes as a substitute for muezzins is causing a decline in variety of the adhān, and loudspeakers often produce harsh distorted sounds. In cities where Muslims are in a minority, amplification of the adhān has caused neighbourhood conflict: use of calls broadcast on the radio creates a non-intrusive abstract communal Islamic context for worship. Western media representations often debase the adhān as a ‘sound-bite’ introducing any aspect of Muslim culture.
Islamic religious music, §I: General
The Islamic lunar calendar is punctuated by two major events affecting the entire Muslim community: the annual pilgrimage to Mecca (Makkah) in Saudi Arabia and the holy month of Ramadan. These culminate in two major festivals (‘Īd): ‘Īd al-Adhā (Festival of Sacrifice) and ‘Īd al-Fitr (Festival of Charity) respectively.
Military and ceremonial bands with drums, shawms, trumpets and cymbals previously used to sound out important times of the day and year. Some examples of this tradition remain, especially marking the beginning of festivals. In Morocco, Thursday evenings (the beginning of Friday, the Muslim day of rest and prayer) are announced with trumpets (nafīr) and shawms (ghayta). Similarly, in 1975 an ensemble of four large cylindrical drums (tabl) and a shawm (alghaita) were documented playing in front of the sultan's palace in Dosso, Niger, announcing the beginning of Friday as a weekly musical event attended by the general public. Thursday evening is also the traditional time for weekly Sufi gatherings.
The Friday midday congregational prayer takes place in principal mosques (‘Friday’ mosques). The structure of observances may vary, and it is quite common for supplicatory prayers (du‘ā or munājāt) or praises to Allah (tasbīh) to be sung. At the Ummayad Great Mosque in Damascus, the main Friday prayers include specific types of solo and choral singing (see Syria, §2(iii)(b)).
The month of fasting during Ramadan has a special musical character (see §(ii) below). Within Shi‘a communities the months of Muharram and (to a lesser extent) Safar are devoted to mourning, with specific types of singing and ritual (see §III, 1 below). Joyous celebrations and instrumental music are proscribed, and Shi‘a professional musicians are not normally available.
Islamic treatises state that Mecca pilgrimage songs (tahlīl) are admissible. They may be sung on departure for Mecca, at the various stopping-points in and near Mecca, or they may be used to greet pilgrims on their return home. They are mostly choral, or solo with a choral refrain, sung by women or men according to local tradition. In Egypt they are accompanied by the mizmār baladī consisting of shawms (mizmār) and a drum (tabl baladī). Formerly military bands hailed departing pilgrims and even accompanied prominent individuals to Mecca, using a tabl al-hajj (‘pilgrims’ drum’).
At the Festival of the Sacrifice (‘Īd al-Adhā), a wealth of chanted prayers and festival invocations may be sung in mosques, at private gatherings or during the visits to cemeteries that are customary during the two principal Muslim festivals. In Turkey specifically composed pieces of Sufi origin are still performed: the bayram tekbiri (festival declamation) by Itri (d 1711/12) is used in festival ceremonies, and the bayram salati (festival prayer) by Hatib Zakiri Hasan Efendi (c1600) is sung either from the minaret or inside the mosque. Elsewhere there are festival pieces in other styles: Algerian Tuareg women perform songs for ‘Īd al-Adhā to the rhythm of a mortar drum (tinde).
The beginning and end of the fast, the nightly prayer-times and the time for pre-dawn breakfast used to be announced vocally and/or with musical instruments throughout the month. In Anatolia and other areas, ceremonial naqqārakhāna bands were replaced with large cylindrical drums (davul) or by the drum and shawm (davul-zurna). In Morocco pairs of trumpets (nafīr) are blown in the streets or from the minarets.
At night the mosques are ablaze with light, and each evening congregations gather to hear a chapter of the Qur'an recited. Qur'anic recitations are also organized in homes, with invited guests. In Turkey composed songs glorifying God (temcit) are sung from the minaret between the nightly hours of prayer. Many old Turkish compositions (ilahi) are intended for specific nights of the holy month. Children sing Ramadan evening processional songs, questing for sweets and coins (see Arab music, ex.17, from Egypt). In parts of North Africa, families sing religious songs as they gather for their evening or pre-dawn meal. Ramadan music by modern Egyptian composers also exists. Secular theatrical shows and concerts used to be common, but increased religious disapproval and the advent of television and video culture has weakened live evening entertainment traditions.
The beginning of ‘Īd al-Fitr is marked with loud public sounds: ceremonial bands, cannon-fire, gunfire or (today) modern sirens. Celebratory songs are especially found in Muslim parts of Africa.
The anniversary of the Prophet's birthday (mawlid) is celebrated on the 12th of Rabī ‘al-awwal. Observances vary considerably from region to region, and mawlid ceremonies are performed at other times of the year (see §II, 4 below). The Prophet's miraculous ascent to heaven (mi‘rāj), described in the Qur'an, is celebrated in mosques, and especially by members of Sufi and heterodox sects.
Islamic religious music, §I: General
A restricted range of devotional singing is admissible inside the mosque. The frequency of sung prayers and their position in communal devotions within mosques depends on the authority of the various law schools. Forms include the takbīr chanting of Allāhu akbar (‘God is great’), tasbīh (praise of God) and supplicatory prayers (du‘ā and munājāt). Styles range from plain recitation to highly decorative delivery. Madīh designates sung praises (for God or the Prophet). Tawshīh and ibtihāl are free-rhythm unaccompanied solo vocal improvisations on religious poetic texts performed at festivals, ceremonies or special events such as the opening of a mosque. Ilahi (‘for God’) is a general Turkish term applied to devotional invocations. In Turkey numerous art compositions have gained acceptance in the mosques through the influence of the Sufi orders, for instance the festival pieces mentioned in §5(i) above.
The na‘t is an important form glorifying the Prophet: in Turkey it sometimes precedes daily prayers. When the Timurid theoretician ‘Abd al-Qādir (d 1435) collected song texts for all occasions as an appendix to his treatise Jāmi‘ alhān (‘Compendium of melodies’), his list began with munājāt texts and na‘ts. Serious and devotional, na‘ts and munājāts may be performed unaccompanied or as an art music genre (but in the latter case not in mosques).
Madīh praise-songs are commonly performed by itinerant singers. Northern Sudan has a famous madīh tradition going back to Hajj El-Mahi of Kassinger (c1780–1870), who composed about 330 religious poems of which handwritten copies survive. They are performed by pairs of male singers with the accompaniment of two frame drums (tār), at religious festivities, at markets or outside mosques. (See Sudan and Yemen, §I, 1(v).)
Classical poetic forms common in Muslim devotional music are the ghazal and qasīda. Ghazal, an elevated form of love song treating secular and/or divine love, is used throughout Muslim Asia; within North Indian semi-classical music, it is more romantic than religious in tone (see India, §IV, 3(ii)). The qasīda (classical Arabic ode) is an extended vocal form sometimes applied to religious themes in the Arab world. Muwashshah, the technically complex song of Arab-Andalusian tradition, has sacred connections, but is less frequently performed.
Wedding songs are an important admissible expressive outlet for women; many have religious content, invoking the blessings of God and the Prophet.
Islamic religious music, §II: Sufism and popular Islam.
Sufism (Arab. tasawwuf) is an umbrella term applied to mystical practices that developed beyond the normal obligatory duties of Islam, both within and outside organized Sufi orders (tarīqa).
As a result of doctrinal controversy about the legal status of music (see §I, 2 above), early Sufi music avoided secular tunes and employed only reed-pipes, flutes and drums. Within many traditions, the frame drum (duff, tār, mizhār, dāire) remains the sole instrument used in communal rituals. From an early period the vocalization of the names of God (dhikr) became important (see §3 below). Ecstatic movements of the body were recognized as expressions of spontaneous emotion caused by experience of the divine, and head and arm movements, sometimes combined with simple steps, became incorporated into Sufi rituals. The Mevlevi order was the first to make dance as important as the dhikr (see §5 below). From the 14th century other orders adopted dance, as depicted in Persian miniature paintings (see fig.2). In Syria the samāh dance accompanied classical mūwashshah metric verses (see Syria, §2(ii)(a)).
From the 16th century the use of musical instruments and dancing was abandoned or forbidden within Shi‘a Sufi orders. Some orders (especially Shi‘a ones) gave up dance and/or musical performance altogether. Sufi music flourished within the Ottoman empire. From the 15th to 17th centuries, the Mevlevi, Rifā‘ī and Qādirī orders gained such strong recognition and political influence that they were able to develop their own music. This was strongly influenced by secular art music, which in turn influenced it (see Ottoman music). The South Asian Chishtī order is significant in its recognition of the use of musical instruments as valid in a devotional context (see §6 below).
Rituals are held at Sufi lodges or saints' shrines, on a weekly and occasional basis, with the aim of attaining union with God. They usually include dhikr (‘recollection of God’) (see §3 below). The various Sufi orders recognize spiritual ‘chains’ of transmission through male leaders; women have been largely excluded, although there are numerous ‘sister’ orders in Egypt. In Uighur Chinese Turkestan in 1989 a closed weekly ritual (zekr) for about a hundred women was documented as taking place without many of the husbands' approval.
Middle Eastern and Central Asian art music traditions are (to varying extents) imbued with Sufi concepts of spiritual audition, as reflected in the use of mystical song texts and reverential audience responses. The ethos and instrumentation of the Sūfiāna kalām of Kashmir also show these connections (see Kashmir, §3(i)). The Tunisian ma’lūf repertory is linked to Arab-Andalusian traditions preserved within Sufi lodges (see Tunisia, §1). The long Sufi poem in Persian, Mathnawī-i ma‘nawī by Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, has been spread by specialist mathnawī-singers. Its melody is found within the main vocal part of several modern dastgāhs of Persian art music (in particular the avāz-e Afshārī).
Outside the organized orders, music has an important place in certain groups which split away from Islam. Avoiding orthodox restrictions, they were able to cultivate music-making as an expression of pious emotion, developing and retaining musical forms no longer found elsewhere. The Bektaşi movement founded by Hajji Bektaş (d 1338) was accommodated within the Ottoman empire as a Sufi order, but its beliefs are heterodox, closely related to those of the Alevis and also to the Ahl-e Haqq sect (see §III, 2 below). (For an account of Yezidi sacred music and musical instruments see Kurdish music, §5.)
Islamic religious music, §II: Sufism and popular Islam.
Devotion to the Prophet Muhammad has popular expression at mawlids (see §4 below). Saints' shrines have provided an informal focus for religious music with strong popular appeal, and in Algeria, Morocco, Egypt and elsewhere saints' festivals (moussem, mawlid) with music attract thousands of pilgrims. In the Pakistani province of Sind, there are numerous musical shrines, those of Lāl Shahbāz Qalandar (d 1262) at Sehwan, and of Shāh Abdul Latīf (1690–1752) at Bhitshah being most notable (see Pakistan, §7(i)). At shrines and outside mosques, religious mendicants (variously known as faqīr, dervish, malang and qalandar) have improvised and disseminated religious folk music.
In Egypt religious singers (munshid) occupy a prominent role in rituals at shrines and in other settings. A leading exponent is Sheikh Yāsīn al-Tuhamī (b 1949), who specializes in the poetry of Ibn al-Fārid (d 1235). A munshid may be privately sponsored to sing at a layla or hafla dīniyya (‘religious night’), which includes dhikr and religious songs with melodic accompaniment (see Egypt, §II, 3).
Islamic and indigenous traditions mingle. In Liberia women sing ‘There is no god but Allah’ in Arabic while pounding rice for consumption at a funeral feast, combining the power of holy words with West African work-song. The use of religious invocations is notable in various traditional forms of therapy that employ music, divination and trance. Baluchistan is a desert area spanning south-eastern Iran and western Pakistan and influenced by African culture along its coast. There male musicians organize musical sessions (leb) to exorcize spirits (guat) believed to cause sickness. Instruments include the sorud (fiddle), with song texts drawn from well-known Persian Sufi poets and local material, including qalandar songs (see Iran, §III, 2(v)). In North Africa, Gnawa male professional musicians descended from African slaves have created musical sessions (lila: ‘night’) designed to induce healing trance states (hadra). These and other examples include pre-Islamic and non-Islamic practices and beliefs incorporated within Islamic mysticism.
In Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, vocal genres known as zikir or dikir (derived from the Arabic term dhikr) have popular appeal. Various styles use group repetitive singing of religious phrases with accompaniment on small frame drums, performed in a seated position, with coordinated body movements. In Malaysia dikir barat has developed into a form of competitive entertainment. The West Sumatran form (diki) spread from Aceh in the late 16th century, influenced by the Rifā‘ī sect whose Iraqi founder was Ahmad Rifā‘ī (d 1178).
See Indonesia, §VI; Malaysia, §I, 1(v) and (vi); and Singapore.
West Sumatra has other Sufi-derived popular genres. Indang has a lead solo singer with 11–15 musicians sitting cross-legged in a row, providing interlocking drum patterns and swaying movements of the upper body. Salawat dulang uses two singers performing interlocking continuous melodies with accompaniment on brass trays. These enliven weddings, circumcisions, death ceremonies and national and religious holidays. In Indonesia qasidah moderen (‘modern ode’) designates a popular type of religious music typically performed by a lead singer (usually female) and modern instrumentation (see Indonesia, §VIII, 1).
As the language of the Qur'an, Arabic has a special elevated status, greatly appreciated even in areas where it is not understood. The Taussig people of the sourthern Philippines have a tradition of highly melismatic songs in Arabic known as lugu, performed mainly by women (see Philippines, §II, 1(ii) (d)). (See also §III, 2(i) below.)
Islamic religious music, §II: Sufism and popular Islam.
The remarkable ecstatic rituals of the Sufis usually focus on the communal utterance (dhikr/zikr) of the sacred name of God (Allāh) and phrases such as Allāh hū (‘God is he’). The declaration (tawhīd) in Arabic of ‘There is no god but Allah’ is also commonly used. The term dhikr (or zikr) literally means the ‘remembrance’ of God. It refers both to the act of naming God and to the actual words or phrases used. In many societies it also designates the entire ritual session, but in North Africa this is called hadra (‘in the presence of [God]’) or in Sudan noba.
The Sufi dhikr rituals include recitations from the Qur'an, prayers and, optionally, singing. Group performances, coordinated by a religious leader, usually last several hours. Depending on tradition, the devotees stand, sit or dance in a circle or lines. Rhythmic breathing accompanies the constant repetition of the dhikrs, usually with regular body movements. Performance usually entails several phases, sometimes accelerating in tempo and dynamism. Many orders use frame drums for additional rhythmic effect.
Dhikr can be performed silently (as within the Naqshbandī order) or aloud, spoken or sung to a simple series of notes. Soloists or several singers (in unison or heterophony) often accompany the dhikr, commonly using classical forms such as the ghazal or qasīda. Most Ottoman orders (except the Mevlevi) formerly sang durak songs as solos or in chorus, with free improvisation, in pauses within the ritual. Turkish Sufis sometimes sing a form of mystical poetry (tevhit), which evolved from the tevhit (Arab. tawhīd) declaration ‘There is no god but Allah’. In some orders (e.g. Mevlevi and Rifā‘ī), dhikr and dance are performed side by side, complementing each other. In others dhikr, musical performance and dance-like movement may alternate or occur simultaneously. Among the Dayfī and Shadhilī in Alexandria and ‘Ammārī in Morocco, some participants dance while the rest perform the dhikr.
Outside the Sufi orders, dhikr has quite varied applications. Female dhikr performances have been documented in Transoxania (Central Asia) for many centuries. In the Ferghana valley, Uzbekistan, professional women religious practitioners (otin-oi) sing texts including classical poetry and dhikrs at life-cycle events and for problem-solving sessions (mushgelkushā). In western Afghanistan women use dhikrs as a form of lullaby. In Tajikistan female and male professional experts use them in shamanistic divinatory ceremonies (kōch) to call spirits for diagnostic and healing purposes. In Indonesia dikir maulud is used in contexts such as celebrations on passing a Qur'an-reading examination.
See also Afghanistan, §I, 4; Algeria, §2; Iran, §III, 2(i); Iraq, §II, 4; Morocco, §4(ii); Sudan, §1; Syria, §2(i); Tunisia, §§1(iv) and 2; Yemen, §I, 2(ii).
Islamic religious music, §II: Sufism and popular Islam.
The term mawlid (‘birthday’) refers to celebrations attending the Prophet Muhammad's birthday or other occasions. There are many linguistic variants, the most common being mālid, mawlūd, mevlit, mevlut, milād, mōlid and mūlid. Mawlid designates both the festival and the hymns of praise and epics about the Prophet's life performed there.
The Prophet's birthday has been celebrated since at least the 9th century, and by the end of the 12th century it had become a magnificent festival with various musical and other entertainments. According to region, the mawlid developed in very different ways, offering scope for popular musical expression in local vernacular styles. These observances are particularly important in the Arab world, Turkey and Muslim Africa, being more muted (or absent) in other areas. In South Asia the milād has developed as a women's event, held at home to mark auspicious occasions (see India, §VI, 2).
Performance of the mawlid is not restricted to the Prophet's birthday, but can mark anniversaries of local saints (held at their shrines) and official and private days of commemoration, both joyful and sad. Performances may be held in public or private spaces, including saints' shrines and mosque courtyards, but rarely in the prayer hall itself. At outdoor venues where huge crowds gather, there may be other entertainments, such as fireworks, as in Libya.
In Egypt mawlids resemble vast fairs, with dhikr performances by many different Sufi orders, funfairs and secular entertainments. The mawlid in Cairo honouring the death of Husayn (the Prophet's grandson) draws huge crowds and lasts for several weeks. The October mawlid of Abū Haggāg in Luxor features a procession of boats as in pre-Islamic ceremonies related to the annual flooding of the Nile.
As performed in the Middle East, the mawlid generally begins with an introductory recitation from the Qur'an. There are songs in the qasīda and tawshih forms, and anecdotal sections describing the Prophet's life, performed solo in improvised free rhythm. Interspersed, there may be choral songs which invite audience participation. In Iraq the mawlid is divided into four sections, each comprising three to seven maqāms, marked off by metric songs in colloquial Arabic (see Iraq, §II, 3). In Turkey mevlit compositions began using the makams of art music in the 18th century, developing ‘improvised’ settings with precise rules for the selection of makam to text, as transmitted within schools for professional mevlit singers. In rural areas of Turkey, the mevlit is performed as a recitative with a narrow range but with impressive climaxes. However, styles vary considerably. In Oman and other parts of the Gulf, mālid ceremonies are conducted by two groups of men facing one another under the leadership of a shaykh (fig.3; see also Oman, §3(iv)).
Certain texts are commonly used within the mawlid. A Turkish mevlit, Vasilet ün-nejât (‘Way to salvation’), written by Sülyman Çelebi in 1409, spread throughout the Ottoman empire, known simply as ‘the mevlit’. The Arabic text by Ja‘far al-Barzanjī (d 1765), composed of prose narratives and accompanying invocations and poems, is used in Iraq and elsewhere. In North Africa al-burda (‘the Prophet's cloak’) is the best-known epic about the Prophet, chanted in its entirety once a week at the tomb of Sharaf al-Dīn al-Būsīrī (d 1298) in the centre of Alexandria, and used in mawlids.
Essentially popular, ceremonies for the Prophet's birthday borrow extensively from local musical styles. In the Dagbon area of northern Ghana, the damba festival entails performance on the damba (hourglass drum). In the Atlas mountains of Morocco, women perform highly rhythmic group singing, accompanied by drumming (on bendīrs), hand-clapping and ululation. In Liberia the mahodi festival includes an innovative dramatic enactment by women of the birth; the audience participates with singing, dancing and hand-clapping led by a song-leader (suku-ba) performing in Arabic. There are also reciters in Arabic, and translators work phrase by phrase, directly explaining the Arabic narrative content. The educational aspect of the Prophet's birthday celebrations is evident elsewhere. In Pakistan, schools and colleges present impressive milāds, and in Egypt children participate in group singing of mawlid songs glorifying the Prophet's life and work.
Celebrations for the Prophet's birthday present considerable diversity. Types of music (which may include audience participation) allow the strong expression of emotions ranging from happiness and exhilaration, spiritual ecstasy, and even the pain of separation, as in Iraq, when songs of separation (fragiyyāt) are performed in dialect. Melodic instruments are rarely used, but Java has a sacred type of gamelan (gong/metallophone ensemble) termed gamelan sekati. This provides music for the week of Sekaten, for seven days leading up to the Prophet's birthday, performing throughout the day and most of the night.
Islamic religious music, §II: Sufism and popular Islam.
Founded by ‘Mawlānā’ Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (1207–1273), the Mevlevi (Arab. Mawlawī) order was the first to develop dance with set forms and strict rules for group performance. Its centre is at Rūmī's tomb in Konya, Turkey.
The ceremonial dance (ayin-i şerif or mukabele) has retained its sacred ethos but now also flourishes as a tourist attraction and concert phenomenon. Its standardized musical form probably originated in the 17th century, the current version being a 19th-century development. Ayin compositions can be traced back to the 16th century. Over 100 reputedly survive (some as fragments), most by well-known composers. From the 18th century some were notated and over 40 are published. With closure of the Sufi orders in Turkey in 1925, Mevlevi rituals continued clandestinely, but in 1946 the ayin became officially permitted at anniversary celebrations of Rūmī's death at Konya.
The ayin is preceded and followed by Qur'anic recitation and prayers and is accompanied by Turkish art music songs and musical instruments. The original instrumentation of end-blown flute (ney) and frame drum (def) or small kettledrums (kudüm) is retained in country districts, but in western Anatolia and Istanbul it was gradually enlarged to include several flutes, a long-necked lute (tanbur), a fiddle (rebab), several pairs of small kettledrums and a pair of cymbals (halile) (fig.4).
Three introductory passages precede the dance: the na‘t (addressing the Prophet) composed by Itri (in makam rast and türkizarb metre); a non-metric taksim on flute, establishing the underlying makam; and the instrumental peşrev in devr-i kebir metre, usually in four sections, each ending with a refrain (teslim). The dance is performed to four vocal compositions known as selams (‘salutations’), usually to texts by Rūmī or his son Sultan Veled, chosen according to the makam of the day, which used to vary from week to week. The first selam has no set metre; the second is usually slow (ağir evfer metre); the third and longest has several vocal and instrumental sections in devr-i kebir metre, ending with an aksak semai, a saz semaisi and a yürük semai; the fourth selam may be a repetition of the second. The ayin closes with an instrumental postlude (son peşrev) and a piece named after its metre, son yürük semai.
The dancers move serenely in a continuous turning motion, the head characteristically tilted and arms raised sideways, right hand turned upwards and left downwards. They move in two rings around the sheikh who slowly gyrates in the centre, breaking the formation after each selam to move around once more.
Islamic religious music, §II: Sufism and popular Islam.
The Chishtī order was founded by Mu‘īnuddīn Chishtī (d 1236), from the village of Chisht in western Afghanistan. His shrine at Ajmer, North India, is highly venerated by Muslims and non-Muslims as a pilgrimage site. It is an important centre for qawwālī, an ecstatic style performed by hereditary male professional singers with harmoniums supported by drums (dholak or tablā), hand-clapping and other voices (solo and in chorus). Chishtī Sufism is widespread in Pakistan and North India, significant for its ideology supporting the use of instrumental music in spiritual concerts (samā‘). Its major form, qawwālī, employs texts in Persian, Urdu and other local languages such as Punjabi, often by notable poets. Performers such as the Sabri Brothers and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khān have achieved commercial success and brought this music to a globalized and non-Muslim audience.
See also India, §VI, 2(ii) and Afghanistan, §I, 4.
Shi‘a communities are found in an area stretching from East Africa to India and beyond. Shi‘ism originated in the political and religious faction following ‘Alī, the Prophet Muhammad's son-in-law. Political failure and the death of ‘Alī's son Husayn in the battle of Karbala in Iraq (680) led to fervent worship of saints and martyrs, and the development of specific genres of religious recitation, lamentation and drama.
The anniversary of Husayn's death on the 10th of Muharram (Arab. ‘āshūrā: ‘tenth’) is the focus of group lamentation observed over many days (10 or 40). Special religious gatherings are held in homes and religious meeting-places (tekie; imāmbara in South Asia). In Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, male specialist rowze singers sermonize and chant recitations (rowze) about the martyrs’ lives; these may be interspersed with dirges (nowhe). The most important rowze singers are esteemed as virtuosos, and their material may overlap in structure with local art music repertories. Rowze has application at any time of the year and is used in commemorating the death of family members. Folksongs and children's songs with religious content are sung during Muharram and other occasions, including feast days such as Omar-koshūn (‘The slaying of the Caliph Omar’).
In South Asia, the Muharram assembly (majlis) opens with ornate and expressive invocations (sōz and salām) by specialist performers trained in rāga music. Accompanists support the solo melody with a vocal drone. Marsiya is a narrative style, and simple nowhe laments precede the final mātam hymns during which all the participants stand, beat their breasts and fervently call out. (For transcriptions see India, §VI, 2, ex.19 and ex.20.)
Shi‘a women may attend public mourning ceremonies, sitting separately, but they also commemorate Muharram in closed all-female gatherings at home. In Iraq, ten days of consecutive sessions (qirayyāt al-husayniyya) are led by a specialist reciter (mullāya), declaiming from a book in a highly dramatic way. Her assistants clap in rhythm, and she evokes coordinated cries from members of the audience, who also beat their chests rhythmically. Two girls loosen their hair and perform a mourning dance to a rapid rhythm. In a most impressive style (‘Indian women's style’), the women all stand, beating their chests and repeating the syllable ‘Ha’ or ‘sayn’ with accelerating speed and accented off-beats, sometimes attaining trance states.
Outdoor Muharram processions (daste-gardānī) originated in the streets of Baghdad from the 10th century. They became more elaborate after Shi‘ism became the state religion of Iran in 1502. They are performed in Iraq (centring on Karbala), Iran, Afghanistan (prior to Taliban rule), Pakistan and India (especially in Lucknow). Individual processions are organized by district, rehearsed and directed by a leader. Male performers move in rhythm through the alleys of their quarter, singing antiphonal nowhe songs and beating their breasts (sīnezanī) or striking their bare backs with small bundles of chains (zenjīrzanī). The songs are heavily rhythmic; and the blows on the performer's breast and back fall on the downbeat (see Iran, §III, 2(ii), ex.1).
Ta‘ziye is remarkable as the only type of indigenous religious drama in the Islamic world. From at least the 18th century, theatrical plays (ta‘ziye or shabih) depicting the martyrdom of Husayn were staged during Muharram and at other times, especially in Iran. They were first performed at crossroads, marketplaces and town squares, then in special buildings (tekie, tekie husayniye). The heyday of ta‘ziye was the second half of the 19th century: plays performed in Tehran's impressive royal Tekie Dawlat (built in the 1870s next to the palace) involved numerous players, a chorus and military ensemble. In Iran royal patronage was withdrawn under Pahlavi rule, and ta‘ziye was banned for a while. The corpus of ta‘ziye plays is very large, and since the 1979 Revolution there is renewed interest in Iran in this popular art. A related tradition exists in the Shi‘a village of Nabawiya in Lebanon, with an impressive presentation of the martyrdom story, an elegy singer and some choral passages by actors.
Ta‘ziye means ‘consolation’, and, like the rowze and qirayyāt al-husayniyya, its purpose is to evoke remembrance and weeping. In Iran and Iraq certain conventions are used: the ‘bad characters’, Husayn's opponents, wear red and declaim in violent shrieking voices, whereas Husayn and his party wear green and sing their parts (see Iran, §III, 2(iii), ex.2). Drums and wind instruments may be used, with different instrumentation allotted to the opposing forces.
See also Iran, §III, 2(ii) and (iii); Iraq, §III, 1(ii); and India, §VI, 2.
The term Alevi refers to Anatolian heterodox communities worshipping ‘Alī, Husayn and the Shi‘a imams; they are closely related to the Bektaşi Sufi sect. Closed ceremonial gatherings (cem) involve poetry, music and dance. They take place on feast days (including the 10th of Muharram and the Persian New Year representing ‘Alī's birthday), initiation ceremonies and private gatherings (muhabbet).
Highly respected within their own communities, Alevi musicians are among the most gifted singers in Turkey. They have considerably influenced aşik singers such as aşik Veysel. Aşik initiation dreams are modelled on Bektaşi and Alevi initiation rites, and the social criticism within aşik songs revives old Bektaşi musical traditions. The Alevi repertory includes deyiş and nefes (‘breath’) poems of mystical love. The latter are always metric (usually with six or nine beats), structurally resembling the main form of aşik poetry, koşma (see Turkey, §II, 3). Texts are by religious poets of the 14th century to 20th. Other genres are düyaz, addressed to the 12 Shi‘a imams, and mersiye laments for Husayn. Alevi musicians are skilled performers on the long-necked lute (saz or Bağlama) to which religious symbolism is attached. Its body represents ‘Alī: the neck is his sword, and the 12 strings of the large saz symbolize the 12 imams.
In Istanbul, Bektaşi music is influenced by Turkish art music. Their early 20th-century nefes songs resemble makam-style ilahi songs of other Sufi orders in tonality and form, and they are accompanied by instrumental ensembles. Emigrant communities maintain their traditions in Germany (see fig.6; see also Turkey, §VI).
This secret sect is principally Kurdish, with religious poetry performed to music as a prominent feature of its closed gatherings. The concept of music as the way to the Knowledge of God appears in many legends, and in their name, meaning ‘Followers of divine truth’. As with the Alevi, their long-necked lute has religious symbolism (see Iran, fig.14). It is used to play Kurdish folktunes (dastgāh) analogous to the Alevi makam, but dissimilar to the dastgāh of Persian art music.
In Iran ritual athletic training within the zurkhāne (‘house of strength’) has a religious character. The gymnastic exercises were originally primarily intended to train the breath. Pre-Islamic tradition mingles with the influences of medieval Islamic men's leagues and guilds, military training and Shi‘a piety. Music within the zurkhāne includes recitations of Sufi poems by the morshed (leader) to his own accompaniment on a large clay goblet drum (zarb).
a: historical sources in arabic
Islamic religious music: Bibliography
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B. Mauguin: ‘Musique de mosquée et musique de confrérie en Turquie’, ibid., 422–40
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Syed Shah Khusro Hussaini: ‘Bund samā‘ (or Closed Audition)’, Islamic Culture, xliv (1970), 177
A. Simon: ‘Islamische und Afrikanische Elemente in der Musik des Nordsudan am Beispiel des dikr’, HJbMw, i (1975), 249–78
A.L. Troitskaya: ‘Iz proshlogo kalandarov i maddakhov v uzbekistane [From the history of qalandars and maddah singers of Uzbekistan]’, Domusul' manskie verovaniia i obriadi v srednei azii, ed. G.P. Snesarev and V.N. Basilov (Moscow, 1975), 191–223
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R. Burkhardt Qureshi: Sufi Music of India and Pakistan: Sound, Context and Meaning in Qawwali (Cambridge, 1986)
J. During: Musique et extase: l'audition mystique dans la tradition soufie (Paris, 1988)
J. During: Musique et mystique dans les traditions de l'Iran (Paris, 1989)
J. During: ‘L'autre oreille: le pouvoir mystique de la musique au Moyen-Orient’, Cahiers de musiques traditionelles, iii (1990), 57–78
J. During: Baloutchistan: musiques d'extase et de guérison (1992)
J. During: ‘What is Sufi Music?’, The Legacy of Mediaeval Persian Sufism, ed. L. Lewisohn (London, 1992), 277–87
R. Sultanova: ‘Poyutchee slovo uzbekskih obrgadov’ [The singing word of Uzbek incantations], Konjik (1994), 5–105
R. Sultanova: ‘Rituels poétiques et musicaux des femmes de la vallée du Ferghana (Ouzbekistan)’, Musées/Hommes, iv (1994), 58–62
A. Hammarlund, T. Olssen and E. Ozdalga, eds.: Sufism, Music and Society in Turkey and the Middle East (Istanbul, in prep.) [incl. R. Sultanova: ‘Sufi Female Rites in Modern Uzbekistan’]
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H. Ritter: ‘Der Reigen der “tanzenden Derwisché”’, Zeitschrift für vergleichende Musikwissenschaft, i (1933), 28
A. Rifat and others, eds.: Mevlevî âyînleri [Âyîn compositions of the Mevlevî] (Istanbul, 1934–9)
E. Dermenghem: Le culte des saints dans l'Islam maghrébin (Paris, 1954/R)
F. Meier: ‘Der Derwischtanz: Versuch eines Überblicks’, Asiatische Studien, viii (1954), 107
M. Rezvani: Le théâtre et la danse en Iran (Paris, 1962)
H. Ritter: ‘Die Mevlânafeier in Konya vom 11.–17. Dezember 1960’, Oriens, xv (1962), 249
M. Molé: ‘La danse extatique en Islam’, Les danses sacrées (Paris, 1963), 147–280
H.Z. Ülken: ‘L'amour divin et la danse mystiqué’, Ilâhiyat fakültesi dergisi [Ankara], xiv (1966), 13
H.Z. Ülken: Mevlânâ ve mevlevâ a âyînleri [Mevlânâ J. Rûmî and the dances of the Mevlevî] (Istanbul, 1969)
K. Reinhard: ‘Strukturanalyse einer Hymne des türkischen Komponisten Itrî (1640–1711)’, Musik als Gestalt und Erlebnis: Festschrift Walter Graf, ed. E. Schenk (Vienna, 1970), 158–77
H.P. Seidel: ‘Studien zum Usul ‘Devri Kebir’ in den Peşrev der Mevlevi’, Mitteilungen der deutschen Gesellschaft für Musik des Orients, xi (1972–3), 7–70
S. Heper and Z. Akyığı, eds.: 43 âyîn külliyati [Collection of 43 âyîn compositions] (Konya,1973)
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H. Massé: Croyances et coutumes persanes suivies de contes et chansons populaires, i (Paris, 1938)
J. Chelhod: ‘Pèlerinage à Kadzimain, lieu saint de l'Islam’, Objets et mondes, iii (1963), 253
M. Schneider: ‘Religiöser Sport im Islam’, Rhythmus, xxxvi (1963), 4
A. Piemontese: ‘L'organizzazione della “Zurxâne” e la “Futuwwa”’, Annali: Istituto universitario orientale di Napoli, new ser., xiv (1964), 453
N. Caron: ‘La musique shiite en Iran’, Encyclopédie des musiques sacrées, ed. J. Porte, i (Paris, 1968), 430–40
M.T. Massoudieh: ‘Die Melodie Masnawī in der persischen Kunstmusik’, Orbis musicae, i (1971–2), 57–66
E. Neubauer: ‘Muharram-Bräuche im heutigen Persien’, Der Islam, xlix (1972), 249
M.T. Massoudieh: ‘Tradition und Wandel in der persischen Musik des 19. Jahrhunderts’, Musikkulturen Asiens, Afrikas und Ozeaniens im 19. Jahrhundert, ed. R. Günther (Regensburg, 1973), 73–94, esp. 76ff
J. Kuckertz and M.T. Massoudieh: Musik in Būsehr (Süd-Iran), ii (Munich and Salzburg, 1976)
P. Chelkowski, ed.: Ta'ziyeh: Ritual and Drama in Iran (New York, 1979)
M. Riggio, ed.: Ta'ziyeh: Ritual and Popular Beliefs in Iran (Hartford, CT, 1988)
G. van den Berg: Minstrel Poetry from the Pamir Mountains: a Study of the Isma‘ilis of Tajik Badakhshan (diss., U. of Leiden, 1997)
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T. Menzel: ‘Das Bektāsi-Kloster Sejjid-i-Ghâzi’, Mitteilungen des Seminars für orientalische Sprachen, xxviii/2 (1925), 92–125
A. Rifat and others, eds.: Bektaşî nefesleri [Nefes songs of the Bektāşi] (Istanbul, 1933)
E. Borrel: ‘Sur la musique secrète des tribus turques Alévi’, Revue des études islamiques, viii (1934), 241
J.K. Birge: The Bektashi Order of Dervishes (London and Hartford, CT, 1937/R)
S.N. Ergun: Bektaşî şairleri ve nefesleri [Poets of the Bektaşî and their nefes poems], i–ii (Istanbul, 1944, 2/1955) [up to the 19th century]
S.N. Ergun: Bektaşî-Kizulbas – Alevî şairleri ve nefesleri [Poets of the Bektaşî, Kizilbas and Alevî and their nefes poems], iii (Istanbul, 1944, 2/1956) [from the 19th century]
S.N. Ergun, ed.: Hatâyî divanı: şah ismail safevî, edebî hyati ve nefesleri [Collection of nefes poems of Hatâyî] (Istanbul, 1946, 2/1956)
E. Borrel: ‘Les poètes Kızıl Bach et leur musique’, Revue des études islamiques, xv (1947), 157–90
A. Gölpınarlı, ed.: Alevî-Bektaşî nefesleri [Nefes songs of the Alevi and Bektaşî] (Istanbul, 1963)
T. Bois: ‘Une secte ésotérique kurde: les Ahl-e Haqq’, Bibliotheca orientalis, xxiii (1966), 250
B. Mauguin: ‘Musique de mosquée et musique de confrérie en Turquie’, Encyclopédie des musiques sacrées, ed. J. Porte, i (Paris, 1968), 422–40, esp. 426
M. Mokri: ‘La musique sacrée des Kurdes “fidèles de vérité” en Iran’, ibid., 441–53
C.J. Edmonds: ‘The Beliefs and Practices of the Ahl-i Haqq in Iraq’, Iran, vii (1969), 89
I. Markoff: ‘The Role of Expressive Culture in the Demystification of a Sect of Islam: the Case of the Alevis of Turkey’, World of Music, xxviii/3 (1986), 42–54
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Dikr und Madih: Islamische Gesänge und Zeremonien, rec. 1974, Telefunken 66.28 192-01, 66.28 192-02 (1980) [incl. disc notes]
Syria, Zikr, Islamic Ritual Rifa'iyya Brotherhood of Aleppo, UNESCO/Audivis D 8013 (1989) [incl. disc notes]
Turquie: ceremonie des derviches Kadiri, VDE-GALLO CD 587 (1989) [incl. disc notes]
Baloutchistan: musique d'extase et de guerison, Ocora C580017, C580018 (1992) [incl. disc notes]
Kurdistan: Zikr et chants soufis, Ocora C560071, C560072 (1994) [incl. disc notes]