Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi/Ajmer

The 15th International Sufi RangFestival2022 kicked off on October 1 at Ajmer Sharif Dargah and celebrated divine love through sacred arts, calligraphic inscriptions, spiritual musical renditions, Sufi poetry, and a seminar on Sufism. Besides, live workshops on Indo-Islamic calligraphy were also held in the exhibition that closed with a colourful ceremony on Thursday amidst India’s noted artists, cultural revivalists, filmmakers, directors, poets, and writers. At the festival, Global Peace Awards were conferred upon eminent personalities and thought leaders for serving the nation.

I happened to attend the 15th edition of this annual week-long exhibition titled “International Sufi Rang Festival 2022” at the 800-year-old shrine of Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Moinuddin Hasan Chishty. The exhibition is conceived by Haji Syed Salman Chishty, a culturally active custodian of Dargah Ajmer Sharif and the chairman of the Chishty Foundation.

The event curator is Yusuf Hussain Gori—an Indian-origin artist from Bharuch, Gujarat, globally acclaimed for his calligraphic inscriptions.

A scene from the Sufi festival

Haji Syed Salman Chishti told Awaz-the voice that the International Sufi Rang Festival (ISRF) has been conceived to celebrate the Divine Love through Sacred Arts, calligraphic inscriptions, sculptures, spiritual musical renditions, Sufi Poetry, and national seminars on Sufism as well as live workshops on Indo-Islamic calligraphy.

“Heart to Heart dialogue for peace, unity, harmony, and serving all creation with unconditional love stands as the noble teachings of Khawaja Moinuddin Hasan Chishty Gharib Nawaz and these pluralistic practices of the Chishti Sufi Order are being disseminated among thousands of Chishti devotees from across India, South Asia and different countries around the world through the ISRF”, he said.

Among those who attended the inaugural function included IG Rupender Singh, District Collector Anshdeep, Rouble Nagi, famous Indian visual artist who founded the Rouble Nagi Art Foundation, Misaal Mumbai and Misaal India, along with Dubai-based renowned business leader and philanthropist Suresh Miranda and his wife Aisha Miranda.

Rupender Singh, highlighted the significance of Sufi culture and arts in strengthening national integration, and socio-religious and communal harmony. "We need to make concerted efforts to keep alive the collective spirit of the nation through the great art exhibitions such as the International Sufi Rang Festival", he said at the inaugural function.

The ISRF happens to be the biggest Sufi art festival in India, with a blend of a unique art exhibition and daily discourses on the universal values of Sufism. For the past 15 years, the festival has been bringing together noted Sufi artists, calligraphers, painters, curators, and visual artists from across the country and the world to celebrate the Sacred Arts.

Conversations taking place at the Sufi Festival

Hosted and organized by the Ajmer-based Chishty Foundation, the festival is held inside the majestic Sufi courtyard of Dargah Ajmer Sharif famed as Mehfil e Sema Khana (spiritual audition hall). Several artists from 40 different countries have participated in this 15th edition with their digital representations of Sacred Artworks in this week-long exhibition of sacred Sufi arts—calligraphy, Sufi poetry, Sufi music (Sema and Qawwali) which concluded on 7th October.

On October 3, the Chishty Foundation in collaboration with an apex body of Sufi-oriented Indian Muslims, All India Ulama and Mashaikh Board (AIUMB) organized a seminar on “Sufi thought and its contemporary discourses” as part of the 15th ISRF at Chishty Manzil located in Dargah Garib Nawaz Complex. The executive members of the board, including the President and Chairman of the World Sufi Forum, Hazrat Syed Mohammad Ashraf Kichhochavi, also attended the seminar. A considerable number of Sufi authors and scholars brainstormed the issues impacting the country’s social fabric and cultural atmosphere.

Talking about the need for an overhaul of the Sufi community in India, HazratKichhochaviintroduced a fresh perspective on Sufi thought and tradition. He said that in the current situation, there is a dire need for allaying mistrust and communal hatred everywhere in the country. “Those thousands of years which preserved our syncretic culture must be recalled to value our national strength and the only way is the path of Sufis whose destination is unconditional love”, he said.

National Executive Member of the AIUMB, Syed Naseeruddin Chishti, Vice-President of the Gujarat unit of the board Syed Muhammad Ali Qadri, National Executive Member of the Board, Syed Anwar Jafri Al Madari, General Secretary of the Board’s Youth WingMaulana Abdul MoidAzhari, AIUMB's media in-charge Yunus Mohani and office in-charge Maulana Azeem Ashraf also spoke from their papers on various related themes. The seminar was moderated by Indo-Islamic scholar Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi, a noted writer on Sufism and Islamic affairs in India.

The 6th day of the ISRF witnessed an incredible zest from both dignitaries as well as the audience which are academicians, scholars, writers, and noted Sufi artists and calligraphers from around 40 states in India. While the enthralling exhibition of sacred Sufi arts and calligraphic inscriptions workshops continued throughout the day, the blissful night of the 10th Rabi-ul-Awwal marked a historic occasion. A gamut of film industry celebrities, bureaucrats, media producers, and literary figures exhibited an avid interest in appreciating the sacred Sufi arts through their remarkable interactions and public addresses.

Leaders of all faiths participating in the Sufi festival

Former Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University, Lieutenant General Zameer Uddin Shah lauded the initiative as an incredible effort towards Shah lauded the initiative as an incredible effort towards strengthening the social fabric of the country. He asserted that the true Sufi is the one who is actively engaged in social and humanitarian service with an indefatigable commitment. "A Chishti is the one who embraces one and all irrespective of caste, creed and culture", he said.

Noted filmmaker, poet and cultural revivalist Muzaffar Ali spoke eloquently about the sacred arts and aesthetics referring to the Islamic spirituality as evidenced in the holy Qur'an and the Prophetic traditions including the famous Hadith as follows: "Allah is the Most Beautiful and [therefore] He loves the Beauty". He encompassed the various dimensions of Sufi conception of the beauty and aesthetics in his brief, yet insightful address. 

Prominent Indian classical singer of the Dhrupad Genre, Padma Shri UstadWasifuddinDagar heaped high praises on the celebration of Sufi Rang Festival, stressing the need for a consistent effort for highlighting the importance of cultural festivity and plurality through the sacred arts, especially the soulful Sufi music. The 20th generation modern Dhrupad vocal master who has been rendering beautiful form of Dhrupad as his family tradition, holding concerts in India and internationally, mesmerized the mixed gathering of artists and academics, bureaucrats and filmmakers.

Blending patient phrases with fine rhythmic control and an effortless vocal elasticity, UstadDagar left the audience spellbound, reminding them of his father, noted Dhrupad singer Ustad Nasir FaiyazuddinDagar. Tellingly, Dhrupad is one of the oldest surviving classical traditions today dating from the 15th century when a Dagar was a court musician for the Mughal Emperor Akbar. And it is continuing to this date with UstadWasifuddinDagar. The Sufi Rang Festival in Ajmer Sharif has been trying to revive India's various classical musical traditions including the genre of Dhrupad rendering.

Chairman of Lokmat Media Group, pioneering journalist and veteran parliamentarian, Shri Vijay Jawaharlal Darda was also among the Guests of Honour during this session of the 15th ISRF-2022. As a compassionate philanthropist & son of a Freedom Fighter, Shri Darda inspired the event organizers, curators, and volunteers, commending the herculean efforts being exerted by the Chishty Foundation for peace-making and nation-building.

Mohit Chauhan speaking at the festival

During the ISRF, the Chishty Foundation of Ajmer Sharif conferred World Peace Awards upon all Guests of Honor and dignitaries for their visionary guidance, exceptional leadership, and unconditional commitment to serving the nation and humanity at large. All the dignitaries were felicitated by the holy shrine's custodians—Khuddam-e-Khwaja Saheb—with the traditional dastarbandi (turban-tying ceremony).

Significantly, Hazrat Baba Tajuddin (R.A) Trust, Nagpur was honored and felicitated through the Trust Secretary, Taj Ahmad Raja. The Trust Chairman is the famous Oxygenman Pyare Khan, a Nagpur-based businessman who shot to fame for his incredible relief work for the Covid patients during the 2nd COVID wave, He was also recalled on this occasion. Besides them, Fatima Farrah Chishti, a Dubai-based woman entrepreneur, business leader, philanthropist, social activist, and Sufi devotee Saira Haleem Shah (daughter of Lieutenant General Zameer Uddin Shah) was also honoured. Simultaneously, Ata Muhammad Nizami Shah Taj Qadri Baba from Guntur, Andhra Pradesh along with Syed Ahfaz Ali, Sajjadanashin at HazratShafi Baba Qadri, Nagpur were also felicitated by Khuddam-e-Khwaja Saheb. 

In the end, Dhrupad singer Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar amazed the audience with his beautiful and soulful Sufiyana music. Dignitaries took great interest in the live workshops and interactive sessions on the Calligraphic Inscriptions, Sacred Arts, and Spiritual Ethos being imparted in the MefilKhana as part of the International Sufi Rang Festival. 

The festival brought together not just Sufi artists and calligraphers but also filmmakers and musicians of great repute. In the closing ceremony after the Friday prayer, a crowd of shrine visitors turned up at the festival which welcomed and felicitated the famous filmmaker Imtiyaz Ali and prominent Indipop singer Mohit Chauhan. They spoke about their inner spiritual journey of rising beyond the mundane affairs in their divine love cleansing the internal self. The director of block-buster Rockstar which is popularly known today as “tale of Sufi Wisdom”, Imtiyaz Ali began his talk with a famous couplet of Persian Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi: “What you seek is seeking you”, which was the tagline of Shahrukh Khan-starrer Jab Harry Met Sejal, a romantic movie written and directed by Ali.

“Cinema is one of the most important and influential art forms today which has fairly contributed to the dissemination of universal values of Sufism through mystical music”, Ali concluded. Afterward, Mohit Chauhan, who is known for his best work and soulful Sufi songs in Hindi films, sang the famous spiritual lyrics “O NadaanParindeyGharAa Jaa" from the super-duper hit Rockstar. “This was a tribute to Hazrat Khwaja Gharib Nawaz and his message of unconditional love which echoes throughout the movie”, he said.

Dargah Ajmer Sharif Gaddi NashinHaji Syed Salman Chishty, the organizer and conceiver of the festival and ChairmanofChishty Foundation extended a vote of thanks to all artists, participants, and distinguished guests of the ISRF-2022. In his conclusive remarks, he said that art is the mirror of culture and the epitome of society. Sufi is a lover of art because art attracts everyone without discrimination. Culture binds us in a thread of love.

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Several organisers including Anjuman President Haji Ghulam Kibriya Chishty, Syed KalimuddinChishty, Syed NatiqChishty, Syed MunnawarChishty, Shaikh Subhan Chishty, Shaikh NavedSabzwari, Shaikh Ziauddin Chishty, Syed Nawaz Chishty, Syed AfshanChishty, along with Chishty Sufi Community members were also among the eminent guests from civil society, Ajmer District Officials, Collectorate Representatives, and Municipal Corporations Officials, Dargah Committee Representatives, Shri Paras Jangid - District High-Security Jail Superintendent and former Jail Officer Training College Principal, Radha Soami Santsang Ajmer District officials and interfaith leaders of SarvDaramMaitri Sanstha, Ajmer City also attended the opening and closing ceremonies of the 15th International Sufi Rang Festival.

Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi is an Indo-Islamic scholar and writer on Sufism.