Film Discussion – Sufi Soul
William Dalrymple, an author and historian, explores different perspectives of Islam. Sufi Soul: The Mystical Music of Islam shows Dalrymple embarking on a personal path into the mystical and musical aspects of the Muslim religion as he records the cultures and traditions of Sufi music in various countries such as India and Syria. He specializes in the history and traditions of South Asia and the Middle East. His primary thesis presented in the film is that music is a core component of Sufism and its traditions.
Throughout history, the West has been predisposed to discriminate against the Islamic realm. For centuries, Christians have taken it upon themselves to ‘liberate’ lands for the non-believers, causing chaos to other religious groups such as Muslims. Before the coming of the Crusades, Christians who resided in the Middle East learned to co-habit peacefully with Muslim and Jewish believers (Özyeşilpinar and Jabeen, n.p). The film explores the practices of a particular group of Islam, the Sufis, to demonstrate the depth of influence those individuals wield on the global population.
Dalrymple takes the audience in a guided direction towards various sites, Syria, Pakistan, Turkey, Morocco, and India, as he illustrates instances of the manner in which music and poetry are used in Sufi worship and beliefs. More so, he uses interviews with numerous musicians to explain the fundamental principles of Sufism and slowly constructs an image of a faith that is significantly distinct from the one that most people presume (Sonneborn, p. 180). However, Dalrymple does not deflect that uncompromising religious activities exist. Nevertheless, he ventures on a journey to enlighten the audience that, similar to the different types of Christians, Hindus, and Jews, there exist different groups of Muslims.
The most interesting aspect of the film is Dalrymple’s appreciation for the distinctive influences that Indic cultures demonstrate to the entire globe. The author lived for about twenty-five years in India, which critically contributes to his intense knowledge of Indian culture. In essence, the writer is sympathetic to the perspectives that Indian beliefs of nonviolence, such as meditation, yoga, vegetarianism, and oneness with God, have influenced the Western spiritual understanding through Gnosticism and Sufism (Özyeşilpinar and Jabeen, n.p). Therefore, I learned that Sufism is a Muslim practice that comprises the syncretism of both the Eastern and Western holiness.
What is most appealing about Sufism is the manner in which it disintegrates the audiences’ preconceptions of Islam. Dalrymple shares his eagerness in ‘Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music of Islam’. The documentary dives into the history and assortment of Sufi music across the Muslim realm (Sonneborn, p. 185). It incorporates the 13th-era Sufi mystic Rumi, the creator of Whirling Dervishes in Turkey, Pakistan’s qawwali music, and Morocco’s spiritual healing practice.
Considering the increase in the awareness of Islamic fundamentalism, I learned that the Sufi shrine in Delhi is gaining recognition more than in historical times. It is a location where Hindus, Christians, Muslims, and Sikhs gather to worship, exert their wishes to a superior being, and listen to qawwali together. In particular, Sufism is not something strange or unearthly, but it acts in a tangible manner to comfort India’s decaying religious injuries (Özyeşilpinar and Jabeen, n.p). As such, the prosperity of qawwali and other types of Sufi music on platforms around the globe illustrates the music petition to non-Muslims.
Moreover, the film captures the mystical sounds of Islam, conveying messages of compassion, concord, and broad-mindedness. Sufis believe in and embrace the presence of God through personal restoration. Their followers use music as a medium to grow close to the Divine One (Sonneborn, p. 210). What I found strange is that the movie discovered that Christians and Muslims both share roots in the Middle East, realizing that Sufism is a peaceful yet pluralistic stronghold with a global following.
Conversions of the lyrics surprised the holy persons who define God’s love based on human connections. For instance, they generated poems about the compassion between a male and female as a metaphor to express and explore the love of God. Therefore, a poem appraising a man’s love for a woman would refer to a love poet of God’s divine love (Sonneborn, p. 228). Perhaps the most famous of these composer saints was the 13th-century mystic Rumi, whose narratives and beliefs significantly shaped most of contemporary Sufi thought.
I find that the critical documentary explores various regional practices within Sufism and its numerous musical styles. The major characteristic illustrated is connecting the divine through music, especially for the Muslims who embody the mystical dimension of Islam. The movie records the relationships between Muslims and Christians and provides insightful narratives about Turkey, Pakistan, India, and other Middle Eastern establishments engaging in traditional tunes of Sufi.
Works Cited
YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiwRGkQQm9I
Özyeşilpinar, Eda, and Firasat Jabeen. “Studying Orientalism in Sufism.” The Routledge Handbook of Comparative World Rhetorics: Studies in the History, Application, and Teaching of Rhetoric Beyond Traditional Greco-Roman Contexts (2020).
Sonneborn, D. A. “Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music of Islam.” Yearbook for Traditional Music 42 (2010): 178-238.
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Question 
Film Discussion – Sufi Soul
Respond to either one of the following in 750 words:
Watch the film Sufi Soul. The link is provided to you under the relevant week under the Weekly Sessions folder on Blackboard. Discuss what you learned from this film. Discuss what you found strange, unexpected, interesting, or confusing about the content of the film in the context of your own personal experiences of music and/or
2) Analyze any one of the readings on chant in the Hindu, Islamic, or Christian context and summarize its key points.