In the luminous tapestry of Sufi music, few performances echo as deeply as "Rukh Benuma Ke Aye Pari"—a qawwali steeped in ecstatic longing, metaphysical vision, and lyrical beauty. Rendered masterfully by the legendary Ustad Farid Ayaz & Ustad Abu Muhammad during The Dream Journey Sessions (DJ2016), this nearly 25-minute experience breathes life into the Persian verses of Hazrat Jamaluddin Haansvi (RA), a 13th-century mystic and poet of the Chishti Order.
An Invocation of Love Divine (0:00 – 1:10)
The journey opens with the haunting refrain: "Menda Ishq vi Tu, Menda Yaar vi Tu" — You are my love, You are my beloved. These words are repeated like a sacred chant, immersing the listener into a world where the beloved is both the path and the destination. The duo’s powerful vocal symmetry lays the spiritual groundwork for what is to come.
The Preamble Verse – A Covenant Under Heaven (1:10)
"Wafa ki Meine Bunyaad Aaj Zer-e-Aasmaan Rakhdi"
Today, I’ve laid the foundation of fidelity beneath the open sky. A solemn pledge is declared. This preamble verse sets the qawwali’s moral and emotional tone—one of spiritual surrender, unwavering loyalty, and boundless devotion.
Return to the Heart’s Cry (3:07)
The earlier refrain returns, now imbued with new intensity. The repetition becomes almost incantatory: "Menda Ishq vi Tu, Menda Yaar vi Tu" The lover's voice grows more urgent, more consumed.
Silence or Praise – Nothing in Between (3:47)
"Yaa Tera Tazkara Kare Har Shaqs, Yaa Koi Hamse Guftugu Na Kare"Either everyone speaks only of You, or no one should speak to us at all. A declaration of radical love—the kind that tolerates no rival. The poet draws the line between the sacred and the profane, between divine remembrance and worldly noise.
The Radiant Moment – The Title Verse (4:00)
Here arrives the heart of the qawwali: "Rukh Benuma Ke Aye Pari, Subhe Umeed-e-Mun Tuii"O celestial beauty, reveal your face! You are the morning of my hope. With divine imagery and mystical yearning, this moment is pure illumination. The instrumentation swells. The audience is drawn into a shared unveiling, as if the veil of the divine is momentarily lifted.
Sargam – The Celestial Notes (13:28)The classical interlude begins. The ustads explore the sargam (solfège syllables) with breathtaking dexterity, transforming syllables into shimmering light, giving form to the formless.
A Nostalgic Invocation – Bilawal Raag (14:40 & 17:56)
"Ae Dayya Kahan Gaye Vo Log Braj ke Basaiyya" O sister, where have the people of Braj gone? Sung in Raag Bilawal, these verses echo a plaintive call across time, yearning for the vanished purity of Krishna’s land—an allegory for spiritual loss and the decay of mystical traditions.
The Age of Lust, the Fall of Vision (16:02)
"Har Bulhavas ne Husn-Parasti Shaaar ki, Muddat Hui Voh Sheva-e Ahl-e-Nazar Gaya" Every lustful one now worships beauty; it’s been ages since the conduct of the true seers disappeared.
This moment marks a poignant turn in the qawwali—a sorrowful critique not just of society, but of the decay within the very sacred tradition of spiritual art. The verse mourns the eclipse of ahl-e-nazar—those of inner sight, the true visionaries—drowned out by a culture obsessed with outer form.
Here, Ustad Farid Ayaz breaks from the poetry to voice an unscripted lament of his own:
There are no longer those keen listeners who once sat with reverence, listening with the ears of the heart. Nor, he says with heavy grief, are there many left who can truly recite qawwali as it was meant to be—rooted in adab (etiquette), ilm (knowledge), and ishq (divine love).
His voice quivers with both defiance and sorrow, a cry from the soul of a master who has witnessed the erosion of his sacred lineage. The moment is unsparing, yet filled with deep love for the tradition. It’s not merely nostalgia—it’s a wake-up call to the seekers, the students, and the inheritors of this art. In that haunting silence between words, the message rings clear: true qawwali is not performance—it is presence, it is purity, it is prayer.
Sargam & Tarana – The Sacred Storm (20:37)
The finale bursts into an electrifying Tarana: "Zeelaf... Dir Dir Toum Na Dir Dir Toum Na Dera Na" Syllables dissolve into rhythm; rhythm into trance. The ecstatic energy lifts the room. Language becomes vibration, and vibration becomes union. This is no longer performance—it is wajd, a spiritual rapture.
A Living Transmission of Devotion
"Rukh Benuma Ke Aye Pari" is not just a qawwali—it is a spiritual ascent. Guided by the transcendent voices of Ustad Farid Ayaz & Ustad Abu Muhammad, it becomes a threshold: between this world and the next, between form and essence, between longing and union.
In the luminous legacy of Persian qawwalis, this rendition stands as a beacon—an offering to the Divine, a reminder of love’s purest form, and a testament to the enduring flame of Sufi mysticism.
