Sacred Music

After nearly six months and several thousand miles, I hope to upkeep this blog regularly once more… and to begin, here is a saying attributed to the great saint and teacher of the Folk, Junayd al Baghdadi, may God sanctify his secret:

The Great Master Junayd was asked why the Sufis felt such powerful emotions in their spirit and the urge to move their body when listenning to sacred music. This was his reply:

“When God asked the souls in the spirit world, at the moment of the First Covenant ‘Am I not your Lord?’ the gentle sweetness of the divine words penetrated each soul for ever, so that whenever one of them hears music now, the memory of this sweetness is stirred within him causing him to move.”

This post is dedicated to the late muqri and leader of the munshiddin of the Great Ummayad Mosque of Damascus, Shaykh Hamza Shakkur, may God be pleased with him, who passed away last year.