Taajdaar-e Haram: Praying for Grace

AI-generated art depicting Muslim pilgrims arriving in Arabia via sea

“Taajdaar-e Haram” is a devotional qawwali famously performed by the late Sabri Brothers, Ghulam Farid Sabri (1930-1994) and Maqbool Ahmed Sabri (1945-2011), from Pakistan. Their live rendition of this hymn is rich and complex, containing excerpts from poems written by diverse authors in different languages and time periods.

Zihaal-e Miskeen: A Bilingual Masterpiece

A reclining Mughal prince, perhaps Dara Shukoh, observing the women in his garden. 18th century CE.

Attributed to the legendary Ameer Khusrau, “Zi-haal-e Miskeen” is a romantic ghazal that alternates between Farsi (Persian) and Braj Bhasha, a dialect of Hindi. Although its true authorship is unclear due to a lack of historical records, it is one of Khusrau’s most well-known poems, particularly because of its unique bilingual structure.