The Story
OrganizerJahan-e-Khusrau, the World Sufi Music Festival, was founded in 2001 by the celebrated filmmaker, artist and designer Muzaffar Ali, and is organised by his Rumi Foundation. Ali's immersion in Sufism had deepened through documentary work on Islamic mysticism and his time in Kashmir, and the festival emerged as an expression of that devotion, a three-day annual gathering dedicated to the legacy of Amir Khusrau (1253-1325), the great Sufi poet, musician and scholar who helped shape Indian music, the qawwali form and the composite Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb. The festival has long been held in the heritage settings of Delhi, most iconically at the Arab ki Sarai within the Humayun's Tomb complex, a sixteenth-century inn close to the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, with whom Khusrau is intimately associated. For its milestone 25th-anniversary (Silver Jubilee) edition in 2025, it was staged at the nearby Sunder Nursery from 28 February to 2 March, an edition attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and themed around unity. Each year the festival is built around a theme of love and harmony, presenting the mystical poetry and music of Khusrau, Rumi, Baba Bulleh Shah, Lalleshwari and other Sufi saints. Over 25 years, Jahan-e-Khusrau has gathered renowned Sufi musicians, qawwals, poets and dancers from across India and the world (performers from Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Tunisia, Morocco and beyond have graced its stages) and has travelled within India to cities including Jaipur, Lucknow, Srinagar and Patna, and abroad. Alongside the music, recent editions have added the TEH Bazaar (The Exploration of the Handmade), showcasing crafts, calligraphy, poetry and cuisine. What began as a music festival has grown into a cultural movement reviving and reinterpreting India's Sufi heritage, and stands today as the country's premier celebration of Sufi music and the syncretic spirit it embodies.
Jahan-e-Khusrau's cultural significance lies in its role as India's premier Sufi music festival and a leading custodian of the country's mystical, syncretic musical heritage. Dedicated to Amir Khusrau (a foundational figure in Indian music and the qawwali tradition) it sustains and reinterprets the devotional poetry and music of the Sufi saints for contemporary audiences. Under Muzaffar Ali and the Rumi Foundation, the festival has grown over 25 years from a concert into a cultural movement, championing the pluralistic Ganga-Jamuni ethos of love, unity and harmony across religious and cultural lines. By staging this music within Delhi's Mughal-era heritage spaces (close to the very dargah associated with Khusrau) it powerfully links living devotional music to its historical and spiritual roots, making it one of India's most culturally resonant festivals.
Jahan-e-Khusrau matters as the foremost platform for Sufi music in India and a powerful affirmation of the country's pluralistic, syncretic cultural traditions. In sustaining and reimagining the devotional heritage of Khusrau and the Sufi saints, it keeps a vital strand of Indian music and philosophy alive, fosters cross-cultural and interfaith harmony through art, and offers audiences a deeply atmospheric encounter with mysticism in Delhi's heritage settings.
Jahan-e-Khusrau has revived and globally platformed India's Sufi music heritage; honoured and transmitted the legacy of Amir Khusrau and the Sufi saints; championed a pluralistic, syncretic ethos of love and unity; and linked living devotional music to Delhi's Mughal-era heritage spaces, growing into a 25-year cultural movement.
