This music is supposed to have been originated directly from Sufism. Sufism is a mystic and ascetic movement which originated in the Golden Age of Islam, from about the 9th to 10th centuries. The emergence of Sufism is a consequence of the wide geographical spread of Islam after the Rashidun conquests, and the resulting absorption of a wide range of mystic traditions from outside Arabia, especiall
y Greater Persia. Sufism became a more formalized movement by the 12th century, and was a very successful movement throughout the Muslim world during the 13th to 16th centuries. There also were numerous Sufi orders active in the modern period, especially in non-Arab parts of the Muslim world. Muslims of South Asia prominently follow the Chishtiyya, Naqshbandiyyah, Qadiriyyah and Suhrawardiyyah orders. Of them the Chishti order is the most visible. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, a disciple of Khwaja Usman haaroni, the propounder of this order, introduced it in India. He came to India from Afghanistan with the army of Shihab-ud-Din Ghuri in 1192 AD and started living permanently in Ajmer from 1195. Centuries later, with the support of Mughal rulers, his shrine became a place of pilgrimage. Turkic conquests in South Asia were accompanied by four Sufi mystics of the Chishtiyya order from Afghanistan: Moinuddin (d. 1233 in Ajmer), Qutbuddin (d. 1236 in Delhi), Nizamuddin (d.1335 in Delhi) and Fariduddin (d.1265 in Pakpattan now in Pakistan) . During the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq, who spread the Delhi sultanate towards the south, the Chistiyya spread its roots all across India.[ The Sufi shine at Ajmer in Rajasthan and Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi belong to this order. Some Sufis under the Chishtiyya order were not against absorbing ideas from the Hindu Bhakti movement and even used Hindi for their devotional songs. However, the orthodox Ulama with royal support insisted that the Sufis go "back to Shariat". Even though the Ulama had certain differences with Sufis over theological and mystic issues, the Shariat remained a cementing force between them.
