Islamic mysticism is known as Sufism. Almost at the same time, in the thirteenth century, Muslim mystics migrated from the heartlands of Islam to various regions of present Pakistan. They sang of the divine love and grace and most of the people were converted to Islam under the influence of their teachings transmitted through the subtle medium of poetry. From that time onward Sufi concept of love remains popular in Pakistan. Even today their shrines are a favourite haunt of the teeming millions. Sufi poetry is one of the most fascinating aspects of Pakistani folklore. The saint poets sang of the Sufi love in not only the highly cultivated languages like Persian and Urdu but also in the regional languages and dialects. These local variations on the theme of universal Sufi love constitute the subject of my study. Fateh Muhammad Malik is a scholar of international repute. He has authored more than two dozen books on men and matters and has published several articles in journals of international repute. Until recently he was the Rector of the International Islamic University, Islamabad. Before this, he was the Chairman of National Language Authority (NLA). Prior of joining the NLA, Prof. Malik was Director the National Institute of Pakistan Studies, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. He was the Iqbal Distinguished Professor at the University of Heidelberg, Germany (1984-88 & 1992-96) and the South Asia Fellow at Columbia University, New York (1974).

1. Islam ? Pakistan ? Poetry.