Twilight of the Sultanate c17.s3.32

c17.s3.32

Rich and poor, high and low,³⁸ men and women, all used to become disciples of saints. Their Khanqāhs (monasteries) were the meeting place of scholars, nobles and commoners, and some of the books written by their disciples constitute a valuable source of social history. Musical concerts were a common feature at the Khanqāhs, and Qawwāls used to pass whole nights singing the praise of the Almighty. Great trust was reposed in the spiritual power of the saints; popular superstition credited them with the possession of supernatural powers.³⁹ Although the Sūfī saints could not rise above the superstitions of the age and believed in alchemy and miracles,⁴⁰ yet they, unlike the Mullās, clung not to the letter of the Holy Book but to its spirit. Their renunciation, simplicity and piety had a salutary effect upon the lives of the people.⁴¹ Large-scale conversions of the Hindus were due not to the efforts of the rulers, 'Ulemā or Mullā, but those of the Sūfī saints.