Allah Hoo (Allah hu) is a traditional Sufi chant (

dhikr ''Dhikr'' ( ar, ذِكْر}, , also spelled ''Zikr'', ''Thikr'', ''Zekr'', or ''Zikar'', literally meaning "remembrance, reminder" or "mention") is a form of Islamic meditation in which phrases or prayers are repeatedly chanted in order to remem ...

) consisting of the word for

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

(, ') run together three times, followed by Truth (

haqq Haqq ( ar, ''ḥaqq'') is the Arabic word for truth. In Islamic contexts, it is also interpreted as right and reality. Al-Haqq, 'the truth, is one of the names of God in the Qur'an. It is often used to refer to God as the Ultimate Reality in I ...

): ''Allāhu Allāhu Allāhu Haqq'', itself repeated three times over. According to Sufi tradition, this formula was introduced by

Abu Bakr Abu Bakr Abdallah ibn Uthman Abi Quhafa (; – 23 August 634) was the senior companion and was, through his daughter Aisha, a father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, as well as the first caliph of Islam. He is known with the honori ...

as he initiated the

Naqshbandi The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نه‌قشه‌به‌ندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...

tradition (Kabbani 2003 p. 87). Other Dhikrs consist of simple ''Allāhu Allāhu'' run together 400 or 600 times. "Allah Hoo" is also a popular title for

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

-language Sufi devotional

qawwali Qawwali (Punjabi: (Shahmukhi), (Gurmukhi); Urdu: (Nasta'liq); Hindi: क़व्वाली (Devanagari); Bengali: কাওয়ালি ( Bengali)) is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating from the Indian subcontine ...

Etymology

The "Hoo" is due to the nominative suffix ( i`rab) ''-u'' (

ḍamma The Arabic script has numerous diacritics, which include: consonant pointing known as (), and supplementary diacritics known as (). The latter include the vowel marks termed (; singular: , '). The Arabic script is a modified abjad, where sh ...

) being pronounced before initial vowel, as the word ''Allahu'' is run together several times: ''Allahu Allahu Allahu'' is rendered as /al:a:hual:a:hual:a:h/ (compare the phrase ''

Allahu Akbar Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", a ...

'' where the ''-u'' is also audible). In traditional Sufi chant, the length of the ''-u'' is exaggerated. As a

noun phrase In linguistics, a noun phrase, or nominal (phrase), is a phrase that has a noun or pronoun as its head or performs the same grammatical function as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently o ...

, the chant is interpreted as meaning "God is".

Haqq Haqq ( ar, ''ḥaqq'') is the Arabic word for truth. In Islamic contexts, it is also interpreted as right and reality. Al-Haqq, 'the truth, is one of the names of God in the Qur'an. It is often used to refer to God as the Ultimate Reality in I ...

is the Arabic for "truth", so that the full dhikr translates to "God is. God is. God is Truth."the naat starts of like this Allahu diya paiyan pukaran aqa aye ayan bharan

Qawwali

Qawwalis titled "Allah Hoo" have been performed by many different qawwals. Although these songs have the same title, many of them are totally different songs. For example, the "Allah Hoo" that appears on the

Sabri Brothers The Sabri Brothers (Punjabi, ) were a musical band from Pakistan who were performers of Sufi qawwali music and were closely connected to the Chishti Order. They are considered as one of the greatest Sufi qawwali singers of all times. The Sab ...

1998 CD ''Qawwali: Sufi Music from Pakistan'' is totally different from the song that became one of

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ( pa, ; born Pervez Fateh Ali Khan; 13 October 1948 – 16 August 1997) was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director. He was primarily a singer of qawwali — a form of Sufi devotional music. Sometimes c ...

's signature qawwalis, and this in turn is totally different from

Qawwal Bahauddin Ustad Bahauddin Khan Qawwal (1934 – 3 February 2006) ( ur, أستاذ قوّال بهاءالدين) was a Pakistani Qawwali musician.Tajdar-e-Haram "Tajdar-e-Haram" () is a qawwali performed by the Pakistani musical group, Sabri Brothers and written by Mirza Muhammad Hakim, a 16th century Mughal prince and brother to Emperor Akbar. 1982 version In 1982, Sabri Brothers recorded this q ...

, vol. 2" (although all three songs do have some lyrics in common). Versions of the song have also been sung by many other qawwals and Sufi singers, including

Hans Raj Hans Hans Raj Hans is an Indian singer who later became a politician. He is a member of Bharatiya Janata Party and a recipient of the civilian honour of Padma Shri. He sings Punjabi folk and Sufi music as well as in movies and has also released hi ...

, Master Salim, Faiz Ali Faiz, and the

Nooran Sisters The Nooran Sisters are Sultana Nooran (born 14 June 1992) and Jyoti Nooran (born 24 February 1994) who are a devotional Sufi singing duo from Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India. Born to a family of Sufi musicians, they perform Sham Chaurasia gharana c ...

. Versions of the song have been translated into other languages. An English version is sung by

Sami Yusuf Sami Yusuf (born 21 July 1980) is a British singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer. He gained international attention with the release of his debut album, '' Al-Muʽallim'', in 2003. As of 2020, he has released eight studio al ...

on the album '' Al-Muʽallim'' (2003), while a Malay version is sung by a popular Malaysian

Nasheed A nasheed (Arabic: singular ', plural ', meaning: "chants") is a work of vocal music, partially coincident with hymns, that is either sung '' a cappella'' or with instruments, according to a particular style or tradition within Islam. Nashe ...

group

Raihan Raihan (derived from the Arabic word ''Rayḥān'' ( ar, رَيـحَـان), "Fragrance of Heaven") is a Malaysian nasheed group originally composed of five members that became popular in Malaysia with the release of their debut album ''Pu ...

. It is also a song by Sufi rock musician

Salman Ahmad Salman Ahmad ( ur, , born 12 December 1963) is a Pakistani born-American musician, rock guitarist, physician, activist, occasional actor and professor at the City University of New York. He earned nationwide popularity in 1998 for his uniqu ...

, formerly of Junoon, the Pakistani rock band. In 1st season of ''

Coke Studio (Pakistan) ''Coke Studio'' ( ur, ) is a Pakistani television programme and international music franchise which features studio-recorded music performances by established and emerging artists. It is the longest-running annual television music show in Pakis ...

'', "Allah Hu" was sung by

Ali Zafar Ali Zafar ( pa, ; born 18 May 1980) is a Pakistani singer-songwriter, model, actor, producer, screenwriter and painter. Zafar started out on Pakistani television before becoming a popular musician. He later also established a career in Bo ...

along with Saaein Tufail Ahmed in 2008. In 2nd season of ''

Coke Studio (India) Coke Studio India, officially titled Coke Studio @ MTV is an Indian television programme, which features live studio-recorded music performances by various artists. Coke Studio combines myriad musical influences, from Hindustani, Carnatic an ...

'', "Allah Hu" was sung by

composed by Hitesh Sonik in 2012. "Allah Hu" in its basic naat form was penned by the late Maulana Syed Hasan Imdad of Pakistan.

References

{{reflist *Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, ''Classical Islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition'' (2003) * Josef Kuckertz, ''Was ist indische Musik?'', ''

Archiv für Musikwissenschaft The ''Archiv für Musikwissenschaft'' is a quarterly German-English-speaking trade magazine devoted to music history and historical musicology, which publishes articles by well-known academics and young scholars. It was founded in 1918 as the ...

'' (1996), p. 99. *Charles Wolverton, '' 'Ballyhoo' '', American Speech (1935), 289-291.

External links

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan lyrics
Sufism Naqshbandi order Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan songs Junoon (band) songs

Etymology

Qawwali

See also

References

External links