Mujaddid Amjad Sabri, son of legendary qawwali maestro Amjad Sabri, recalls a remarkable moment in France where his father’s soulful performance moved nearly 400 audience members to embrace Islam, even without understanding the words.
Speaking about the event, Mujaddid said his father was performing a qawwali in front of an audience of 400–500 people. At one point, Amjad Sabri recited the kalam: “Ya Muhammad Noor Mujasim, Ya Habibi, Ya Molai.”
After the performance, a group of French attendees, accompanied by a translator, approached him backstage. They explained that, while they didn’t understand the exact meaning of the words, the name of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) brought them immense peace and tranquility.
Moved by this, Amjad Sabri shared the message of Islam with them. By the end of the event, he had guided nearly 400–500 people in the audience to embrace Islam, teaching them the Kalima Shahadat.
Amjad Sabri was a renowned Pakistani qawwali singer who was shot dead in Karachi’s Liaquatabad area on June 22, 2016 after gunmen opened fire on his car. He was 45 years old at the time of his death.
Sabri hails from the musical gharana that gave Pakistan the Sabri Brothers, one of Pakistan’s foremost Sufi qawwal groups, founded by his father, the late Haji Ghulam Farid Sabri, and his younger brother late Haji Maqbool Ahmed Sabri.
Sabri is credited with making the qawwali musical style accessible to Pakistan’s youth.
He was a sought-after performer for large-scale events in Pakistan, like the annual Lux Style Awards and cultural exchange programme, Shaan-e-Pakistan. He was due to appear on Coke Studio Season 9.
