Allah Hoo
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Allah Hoo (Allah hu) is a traditional Sufi chant (Dhikr) consisting of the word for God (Arabic: الله Allāh) run together three times, followed by haqq "truth":
- Allāhu Allāhu Allāhu Haqq,
itself repeated three times over. According to Sufi tradition, this formula was introduced by Abu Bakr as he initiated the Naqshbandi tradition (Kabbani 2003 p. 89). Other Dhikrs consist of simple Allāhu Allāhu run together 400 or 600 times.
"Allah Hoo Allah Hoo" is also the name of a popular Urdu language Sufi devotional qawwali, composed by the Sabri Brothers in 1978 and notably performed by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1988).
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[edit] Etymology
The "Hoo" is due to the nominative desinence (i`rab) -u (ḍamma) 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 where the -u is also audible). In traditional Sufi chant, the length of the -u is exaggerated. As a noun phrase, the chant is interpreted as meaning "God is". Haqq is the Arabic for "truth", so that the full dhikr translates to "God is. God is. God is Truth."
American English ballyhoo "bombastic nonsense, extravagant advertisement" originates from the same context. According to Wolverton (1935), it was coined at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, where two whirling dervishes appeared in the "Turkish Theatre". According to Wolverton's informant, "Because I discounted their act they were peeved. To be avenged, they came out in their costumes and did their act in front ... Their act began with a jumping and dashing about and shouting 'B'Allah hoo.'" Wolverton explains the initial b as an interpretation of the alif phoneme by a non-Arabic speaker.
[edit] Qawwali
The qawwali "Allah Hoo Allah Hoo" is notably sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, appearing as the first track on his Devotional Songs album (1988). It has been sung by many others, including Mangal Singh, Hans Raj Hans, Master Salim, and Faiz Ali Faiz. It has also been translated into English, and sung by Sami Yusuf on the album Al-Mu`allim (2003).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, Classical Islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition (2003)
- Josef Kuckertz, Was ist indische Musik?, Archiv für Musikwissenschaft (1996), p. 99.
- Charles Wolverton, 'Ballyhoo' , American Speech (1935), 289-291.
