Qalandar

Synonyms

Ḥaydarī; Jawāliqī; Rind

Definition

Qalandar is an itinerant antinomian celibate irregular Ṣūfī, who does not observe the religious law, subsists by means of collecting alms, has a peculiar outward appearance, and usually is not attached to any particular Ṣūfī order.

Supposed Etymology

The word qalandar apparently came into use in Persian somewhere in the fourth/tenth century. The earliest surviving text in which the word appears is one of the rubāʿī s attributed to Abū Saʿīd Abū ʿl-Khayr (357–440/ 967–1049) ([16], p. 73).

Until the end of the sixth/twelfth century, qalandar typically referred to the dwelling of the irregular Ṣūfīs (being a synonym of langar), whereas the individual who inhabited or frequented such place was called qalandarī or rind. Somewhere in the seventh/thirteenth century, it gradually came into habit to drop the final ī, and qalandar began to metonymically denote a human being. Until the end of the eighth/fourteenth century, the word qalandarwas used in...