Quote by Amir Khusrow: “I am a pagan worshipper of love; the creed of Islam is not for me.”

Khusrow is using deliberate paradox — he is a devout Muslim speaking through the Sufi tradition of declaring love itself as a religion beyond religion. He means that the direct experience of love reaches somewhere no formal doctrine can fully contain.

Amir Khusrow lived and worked in Delhi during the sultanate of Alauddin Khalji, a period of military expansion but also remarkable cultural flowering. His Sufi master Nizamuddin Auliya was one of the most revered saints in Indian Islam, and Khusrow's poetry emerged from this profound spiritual friendship.

Indian Sufi musician, poet, and scholar born in 1253 in Patiali in present-day Uttar Pradesh, considered the father of qawwali music and one of the most important figures in the development of the Hindustani classical tradition. He wrote in both Persian and Hindi and is regarded as one of the greatest poets of the Delhi Sultanate period.