Amīr Khusro

Shri Nathji and Babaji Maharaj spoke of the saint-poet Khusro often quoted his Persian Verse:

"Khalk mi goyad ki Khusro butparasti mi kunad,

Aare aare mi kunam, ba khalk-o-aalam kaar nest."

People say that Khusro doth worship idols!

Yes, yes, I do! What have I to do with people or the world!

Ab'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrow (1253–1325 CE) better known as Amīr Khusro Dehlawī (meaning Amir Khusro of Delhi) was an Indian musician, scholar and poet. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of the Indian subcontinent. A Sufi mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, Amīr Khusrow was not only a notable poet but also a prolific and seminal musician. He wrote poetry primarily in Persian, but also in Hindi. He compiled the oldest known printed dictionary (Khaliq-e-bari) in 1320 which mainly dealt with Hindi and Persian words.

He is regarded as the "father of qawwali".  He is also credited with enriching Hindustani classical music by introducing Persian and Arabic elements in it, and was the originator of the khayal and tarana styles of music. The invention of the tabla is also traditionally attributed to Amīr Khusrow.

A musician and a scholar, Amir Khusrow was as prolific in tender lyrics as in highly involved prose and could easily emulate all styles of Persian poetry which had developed in medieval Persia, from Khāqānī's forceful qasidas to Nizami's khamsa. He used only 11 metrical schemes with 35 distinct divisions. The verse forms he has written in include Ghazal, Masnavi, Qata, Rubai, Do-Beti and Tarkibhand. His contribution to the development of the ghazal, hitherto little used in India, is particularly significant. Khusrow 's tomb is next to that of his master in the Nizamuddin Dargah of Delhi. The photo of which is given here.