Hazrat Amir Khusrau, The Parrot of India
By Dr Hafeez Ur Rahman, New Age Islam
10 April 2026
As we mark the 722nd death anniversary of Hazrat Amir Khusrau, fondly called the Parrot of India, his timeless voice of the 13th century feels especially warm and deeply needed today in the 21st century!
Born in 1253 to a Turkish father and an Indian mother, Bibi Daulat Naz, this 13th-century Sufi poet, musician, and scholar embodied a deep, heartfelt Indianness. He proudly called himself Turk-e-Hindi and poured his love for the motherland into verses that still stir the soul. When his mother passed away, he wrote movingly: “Wherever the dust of your feet is found, is like a relic of paradise for me.” He portrayed India as an earthly paradise - the land where even Adam found solace after leaving heaven, and where the peacock chose to dwell. He celebrated its knowledge, crediting it with the origin of zero, and praised its people, languages, and resilient spirit above all others.
Khusrau championed a beautiful Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb - the syncretic blend of Hindu and Muslim traditions through his profound respect for Indian culture, Sanskrit, and local dialects. Khusro proclaimed ten points as to why India is superior to the rest of the world. He called it an earthly paradise, citing that after Adam was expelled from heaven, he sought sanctuary here. He said, “As Hind was just like heaven, Adam could descend here and find repose.” India was the land of the peacock, a heavenly bird. “Had Paradise (Firdaus) been in some other country, this bird would have gone there,” he said. He also believed that zero started in India. The concept of zero is believed to have originated in the Hindu cultural and spiritual space around the fifth century. In Sanskrit, the word for zero is śūnya - nothingness.
All rational sciences, natural sciences and mathematics, stemmed from India, he claimed. Khusrau pointed out that scholars from all over the world came to India to gain knowledge and expertise. However, a Brahman never left its boundaries to acquire knowledge, as there is no need for it. He claimed that Brahmans are far superior than all the books of Aristotle. The Greeks might have revealed their knowledge of philosophical thought to the world, but the Brahmans have a greater wealth.
He mentions the linguistic versatility of Indians. Whereas an Indian can fluently converse in any of the foreign languages, people outside are unable to speak ‘Indian dialects’. He praises Sanskrit for its rich literature, calling it the language of the Brahmans, though, even among them, many could not master this complex language. He said, “Sanskrit has the quality of a pearl among pearls. It is not inferior to Arabic in its grammar, but superior to Dari (Persian).”
A master of Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Sanskrit, and Brij Bhasha, he wove them into Hindavi (the early roots of Urdu), creating a language of the common people that fostered unity. He invented Qawwali, blending music and poetry to spread messages of love, harmony, and tolerance across faiths. His famous Nuh-i-Sipihr shines as a glowing tribute to India’s greatness.
In an era of division, Khusrau’s life reminds us that true patriotism lies in embracing diversity with reverence and creativity. First President Dr. Rajendra Prasad and Jawaharlal Nehru drew inspiration from his vision of composite culture and Hindu-Muslim unity.
India, a richly multicultural nation could also be complex and difficult, encompassing varied castes, religions, and languages and networking to safeguard its ideals, traditions, and spirituality is a mammoth task. Amir Khusrau's philosophy of multiculturalism is the need of the hour.
After he died in October 1325, his influence lived on, quietly, but stealthily chalking pathways across the land. Inspired by this timeless legacy, the Khusro Foundation was established by distinguished citizens of the nation, dedicated to propagating Hazrat Amir Khusrau's message of love for the country and communal harmony. The Foundation's central mission is to disseminate Khusrau's principles of love, tolerance, balance, and moderation among India's people through writings, public speeches, and publications. In a richly multicultural nation encompassing varied castes, religions, and languages, safeguarding our shared ideals, traditions, and spirituality requires strengthening bonds of mutual understanding and respect is a vision that every Indian needs to embrace today: We need to parrot the parrot of India!
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Dr Hafeez ur Rahman is an Islamic scholar, Former Faculty of JNU, Convenor at Khusro Foundation. He contributed this article to New Age Islam.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-personalities/hazrat-amir-khusrau-parrot-of-india/d/139611
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