Preview: Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music Of Islam, Channel 4

Songs for Whirling Dervishes

"What appeals to me about Sufism," says the writer and historian William Dalrymple, "is the way that it breaks down our preconceptions of Islam." He shares his enthusiasm in Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music of Islam, a film looking at the history and variety of Sufi music across the Islamic world. It includes the 13th-century Sufi mystic Rumi, founder of the Whirling Dervishes in Turkey; the qawwali music of Pakistan; and music for spiritual healing in Morocco.

Given the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, Dalrymple feels that the Sufi shrine in Delhi, where he now lives, is more important than ever: "This is a place where Hindus and Muslims, Sikhs and Christians all come together to pray, to bring their most profound wishes to the saint and listen to qawwali sitting down together. Here you have Sufism not as something fluffy and otherworldly, but as something that acts in a concrete way as a balm on India's festering religious wounds."

The success of qawwali and other forms of Sufi music on stages round the world demonstrates the appeal of the music to non-Muslims as well. Coincidentally, the nominations for the BBC's Awards for World Music, announced this week, include four Sufi groups. For Dalrymple, a Sufi zeitgeist can only make the world a better place.

Sunday, Channel 4, 11.30pm; Barbican Cinema 3, 4pm, followed by a Q&A with William Dalrymple. The Sufi Soul concert, Barbican, London EC2 (020-7638 8891) 7.30pm