Sufi music is the devotional music of the Sufi's inspired by the work of Sufi poets, like moulana Rumi, Hafiz, Bulleh Shah and Khwaja Ghulam Farid. Qawwali is the most well known form of Sufi music and is mostly common in parts of Pakistan and India. However, music is also central to the Sema ceremony of the whirling dervishes, which is set to a form of music called Akin, a vocal and instrumental piece featuring Turkish classical instruments such as the ney (a reed flute). The West African gnawa is another form, and Sufis from Indonesia to Afghanistan to Morocco have made music central to their practises. Some of the Sufi orders have taken an approach more akin to puritan forms of Islam, declaring music to be unhelpful to the Sufi way. Sufi love songs are often performed as farsi kalam, ghazals and Kafi, a solo genre accompanied by percussion and harmonium, using a repertoire of songs by Sufi poets.
A mehefil is a gathering or evening of courtly entertainment of poetry or concert of Indian classical music (particularly Hindustani classical music) and dance, performed for a small audience in an intimate setting. Historically, mehfils were presented in the homes or palaces of Muslim royalty or noblemen, who acted as these artists' patrons. Today they are generally given in the homes of especially avid music lovers. Ghazals are a common genre performed at mehfils. Such performances are rarer today than in the past.