"God is beautiful and loves beauty." Muslims take their prophet's saying seriously by striving to reflect goodness and beauty in their daily lives and occupations. Sacred poetry and music are a reflection of this spiritual impulse among an array of other material-culture productions from Muslim lands.

Contrary to the widespread belief that music, dance and poetry are unlawful or discouraged in Islam, Muslim cultures have produced an enormous amount poetry, in scores of languages, and have composed music incorporating several secular and sacred traditions. In this illustrated talk, Nargis Virani highlights examples of mystical poetry in performance, from Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Indonesian, Western European and North American Muslim mystical traditions.