AR Rahman says changing his faith made him ‘more peaceful’, recalls how rejected jingles were accepted after Sufi’s blessing

AR Rahman, in a new interview, opened up about the time when he embraced a new faith and how it changed his life.

New Delhi | July 25, 2023 05:02 PM IST

AR Rahman spoke about how he performs his prayers. (Photo: AR Rahman/Instagram)

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AR Rahman found himself drawn toward Sufism in the 1980s when he was just starting out on his own as an independent music composer. In a recent interview, the composer said that soon after he embraced his new faith, things in his professional life started falling into place. Rahman said that he found it “more peaceful” and felt like “things kind of opened up” for him and his family after he embraced the new faith.

In a chat with The Glenn Gould Foundation, Rahman said that he met many spiritual healers when his father was struggling in his last days and it was during this time that the family met a Sufi spiritual healer who, at that time, predicted that the family would come back to him after 10 years. Rahman recalled that it was after around 10 years when he was getting studio equipment from Singapore that got stuck with customs. “That’s when one of his students saw me and went and told him. His student worked in the customs and he helped in clearing it. We were very grateful, we went back to him,” he recalled.

Rahman said that the Sufi blessed his studio and Rahman found that his teachings brought a certain kind of peace to his life. “Nobody told us that you have to come to this faith. I was just more peaceful. I felt like something special, like things were working out. The jingles which were rejected, after prayers would get accepted,” he shared. It was at this point that Rahman told his mother that they had to choose a new faith and she agreed with his decision.

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Rahman said that this is when “things kind of opened up. We were going to the Sufi shrines. I was buying all the books and it was just fascinating,” he shared.

When asked if there was any social changes that the family had to face because of their change in faith, Rahman said that Indians are very accepting people and they did not face any kind of discrimination. “Indians are very open people, especially in south, they are very open, very embracing and they are happy people. They want everybody to live and let live and that’s what happened,” he said. Rahman noted that the situation in India has largely been the same but acknowledged that the “past few years have been strange because of political stuff.”

AR Rahman was born as Dileep and his mother was a practicing Hindu until the family decided to change their faith.

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AR Rahman says changing his faith made him ‘more peaceful’, recalls how rejected jingles were accepted after Sufi’s blessing

AR Rahman, in a new interview, opened up about the time when he embraced a new faith and how it changed his life.

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