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Qawwalis really attracts very much, and they are mostly emotional (especially Urdu and Punjabi Qawwali). Are they allowed in Islam?
Qawwali is a form of Sufi devotional music in South Asia. It is popular in the Punjab and Sindh regions of Pakistan, in many parts of North India including Hyderabad and Delhi, and many parts of Bangladesh. It is part of a musical tradition that stretches back for more than 700 years.
Sayyidina Muhammad Ibn Mubarak Kirmani (mureed of Khwaja Fariduddin Ganjshakar), writes in Siyar Al-Awliya that Sultan-ul-Mashaikh (Nizamuddin Auliya) says,
Sima’ (to listen to Qawwali) is permissible if a few conditions are met.
(1) The person saying the Qawwali must be an adult and not a child or a female.
(2) The listener must only listen to everything in the remembrance of Allah (worldly love should not be in listeners mind).
(3) The words of Qawwali must be free from immorality and impurity and they must not be void.
(4) Musical instruments should not be used.
If these four rules of listening Qawwali are followed then, you can listen Qawwali. Otherwise, you should not listen Qawwali.
Reference : http://www.thesunniway.com/articles/item/71-is-it-permissible-to-listen-to-qawwali
I would quote this section from the Egyptian Dar Al-Iftaa formal website,
Based on this discussion we find that singing, whether with musical instruments or without, is permissible with the condition that it not a call for disobedience, lewdness, and does not contain any themes contrary to the Shari‘ah. It is also noteworthy that excess of music and singing can take the act beyond its permissibility to the category of reprehensible acts, and perhaps even to the category of impermissibility.
I would recommend you to check the whole fatwa text in the following link http://www.dar-alifta.org/Foreign/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=4866
