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The Inayati Order (Inayatiyya), is an international organization dedicated to spreading the Sufi teachings of Inayat Khan, a musician and mystic who first introduced Sufism to the modern Western world in 1910. [1] [2] The Inayati Order operates internationally through a network of centers, and offers a number of programs and activities. [3] It is led by Zia Inayat Khan, grandson of Inayat Khan. [4]
The Inayati Order commits itself to the purposes identified by Inayat Khan at the point of the first establishment of his Sufi organization: [5] [6]
According to the Inayati Order website, the Sufi Message of Inayat Khan proclaims "the knowledge of divine unity—of all peoples, all religions, and all existence—and the religion of the heart awakened to the beauty in all creation." [7]
Core teachings are summarized in the 10 Sufi Thoughts, “which comprise all the important subjects with which the inner life is concerned”: [8] [9]
The initiatic lineage of the Inayati Order includes chains of transmission from the Chishti, Suhrawardi, Qadiri, and Naqshbandi orders, as founder Inayat Khan was initiated into these four streams. [10]
There are several living lineages and organizations that trace their origins to Inayat Khan. The Inayati Order represents the lineage passed directly to his eldest son, Vilayat Inayat Khan, includes his daughter Noor Inayat Khan, and is currently led by his grandson Zia Inayat Khan. [11]
In 1910, Inayat Khan traveled from Hyderabad, India, to the United States, relocating in 1912 to London. His initial mission was as a classical Indian musician, pursuing the directive of his own Sufi teacher Abu Hashim Madani to “Fare forth into the world, my child, and harmonize the East and the West with the harmony of your music. Spread the wisdom of Sufism abroad, for to this end art thou gifted by Allah, the most merciful and compassionate.” [12]
Inayat Khan later founded organizations to establish Sufi teaching in Western Europe, including the Sufi Order in London in 1918 and the Sufi Movement in Geneva in 1923. [13] Inayat Khan also traveled extensively in the United States as a musician and teacher, and established a circle of students in North America.
Upon Inayat Khan’s death in 1927, his brothers and cousins led the Sufi Movement. In 1968, his son Vilayat Inayat Khan revived the name “The Sufi Order” in 1968 to distinguish his own lineage and circle of students. Vilayat Inayat Khan later updated this to “The Sufi Order International,” and served as head of the order until 2004. During this time Inayat Khan’s teachings grew in popularity and The Sufi Order International held numerous retreats, courses, and gatherings in Europe and North America. [14]
Zia Inayat-Khan took on leadership of the Sufi Order in 2000. In 2003, Zia Inayat-Khan and senior teachers launched Suluk Academy, a course of intensive study in the teachings of Inayat Khan. In 2016, the name was changed from “The Sufi Order International” to “The Inayati Order,” citing the historical Sufi tradition of adopting the name of the founder in the decades following the founder’s death. [15]
As of 2019, the Inayati Order comprises over 100 centers of study around the world, with headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. [16]
Inayat Khan Rehmat Khan was an Indian professor of musicology, singer, exponent of the saraswati vina, poet, philosopher, and pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West. At the urging of his students, and on the basis of his ancestral Sufi tradition and four-fold training and authorization at the hands of Sayyid Abu Hashim Madani of Hyderabad, he established an order of Sufism in London in 1914. By the time of his death in 1927, centers had been established throughout Europe and North America, and multiple volumes of his teachings had been published.
Vilayat Inayat Khan was a teacher of meditation and of the traditions of the East Indian Chishti Sufi order of Sufism. His teaching derived from the tradition of his father, Inayat Khan, founder of The Sufi Order in the West, in a form tailored to the needs of Western seekers. One of his sisters was Noor Inayat Khan GC MBE. He taught in the tradition of Universal Sufism. His parents met at the New York City ashram of American yogi, Pierre Bernard, half-brother of his mother Pirani Ameena Begum.
The Chishti order is a Sufi order of Sunni Islam named after the town of Chisht where it was initiated by Abu Ishaq Shami. The order was brought to South Asia by Mu'in al-Din Chishti in the city of Ajmer.
The Dances of Universal Peace (DUP) are a spiritual practice that employs singing and dancing the sacred phrases of the world's religions. Their intention is to raise consciousness and promote peace between diverse religions according to one stated goal. The DUP are of North American Sufic origin. They combine chants from many world faiths with dancing, whirling, and a variety of movement with singing.
Samuel L. Lewis also known as Murshid Samuel Lewis and Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti was an American mystic and horticultural scientist who founded what became the Sufi Ruhaniat International, a branch of the Chishtia Sufi lineage. After a lifetime of spiritual study with teachers East and West, primarily Inayat Khan and Nyogen Senzaki, Lewis was recognized simultaneously as a Zen master and Sufi murshid by Eastern representatives of the two traditions. He also co-founded the Christian mystical order called the Holy Order of Mans. His early interest in international seed exchange and organic agriculture also established him as one of the pioneers of green spirituality. His most enduring legacy may be the creation of the Dances of Universal Peace, an early interspiritual practice that has spread around the world in the 50 years since his death.
Hidayat Inayat Khan was a British-French classical composer, conductor and Representative-General of the Inayati Order.
Sufi philosophy includes the schools of thought unique to Sufism, the mystical tradition within Islam, also termed as Tasawwuf or Faqr according to its adherents. Sufism and its philosophical tradition may be associated with both Sunni and Shia branches of Islam. It has been suggested that Sufi thought emerged from the Middle East in the eighth century CE, but adherents are now found around the world.
Zia Inayat-Khan is a scholar and teacher of Sufism in the lineage of his grandfather, Inayat Khan. He is president of the Inayati Order and founder of Suluk Academy, a school of contemplative study with branches in the United States and Europe.
Yakzan Hugo Valdez was a Sheikh of the Sufi Order International initiated by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan and of the Mevlevi Order initiated by Suleyman Hayati Dede, Sheikh of Konya. Yakzan was additionally a celebrated master of the Dances of Universal Peace as originated by Samuel L. Lewis and an acknowledged peer of the Sheikhs of the Sufi Islamia Ruhaniat Society. Yakzan was a long-term resident of Honolulu, Hawaii. He established Sufi communities in Hawaii, Chile, and Spain.
Pir-o-Murshid Mohammed Ali Khan (1881–1958) was the leader of the International Sufi Movement from 1948 until his death. He was a second cousin of Inayat Khan, the grandson of Inayat's grandfather and therefore according to Indian custom considered a brother.
Musharaff Moulamia Khan was born in Baroda (India) on 6 September 1895 and died in The Hague (Netherlands) on 30 November 1967. Не was the youngest brother of Inayat Khan, and shared his delight in music. While in his teens he had just come to Calcutta to study and be under the influence of his brother when Inayat was called away to America, and Musharaff was left alone. Within a year, however, he also journeyed to the west, where he joined Inayat and became one of 'The Royal Musicians of Hindustan.'
Pirani Ameena Begum was the wife of Sufi Master Inayat Khan and the mother of their four children: World War II SOE agent Noor-un-Nisa (1914–1944), Vilayat (1916–2004), Hidayat (1917–2016) and Khair-un-Nisa (Claire) (1919–2011).
Fazal Inayat-Khan, also known as Frank Kevlin, was a psychotherapist and poet who led the Inayati Order from 1968 to 1982.
The Sufi Ruhaniat International (SRI) is a stream of Universal Sufism and draws inspiration from traditions of Sufism within and beyond historic Islam. SRI is an initiatic order within the lineage of Inayat Khan (Inayati-Chishtiyya). Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti, a disciple of Inayat Khan, formally founded the order in 1970. There are centers throughout the United States, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Inayat Khan may refer to:
Inayat is a unisex first name in Middle East and South Asia. It may refer to:
Shah Inayatullah, popularly known as Sufi Shah Inayat Shaheed, Shah Shaheed or Shah Inayat of Jhok, was a 17th-century Sindhi Sufi saint and revolutionary from Jhok. He was the first socialist and agricultural reformist of Sindh.
Shabda Kahn serves as Pir of the Sufi Ruhaniat International, a branch within the spiritual lineage of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan. He is also a teacher and performer of Hindustani classical vocal music, Raga, in the Kirana Gharana style, serving as director of the Chisti Sabri School of Music, within the lineage of his teacher Pandit Pran Nath, at whose direction this school was formed and placed in Shabda Kahn's care.
Sufism in Bangladesh is more or less similar to that in the whole Indian subcontinent. India, it is claimed, is one of the five great centers of Sufism, the other four being Persia, Baghdad, Syria, and North Africa. Sufi saints flourished in Hindustan (India) preaching the mystic teachings of Sufism that easily reached the common people, especially the spiritual truth seekers in India. Sufism in Bangladesh is also called pirism, after the pirs or teachers in the Sufi tradition.
Western Sufism, sometimes identified with Universal Sufism, Neo-Sufism, and Global Sufism, consists of a spectrum of Western European and North American manifestations and adaptations of Sufism, the mystical dimension of Islam.