Inayat Khan
Encyclopedia
Inayat Khan (July 5, 1882 – February 5, 1927) was an exemplar of Universal Sufism
and founder of the "Sufi Order in the West" in 1914 (London). Later, in 1923, the Sufi Order of the London period was dissolved into a new organization formed under Swiss law and called the "International Sufi Movement". He initially came to the West
as a representative of classical Indian music
, having received the title Tansen
from the Nizam
of Hyderabad
but soon turned to the introduction and transmission of Sufi thought and practice. His universal message of divine unity (Tawhid
) focused on the themes of love, harmony and beauty. He taught that blind adherence to any book rendered any religion void of spirit.
, Gujarat to a noble Muslim
Indian family (his mother was a descendant of the uncle of Tipu Sultan
, the famous eighteenth century ruler of Mysore). He was initiated into the Suhrawardiyya
, Qadiriyya
and Naqshbandi
orders of Sufism
but his primary initiation was from Shaykh Muhammed Abu Hashim Madani into the Nizamiyya sub-branch of the Chishti Order
.
With the Shaykh's encouragement he left India in 1910 to come to the West, traveling first as a touring musician and then as a teacher of Sufism
, visiting three continents. Eventually he married Ora Ray Baker (Pirani Ameena Begum
) from New Mexico
and they had had four children: Noor-un-Nisa
(1914), Vilayat
(1916), Hidayat
(1917) and Khair-un-Nisa (1919). The family settled in Suresnes
, near Paris
.
In 1922, during a summer school, Inayat Khan had a 'spiritual experience' in the South Dunes in Katwijk
, The Netherlands. He immediately told his students to meditate and proclaimed the place where he was on that moment holy. In 1969, the Universal Sufi Temple was built there.
Khan returned to India at the end of 1926 and there chose the site of his tomb, the Nizamuddin Dargah
complex in Delhi, where the eponymous founder of the Nizami Chishtiyya, Shaykh Nizamuddin Auliya
(died 1325), is buried. Khan died shortly after, on February 5, 1927.
or lineage of Inayatt Khan as presented by adherents of Universal Sufism is that of the Chishti oder, even though Khan was also initiated into the Suhrawardi
, Naqshbandi
and Qadiri sufi orders.
The lineage of Inayat Khan as compiled by Pir Zia Inayat Khan begins with Allah
, the Archangel Gabriel and Muhammad
, reflecting the "divine origin" tradition of the Qur'an
, followed by the traditional lineage from Ali ibn Abi Talib to Abu Ishaq Shami
(d. 940), the founder of the Chishti order, and hence to Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi (d. 1356).
). There is a historic precedent of certain Chishti masters (and masters of other orders) not requiring their non-Muslim followers to convert to Islam. The numbers of non-Muslim Sufis before the twentieth century, however, were relatively few.
, France, England, Germany, the United States, Canada
,Russia
and Australia
Universal Sufism
Universal Sufism is a universalist spiritual movement founded by Hazrat Inayat Khan while traveling throughout the West between 1910 and 1926, based on unity of all people and religions and the presence of spiritual guidance in all people, places and things. It is to some extent influenced by the ...
and founder of the "Sufi Order in the West" in 1914 (London). Later, in 1923, the Sufi Order of the London period was dissolved into a new organization formed under Swiss law and called the "International Sufi Movement". He initially came to the West
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...
as a representative of classical Indian music
Music of India
The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, classical music and R&B. India's classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and developed over several eras. It remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as...
, having received the title Tansen
Tansen
Mia Tansen is considered among the greatest composer-musicians in Hindustani classical music. He was an extraordinarily gifted vocalist, known for a large number of compositions, and also an instrumentalist who popularized and improved the rabab .He was among the Navaratnas at the court of the...
from the Nizam
Nizam
Nizam-ul-Mulk of Hyderabad popularly known as Nizams of Hyderabad was a former monarchy of the Hyderabad State, now in the states of Andhra Pradesh , Karnataka , and Maharashtra in India...
of Hyderabad
Hyderabad State
-After Indian independence :When India gained independence in 1947 and Pakistan came into existence in 1947, the British left the local rulers of the princely states the choice of whether to join one of the new dominions or to remain independent...
but soon turned to the introduction and transmission of Sufi thought and practice. His universal message of divine unity (Tawhid
Tawhid
Tawhid is the concept of monotheism in Islam. It is the religion's most fundamental concept and holds God is one and unique ....
) focused on the themes of love, harmony and beauty. He taught that blind adherence to any book rendered any religion void of spirit.
Life
Inayat Khan was born in VadodaraVadodara
Vadodara formerly known as Baroda is the third most populated city in the Indian State of Gujarat . It is one of the four cities with the population of over 1 million...
, Gujarat to a noble Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
Indian family (his mother was a descendant of the uncle of Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan
Tipu Sultan , also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore. He was the son of Hyder Ali, at that time an officer in the Mysorean army, and his second wife, Fatima or Fakhr-un-Nissa...
, the famous eighteenth century ruler of Mysore). He was initiated into the Suhrawardiyya
Suhrawardiyya
Suhrawardy redirects here. For the East Bengali politician and Prime Minister of Pakistan, see Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. The well-known Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi "the Executed" , the Shia founder of Illuminationism, is unconnected....
, Qadiriyya
Qadiriyya
The Qadiriyya , are members of the Qadiri Sufi order...
and Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi is one of the major Sufi spiritual orders of Sufi Islam. It is considered to be a "Potent" order.The Naqshbandi order is over 1,300 years old, and is active today...
orders of Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
but his primary initiation was from Shaykh Muhammed Abu Hashim Madani into the Nizamiyya sub-branch of the Chishti Order
Chishti Order
The Chishtī Order is a Sufi order within the mystic branches of Islam which was founded in Chisht, a small town near Herat, Afghanistan about 930 CE. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness. The doctrine of the Chishti Order is based on walāya, which is a...
.
With the Shaykh's encouragement he left India in 1910 to come to the West, traveling first as a touring musician and then as a teacher of Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
, visiting three continents. Eventually he married Ora Ray Baker (Pirani Ameena Begum
Pirani Ameena Begum
Ameena Begum 8 May 1892 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, died in Paris 1 May 1949) was the wife of Sufi Master Inayat Khan and the mother of their four children Noor-un-Nisa , Vilayat , Hidayat and Khair-un-Nisa . The family settled in Suresnes, near Paris. She left a collection of 101 poems...
) from New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
and they had had four children: Noor-un-Nisa
Noor Inayat Khan
Assistant Section Officer Noor Inayat Khan / Nora Baker, GC, MBE , usually known as Noor Inayat Khan was of Indian Muslim origin...
(1914), Vilayat
Vilayat Inayat Khan
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, was the eldest son of Sufi Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan, head of the Sufi Order International. Pir Zia Inayat Khan is Pir Vilayat's son and successor as Pir of the Sufi Order International...
(1916), Hidayat
Hidayat Inayat Khan
Hidayat Inayat Khan a classical composer, conductor and Representative-General of the International Sufi Movement...
(1917) and Khair-un-Nisa (1919). The family settled in Suresnes
Suresnes
Suresnes is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The nearest communes are Neuilly-sur-Seine, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud and Boulogne-Billancourt...
, near Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Katwijk
Katwijk is a coastal municipality and town in the province of South Holland in the western Netherlands. It has a population of 61,292.-Location:...
, The Netherlands. He immediately told his students to meditate and proclaimed the place where he was on that moment holy. In 1969, the Universal Sufi Temple was built there.
Khan returned to India at the end of 1926 and there chose the site of his tomb, the Nizamuddin Dargah
Nizamuddin Dargah
Nizamuddin Dargah is the dargah of one of the world's most famous Sufi saints, Nizamuddin Auliya. Situated in the Nizamuddin West area of Delhi, the dargah is visited by thousands of Muslims every week, and sees a fair share of Hindus, Christians and people from other religions...
complex in Delhi, where the eponymous founder of the Nizami Chishtiyya, Shaykh Nizamuddin Auliya
Nizamuddin Auliya
Sultan-ul-Mashaikh, Mehboob-e-Ilahi, Hazrat Shaikh Khwaja Syed Muhammad Nizamuddin Auliya , also known as Hazrat Nizamuddin, was a famous Sufi saint of the Chishti Order in the Indian Subcontinent, an order that believed in drawing close to God through renunciation of the world and service to...
(died 1325), is buried. Khan died shortly after, on February 5, 1927.
Spiritual lineage
The SilsilaSilsila
Silsila is a 1981 Bollywood film directed by Yash Chopra. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bhaduri, Sanjeev Kumar and Rekha, with Shashi Kapoor in a special appearance.-Plot:...
or lineage of Inayatt Khan as presented by adherents of Universal Sufism is that of the Chishti oder, even though Khan was also initiated into the Suhrawardi
Suhrawardiyya
Suhrawardy redirects here. For the East Bengali politician and Prime Minister of Pakistan, see Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. The well-known Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi "the Executed" , the Shia founder of Illuminationism, is unconnected....
, Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi
Naqshbandi is one of the major Sufi spiritual orders of Sufi Islam. It is considered to be a "Potent" order.The Naqshbandi order is over 1,300 years old, and is active today...
and Qadiri sufi orders.
The lineage of Inayat Khan as compiled by Pir Zia Inayat Khan begins with Allah
Allah
Allah is a word for God used in the context of Islam. In Arabic, the word means simply "God". It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá'ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and...
, the Archangel Gabriel and Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
, reflecting the "divine origin" tradition of the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, followed by the traditional lineage from Ali ibn Abi Talib to Abu Ishaq Shami
Abu Ishaq Shami
Abu Ishaq Shami was a Muslim scholar who is often regarded as the founder of the Sufi Chishti Order because he was the person in the Chishti silsila who was the first to live in Chisht. The name Shami implies he came from Syria or even from Damascus...
(d. 940), the founder of the Chishti order, and hence to Nasiruddin Chiragh Dehlavi (d. 1356).
Foundational principles
Inayat Khan set forth ten thoughts that form the foundational principles of Universal Sufism:- There is One God, the Eternal, the Only Being; None exists save He.
- There is One Master, the Guiding Spirit of all souls, Who constantly leads all followers toward the Light.
- There is One Holy Book, the Sacred Manuscript of Nature, the only Scripture that can enlighten the reader.
- There is One Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction toward the Ideal, which fulfills the life's purpose of every soul.
- There is One Law, the Law of Reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience, together with a sense of awakened justice.
- There is One Brotherhood, the human brotherhood which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the fatherhood of God. ... (later adapted by followers) There is one Family, the Human Family, which unites the Children of Earth indiscriminately in the Parenthood of God.
- There is One Moral, the Love which springs forth from self-denial and blooms in deeds of beneficence. ... (alternative, source unknown) There is one Moral Principle, the Love which springs forth from a willing heart, surrendered in service to God and Humanity, and which blooms in deeds of beneficence.
- There is One Object of Praise, the Beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects from the seen to the unseen.
- There is One Truth, the true knowledge of our being, within and without, which is the essence of Wisdom.
- There is One Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality, in which resides all perfection. ... (alternative, source unknown) There is One Path, the effacement of the limited self in the Unlimited, which raises the mortal to immortality, in which resides all Perfection.
Relation to Islam
Inayat Khan's emphasis on spiritual liberty led many contemporary Westerners to understand that his brand of Sufism and Islam are not inherently intertwined, although his followers continue to perform (DhikrDhikr
Dhikr , plural ; ), is an Islamic devotional act, typically involving the repetition of the Names of God, supplications or formulas taken from hadith texts and verses of the Qur'an. Dhikr is usually done individually, but in some Sufi orders it is instituted as a ceremonial activity...
). There is a historic precedent of certain Chishti masters (and masters of other orders) not requiring their non-Muslim followers to convert to Islam. The numbers of non-Muslim Sufis before the twentieth century, however, were relatively few.
Contemporary movement
Today active branches of Inayat Khan's lineage can be found in the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, France, England, Germany, the United States, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
,Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Australia