Oct
26
2020
26 October 2020
Dear Companions on the Path,
I hope this finds you well. Here in Richmond, the sidewalks are spangled with golden leaves. As the trees shed their spent foliage, the Light of Nature is calling us to relinquish our outworn devices and sink down into our roots. Thus Shelley sings to the West Wind, “Drive my dead thoughts over the universe / Like wither’d leaves to quicken a new birth!”
The last month has brought us together in delightful ways. The Suluk Global course convened for its inaugural session, attended by saliks and salikas from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Scotland, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We also happily gathered for the Volume Four study course, and for Spiritual Healing. Next month the Suluk Graduate course on alchemy commences, and in the Sunday classes we return to the Gathas.
I received many positive responses to the announcement last month recommending “Messenger” as an alternative to “Master” in the Invocation. But “Master” exists in other prayers as well (together with the word “Lord”), and questions remain. Please be assured that the Message Council and I are giving deep consideration to the whole subject, and more is yet to be resolved. Your thoughts on this subject are welcome and may be sent to: piroffice@inayatiyya.org
Here is another announcement of a linguistic nature. Since its founding more than a century ago, the initiatic school within our movement has been known by various names. It has been called the Esoteric School (a phrase borrowed from the Theosophical Society, of which the Madar al-Maham of the Order, Murshida Sharifa, had been a prominent member), the Inner School, the Sufi Order, the Order, and the Tariqat. As we streamline our communication, there is value in highlighting one of these names as the primary one. In many ways, the Inner School is the most intuitive of the names, pointing directly as it does to the inner life, which is the essence of the matter. In view of this, the Vice Presidents of the Activity and I have reached the conclusion that “Inner School” is the designation we will prioritize going forward.
Murshid’s words on the inner life bear quoting on this occasion: “By inner life is meant a life directed towards perfection, which may be called the perfection of love, harmony, and beauty; in the words of the orthodox, towards God. The inner life is not necessarily in an opposite direction to the worldly life, but the inner life is a fuller life. The worldly life means the limitation of life; the inner life means a complete life. The ascetics who have taken a direction quite opposite to the worldly life, have done so in order to have the facility to search into the depths of life; but going in one direction alone does not make a complete life. Therefore the inner life means the fullness of life.”
In the United States, the presidential election is nearly upon us. True democracy, Murshid reminds us, is seeing the Divine spark in every soul. A spark of the Divine Life exists in every candidate on the ballot and, just as importantly, in every person, animal, and plant that will be affected by the winners’ actions in office. May the good of the whole guide us, and may none be forgotten, least of all the least remembered.
Yours ever,
Pir Zia
Dream Flowers: The Collected Works of Noor Inayat Khan with an Introduction By Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Dream Flowers: The Collected Works of Noor Inayat Khan is now in print from Suluk Press. This volume contains all of the major works of Noor, including several previously unpublished pieces. Among the never-before-published essays are commentaries on scripture and on the teachings of her father. Pir Zia contextualizes the contents in an extensive analytical introduction. This definitive collection is recommended for all devotees of Noor, as well as students of her life and legacy. Purchase Dream Flowers Today. Also, please see A Call to Spy Note of Correction on our Noor Society website.
Sunday Sufi Teachings
w/ Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Sunday, November 1st, 2020
3:00-4:30 pm Eastern
After our four-part Healing & the Mind World series, we return to offering our weekly Sufi Teachings w/ Pir Zia class this Sunday. All are welcome! Please see here for details.
While we know there are many mixed feelings about Amazon, if you are making purchases via Amazon this fall, leading into the holiday season, please consider linking to our Amazon Smile Page. When you use this page to place your order, the Inayatiyya (Sufi Order dba The Inayati Order), receives a percentage of what you spend as a donation.
Thank you for remembering the Inayatiyya!
Thank you for remembering the Inayatiyya!
Inayatiyya Digital Programs Schedule
There are many programs every month, hosted by our Seven Activities —
Inner School, Universal Worship, Kinship, Ziraat, Healing, Knighthood of Purity, and Music
— as well as by Inayatiyya Young Adults and Anjumani Islam.
Please see our full program calendar for upcoming dates:
https://cutt.ly/inayatiyya-programs.
The Zephyr is a monthly newsletter of Inayatiyya, an interfaith mystical fellowship with branches worldwide. For more information on our activities, please visit inayatiyya.org.
Sep
24
2020
24 September 2020
Dear Companions on the Path,
Shanah Tovah! May the Jewish New Year bring new light and life to hearts, and a renewed aspiration toward peace, healing, and the lived reality of kinship in the Holy Land and all of the holy lands of our green Earth.
As the pandemic and lockdown continue to weigh on individuals and communities, I hope you are finding a way forward that is spacious and hopeful. At times such as this, the solidarity and companionship of our caravan is especially important. And most important of all is the moment by moment intuition of the presence of the Friend.
The prayers of all of us, I know, are with our brothers and sisters in the Western states of the U.S., where devastating fires continue to rage. May rain, and relief, come soon.
Please send a prayer toward our beloved brother in the path Ghani O’Dell, whose spirit entered the Invisible last week. We are grateful for his many long years of dedicated service to our movement. May the Divine Light enfold him in his further journey.
The spirit of Pirzadi Shahida Noor has been very present to us these last weeks. On August 28th, English Heritage installed a Blue Plaque in Noor’s honor at 4 Taviton Street in Bloomsbury, where she lived while preparing for her fateful undercover mission in France. On Noor’s Urs, September 13th, we gathered online, and a group convened in Dachau. You will find Latifa Mancinelli’s account of the latter gathering here. On that mournful and sacred day, the new Noor Society was announced. If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to visit the website (noorsociety.org) and become a member. The following day we all watched spellbound as Noor’s Aède of the Ocean and Land was performed online by an outstanding cast livestreaming simultaneously from Athens, New York, San Francisco, Den Hague, and Rome. And, from the “world of dreams” Noor has bequeathed to us, there is still something more to look forward to: Dream Flowers: The Collected Works of Noor Inayat Khan is currently at the printers, and is expected to ship soon.
Finally, I would like to tell you of the conclusion reached by the Worldwide Message Council and myself with respect to a question that has arisen regarding the Invocation. The question is: a number of ashiqs and murids feel a certain hesitation around the word “Master”; what can they, what can we all, do about it? The word “master” is often associated with structures of social domination, such as the abhorrent institution of slavery. Even though, when we say the Invocation, it is widely understood that we don’t mean to reference slavery or anything of the kind, unintended semantic associations may nonetheless loom uninvited. In Murshida Sharifa Goodenough’s writings she tells of how she asked Murshid what was meant by “Master” in the Invocation. He answered that it meant Rasul, or Messenger. We thus have a clear substitute directly from Murshid—two actually, one in English and the other in Arabic. The recommendation of myself and the Message Council, therefore, is that anyone, or any group, that wishes for an alternative to “Master” in the Invocation is encouraged to use “Messenger” or “Rasul.” In non-English-speaking regions, it will be left up to each language group to determine the appropriate translation of “Messenger,” or alternatively to use “Rasul,” as well as determining the appropriate definite article to use, if any, with the aim of maintaining gender neutrality.
Yours ever,
Pir Zia
Healing & the Mind World Fall 2020
Sunday, October 4th, 11th, 18th & 25th, 3:00-4:30 pm Eastern
Bi-weekly Sunday Sama Featuring
Renowned Indian Singer Rekha Bhardwaj
Sunday, September 27, 1:30-2:30 pm Eastern
Sunday Sufi Teachings w/ Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Sunday, September 27, 3:00-4:30 pm Eastern
We invite you to join us every Sunday for Sufi Teachings with Pir Zia Inayat Khan. Today we continue with Hazrat Inayat Khan’s Gatha Papers, with a focus on the theme “ Training by Abstinence.” Our reading may be found here to review and reflect upon before our class.
Please remember that all digital programs may be found on our Inayatiyya Digital Programs Calendar.
The Zephyr is a monthly newsletter of The Inayatiyya, an interfaith mystical fellowship with branches worldwide. For more information on our activities, please visit inayatiyya.org.
Aug
12
2020
12 August 2020
Dear Companions on the Path,
Late summer greetings to you – and winter greetings to our friends south of the equator.
The prayers of all of us, I know, are with the people of Beirut, who have suffered such terrible destruction in the recent explosion. May the Beirutese find the strength to rise anew, and may there be support for them on all levels. Sarida Brown, European Vice President of Sufi Healing, has suggested practices for us all to do, and Tariq al-Olaimy of the Inayatiyya International Board has provided reliable links for sending needed contributions. You will find this information here. Ya Hafiz, Ya Rahman, Ya Wahhab, Ya Mu‘id, Ya Muhyi, Ya Ba’ith.
As you know, Universal Worship affirms the unity of the Spirit of Guidance and the multiplicity of its traces and signs throughout history and across the planet. In Europe, the work of Universal Worship has been inspiringly stewarded continent-wide for many long years by our esteemed friend Zumurrud Butta. Having completed a tremendously productive tenure, Zumurrud is now stepping down as European Vice President of Universal Worship. Zumurrud will continue to serve on the faculty of Suluk, as leader of the retreat concentration in German-speaking lands, as a revered guide, retreat guide, and teacher in the Inner School, and as a Siraj in the Universal Worship. I hope you will all join me in conveying sincere gratitude to Zumurrud for all that she has done, and continues to do, for our movement.
The new Vice President of Universal Worship in Europe is Qutbuddin Urs Schellenberg. You will find his biography below. Please join me in heartily welcoming Qutbuddin in his new role.
I wish you, dear friends, ease and peace in these last weeks of the season. These are quieter days for many of us, but renewed outward activity will begin again before long. On September 6th we will gather for a one-day Reentry retreat. The following weekend our Sunday sessions will resume with a special celebration of Pirzadi-Shahida Noor’s Urs and Hejirat Day featuring our good friend, and Noor’s biographer, Shrabani Basu. On the same day, those who are able will gather at Dachau to commemorate Noor at the place of her martyrdom. The following day, Monday the 14th, Noor’s play Aède of the Ocean and Land will be virtually staged by an outstanding international cast, directed by our Greek Sufi sister Anwari Elli Papakonstantinou and with music by the celebrated composer Shirish Korde.
“O happy wilderness, far will we roam!”
Yours ever,
Pir Zia
Biography of Qutbuddin Urs Schellenberg
The new Vice President of the Universal Worship in Europe, Qutbuddin Urs Schellenberg is a Senior Lecturer for Religion and Ethics at the University for Teacher Education in Zürich. He simultaneously serves as Vice President of the Inayatiyya Switzerland, Vice President of Zenith Institute, and as a Representative of the Esoteric School in Zürich. Qutbuddin has a special interest in the inner paths within religious traditions as well as in the transforming role of religion in today’s societies and in people’s lives. He lives in Zürich with his wife and two daughters.
Inayatiyya Young Adults w/ Gayan Macher
Saturday, August 15, 1:00-2:30 pm Eastern
Inayatiyya Young Adults, ages 18-39, are invited to join Gayan Macher to explore what it means to live our lives in alignment with the voice of guidance. This session is part of our monthly Young Adults series featuring various Inayatiyya teachers.
What is Mine, and Ours, to Do about the Ecological Crisis?
Saturdays, August 15, 22 & 29, 3:00-4:30 pm Eastern
Over the course of three weeks, the Inayatiyya Kinship Council is hosting this unique series on our individual and collective relationship to Climate Change. In these 90 minute sessions, we will explore the ecological crisis with diverse co-presenters, breakout groups, full-group discussion,
and tie-in with environmental justice. Advance registration is required.
Inayatiyya Reentry: From Summer to Fall w/ Pir Zia
Sunday, September 6, 10:30 am-5 pm Eastern
Join Pir Zia for a day of attunement and practices orienting us to the transition from summer to fall, and from what has come before to the unknown life ahead of us. All are welcome!
Noor Inayat Khan’s Urs & Hejirat Day
w/ Pir Zia & Special Guest Shrabani Basu
Sunday, September 13, 3:00-4:30 pm Eastern
On Sunday, September 13, we return for our weekly Sunday gathering to celebrate Noor’s Urs and also Hejirat Day, the anniversary of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s bringing of Inayatiyya Sufism from the East to the West. All are welcome to join us and our special guest, Shrabani Basu, Author of Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan.
Aède of the Ocean and Land Live Performance
Monday, September 14, 1:00-2:30 pm Eastern
Join us for this live music-cinema zoom performance directed by Elli Papakonstantinou with music composed by Shirish Korde. Noor’s play, Aède, will be performed live simultaneously from Athens, New York, San Francisco, Den Haag, and Rome via Zoom. The 22 artists involved span ten time zones and represent five countries. Reserve your tickets today!
An Update on Race & Justice Initiatives
The cry for racial justice and equity from a place of love has brought several new (and renewed) initiatives within the Inayatiyya. Please see this update with a view toward our next-steps.
One of Pir-o-Murshid’s closest murids, Nekbakht Sakina Furnée, began the Nekbakht Foundation to care for Murshid’s archives and to encourage the creation of publications from his teachings. Every quarter the Nekbakht Foundation publishes a newsletter and we are sharing the summer edition with you here. You may find additional information on the Nekbakht Foundation at www.nekbakhtfoundation.org.
Gayan Commentary
Music of the Spheres: Gamaka Commentaries, Gayan
“I feel myself when I am by myself.”
The self has four layers: the body-self, the mind-self, the soul-self, and the Divine Self.
The body-self is made of food. It is born, grows, ails, and dies. When we look in the mirror, what we see is who we think we are. But this is only partially true. Read More
See the full commentary on the Inayatiyya website.
Also please note that our Inayatiyya Digital Programs Calendar is in the process of being updated, with most dates now listed through December. There are many programs planned, with Pir Zia resuming his weekly Sufi Teachings Class, Sundays at 3 pm Eastern beginning on September 13, 2020. We hope to see you this fall!
The Zephyr is a monthly newsletter of The Inayatiyya, an interfaith mystical fellowship with branches worldwide. For more information on our activities, please visit inayatiyya.org.
Jun
22
2020
22 June 2020
Dear Companions on the Path,
“Cast the light from your eyes on a star. In light-years of time, the star receives your light,” said my father. Just imagine: our glances, gestures, and ideas reverberate far out into the horizons of time and space, forming an immense moving sculpture of consciousness in action. What is more, if one pours one’s acts into the service of a cause greater than oneself, one’s emanations unfurl themselves not merely in isolation, but rather as a strain within a vaster interwoven music. The purpose of the Inayatiyya is to join our lives in the elaboration of a planetwide hymn to the One echoing through the starry sky.
Our community has been intensely active and connected in recent weeks. Conversations that previously occurred more often in the margins have moved to the center. “Unity is not uniformity,” my father used to say. How can we be ourselves—as national communities, as religious communities, as racial and ethnic communities, and as individuals—and at the same time spiritually and strategically unite our lives profoundly in the Great Work of the remembrance of God and the service of humanity and the Earth? That is our task.
Soon we will gather for our annual North American Summer School, Season of the Rose. Season of the Rose will be online, and therefore abbreviated this year, but still a splendid opportunity to meet and attune together. I look forward to seeing you there.
After Season of the Rose, I propose that we all take a quiet week. This will be a time to digest all that has happened since our lives changed in March. It’s an opportunity to step away from computer screens as much as possible. Many of us will of course still have work and family obligations, but in our free hours we might take the chance to spend more time walking, exercising, gardening, cooking, reading, writing, praying, meditating, or playing with children or animal companions. “The essence of today’s message is balance.” It will be a time to come back to our senses and feel our feet on the ground. May it be love, light, and life.
During the quiet week the Astana will be closed and our online offerings on hold.* We will come together again on Viladat Day (Murshid’s birthday), July 5th, during our regular Sunday class time, joining in celebration.
Yours ever,
Pir Zia
*Nigel Hamilton’s valuable leadership training program, July 2-7, will go on as scheduled. Please contact Karima for details at sufiorderuk@gmail.com.
Season of the Rose Online
June 26-28, 2020
As all things this year, Season of the Rose 2020 is moving to Zoom! Join us for one, two, or three days of gatherings that reunite and inspire us as we live in the unusual present, contemplate an unknown future, and reunite in shared community.
Day 1: Suluk Reunion, Day 2: Inayatiyya Leaders, Day 3: Intro to the Inayatiyya
Hazrat Inayat Khan’s 138th Birthday Celebration
July 5th, 2020 at 3 pm EDT
All are cordially invited to join the Inayat Khan family in celebrating Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan’s 138th Birthday. We will gather for this special occasion during our weekly Sunday afternoon class time at 3 pm EDT.
Zenith Summer Camp
“The Universe is a Phenomenon of Love”
July 17th – August 9th, 2020
From July 17th – August 9th 2020 we will be offering a mix of online seminars, daily meditations and evening programmes, as well as online group and individual retreats with some of our favorite teachers and guides.
Nirtan Commentary
Music of the Spheres: Gamaka Commentaries, Nirtan
“Why, oh my feeling heart do you live and die?
What makes my feeling heart now to laugh and to cry?
Death is my life indeed, I live when I die.
Pain is my pleasure, when I laugh then I cry.”
The sage speaks to his heart. Who planted you in my breast? What a strange amphibian you are—half angel, half animal, and all paradox! Read More
See the full commentary on the Inayatiyya website.
Remember that all digital programs may be found on our Inayatiyya Digital Programs Calendar.
The Zephyr is a monthly newsletter of The Inayatiyya, an interfaith mystical fellowship with branches worldwide. For more information on our activities, please visit inayatiyya.org.
May
27
2020
27 May 2020
Dear Companions on the Path,
Greetings of peace. I hope that peace is a reality for you amidst the uncertainty of the times in which we live. May our faith buoy us, fill us with loving-kindness toward all beings, and awaken us to the all-encompassing life of the One.
It has been a joy to see so many of you online. The lockdown under which we have all been living has spurred us on to become connected in new ways. From across great stretches of the Earth we have gathered for retreat, for the study of the Gathas and Volume Four, for Healing and Ziraat services, for circles of Kinship, and for Sama’.
Now the decision has been reached to move the upcoming Suluk Academy Core Course to an online format, making it available for the first time to murids around the world who have until now not been able to take part. For those murids who have not yet entered Suluk, but who feel deeply drawn to immerse themselves in Murshid’s foundational practices and teachings amongst a company of dedicated companions, I warmly encourage you.
The new connections that are being formed worldwide have given rise an initiative in which the Inayatiyya International Board (the hub of the various national boards), the Worldwide Message Council (the hub of the seven Activities), and the Astana (the base of my own work) will be increasingly collaborating to align and streamline the various parts of our movement to ensure ease, clarity, and flow in all that we do. Our movement is moving forward in form so that it can more fully open to the formless movement of spirit.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to the long-serving members of the International Board who recently stepped down: Nigel Huzur Hamilton, Zamir Roehrs, and Wahhab Sheets. Each of them has been a colossal pillar of our worldwide work, and I hope you will join me in expressing sincere appreciation for all that they have done with so much dedication. At the same time, I hope you will join me in welcoming the wonderful new trustees: Tariq Al-Olaimy, Ikram Nicolas Enjalbert, Shakira Margaret Hannah, Gulrukh Deepa Patel, and Qahira Anne Louise Wirgman.
May the Message of God reach far and wide.
And may God enfold in love and light the soul of Nuryil Wolfgang Baumann, our beloved companion on the path, now ascending through the spheres.
Yours ever,
Pir Zia
Nirtan Commentary
Music of the Spheres: Gamaka Commentaries, Nirtan
“The essence of today’s Message is balance.”
God is the First and the Last, the Outer and Inner. To find God, look where the opposites meet.
The outward beckons. Colors and fragrances allure the senses. Hands look for wood, stone, or metal to mold. Read More
See the full commentary on the Inayatiyya website.
Season of the Rose Online
June 26-28, 2020
As all things this year, Season of the Rose 2020 is moving to Zoom! Join us for one, two, or three days of gatherings that reunite and inspire us as we live in the unusual present, contemplate an unknown future, and reunite in shared community.
Day 1: Suluk Reunion, Day 2: Inayatiyya Leaders, Day 3: Intro to the Inayatiyya
Suluk Global Online Program
a very special opportunity for murids worldwide
Application deadline for North America is June 1st
Application deadline for everywhere else in the world is July 15th
See here for a video gift from Suluk’s Naubahar Class (2018-2020)
The Divine Art: The Alchemy of Human Transformation
A Graduate Course of the Suluk Academy
November 2020 through May 2022
Applications are due by July 1, 2020
Remember that all digital programs may be found on our Inayatiyya Digital Programs Calendar.
Look for upcoming new offerings including a Weekly Attunement with Taj & Gayan on Thursdays,
a special gathering for Pir Vilayat’s Urs on June 17, a monthly Universal Worship Service,
and a two-year Retreat Guide Training Program beginning September 2020.
Details are coming together and will soon be posted!
The Zephyr is a monthly newsletter of The Inayatiyya, an interfaith mystical fellowship with branches worldwide. For more information on our activities, please visit inayatiyya.org.
Apr
04
2020
04 April 2020
Dear Companions on the Path,
As the virus continues its worldwide migration, each day brings news of another friend becoming ill. The poignancy of our interconnectedness has perhaps never been so palpable. We live in each other. May our healing prayers reach one another across land and sea. May our hearts fly to each other over hill and dale. May this ordeal only deepen our solidarity and our determination to pour our breath into the breeze of compassion that blows through everything.
In Arabic, the word for loving-kindness is ‘inaya. A few years ago, we transitioned from the name The Sufi Order to The Inayati Order. In doing so, we honored our founder Hazrat Inayat Khan and affirmed the ideal of loving-kindness as our core aspiration. At the time, we made it clear that we intended to be known equally as the Inayatiyya, and that we would eventually move entirely to that name.
Discussions in recent days between the International Board, the boards of various countries, the Message Council, the Astana, and myself have culminated in the agreement that now is the time to conclusively take up the name the Inayatiyya. In doing so, we are reaffirming Murshid’s original vision, which envisions the Order (also known as the Esoteric School) as one of several Activities collectively united within a single Movement dedicated to the service of God and humanity through work of various kinds. Our work contains an initiatic order (or tariqa), but contains other modes of participation and service as well.
Murshid seeded seven Activities. Five remained active through the twentieth century: the Esoteric School (i.e., the Order), Kinship, Universal Worship, Healing, and Ziraat. The sixth, The Knighthood of Purity, was revived and given full form in 2010. As we now adopt the name the Inayatiyya, there is timeliness in at last recognizing the proto-Activity Music as the seventh and final Activity of our Movement.
Murshid’s murshid blessed him saying, “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.” As his work advanced in Europe, Murshid appointed “Musical Representatives.” Following his father, Pir Vilayat gave great attention to music as a spiritual art. Today there are many capable and inspiring musicians among us. An effort is underway to revive the songs of the Gayanshala and the hymns of Shaikh-ul-Mashaik Maheboob Khan. There is an opportunity to intentionally sustain and transmit our canon of sacred songs and to infuse elevated music into all of our gatherings.
It gives me great pleasure, now, to introduce to you the pioneer Vice Presidents of Music in the Inayatiyya, for North America and Europe respectively: Tarana Sara Jobin and Ophiel van Leer. Please join me in giving a hearty welcome to these inspiring musical trailblazers as they enter their new roles. Tarana and Ophiel are working closely with the Inayati Musicians Guild, and all musicians in our Movement are warmly encouraged to join this collaborative fellowship. The Guild meets regularly at the Astana and online for practice sessions, or meshk.
Dear friends, in this strange time in which we find ourselves, I hope you are well. I send out prayers toward you every day. I feel your prayers, in turn, and I am grateful for them.
Yours ever,
Pir Zia
Our New Inayatiyya Music Activity Vice Presidents
Tarana Jobin has always loved music. She has been blessed with a number of extraordinary experiences as a conductor, including a historical moment as the first woman to conduct on the mainstage at San Francisco Opera in 2004; attending the Grammys as a nominee in 2010; and bringing new American opera to Alaska, Avignon, Szeged, and Shanghai. Sacred music is a particular calling; experiences with the Brahms Deutsches Requiem and Bach B minor Mass have been particularly memorable so far. But Murshid’s spiritual teachings through music draw her like nothing previously encountered, inviting consideration of the bigger musical picture of life. She first encountered Sufism at the Abode in 2010, graduated from the Suluk Gulzar class in 2015, and moved to Richmond in 2018 to serve as Music Director at the Astana, which is a quarter-time staff position, while continuing to accept engagements elsewhere.
Ophiel van Leer grew up in a family in Holland wherein music was part of everyday life. Through his mother he came in contact with Universal Sufism at a very young age. He was trained in flute playing by his father and in improvising by his brother. At age 18, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan invited him to lead the choir at the Zenith Institute Alps Camp, which he continues up to the present day. This at the time also gave the impulse for his musical studies in Utrecht in conducting and school music. Ophiel assisted Pir Vilayat for many years in his long cherished wish to study, conduct and sing Bach’s b-minor mass. This led to numerous concerts-for-peace in several European cities up to the holy land. During his workshops and seminars, Ophiel always aims to bridge music and meditation. He lives with his wife near Wiesbaden, Germany, where he teaches music and conducts several choirs.
Inayatiyya Digital Programs
As we “self-isolate,” we are adding new ways to connect and explore Inayati Sufism together. Please see this link for a comprehensive calendar of Inayatiyya Digital Programs, currently from our activities related to Esotericism, Music, Healing, Kinship, and Ziraat. Additional programs and gatherings, as well as Zoom links and other details, will be added as they become known.
Special Note: We expect all programs to be online through the summer, and our hope is to all meet in-person again by this fall, God willing. The Suluk Reunion, scheduled for Friday, June 26th, is still on and will now be online from 11-3 pm EDT. If you are a graduate of Suluk, details will be shared soon. Also, we are postponing Season of the Rose at the Abode until 2021. We will share more program changes over the coming weeks.
Inayatiyya Worldwide Community E-List
If you are receiving this email, you are already on our new Inayatiyya Worldwide Community E-List. If you know of others who would like to join the Inayatiyya, they may sign up for this e-list using this handy form.
Mar
21
2020
21 March 2020
Dear Companions on the Path,
Peace and love to you. As the coronavirus spreads around the world, our lives are changing in unprecedented ways. Some things, however, will never change.
Seclusion is now the order of the day. Retreat is mandated. This is a chance to give our lives over to contemplation and remembrance. It’s a time to be still and survey the quiet depths of our breath.
Adverse winds will not shake the solidarity of our caravan. We will be with each other through thick and thin. I will look for you on Sundays as we gather for reflection, study, and practice. Meanwhile a diverse cadre of Inayati teachers will offer meditations every day of the week, as this newsletter announces.
Let us be sure to take good care of one another. It is especially important to be mindful of our elders and those with special needs. May no one be forgotten. We are all in this together.
Some things will never change. God is the Light and Life in the lives of all of us, eternally and indivisibly One. Our souls, one and all, will live forever in the Being of Beings, the Vast and Tremendous. The Message brought by the Prophets is the truth. God is our secret, and we are God’s secret.
Yours ever,
Pir Zia
ps — You will find our online schedule for the spring below. It is designed to gather the Inayatiyya together to help us find attunement, rhythm, support, and community during this time of uncertainty.
Resurrection: An Easter Retreat Online w/ Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Livestreamed April 10-12, 2020 – All are invited!
Register Today!
On Sunday, March 22, from 3-5 pm EDT, Pir Zia will offer a class on Ascension.
Last Sunday’s class was full! We are in the process of increasing our Zoom capacity so all of us may be part of these weekly gatherings with Pir Zia. Zoom is very busy and we hope to increase our capacity by Sunday. We hope to see you!
See here for details and a Zoom link
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Music of the Spheres: Gamaka Commentaries, Nirtan
“The Message is a call to those whose hour has come to awake, and a lullaby to those who are meant to sleep.”
The Divine Face is shrouded in 70,000 veils of prismatic light and dappled darkness. Each veil is a cover on the bed of the sleeping soul. To throw off the covers and banish dreams is to meet the Eternal Sun. Read More
See the full commentary on the Inayati Order website.
Inayatiyya Worldwide Online Programs 2020
As we “self-isolate,” we are adding new ways to connect and explore Inayati Sufism together. Please see this link for a comprehensive calendar of Astana Programs, currently from our activities related to Esotericism, Music, Healing, and Kinship. Additional programs and gatherings, as well as Zoom links and other details, will be added as they become known. If you have any questions about our schedule, please always feel free to email Josh, our Front Desk Manager, at astana@inayatiorder.org.
Please visit our Astana Programs Calendar to stay up-to-date.
Feb
17
2020
17 February 2020
Dear Companions on the Path,
I hope this finds you very well. I am delighted to tell you of some recent happenings.
In Épernon, France, the newly formed ??b? class of the Suluk Academy gathered for the first time. It’s a lovely, thoughtful group hailing from many countries, and we delved immediately into concentration and the purification of the body and breath. While walking in the priory garden, I was moved to discover a patch of winter-
blooming snowdrops, or perce-neiges, immediately calling to mind Pirzadi-Shahida Noor’s poignant story of that title.
Following the Suluk session, I proceeded to Fazal Manzil for a weekend with the leadership of the Esoteric School of the Inayatiyya in Europe. Each morning I introduced contemplative practices derived from the alchemical tradition of Sufism, and in the afternoon the masterful Nigel Huzur Hamilton elaborated the lore of alchemy. As I’ve mentioned, alchemy will form a central focus throughout the coming year.
The weekend came to a culmination with a special ceremony at the end of the day Sunday in which my revered uncle Shaikh-ul-Mashaik Mahmood Khan conferred on me two trusts: the chieftaincy of my paternal family, and the spiritual transmission of the Silsila-yi Inayatiyya-Mahbubiyya.
The Inayatiyya-Mahbubiyya lineage descends from Hazrat Inayat Khan via Shaikh-ul-Mashaik Maheboob Khan, Pir-o-Murshid Mohammed Ali Khan, Pir-o-Murshid Musharaff Khan, and the present incumbent, Shaikh-ul-Mashaik Mahmood Khan. It thus parallels the Inayatiyya-Nuriyya lineage I received from my father, traced from Murshid through Pirzadi-Shahida Noor. The auspicious meaning of this is that the two lines of spiritual transmission carried within Murshid’s family have now been rejoined.
The Coordinators and Representatives who were present, and who so wished, received bay‘at (initiation) in the Inayatiyya-Mahbubiyya, as an adjunct to their existing bay‘at. Those who were not present but wish to receive this additional transmission are welcome to receive it from me in the future. Going forward, the Inayatiyya-Mahbubiyya will be bundled with the initiatic pedigrees previously transmitted by the Esoteric School, so that new murids will receive this blessing as well.
Back in Richmond, we celebrated the Murshid’s ‘Urs at the Astana in a shower of roses and melodies. Prince of Qawwali Dhruv Sangari—a protégé of the late great Meraj Ahmed Qawwal, who used to sing weekly at Murshid’s Dargah—dazzled us with his sweet and resounding voice. We found ourselves at the nocturnal tryst (shab-gah) of which Amir Khusraw sings, where the glowing candle is the Prophetic Light.
Yours ever,
Pir Zia
Turban-tying in the Inayatiyya-Mahbubiyya Silsila at Fazal Manzil
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Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan’s Urs 2020
Click Here to See More Photos
Suluk Academy Core Course 2020-2022
First Round of Applications Due, Friday, February 21st!
We are launching a new Suluk class in Virginia this coming fall. Suluk offers two years of intensive study in the core teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, with Pir Zia and other Inayati teachers as faculty. If you are a lover of Sufi teachings, and have been initiated into the Inayati Order’s Esoteric School, this is the program for you! inayatiorder.org/suluk
Music of the Spheres: Gamaka Commentaries, Nirtan
“The rapidity of my walk imagination cannot follow.”
The sleepwalking soul hurries here and there, and goes nowhere. The wakeful soul sits still, and travels beyond the stars. Read More
See the full commentary on the Inayati Order website.
The Inayati Order Programs Calendar
Heart Ocean w/ Zuleikha (West Coast)
San Francisco Theological Seminary, San Anselmo, California
03-05 April 2020
Registration now open!
Healing & the Mind World Four-Part Web Series
Wednesday Nights in May, 7-8 pm EDT
Watch online or at the Astana in RVA!
Suluk Reunion 2020
Abode of the Message, New Lebanon, New York
25-26 June 2020
Registration now open!
Season of the Rose 2020
Abode of the Message, New Lebanon, New York
26 June – 01 July 2020
Registration now open!
Resurrection: A Silent Retreat
The Abode of the Message, New Lebanon, New York
4-7 September 2020
Details forthcoming!
Suluk New Two-Year Class Launch
The Astana, Richmond, Virginia
29 September – 04 October 2020
Apply today!
Healing & the Mind World Four-Part Web Series
Wednesday Nights in October, 7-8:15 pm EDT
Watch online or at the Astana in RVA!
Suluk Graduate 18-Month Course Launch
The Astana, Richmond, Virginia, Fazal Manzil, Suresnes, France, and Online
November 3-8, 2020
Details forthcoming!
Heart Ocean w/ Zuleikha (East Coast)
The Astana, Richmond, Virginia
20-22 November 2020
Registration now open!
94th Urs of Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan in Delhi, India
Delhi, India
03-09 February 2021
For a worldwide calendar featuring many Inayati Order teachers and programs, please visit our Inayati Worldwide Programs Calendar.
Jan
20
2020
20 January 2020
Dear Companions on the Path,
I wish you peace and joy in the New Year.
As the new decade begins, there are many reasons to rejoice and give thanks. We live in a ravishingly beautiful sphere, a world of rainforests and alps, of whales and dragonflies. We are heirs to profound wisdom traditions that illuminate the mystery at the heart of creation. And our lives are sanctified by the boon of fellowship, the sweetness of sharing bread and breath.
But there are also many reasons to be troubled. The web of life on earth, uniting plants, animals, and human beings in a holy symbiosis, is fraying before our eyes. War, hot and cold, persists as a worldwide scourge, sending its shockwaves into the future as children are born in flight from ravaged lands. And millions shudder in the shadows of persecution and injustice rooted in racial and ideological animus.
God willing, strengthened by an unbreakable faith, we will go forward. We will excavate our souls. We will stand shoulder to shoulder with our siblings of all ancestries. We will honor the holy prophets and prophetesses of all lands, and endeavor to follow in their footsteps. We study the scripture of Nature and tread lightly on the Earth. We will attend to the healing of ourselves and of all beings. We will pledge ourselves to the highest code we know. We will make our life our song.
Yours ever,
Pir Zia
 |
Prayers for AustraliaWe thank you for, and continue to welcome, prayers for Australia’s environmental crisis. Although bushfire conditions have eased somewhat and some parts have had rain, the country is still on alert with 82 fires still burning, 30 of them uncontained, with significant air pollution travelling far afield, even to other lands. Heavy rain in some places has added different significant challenges. In the fires whole towns have gone up in flames, thousands of people have become refugees, more than 500 million animals and plants have died, 28 people are reported to have died, more than 3,000 homes lost … Please send your prayers, love, the healing power of gentle rain…
Karima Moss Parkinson
Inayati Order Representative Australia |
Music of the Spheres: Gamaka Commentaries, Nirtan
“By every hurt or harm that one causes me, one only makes me know him better.”
It’s all too easy to take offense. To flush red, glare, groan and snarl requires no insight. Reflection, on the other hand, is a science of the heart. Read More
See the full commentary on the Inayati Order website.
Suluk Academy Core Course 2020-2022
First Round of Applications Due, Friday, February 21st!
We are launching a new Suluk class in Virginia this coming fall. Suluk offers two years of intensive study in the core teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, with Pir Zia and other Inayati teachers as faculty. If you are a lover of Sufi teachings, and have been initiated into the Inayati Order’s Esoteric School, this is the program for you! inayatiorder.org/suluk
Dec
16
2019
16 December 2019
Dear Friends,
Greetings! I hope this finds you very well.
Last week the Naubahar Suluk class again convened at the Astana, this time to go deeper into Meditation (mushahada), the third stage in the inner life. There was joyful companionship and numinous silence, and we observed together the ‘Urs of Ghaws al-A‘zam, the Great Protector (God sanctify his secret), whose lineage flows into the Inayatiyya.
Two weeks earlier I traveled to Suresnes to guide a retreat on the Anatomy of Illumination. It was a happy reunion with ashiqs and murids from several countries. As we undertook the renovation of our subtle bodies, the Khankah in which we gathered—Fazal Manzil, Murshid’s hallowed home—was undergoing renovation, a large-scale project that will continue over the next two years, God willing. The first fruits of this renovation can be seen in this glimpse of the Oriental Room.
After the holidays I will be back in France again for the annual leadership meetings in Suresnes and the commencement of the new European Suluk class. Not long thereafter, in February, we will gather in Mustang Island, Texas, for a 5-day intensive retreat that is open to all. I look forward to being with many of you.
In 2020, the Esoteric School and Sufi Healing worldwide will offer synchronized study of The Centennial Edition of The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Vol. 4: Health, Mental Purification, and The Mind World, which is due for publication shortly. I encourage everyone to obtain this important volume and to join in the exploration of its transformational wisdom.
Closely related to mental purification is the subject of alchemy, which as you may know is foundational to the Esoteric School generally, and to the Retreat Concentration specifically. The alchemical process, also known as the Great Work, will be a central theme in our gatherings over the next two years. Notably, it will form the subject matter of a specialized course for Suluk graduates scheduled to begin next fall. As a foretaste of things soon to come, a selection of alchemical sayings will go out from the Astana beginning tomorrow, day by day.
Dear Friends, I wish you a luminous Hanukkah, Solstice, Christmas, and New Year! May the Divine presence enfold your days and nights in the purest mercy and deepest communion. I look forward to seeing you in the coming year, God willing.
Yours ever,
Pir Zia
Inayati Fall Appeal 2019 Alchemical Contemplations
Beginning tomorrow we will share daily Alchemical Contemplations foreshadowing activities to come in 2020. This is all part of our Inayati Fall Appeal, inviting you to support the transformation we individually and collectively experience as wayfarers on this endless path. Any donation received by Saturday, December 21st will receive a special audio gift from Pir Zia. Thank you for donating today!
Nov
25
2019
25 November 2019
Dear Friends,
Blustery greetings to you on this fine November morning. May these lines find you well.
I would like to record here my gratitude to my good friend, Dr. Srinivas Reddy, who graciously welcomed me at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, at the end of October. Brown has a cutting-edge program in Contemplative Studies, and it was a great pleasure to meet the faculty and students there. Many ashiqs, murids, and friends joined us, making it a joyous New England Sufi reunion. In addition to being a superb scholar and translator of classical texts, Srinivas-ji is an amazing sitarist. Srinivas-ji assigns Murshid’s Mysticism of Music and Sound in his class on music, and he tells me it is very well received by the students.
Not long after the weekend in Providence, the last of four sessions for Emergent Leaders in the Esoteric School was convened at the Astana. We focused on Murshid’s teachings to Murshida Rabia Martin and the ethics and adab of leadership. These Emergent Leaders, who are of various ages and who come from various places, are part of a rising wave of dedicated up-and-coming leaders in the Order who are increasingly discovering their vocation and finding their path of service. I am particularly struck by the camaraderie that is growing, the sense of being part of a school that is also a community founded on friendship.
Speaking of community, we recently had a delightful day at the Astana as we welcomed the family of Karamat and Elizabeth Hess for a blessing of their baby Elijah. Karamat’s late father Maharaji (God keep him) was an inspiring guide at the Abode, and his mother Telema has for decades led a wonderful Sufi center in Philadelphia. It was moving to see the lineage continue in the glowing face of Elijah Hess.
Yours ever,
Pir Zia
THE INAYATI ORDER KEYNOTES 2020
Please take a moment to read our Keynotes 2020, which looks forward to our activities for next year. See inside for details on how we plan to Come Together, Reach Out, Build Community, Strengthen our Infrastructure, Make Pilgrimage, and Deepen our Roots. Ya Fattah!
Suluk Academy Core Course 2020-2022
Applications Now Available!
We are launching two new Suluk classes in 2020, one in France (January) and one in Virginia (September). Suluk offers two years of intensive study in the core teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, with Pir Zia and other Inayati teachers as faculty. If you are a lover of Sufi teachings, this is the program for you! inayatiorder.org/suluk
Rumi’s 812th Birthday Celebration Now Online!
Purchase the complete collection for $165 by clicking here OR purchase individual sessions for just $15 each, clicking here to view all individual sessions.
Vadan Commentary
Music of the Spheres: Gamaka Commentaries, Vadan
“My friends lull me to sleep, but my enemies keep me awake.”
The presence of a friend is pure ease. Friends think alike, and when they differ, differ amicably. With a friend one feels little need to watch one’s step; the friend is always ready to overlook or forgive missteps. The friend knows one’s heart.
Inayati News
- One World Bearing Witness Webcast on Saturday, December 7th
- New Year’s Retreat at the Abode with Aziza Scott and Yaqin Aubert
- New Position: Astana Front Desk Manager!
- New Netflix Documentary Featuring Inayati Order Representative, Hafiz Decker
- Rabia Povich Named New North American VP for Kinship
- Nekhbahkt Autumn Foundation Newsletter
Oct
28
2019
Dear Friends,
I hope this finds you well. Here at the Astana in Richmond it has been an eventful month.
Over the last weekend of September we celebrated the 812th birthday of Hazrat Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi (God bless and keep him). The esteemed teachers Shaykha Hayat Nur Artiran, Shaykha Fariha al-Jerrahi, Cheikh Sufi, and Shaykh Abdu-Rasheed al-Mukashfi honored us with their presence. The music of Amir Koushkani and Latif Bolat enthralled us. It was a banquet in the tavern amongst the ruins.
Hazrat Inayat Khan wrote, “Rumi’s work is so great that if one has read and understood it one has learnt every philosophy there is.” God willing, we will continue our exploration of Rumi’s vast legacy year by year. The Mawlavi silsila of the Inayati Order may be found here, and photos of the birthday festival may be found here.
Last week the Healing Activity was here for five days of study, practice, and visioning. The wonderful vice presidents Devi Tide and Sarida Brown convened the Shafayat Council over the course of three days, followed by a healing retreat over the weekend. Inayati Healing Conductors from all over the world joined us by video link. As heavy rain fell outside, another kind of downpour quickened our spirits as we attuned to the all-pervading life in space.
Yesterday we completed our four-week autumn series on Volume Three of the Centennial Edition of the Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan. God willing, in the spring we will take up the study of Volume Four, the very important compilation Health, Mental Purification, and The Mind World.
Alas, our Order has lost a revered worker for the cause. Beloved Noor Hervot has passed into the invisible 
world. Noor lead the Esoteric School and Healing in France for many long years and was an inspiration in innumerable lives. As she travels onward, she leaves behind a legacy of kindness, insight and light. O Thou, the Cause and Effect of the whole Universe … let her thirsting eyes behold the glorious vision of Thy Sunshine.
Yours ever,
Bawa
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Vadan Commentary
Music of the Spheres: Gamaka Commentaries, Vadan
“Nothing new I say when I speak, I only renew the memory of things which may not be forgotten.”
Imagine falling asleep and waking up devoid of memory. This is a description of the human condition.
We are travelers from beyond time and space. We are extraterrestrials—in fact, extracelestials. Continued
The Inayati Order Fall Calendar 2019
Pir Zia Seminar in Paris
Paris, France
22-24 November 2019
Announcing Two New Programs for 2020
The Inayatiyya: An Alchemical Retreat for Leaders of the Six Activities
Mustang Island, Texas
13-19 February 2020
Season of the Rose 2020 Details forthcoming!
Abode of the Message, New Lebanon, New York
26 June – 01 July 2020
For a worldwide calendar featuring many Inayati Order teachers and programs, please visit our Inayati Worldwide Programs Calendar.