I start with the words of Ram Dass, who in 1970 said the following of Khan, one of the twentieth-century’s most influential Sufis. (Note: “Hazrat” is an Arabic and Turkish honorific title used to show respect to a righteous person, prophet, and/or teacher. It is commonly used in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. The word literally translates to “presence, appearance.”)
Hazrat Inayat Khan was an Indian mystic, musician, and spiritual teacher who is widely recognized for bringing Sufism to the West. Born into a family of musicians in Baroda (modern-day Vadodara in the Indian state of Gujarat), Inayat Khan belonged to a musical lineage that valued both spiritual and artistic traditions. His early life was deeply influenced by music, which he regarded as a divine art, connecting the soul to the infinite. He mastered classical Indian music and became a celebrated musician in the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad.
Despite his success in the musical field, Inayat Khan felt a calling towards a deeper spiritual path. He became a disciple of a Sufi master, Syed Muhammad Abu Hashim Madani, who initiated him into the Chishti Order, a Sufi tradition emphasizing love, beauty, and harmony. After receiving his training, Inayat Khan was instructed by his teacher to share the message of Sufism with the West. In 1910, he left India for the United States, beginning a journey that would later take him to Europe.
In the West, Inayat Khan taught a universalist form of Sufism that transcended religious and cultural boundaries. His message emphasized unity, peace, and the awakening of the human spirit through love and harmony. He saw the essence of all religions as one and believed that spiritual development was a personal journey that could take many forms. His teachings drew on both Sufi wisdom and universal spiritual truths, making them accessible to people of all backgrounds.
Inayat Khan also founded the Sufi Order International, an organization aimed at promoting spiritual understanding and self-realization. He wrote extensively on spirituality, mysticism, and the nature of the soul, leaving behind a vast body of teachings that continue to inspire spiritual seekers around the world.
Hazrat Inayat Khan passed away in 1927 in Delhi, India, but his legacy lives on through his writings, music, and the Sufi Order he founded, which continues to flourish globally.
In the video below, Ram Dass reads the words of Inayat Khan on the art of selflessness. This reading is accompanied by the music of Universe Divine.
Related Off-site Links:
Recalling Hazrat Inayat Khan and His Universalist Sufism – James Ford (Patheos, February 5, 2022).
Inayat Khan’s Legacy: Music, Sufism, and a Celebrated Spy Daughter – Nishtha Gautam (The Quint, February 6, 2019).
You know British spy Noor Inayat Khan who Hitler Executed. Her Father Has a Story Too – Raghav Bikhchandani (The Print, July 5, 2022).
How an Indian Sufi Teacher Left an Imprint on Claude Debussy (and Western Classical Music) – Luis Dias (Scroll.in, April 19, 2016).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Inayat Khan
• Inayat Khan: “There Must Be Balance”
• The Sufi Way
• Sufism: Way of Love, Tradition of Enlightenment, and Antidote to Fanaticism
• Sufism: A Call to Awaken
• Sufism: A Living Twenty-First Century Tradition
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Kabir Helminski
• As the Last Walls Dissolve . . . Everything is Possible
• Clarity, Hope, and Courage
• “Joined at the Heart”: Robert Thompson on Christianity and Sufism
• Doris Lessing on the Sufi Way
• In the Garden of Spirituality – Doris Lessing
• Awakening
• An Extraordinary, Precious Gift
• The Task at Hand
• Guidelines for the Advent of a Universal Mysticism: An Introduction | Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
• Adnan and the Winged Heart
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