The first Suluk Academy Global Online Class graduated successfully in June 2022 with 142 students from Turkey, India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Australia, Mexico, United States, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Norway, Scotland, Denmark and The Netherlands.
We are happy to announce the launch of a new Suluk Global Online class beginning March 2023. See below for details.
Please email suluk@inayatiyya.org if you’d like to be on the list to receive application materials. We would love to have you in the program!
SULUK GLOBAL ONLINE PROGRAM
A Very Special Opportunity for Murids Worldwide
Applications Open September 19th, 2022
Choose Language: English • French • Deutsch • Türkçe
The upcoming class will begin in March 2023 and graduate in December 2024. Please see below for exact dates.
We anticipate accepting between 100 and 120 students into the program, representing the Inayatiyya’s muridship within four global regions: Oceania (Australia & New Zealand), Middle East & Asia, Europe & North America.
Suluk Academy’s Two-Year Core Course is designed to be taken once in a lifetime. If you are an initiate of the Inayatiyya’s Inner School and have ever desired to intensively study the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927), this is the time. Since Suluk’s founding in 2003, over 650 students have graduated from our two-year course worldwide, with something more than a conventional credential – a greater depth of self and insight into life.
Pir Zia Inayat Khan will be our main teacher, supported by faculty and mentors within each region. Details about the overall program may be found below.
Please email suluk@inayatiyya.org and let us know if you would like to apply and if you have any questions. The class will be limited in size and we recommend applying as soon as possible to ensure your space.
If you would like to wait and apply for Suluk when we are able to gather back in-person, please email us letting us know.
Over the course of two years, students, called Salik(a)s, deeply explore the fundamentals of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s school of Sufism under the rubric of Concentration, Contemplation, Meditation and Realization.
Among the topics of study are purification of body and mind, prayer, breath, the elements, light, the inner senses, the Chivalric Rules, the God Ideal, the Divine Names, the subtle centers, and the Spirit of Guidance.
A direct transmission is shared through a mix of practice, lecture, suhbat, and zikr, and held within a container of spiritual companionship.
Pir Zia Inayat Khan Pir Zia Inayat Khan, PH.D., is a scholar of religion and teacher of Sufism in the universalist Sufi lineage of his grandfather, Hazrat Inayat Khan. Pir Zia is president of the Inayatiyya and founder of Sulūk Academy, a school of Sufi contemplative study and practice. He is author of Immortality: A Traveler’s Guide; Dream Flowers: The Collected Works of Noor Inayat Khan with a Critical Commentary by Pir Zia Inayat Khan; Mingled Waters: Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions; and Saracen Chivalry: Counsels on Valor, Generosity and the Mystical Quest. He is editor of Caravan of Souls: An Introduction to the Sufi Path of Hazrat Inayat Khan and A Pearl in Wine: Essays in the Life, Music and Sufism of Hazrat Inayat Khan. Pir Zia divides his time between Richmond, Virginia and Suresnes, France.
Deepa Gulrukh Patel is a creative facilitator in the interdisciplinary field of the arts and the sciences and a strategic thinker with a passion for social justice, heartful conversation and the contemplative life. She was born in Kenya to Indian parents and lives in England. This experience has influenced both her professional and personal life. Deepa has worked with young people, in the field of cultural diversity as a Live Music producer and in music education. Her current work is with The London College of Fashion, UNHCR and the University of Sheffield in refugee camps in Jordan and Africa and the Fetzer Institute on two projects, one on creating sacred space in the virtual world and the other on their shared spiritual heritage project. Deepa is a guide and teacher in the Inayatiyya, a mentor in Suluk and chair of Inayatiyya Interntional. She is also the chair of Tamasha Theatre Company, an advisor to the Loss Foundation, a bereavement support service to to those that have lost some to Cancer or COVID-19 and Charis Interspirituality on their interfaith dialogue projects.
Nizam un Nisa Husain is a Shaykha, Cheraga, Guide, Representative and Facilitator of the Anjumani-Islam group in the Inayatiyya. A student of classical Chishti Sufism since 1988 and a devoted follower of the Inayatiyya since 2004, she has led Inayatiyya centers in Lahore, in Dubai and now in Oakville, Ontario where she lives. A journalist and editor by profession with an MA in Journalism/Near Eastern Studies from NYU, Nizam un Nisa is a graduate of the first European Suluk class and has mentored several Suluk classes including the first graduate Suluk. She has led Sufi retreats, taught Sufi meditation to Buddhist monks in Tokyo and been invited to the UN as part of an international delegation of spiritual leaders. She is currently working on setting the Urdu poetry of Hazrat Inayat Khan to music.
Amida Cary is Co-Vice President of the Inayatiyya Inner School in North America, as well as Director of the Inayatiyya’s North American Retreat Concentration. She is a guide to students and retreatants worldwide as well as a mentor to up and coming Inayatiyya leadership.
Amida is an experienced spiritual and retreat guide who has worked closely with Pir Zia Inayat Khan and Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan. She helped found Suluk Academy and has served in varying roles as Suluk faculty.
Jamila Cranston-Buckley is a student of life. She has worked in the fields of Well Being for 40 years. A practitioner of Oriental Healing, Herbal Medicine and Acupuncture, Jamila continues to deepen in understanding the Five Elements as they manifest through every aspect of life. She treasures the philosophy of Wholeness and Interdependence of living systems found in approaches such as Sufi teachings, Oriental Medicine and ‘Perma-Dynamics’. Her passions are gardening, exploring wellbeing through movement, eating well, being in community, growing communication skills, cultivating compassion and consciously working with all states of mind. Her focus is tuning and polishing her Heart-Being, to listen more fully and deeply to self, others and life. Jamila is the Inayatiyya’s National Representative for New Zealand and holds the work of the ‘Inner School’. She guides individual and group retreats to tend heart, soul, unfold unique gifts and purpose of life.
Jacob Miraj Dominicus helps people deepen their meditative practice. Jacob has been a murid of the Inayatiyya since 1997, served on the Inayati Order Board of Trustees under Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan and Pir Zia Inayat Khan, and helped start Suluk Academy serving as its inaugural administrator. In 2007, he graduated from Suluk’s Kafur class. Since 2015 Jacob has co-led retreats with Gulrukh Patel at the Zenith Institute in Switzerland. He currently serves as the co-Madar-ul-Muham of Inayatiyya Inner School (Oceania and North America). Professionally, he consults with corporate teams and teaches meditation. Jacob holds a B.A. from NYU in Organizational Behavior, Narrative Theory, and Mysticism and has been a Visiting Scholar at NYU Tisch’s Interactive Communications Program (ITP). He lives in Los Angeles, where he studies the Chinese martial arts of Xingyi and Bagua and lives with his wife, daughter, and two cats.
Noor un nisa Jacobs was initiated by Pir Vilayat Inayat khan in the the early 1980’s and she has been walking this path ever since. She is married and has three grown up sons. Being a mother has been a very important part of her life and has taught her very much. Professionally she has been a psychotherapist and retreat guide. Within the IUK she guides a weekly Sufi Gathering, she is a Healing Conductor, a Retreat Guide, and a guide to seekers on the path. She also mentors and teaches with the RGT. She is also a Carmelite Spiritual Director which belies her respect for the Christian Mysteries often overlooked. Her great love is in the work of individual and group retreats which illuminates a deep devotion to the ecology of the Earth, the Mysteries of the Divine Feminine and the Being of Sophia and Mary the Mother of Compassion. She loves silence and feels an urgent need in our world to nurture silence ~ silence that nourishes and restores the life of the soul.
Zehra Muge Kasim has been a devoted student of Pir Zia since 2006. She is a graduate of Tasnim Class and has served as a mentor for Na-koja-abad. She has led Inayatiyya centers with her husband in 5 different cities in Turkey. Professionally she is a Doctor of Pharmacy and has served in hospital settings for many years in the USA. She also managed an Ambulatory Surgical Center and a Medical Spa and worked as a Perinatal Services Coordinator in Burbank, California. She completed her Ayurvedic Medicine training with Dr. Vasant Lad at Ayurvedic Institute in New Mexico (2008-2010). After returning to Turkey in 2010, she established a non-profit Foundation with her husband. Currently, Zehra gives lectures on Ayurveda and leads classes on Hazrat Inayat Khan’s teachings. She is a National Representative, Guide, Retreat Guide, and a Mentor for the Coordinators-in-Training and Representatives-in-Training Program of the Inner School for Inayatiyya in Turkey. She is also the President of the Board of the Inayatiyya-Turkey. She organizes retreat camps including the annual Sufi Camp in Turkey with Pir Zia. She has co-authored two books and is co-translator of four others.
Omid Safi is a teacher in the Islamic tradition of Radical Love. Omid’s passion for teaching has been recognized through the ten times that he has been nominated for professor of the year awards. He serves as a professor at Duke University specializing in Islamic spirituality and contemporary thought. A leading Muslim public intellectual, Omid is committed to the intersection of spirituality and social justice. Omid has published extensively on the foundational sources of Islam and Sufism. His Memories of Muhammad is a biography of the Prophet Muhammad. His most recent book is Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition (published by Yale).
Omid often appears as an expert on Islam in international media. He has a podcast (“Sufi Heart”) at Be Here Now. His Illuminated Tours have taken more than a 1,000 friends from over twenty countries to Turkey, Morocco, and Umrah since 2002. He is now offering Illuminated Courses for online offerings on spiritual traditions open to seekers of all backgrounds.
Zumurrud Butta serves as Vice President of the Inner School of the Inayatiyya in Europe and leads the Inner School in Germany. She offers individual and group retreats and retreat guide training, has taught at Suluk Academy in North America and Europe and serves on the Suluk Global Committee.Zumurrud teaches courses on Sufi mysticism in Europe and online, with a focus on the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Ibn ´Arabi and the female transmission of mysticism.
Suluk meets over the course of two years, four times a year with five days per session. This is a total of eight sessions and 40 days of study. Here are the dates for the Suluk Global Online Program:
All sessions begin at 9:30 am Eastern Time on Wednesday and end at 1:00 pm Eastern Time on Sunday. Homework between sessions includes reading and writing assignments, possible Zoom calls with one’s mentor group, and a required three-day, individual Suluk Retreat.
It will be a requirement of the Suluk Global Online Program to be able to participate in real-time for Pir Zia’s teaching each day, from 9:30 am-1 pm Eastern. Mentor Groups and Pods will be arranged per each global region’s time zone. The following schedule is standard for those participating in North America:
9:30 am ET Morning Attunement
9:50 am ET Announcements
10:00 am ET Teachings with Sarafil Bawa
11:15 am ET Tea Break
11:45 am ET Teachings with Sarafil Bawa
1:00 pm ET Lunch
3:30 pm ET Mentor Groups*
5:00 pm ET Tea Break
5:30 pm ET Pods**
6:30 pm ET Evening Program Select Nights
*Mentor Groups are small groups of 10-12 people, led by a mentor, that Salik(a)s belong to throughout the course of the program. These groups are meant to provide a home base as one processes and assimilates the teachings.
**Pods are smaller, self-guided groups, involving 5-6 people from each Mentor Group. Pod mates support one another as spiritual friends throughout the program.
Tuition for the full, two-year program is $4,800 ($600 x eight sessions) with payment made quarterly, via Eventbrite, at least one month before each session. Payment for the first session must be paid in advance, to serve as a deposit and to guarantee your place in the class. Payments for the first round of accepted applications are due by January 20th 2023
Partial scholarships and tuition adjustments based on national currency valuations will be available on an as-needed basis. If you are interested in a scholarship, please note this within your application.
To apply for our new Suluk Global Online Program, please email suluk@inayatiyya.org.
Due to a high volume of applications, we are expanding the size of the class, and will continue to admit applications on a rolling basis through January 15th, 2023. We recommend applying as soon as possible to ensure your space.
Confirmation of acceptance by February 1st, 2023.
Sufis, instead of teaching the lesson of indifference, have taught the lesson of love and sympathy, and have called it the cultivation of the heart. In Sufi terminology, this is called Suluk, which means the divine manner, the loving manner. When a refined manner is directed by the heart quality, it becomes a loving manner, the manner of God, and all such attributes as gentleness, tolerance, kindness, forgiveness, mercy, and compassion spring from it. The great teachers and prophets did not become what they were by their miracles, their wonder-workings; what was most apparent in them was the loving manner. – Hazrat Inayat Khan, Sufi Message Volume VIII (original edition) on “The Heart.”
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