An Update on Race & Justice Initiatives

August 3, 2020

Dear Friends on the Path,

As we continue to translate our abstract ideals into embodied action, we respond to the cry of humanity. The cry for racial justice and equity from a place of love has brought several new (and renewed) initiatives within the Inayatiyya. This is an update with a view toward our next-steps.

• A Race, Justice, Equity & Love (RJEL) Advisory Committee is guiding much of the work the Inayatiyya is undertaking. The group is composed of ten people with an interest and experience in race and has an international scope. Advisory Committee members include Gulrukh Patel (co-chair), Rabia Povich (co-chair), Omid Safi, Onaje Muid, Fatima Hafiz-Muid, Sabrina Bonfonti, Jabriel Hasan, Jennifer Alia Wittman, Adel Chefridi, and Pir Zia Inayat Khan.

• An invitation is extended to Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) to share your experiences in living with our community and organization. Contact Gulrukh if you are interested in participating.

• The Kinship Activity in North America is organizing Racial Inquiry Groups to support the awakening of our racial conditioning. Groups will be formed with people of similar backgrounds to create a safe container for difficult discussions. Participants will meet with the same group each month to build a field of trust and continuity of dialogue. Groups will meet for 2 hours once a month; a nine-month commitment is required. Contact Rabia if you are interested in participating in a group.

• Conversations on European Consciousness on Racial Equalityare continuing with Farzana Dalila-Boyle on the following Thursdays from 6-7pm GMT: 30 July, 27 August, 10 & 24 September. Farzana is a Conductor in Inayatiyya Healing UK and is also a Retreat Guide, Breathworker, and Psychotherapist based in East Sussex. Contact the Inayatiyya UK, for details on how to join.

• An active Inayatiyya Race Justice Equity & Love Facebook group, with 328 members to date, has been created for sharing and discussing issues of race.

• The Astana, the Inayatiyya’s Headquarters in Richmond, Virginia, is holding a series of Interfaith Prayer Circles and Zikrs at sites holding the historical pain of African enslavement and racism throughout the city. Josh Octaviani is spearheading this initiative in close collaboration with members of the Astana’s Sufi Center as well as with local community partners. For details email astana@inayatiyya.org.

• Local Inayatiyya Centers are engaging with their communities around issues of race and justice. For example, members of the Charlottesville Sufi Community are part of a silent vigil held weekly at the Lynching Marker in front of the county Court House; participants hold signs with names of African Americans who have been killed by police or vigilantes. If you and/or your Inayatiyya Center is participating in Race & Justice related activities, consider sharing your community work on the RJEL Facebook Group

• Members of the Inayatiyya’s former Inclusion Committee (2017), which crafted the Inayatiyya’s Inclusion Statement, will be re-convened to debrief and advise on our future direction.

• The North American Board of Trustees and Staff, as well as Leaders in the Inayatiyya’s Seven Activities, will engage in a three-part training on racial awareness, inclusion and equity with Onaje Muid and Fatima Hafiz-Muid, with dates in the process of being set.

If you have any ideas for, or questions about, the Inayatiyya’s Race, Justice, Equity & Love initiative, please email kinship@inayatiyya.org.

Pursuing racial justice and equity with love,

Rabia Povich, VP Kinship Activity North America
Gulrukh Patel, Chair, Inayatiyya International Board