Speakers

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  Pir Zia Inayat Khan
  

  Pir Zia Inayat Khan

  Pir Zia Inayat Khan, PhD, 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 the author of Immortality: A Traveler’s Guide; Mingled Waters: Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions; Saracen Chivalry: Counsels on Valor, Generosity and the Mystical Quest; and the editor and compiler of Dream Flowers: The Collected Works of Noor Inayat Khan, for which he also wrote the critical introduction. Pir Zia divides his time between Richmond, Virginia and Suresnes, France. inayatiyya.org

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  Jabriel Hasan
  

  Jabriel Hasan

  Jabriel Hasan is a graduate of Union Presbyterian Seminary and currently a student at the College of William and Mary studying counseling. He is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer and a former resident of Richmond Hill, an ecumenical Christian community and retreat center in Richmond, Virginia. He is also a founding member and officer of the Black Coalition of Change, a local community organization also in Richmond. As of spring 2023, Jabriel is an ordained Healing Cherag within the Inayatiyya.

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  Jessica Bromby
  

  Jessica Bromby

  Jessica Bromby is a Healing Cherag and offers all generations Universal Services. She’s a Canadian born on a farm in Quebec and now living with her husband and daughter in Sarasota by Rising Tide International. She is a singer and often shares songs in her services. She guides and facilitates healing retreats in person and online. She is a guide in the Inayatiyya and shefayat and healing retreat guide serving in the Healing Order. She’s a mentor in the current life transitions Healing Cherag program and healing retreat guide training program. She is soon hosting an interfaith group for babies and parents this fall.

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  Mumtaz Kammerer
  

  Mumtaz Kammerer

  Mumtaz Kammerer, a murid since 1976, lives in Baltimore, Maryland. He spreads the Message of Love, Harmony, and Beauty as a representative and guide of the Inayatiyya Inner School, the center leader for Sufi Order Baltimore, a Universal Worship siraj, a Sufi Healing Order conductor, a Ziraat farmer, a
  Knight of Purity, and a certified leader of the Dances of Universal Peace. He
  currently serves on the Universal Worship board of trustees and on the
  Knighthood Council, and formerly served on the board of trustees for Sufi
  Order International and the Abode of the Message. Retired from a career in
  management, Mumtaz enjoys spending time with his husband of 43 years,
  gardening, and volunteering as a docent at Evergreen Museum and Library.

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  Devi Tide
  

  Devi Tide

  Devi Tide is the Kefayat (Head) and Vice President of the Sufi Healing Order in North America, New Zealand and Australia. She has over thirty years of experience as a teacher of healing and the esoteric sciences, bringing the qualities of wisdom, heart, subtlety, humor, and intelligence to her role. Devi has contributed to and offered programs in India, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America. In her seminars, public speaking, and individual sessions and retreats, Devi represents the inner vitality and harmony of the body, mind and spirit, the vitality of our interconnected world, as well as personal transformation. 

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  Wahhab David Sheets
  

  Wahhab David Sheets

  Wahhab David Sheets is a Siraj of the Universal Worship, a senior Inayatiyya teacher, and a certified retreat guide. Wahhab has served in many national and international Inayatiyya roles, including International Secretary General; Trustee of the North American Inayatiyya Board, Trustee of the North American Universal Worship Board, and as member of the Council of the Federation of the Sufi Message. Retired from a career in Child Protective Services, Wahhab now lives in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, with his wife Batina, where he guides retreats, teaches classes, plays guitar, and enjoys hiking in the mountains.

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  Cathy Nur'llah Layland
  

  Cathy Nur'llah Layland

  Cathy Nur’llah Layland closed out a long career as a corporate manager for marketing, communications and project management to devote her work-life to helping people find their healing and tranquility. She has a clinical practice in Energy Medicine and teaches Tai Chi, Chi Kung, Meditation, and, a blended form of yoga designed for those of us who cannot twist into a pretzel (and never could!) Her Sufi journey began in the mid 80’s. For the Inayatiyya, Nur’llah is a Representative, Retreat Guide, Healing Conductor, Cherag, serving as Executive Director Secretariat of the Universal Worship. She hosts the Emerging Light Sufi Center in the Lehigh Valley and offers blended events and gatherings (live and via ZOOM). Locally, she is active with Blank Slate, an emerging spiritual community in the Lehigh Valley, and, Lehigh Conference of Churches Interfaith Action Committee.

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  Sharia Des Jardins
  

  Sharia Des Jardins

  Sharia Des Jardins was raised within the Inayatiya and has been a murid for nearly 35 years. She is a Cherag and an Animist Minister, as well as a pastoral counselor. From a very young age she studied with Murshida Vera, who gave her permission and encouragement to create her own Children’s Universal Worship image cards. She has expanded the service to include a greater balance of the masculine and feminine within the traditions while following the original service created in the 1970’s. This has allowed her to create a new awareness of our connection to the planet and other beings that share our one precious Earth. Sharia has worked with children and young adults for over 35 years creating education, programming, and events that serve an underserved aspect of our community in connecting with our innate spiritual selves and our relationship with the world around us from a very young age.

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  Sara Farishta Perkins
  

  Sara Farishta Perkins

  Sara Farishta Perkins presently Coordinates the Madison Sufis’ Universal Worship and offers a monthly service in Milwaukee where she lives now. In the Fall of 2023, she assisted 2 others (whom she met at the Parliament of the World’s Religions) with organizing and implementing the Simple Service for all to access. She was a recipient of the Heart Award with her singing group from Madison,WI—Women With Wings—and still sings with them nearly weekly. She directed her own Seraphim Center for 15+ years offering individual and group presentations, workshops which assisted people in connecting with their angels and other guides to know themselves better. She is mostly re-framed (retired) from secular work but offers 2 monthly meditations (using the purification breaths) and 1 group for Relative Foster Parents at Children’s Hospital WI. Mother of 2, Grandmother of 3, she loves Lake Michigan, Universal Worship, gardening flowers, singing, learning, traveling and building bridges for Peace. An occasional DUP leader, she shares her rural roots, works to speak from the heart, and laughs from the soul.

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  Wahida Janice Young
  

  Wahida Janice Young

  Wahida Janice Young was initiated by Pir Zia in 2001. Since that time she has been a steadfast member of the Sufi community. After being ordained as a Cheraga by Shahabuddin, she has actively served at the altar. In 2006 she embarked on a solo journey bringing the Universal Worship to centers and churches across the country. She lived at the Abode of the Message for 19 years which she enjoyed very much and served in a number of capacities there. During her time at the Abode some of her roles included Khidmat coordinator (the Abode’s volunteer program), Center Leader, and holder of the Universal Worship schedule. Although Wahida has since moved away from the Abode, she returns regularly to serve at the altar, continues to work actively with her guide, and attends frequent retreats. She is filled with gratitude for having found this Sufi path, which is so fulfilling to her life.