17 September 2025
Dear Companions on the Path,
Behind Fazal Manzil stands a chestnut tree planted by Amina Begum a hundred years ago. When Pirani Sartaj and I left for London last week it still had most of its leaves. We’ve returned to find that its branches are now mostly bare. It seems that summer is nearly over.
For us, it’s been a summer of travels. We spent the first ten days of July in the company of my uncle Shaikh al-Mashaik Mahmood Khan together with the murids, ashiqs, and friends who gather each year for the Suresnes Summer School. Between sessions of sama’ and zikr we meditated on lectures given by Murshid over the same stretch of days a century ago.
After the Summer School I was able to dedicate two weeks to writing, and I’m pleased to say I’ve completed the second of a pair of mystical dramas, Al-Battar and Akbar. The first concerns the history of the Holy Grail, and the second deals with the spiritual renaissance that took place under the auspices of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Akbar Shah. Together, these plays form a companion to my forthcoming esoteric history, Tears from the Mother of the Sun (with art by Amruta Patil), due out in February.
We then betook ourselves to Germany for the Zenith Camp, held once again this year at the Caduceus Centre in Bad Bevensen, Germany.
Afterward, Nura and Klaus kindly took us to Görlitz, the home town of the great German mystic Jakob Böhme, and onward to Prague in the Czech Republic. For Böhme, the Holy Trinity consisted of the life before creation, creation itself, and the life emerging from creation. It was interesting to learn that a close associate of Böhme’s, Balthasar Walther, studied with Jewish and Arab teachers in the Levant and North Africa, indicating that there is a demonstrable bridge between Böhme’s thought and Sufism.
Not long after returning from Eastern Europe it was time to travel northward for the annual retreat at the Sufi temple in Katwijk beside the North Sea. My visit included felicitous meetings with Sufi Foundation 1923, a group working closely with the Inayatiyya in the Netherlands and beyond.
My last trip of the summer was to London, where I joined the wonderful musical ensemble Universerai for a public sama’. The next day, with the dramaturg Freny Pavri and several of her colleagues, I took part in a rehearsal of Al-Battar in preparation for a planned performance in Glastonbury in April.
Afterward, at the London Sufi Centre, we spent the weekend contemplatively exploring the Four Archangels. Online, there was a poignant sendoff for our much-esteemed outgoing North American Executive Director Alia Wittman, and a warm welcome to her successor Mika’il Petin.
I am now back in Suresnes, and the new Suluk class launches this weekend (by the time you read this, it will have been last weekend). I am greatly looking forward to meeting the new cohort. Simultaneously, there is a special exhibition on Pirzadi-Shahida Noor at the Fazal Manzil museum to coincide with Noor’s Urs and Hejirat Day.
When Pirani and I return to Richmond in mid-September, online classes will resume, including a series on In an Eastern Rose Garden, just released in the Centennial Edition from Suluk Press. North American in-person gatherings are also coming up.
Wherever and whenever we gather, we begin with the prayer of Aman, praying for, and pledging to work for, Dar al-Aman, the Realm of Sanctuary that we know is possible on Earth: an earthly paradise where equal rights are universal, persecution, ethnic cleansing, and genocide are unthinkable, and mutualistic symbiosis – inter and intra species – comes as second nature to one and all. The key is the awakening of the human heart.
Yours ever,
Pir Zia
In an Eastern Rose Garden turns us toward the ideal of freedom. All beings pursue freedom since freedom is an essential quality of the soul. Too often, however, one person’s purported freedom is achieved at the expense of that of someone else. A truer freedom arises from the realization of interconnectedness.
Over the next year, we will explore Hazrat Inayat Khan’s teachings on peace and creativity, freedom and friendship, aristocracy and democracy, the inner and the outer. The reconciliation of each of these pairs of seeming contraries lies the realization of the purpose for which we were created. More details and registration.
All friends, new and returning, are invited to join us as we explore the terminology of the Sufis as set out in A Glossary of Sufi Technical Terms by Abd al-Razzaq Qashani, a key textbook in Sufi circles for the last six and a half centuries. During each class, Pir Zia reviews the terms in alphabetical order, according to the original Arabic. Then he may also add terms unique to the lexicon of the Inayatiyya. Lexicon of the Sufis classes meet monthly, and we will keep classes to one hour so that they may easily fit into your busy life. Please join us! More details and registration.
The Dawn of Friendhood, turns our three-part Inner History series toward Sufism. In Inner History I & II we explored the rise of ancient civilizations and the missions of the prophets. Our investigations reached up to the life of the prophet Muhammad. This is the point where one gyre is completed and another begins. The age that next dawns is characterized by wilaya, friendship with God and creation. By tracing the history of Sufism, we will see how, century after century, Sufis have given shape to the growing contours of the Age of Friendhood.
The Dawn of Friendhood will shine a light on the history of Sufism, the changing forms that the Message takes through time, and the particular contribution of Hazrat Inayat Khan. All of this serves to situate us in the larger arc of the age-by-age transformation of human consciousness, and to prepare us for all that history’s further unfoldment will presently bring. More details and registration.
On behalf of Shaikh-al-Mashaik Mahmood Khan and Pir Zia Inayat Khan Maulabakhsh we invite you to join us for the Dutch Sessions. These meetings are centered on readings from the works of Hazrat Inayat Khan with an introduction and time at the end to ask questions. Discussions are open to topics related to the readings as well as to themes relevant in the world today. All are welcome to attend. This program is open and free to the public. More details and Zoom link.
This month, we have some news about the ‘Day of Water’ on Sep 21st. Read more…
If you have any news to share please send it to zephyr@inayatiyya.org with the subject heading “News of the Caravan.” Photos are welcome.
Pir Zia will participate in SENSEmaking: A Symposium on Contemplative Technologies which brings together a diverse transdisciplinary community, including: scholars of religion, philosophy, and history; scientists in psychology, medicine, and neuroscience; artists, technologists, and makers; and contemplative practitioners from a range of traditions. SENSEmaking is an incubator of ideas and experiences designed to catalyze cutting-edge research on how contemplative practices and immersive technologies can revitalize the human capacity for sensemaking. More details and registration.
Please join us for an evening of contemplation and music with Pir Zia Inayat Khan and Sufi musicians in the west end of Toronto. More details and registration.
The Zephyr is a monthly newsletter of the Inayatiyya, an interfaith mystical fellowship with branches worldwide. For more information, please visit us at inayatiyya.org.
