The Inayatiyya Board of Trustees
North America & Oceania

PIR ZIA INAYAT KHAN, PH.D.
President, Richmond, VA & Suresnes, France

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; Mingled Waters: Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions; Saracen Chivalry: Counsels on Valor, Generosity and the Mystical Quest; and the forthcoming Tears from the Mother of the Sun with the visual artist Amruta Patil. 

NAZISH RIAZ
Board Chair, Stow, Massachusetts
Executive Committee Member

Nazish Riaz is a partner at a healthcare consumer engagement consulting company and leads initiatives focused on transforming consumer experience, reducing costs, and minimizing carbon footprint. In addition to her professional role, Nazish is actively involved in community organizing, educational workshops, and support groups for healing from trauma, with a specific focus on environmental justice and ending war and oppression. She is a relationship builder and passionate about coalition building across various groups to achieve social justice. Nazish was initiated into the Inayatiyya in 2023 and is a graduate of the Lulu wa Marjan (2025) Suluk class.

DANIEL CUSTÓDIO
Board Vice Chair, Richmond, Virginia
Executive Committee Member

Daniel Custódio, a Toyota Sensei, transformation leader, and author, has guided Fortune 100 companies through large-scale change by blending systems thinking and spirituality. His book, Sacred Workday, explores business as a sacred practice rooted in purpose, flow, and human connection. He played a key role in Voya Financial’s 2013 transformation, helped Greater Baltimore Medical Center earn the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award, and was named a Top 40 Under 40 for using poetry to fight hunger. Above all, he is a devoted father to his three daughters.

ASEIL ABU-BAKER
Secretary, Washington, DC
Executive Committee Member

Aseil Abu-Baker is a practicing attorney at a women-led government contracts firm. Previously a human rights lawyer in Palestine and a United Nations advisor in Tunisia and Libya, Aseil’s career has been informed by a singular commitment to justice and human dignity. Since returning to the U.S. in 2020, she balances private practice work with efforts to promote accountability and preserve the collective memory of the Palestinian people. Aseil holds a B.A. in Foreign Affairs and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Virginia and a J.D. from American University Washington College of Law. An emerging word weaver, Aseil enjoys communing with the natural world and time with loved ones. She has been an initiate within the Inayatiyya since May 2023.

JENNIFER AMBREEN COOMBS
Treasurer, Warrenton, Virginia
Executive Committee Member

Jennifer Ambreen Coombs is retired from a career in accounting and now works part-time as a preschool administrator. Having a great love of children, she has volunteered with children in the juvenile court system who have been subject to abuse and/or neglect. She began serving on the Inayatiyya’s Finance Committee in June of 2024 and now serves as board Treasurer and Finance Chair. Jennifer Ambreen found her spiritual home in the Inayatiyya in 2019 and graduated from the Suluk Na-koja-abad class in 2022. She began her Sufi studies in the 90’s with Shakyh Ahmed Sidi Kostas, a Moroccan Sufi of the Qadiri Order. She receives and shares messages from Mother Mary on a regular basis and published a small collection of these messages in 2016. She is devoted to her two children, her violin, two adored kitties and her flower garden.

RASHID BRIAN GILBANE
Chairperson, Ethics Oversight Committee
Berkeley, California
Executive Committee Member

Rashid Brian Gilbane is a retired clinical social worker in Berkeley, California, who spent nearly 40 years in facilities serving the severely mentally ill, both as a clinician and later a leader in policy, training and especially Patients’ Rights issues. Within the Inayatiyya, he was initiated in 2003, given the accolade of Knight in 2016, became Regional Representative in 2020, and part of the Ethics Oversight Committee in 2021. Cooking, reading, birdwatching, woodworking, walking his Golden Retriever, traveling with his wife Alice Stern, an artist, and puttering in the garden are among his other devotions. 

AMIRA KARDISH
Chairperson, Centers Committee
Tucson, Arizona

Amira Kardish has a background in bilingual multicultural education, retiring after 26 years as a teacher of gifted students with a focus on critical and creative thinking. Initiated in 1977, for decades, Amira has been key to cultivating a strong Inayatiyya in Tucson, Arizona. As a Representative in the Inayatiyya’s Inner School, she enjoys guiding, teaching, as well as advising in leadership training, including as Advisor to Inayatiyya leaders training in Turkiye. Amira is a graduate of Suluk’s Tasnim (2010) class and has served as a Mentor for the Nasim (2012) and Na-koja-abad (2020) classes. At home in the Sonoran Desert, she enjoys hiking, music, gardening, visiting with friends, her son and grand dogs!

NILUFAR MARYAM HASNAA
Berkeley, California

Nilufar Maryam Hasnaa is an intuitive, channel, energy healer and a lover of all things that create a feeling of being connected to something bigger than ourselves. Nilufar is the founder of New Earth Mystery School where she trains students in the work of energy healing, plant spirit medicine,  earth stewardship and the intuitive arts. In her free time, she loves to garden, commune with nature spirits and lead ceremonies. Nilufar uses her own highly sensitive gifts to remind others of the subtle energetic nature of this universe. Through her work of returning to nature she has learned the importance of living in alignment with one’s most authentic self. Nilufar was born in the Sufi tradition and initiated into the Inayatiyya in 2022. She is a graduate of the Suluk class of Lulu Wa Marjan (2025).

TED BASIR YASI
Freehold, New Jersey

Ted Basir Yasi is a professional cameraman working for major news outlets. Complementing his work, conflict resolution and peacemaking have been central themes throughout his life. His professional experiences include working with the documentary unit of the United Nations Peacekeeping Missions in Southeast Asia and Central America. Using his heart and lens to help people see and understand each other and the world around them continues to be his passion. After many years wandering as a self-described “tourist” of spiritual traditions, Basir finally found his home in the Inayatiyya, and was initiated in 2008. He is a graduate of the Jabalqa Suluk (2017) class, and became a Healing Conductor in 2018.