Living in the World—A Sufi Retreat w/ Pir Zia and Friends
Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, New York
Sunday, June 22 to Friday, June 27, 2025
The world shall live in me, not I in it. — Akhlak-e Jalali
An aim of Sufism is to learn and practice how to live in the world yet not of the world. Over five days, we will live in friendship and community, while also exploring what it means to cultivate the inner qualities of stillness, of guidance, and of unity with all that exists.
In the mornings we will be in silence, and in the afternoons expand out into spiritual discourse, music, whirling, and zikr—all Sufi practices of sacred remembrance.
Pir Zia welcomes guest teachers Omid Safi, Ayeda Husain, Sara Tarana Jobin & Shams al Haqq Farzad Attar. This is our third year at Omega with a growing community of musicians, zakirs, whirlers, spiritual practitioners, and friends. All are invited and welcome to join us!
Please visit Omega Institute online for registration and housing details. They will take good care of you!
BIOGRAPHY
Pir Zia Inayat Khan, PhD, carries the Sufi lineage of his grandfather, Hazrat Inayat Khan. He is president of the Inayatiyya and founder of Sulūk Academy, and author of a variety of books on Sufi traditions and wisdom. inayatiyya.org
Nizam un Nisa Ayeda Husain is a senior teacher and guide in the Inayatiyya, teaches Sufi meditation, chanting, and philosophy with an emphasis on Rumi’s poetry as a means of healing and evolving. thesufitarot.com
Omid Safi, founder of Illuminated Courses & Tours, is a professor at Duke University specializing in Islamic spirituality and contemporary thought. illuminatedcourses.com
Shams al Haqq Farzad Attar Jafari is classically trained in the practice of sama—inner listening. A graduate of Sulūk Academy, he serves Sufi communities in Canada through Rumi Canada. rumicanada.ca
Sara Tarana Jobin is a trained opera conductor and musician dedicated to the musical legacy of Hazrat Inayat Khan.
Speakers
-
Pir Zia Inayat KhanPir 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
-
Sara Tarana JobinSara Tarana Jobin is the Inayatiyya’s Music Director and Emeritus Vice President of its Music Activity. Professionally, she has a long career as an opera conductor and continues to freelance professionally. As a student of Sufism since 2010, and graduate of Sulūk Academy, she is dedicated to reviving and sharing the musical legacy of Hazrat Inayat Khan with all who find a home in his teachings.
-
Shams al HaqqShams al Haqq is classically trained in Sama. He has extensively studied the turn, sama meditation, as well as mysticism and Persian mystical poetry of Sufism and Irfan. He curated and has taken part in many spiritual music Ceremonies and sama presentations. He serves the Sufi communities in Canada, presenting some of their work through Rumi Canada. He is also a student within the Inayatiyya & graduate of Suluk Academy. He currently lives in Vancouver, Canada & holds monthly sessions for Sama / inner listening meditation.
-
Nizam un Nisa Ayeda HusainNizam un Nisa 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, Knight of Purity, and mentor to the Naubahar Suluk class. 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.
-
Omid SafiOmid Safi is a teacher in the Sufi tradition of Radical Love & Founder of Illuminated Courses & Tours. His online, video-based courses range from Sufi approaches to the Qur’an to Rumi. The Illuminated Tours offer spiritually oriented tours to Turkey and Morocco. He is a professor at Duke University specializing in Islamic spirituality and contemporary thought. His Memories of Muhammad is an award-winning biography of the Prophet Muhammad. His most recent book is Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition. Omid is also deeply committed to liberationist prophetic traditions in the legacy of Martin Luther King, Rabbi Heschel, and Malcolm X. He has been invited by the family of Dr. King to speak at Ebenezer Church on the relevance of Dr. King for today’s America, and has delivered the Martin Luther King keynote in the annual national MLK service.
