The Sufi Path of Love w/ Pir Zia and Friends
Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, New York
June 23rd – 28th, 2024
This summer we return to Omega Institute for a five-day retreat with Pir Zia and many friends, including Omid Safi, Nizam un Nisa Husain, Tarana Jobin, Shams al Haqq, and Julianna Takacs. Please join us for teachings, practices, music, whirling, conversation, and friendship!
The Sufi seeks the presence in this world of the One from whom the world has come and remembers that we are not here for ourselves, but for the One to whom we belong. To remember this is to lay down one’s worries and grudges, and uplift one’s gaze to the One who has always been, will ever be, and is, here and now, at the center of everything. Flowing endlessly from this One, the Sufi discovers a force, an emotion, which will not fit into the narrow boxes of human language. The closest we can come to naming it is to speak of “love.”
There is no higher calling than to make one’s life a pure channel for this primal force, the compassion and yearning that has given rise to all that is. Sufism is the path of purification and remembrance by which the heart is made its vessel.
Join Pir Zia and guest teachers Nizam un Nisa Husain and Omid Safi, accompanied by Shams al Haqq Farzad Attar Jafari, Sara Tarana Jobin, and Julianna Takacs in this five-day retreat as they guide us in the Sufi forms of spiritual discourse (suhbat), contemplation (muraqaba), meditation (mushahada), inner listening (sama), and ritual remembrance (zikr). Together we grow this primal force of love, further crafting our own hearts and collective vessel.
Please visit Omega Institute online for registration and housing details. They will take good care of you!
BIOGRAPHY
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 author of Immortality: A Traveler’s Guide; Dream Flowers: The Collected Works of Noor Inayat Khan with a Critical Commentary by Pir Zia Inayat Khan; Mingled Waters: Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions; and Saracen Chivalry: Counsels on Valor, Generosity and the Mystical Quest. Pir Zia divides his time between Richmond, Virginia and Suresnes, France. inayatiyya.org
Nizam un Nisa Ayeda Husain is a senior teacher and guide in the Inayatiyya. A long-time journalist specializing in Sufism with a double masters in Journalism and Near Eastern Studies from NYU, she now teaches Sufi meditation, chanting and philosophy with a special emphasis on Rumi’s poetry as a means of healing and evolving. She has run Sufi centers in her hometown of Lahore, Pakistan, in Dubai, where she once lived, and in Oakville, Ontario where she now lives and works. She has led spiritual retreats worldwide, taught Sufi meditation to Buddhist monks in Tokyo, and been invited to the UN as part of an international delegation of spiritual leaders. thesufitarot.com
Omid 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. illuminatedcourses.com
Shams al Haqq is classically trained in sama and has extensively studied the turn, meditation, 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 and graduate of Sulūk Academy. He currently lives in Vancouver, Canada and holds monthly sessions for sama/inner listening meditation. rumicanada.ca
Sara 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. inayatiyya.org/music
Julianna Takacs has been a student and teacher of yoga and meditation for over 20 years, originally based out of New York City where she was featured in Time Out NY several years in a row as a top yoga instructor. In addition to serving for two years as faculty at Long Island University’s accredited course in Yoga for Wellness, Julianna has been a student of Sufism in the tradition of Hazrat Inayat Khan since 2002. After moving to New Mexico in 2018 to help open a retreat center north of Santa Fe, Julianna now lives in Peterborough, NH where she continues to teach yoga and serve as Director of Programs for the Inayatiyya. juliannayoga.com
Speakers
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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 author of Tears from the Mother of the Sun with visual artist Amruta Patil, Immortality: A Traveler’s Guide; Mingled Waters: Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions; and Saracen Chivalry: Counsels on Valor, Generosity and the Mystical Quest. Pir Zia divides his time between Richmond, Virginia and Suresnes, France. -
Julianna TakacsJulianna Takacs has been a student and teacher of yoga and meditation for over 20 years, originally based out of New York City where she was featured in Time Out NY several years in a row as a top yoga instructor. In addition to serving for two years as faculty at Long Island University’s accredited course in Yoga for Wellness, Julianna has been a student of Sufism in the tradition of Hazrat Inayat Khan since 2002. After moving to New Mexico in 2018 to help open a retreat center north of Santa Fe, Julianna now lives in Peterborough, NH where she continues to teach yoga and serve as Director of Programs for the Inayatiyya.
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Tarana JobinTarana Jobin is one of the founding vice presidents of the Inayatiyya’s Music Activity. 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, Tarana is dedicated to reviving the musical legacy of Hazrat Inayat Khan and sharing it with all who find a home in his teachings.
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Shams al Haqq FarzadShams al Haqq Farzad is classically trained in the practice of sama. He has extensively studied Sufi whirling, sama meditation, as well as mysticism and Persian mystical poetry of Sufism. He curated and has taken part in many spiritual music ceremonies and sama presentations with organizations such as the Aga Khan Museum. Farzad serves the Sufi communities in Canada, presenting some of their work through Rumi Canada. He is also a student within the Inayatiyya and a graduate of Sulūk Academy.
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Nizam un Nisa HusainNizam un Nisa Husain is a Murshida, Cheraga, Guide, Representative and Facilitator of the Anjumani-Islam group in the Inayatiyya. She is also the National Representative of Inayatiyya Canada. 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 and has mentored several Suluk classes including the first graduate Suluk. 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.
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Omid SafiOmid Safi is a teacher in the Sufi tradition of radical love and founder of Illuminated Courses & Tours. His online, video-based courses range from Sufi approaches to the Qur’an to Rumi. 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 Jr., Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, and Malcolm X.