Tears from the Mother of the Sun Book Tour
Over the past several weeks, our community had the joy of gathering with Pir Zia Inayat Khan in person for the “Aligning with the Illuminated Book + Teaching Tour” to celebrating his new work, Tears from the Mother of the Sun, beautifully illustrated by Amruta Patil. Each stop had its own unique personality based on the venue, schedule and people in the room. The overarching feeling was that of community — a desire to be together, learn together and honor guidance together. Pir Zia drew us into the legends at the heart of the book and, through them, into a deeper sense of how we might align ourselves with the Diwan, the High Council of Heaven, and let that guidance illuminate our own lives.
We extend deep gratitude to those who contributed generously to the tour’s form and magic: Amruta Patil and Gulruhk Patel in India, Noor Alima and Watkins Books in London, friends in Glastonbury; Shaykha Fariha, Mustafa Farhad, Abdul Rahim and the Sufi Lodge in New York, Ruhani Cafe in Brooklyn, People’s Book in Takoma Park, First Parish UU Church in Cambridge, The Alembic and the Hillside Club in Berkeley; Humera Afridi, Kythe Heller and Nilufar Maryam Husnaa for their thoughtful questions and engaging dialogue that brought the book to life; Ramy Saad, Rabeea Hameed, the Boston Center and surrounding community leadership, and Risala, Rashid and the planning committee in Berkeley for their vision and support; musicians and singers, Tarana, Latifa Noor, Nazish, Siraj, Sharif, Timmy Fatima, Qalbi, Atash, Pir Shabda, Tamam, Widad, Sila and Sohrob and others for the wonderful musical attunements; the Inayatiyya staff, Corin, Tajalli, Atash and Achraf, who held the tour with vision, grace and care; all of you who came out, brought a friend, bought the book or followed the tour on social media; and of course, the reason for this project, Pir Zia, for creating this work of art and bringing us into the story with a quiet welcome, strong guidance and a healthy dose of levity.
You are invited to experience the tour through an album of images and videos here.
If you haven’t read Tears from the Mother of the Sun, we highly recommend it: https://pirzia.org/tears-from-the-mother-of-the-sun/
