The Zephyr, February 2023

Please note that Pir Zia wrote the following letter on 8 February 2023, while visiting Baroda, the birthplace of Hazrat Inayat Khan.

Dear Companions on the Path,

May this find you well. I am writing to you on my phone from a picturesque room on the top floor of Naulakha—otherwise known as Maulabakhsh House—the house in Baroda in which Murshid grew up. With me here is Pirani Sartaj, close by are many family members, and across the courtyard are our Inayati guests, Tarana, Shams Al Haqq, and Ruhiya. As I write, I can hear Tarana singing Murshid’s songs from the Minqar-i Musiqar.

We’ve been in India for more than a week now. Our first days were spent in Delhi, visiting the tombs of the saints and poets, and searching for—and indeed finding!—writings of the great Delhiite Sufi theologian Shah Waliullah, whose Sata‘at and Lama‘at I mentioned in a recent Zephyr. I experienced great serenity at Shah Waliullah’s grave, which is inconspicuously situated in a little-frequented cemetery in Old Delhi. There was also an exquisite atmosphere at the tomb of Bibi Fatima Sam, the lady saint for whom Khwaja Nizamuddin Awliya had so much affection and esteem. When someone inaptly asked Khwaja Nizamuddin whether as a woman she could rightly be considered a saint, Khwaja Nizamuddin pointedly replied, “If a tiger leaps out at you from the brush, do you ask, ‘Is it a male tiger or a female tiger!’”

Murshid’s resting place, or Dargah, is where it is because the land was offered by the then-custodian of Khwaja Nizamuddin’s shrine, Murshid’s friend and admirer Khwaja Hasan Nizami. This year’s anniversary program, or Urs, lasted three days. On the third day, February 5th, we carried an embroidered sheet from the tomb of Khwaja Nizamuddin to the tomb of Murshid, where we recited prayers and listened to ecstatic music. Throughout the three days, music of a very exalted kind was pervasive, and the sounds of several instruments—violin, sitar, vina, rabab, santur, tabla, pakhavaj, tambura, and voice—together wove a tapestry of rhythms and tones as bright and fragrant as the golden sheet we carried through the urban village. You can find more pictures here.

Another splendid highlight of the Urs was the lively and impressive presentation made by students of the Hope Project, the initiative established by my father in the 1970s to help impoverished people in the district to meet their needs and find a promising path forward in life. The Hope Project has become a model for similar projects throughout India and beyond, and for good reason. One can see with one’s own eyes how the Hope Project is creatively answering great needs, and in doing so transforming the circumstances and outlooks of individuals and families over multiple generations. For more information about the Hope Project and how you can get involved—as I did nearly thirty years ago when I worked there for a year as a volunteer – please click here.

What moved me most of all during this year’s Urs was the consecration of two new maqams, or shrines, within the complex: the first dedicated to Murshid’s Murshid, Sayyid Abu Hashim Madani, and the second dedicated to Murshid’s daughter Pirzadi-Shahida Noor-un-nisa. This expansion of the Dargah was made possible thanks to the ongoing support of the Murshid Mohammed Ali Khan Foundation and the indefatigable efforts of Dr. Farida Ali, who looks after Murshid’s Dargah, and Syed Mustafa Kaleemi, who looks after Sayyid Abu Hashim Madani’s Dargah in Hyderabad. The two new memorials contain relics (tabarrukat) of Sayyid Abu Hashim and Pirzadi Noor respectively. Soon after visiting her father’s grave following his sudden departure from the world, Noor composed the “Song to the Madzub,” in which she expresses her earnest longing to find rest at the feet of her father. With the dedication of the new maqam, in a powerfully symbolic fashion Noor’s wish has been fulfilled.

Baroda is very different from Delhi, butone feels Murshid’s presence as strongly here at the place of his birth as one does at the place of his death. The room in which Murshid was born has been kept as a place of meditation, and, in conjunction with my aunt Harunnisa Begum, a generous German murid, Petra Beate Schildbach, has arranged for a spacious and attractive hall to be built downstairs, where concerts and Universal Worship services are sometimes held. We will convene there for a sama (mystical music soirée)—a gathering in which, by the time these lines reach you, many of you will have already taken part online. God willing, the sama will be followed the next morning by a public concert in memory of Maulabakhsh by my good friend Pandit Srinivas Reddy.

In this world, happiness and sadness are rarely far apart. In the midst of these blessed days of pilgrimage we received the news yesterday of the terrible earthquake that wreaked such utter and unimaginable destruction in Turkey and Syria. The pain and grief is simply beyond reckoning. In our meditation sessions in the Birth Room we are lifting up heartfelt prayers. At certain moments one is given a glimpse of the mobilization of the angels and spirit guides in great numbers who are tending to the transitioning souls and the shattered hearts of those they have left behind. As truly horrific as the tragedy is, just behind the curtain one is able to witness an enormous outpouring of love and light from the depths of existence, meeting what has happened with a care (inayat) beyond all limits. May we who still live in these bodies of matter ally ourselves with the invisible ones who are responding to the need, and offer what help we can, both spiritually and materially. Below please find information as to how those affected may be helped.

Yours ever,
Pir Zia

As of February 14th, the death toll in Turkiye and Syria has surpassed 40,000. We continue to pray for the situation. If you wish to donate money to support relief efforts, here is a list of organizations that we have put together in consultation with friends and the team at Closer Than You Think.

The Biography of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan
A Six-Part Course w/ Pir Zia Inayat Khan via Zoom
Sundays, April 16th to May 21st, 2:00 pm EDT / 8:00 pm CET

The highly anticipated reissue of the 1979 edition of the biography of Hazrat Inayat Khan is now back in print, ready for our collective study with Pir Zia Inayat Khan, Hazrat’s central lineage carrier (sajjada nishin).
Throughout this six-part course, all are invited to learn about Hazrat Inayat Khan’s life story, from his origins as an aristocratic young music professor in western India through to becoming the iconic sage Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, whose spiritual teachings, a century later, continue to inspire countless people throughout the world. In this spring series, we will delve into Hazrat Inayat Khan’s life and teachings in order to deepen our understanding of the legacy he has bequeathed to those who travel in his caravan and to the world at large. Click here for details and to register.

Sama Live from Baroda
Recordings Now Available

As part of celebrations of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan’s 96th Urs, Pir Zia and friends invited us to gather via Zoom for a very special Sama, live from Baroda (Vadodara), India. Baroda is birthplace of our Murshid and the home of the living musical lineage of the Inayatiyya. Joining Pir Zia live from Baroda were classical Indian musician and scholar Pandit Srinivas Reddy, and samazan Shams al Haqq. Click here to view the recordings.

Inayatiyya Virtual Khanqah
February 24th, 2:00 pm EST / 8:00 pm CET

Our gathering this month is open to everyone and we invite you to join us Friday, February 24th at 2 pm EST for a very special event. Our sister on the path, Noorsema Ebru Goker will present her ground-breaking studies and article, “The Effect of Sufi Breath and Meditation on Quantitative EEG”, published by the Journal of NeuroPhilosophy in Turkey. She will share her scientific study carried out by neuroscientists in hospitals to observe the effect of two of Murshid’s teachings and practices (Zikr and Muraqba) on the brain. Please join us! Click here for more details.

Celebrating Black History Month
February 26th, 3:00 pm ET / 9:00 pm CET

The Inayatiyya teachings herald from Sufi traditions rooted in Persia and India. Join us for this unique opportunity to explore parallel Sufi teachings from West Africa. Before Hazrat Inayat Khan arrived in North America, in the early 1800s an enslaved Muslim man, Omar ibn Said, arrived on this continent. New scholarship unveils his Sufi connections! Scholars Dr. Carl Ernst and Dr. Mbaye Lo will share the findings of their research into Omar ibn Said’s life. Click here for details and to register.

The Zephyr is a monthly newsletter of Inayatiyya, an interfaith mystical fellowship with branches worldwide. For more gatherings, please visit our Inayatiyya Digital Programs Calendar for Spring 2023.