The Zephyr, June 2024

19 June 2024

Dear Companions on the Path,

Greetings! I hope these lines find you in good spirits.

On this bright morning our world answers the description of a palace in ruin. There is so much sublimity, elegance, and tenderness; and equally, so much horror, loss, and despair. In the mystery at the center of the contradiction, the opposites resolve into a love that has no beginning or end.

The illumination pouring into the world is teaching us, in the midst of life’s pleasure and heartaches, to live in the light of the love that is forever. In the Inayatiyya, our caravan exists for no other purpose.

Let me give you a little update on my recent activities. Many of you joined us for the online series Being in the World, which concluded in May. The next series in the Centennial Edition is scheduled for October, when vol. 6, The Alchemy of Happiness, should be in print. In fact, I’m told it’s likely to appear well beforehand, so do keep an eye out.

May also brought us to the end of this season’s Lexicon of the Sufis classes. We’ve reached as far as the letter H. H is for hijab (veil), hal (state), haqiqat (reality), hikmat (wisdom), and more.

Another series that has reached its close, for now, is the series of weekly meetings we’ve been having at the Astana in Richmond. One of our primary subjects was the teachings contained in Prince Muhammad Dara Shikuh’s Mingling of the Two Oceans, a fascinating comparative study of Sufism and Vedanta. 

Other gatherings in May included an inter-order prayer for Gaza, a meeting with the LGBTQ+ community, and an afternoon with fellow ashiqs and murids sweetly hosted by an ashiq at her parents’ home in Washington D.C.

As May led into June, the Lulu wa Marjan Suluk class met for its first session on Meditation. It’s a highly diverse and international group, and one morning class members said the Invocation in seventeen languages.

Soon after Suluk I went up to the Garrison Institute in New York to speak at a Mind & Life Summer Research Institute symposium geared toward emerging leaders. I spoke as part of an interfaith panel, and later introduced the Elemental Purification Breaths. What especially inspired me were the tête-à-têtes I had with dedicated contemplatives and change makers from various parts of the world, many of them quite young. The intersection of spiritual practice and social justice was a pervasive theme throughout the conference.

Following my return to Richmond, I had the good fortune to take part in an online online interfaith panel reflecting on the film Where the Olive Trees Weep, hosted by Science & Nonduality. As difficult as this film is to watch, I strongly encourage everyone to watch it. Ashira Darvish, who is featured in the film, is an amazing profile in courage, as indeed are all of the personalities to whom the directors introduce us. May peace take deep root in all of us, and in the world we are creating together.

This week we observed the Urs of my father Pir Vilayat. It was a delight to be with so many of you online, meditating and listening to some of my father’s favorite pieces of music. The new archive of Pir Vilayat’s teaching, unveiled during the Urs, is truly a cause for celebration. Like the voice of Caruso, which he so often spoke of, Pir Vilayat’s voice has returned thanks to all those who have treasured, and worked to reanimate, its imprint.

Later in the year Suluk Press plans to bring out Pir Vilayat’s Toward the One, in an updated 50th anniversary edition. Meanwhile, I would like to call your attention to a very notable book now hot off the press. Suhrawardi Gebel is widely known and esteemed in our community as a fellow murid, teacher, and guide. In No God or Only God he brings his erudition and insight to bear on the question of God’s existence and nature. In the past, I wondered whether there was a book to recommend to people struggling with the idea of God – and there are many who struggle. Now I know just the book.

Yours ever,
Pir Zia

No God or Only God
Pre-orders open. What is God and how do we make God a reality?

Is God an outdated idea? Or is God all there is? For the seeker, when the word God is spoken, these questions arise. They can’t be settled by the mind but need to sink deeper into the heart. To make God a living reality, it is up to us to discover and fall in love with our own ideal. God is a seed within that grows and blossoms by our care. 
Read more.

Suresnes Sufi Summer School
July 1st – 10th, 2024
In Person & via Zoom

Please join us in-person or online for this year’s Sufi Summer School with Shaikh-al-Mashaik Mahmood Khan, Pir Zia Inayat Khan Maulabakhsh, and many friends. Our 9-day hybrid programme includes lectures, music, meditation and zikr. All sessions are in English. Please note that Pir Zia will be with us via Zoom for this program, possibly to appear in person toward the end. More details and Zoom link.

The Many Ways of Praise
August 24th – 25th
Katwijk, Netherlands

Every religion has its method of prayer. In fact, not only humans pray: every creature—from angel to oak tree—has its way of praise and remembrance. As human beings we are combinations of soul, mind, and body. Each of these facets of human existence has its own way of exalting the Name of the One. What is the prayer of your luminous and immortal spirit? What is the prayer of your imaginative psyche? What kind of prayer thrums in the marrow of your bones? In this weekend retreat, we will delve into the various pathways of worship and in this way rededicate ourselves to the purpose for which we were born. More details & registration.

Inayatiyya International Board
June 2024 News

As the Inayatiyya International Board, we have some news to share with you about organizational leadership changes in the World Wide Message Council. Read more…

The Zephyr is a monthly newsletter of the Inayatiyya, an interfaith mystical fellowship with branches worldwide. For more information, please visit us at inayatiyya.org.