Hazrat Inayat Khan

Hazrat Inayat Khan was born 1882 in Baroda, India, into a highly respected family of musicians.  His grandfather Maula Bakhsh was already active as a musician at the court of the then Maharaja,  and was known throughout India.  Inayat Khan's father was also a musician.  So it is not surprising that Inayat Khan felt a deep affection for music from childhood, which determined his entire youth and later life.

In addition, there was the decisive search for spiritual values, for mysticism.  Eventually, Inayat Khan found a Sufi spiritual teacher, Abu Hassim Madani, of whom he later said, "The time under his guidance was the happiest of my life. In my teacher, the strong power of ecstasy and forgiveness was combined.   I have never before experienced in a person such a balance of all that is good and desirable."

After several years of intensive spiritual training, Inayat Khan followed his teacher's instruction to go out into the world "to harmonize East and West with the music of the heart, and to spread the wisdom teachings of Sufism."  On September 13, 1910, he left for America, a country that was culturally alien to him.  Nevertheless, he found people who were full of reverence for him. This was followed by trips to Europe and Russia.  

Eventually, he settled in England for a few years, founded Sufi centers, and then accepted the offer from  a truly noble soul to live in her house in Suresnes, a suburb of Paris. This offered  his family a certain security, after a long time wandering from place to place.

Years of tireless travel followed.  He gave lectures, wrote books, supervised many students and  organized summer schools.  In 1923 the International Sufi Movement was founded in Geneva and soon afterwards the German Sufi Movement was officially established in Berlin.

The great wish of Inayat Khan to build a Universal Sufi Temple in Suresnes has not yet been realized.  In 1926 he returned to India, and sadly passed away on February 5, 1927 after being weakened by years of intense activity. His tomb in New Delhi has now become a place of pilgrimage, where Sufis from all over the world hold annual celebrations in his memory.

In this place, the words that Inayat Khan left us, resonate in particular: 

"At the hour when I will leave this earth, I will not be filled with pride in the number of my followers, but the thought of having proclaimed His message to some souls,  will be my comfort, and the feeling of having helped them through life,  will be satisfaction to me."