Vilayat Inayat Khan (19 June 1916 17 June 2004) was a teacher of meditation and of the traditions of the

East India East India is a region of India consisting of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and also the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The region roughly corresponds to the historical region of Magadh ...

n Chishti Sufi order of

Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

. His teaching derived from the tradition of his father,

Inayat Khan Inayat Khan Rehmat Khan ( ur, ) (5 July 1882 – 5 February 1927) was an Indian professor of musicology, singer, exponent of the saraswati vina, poet, philosopher, and pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West. At the urging of his ...

, founder of The Sufi Order in the West (now named the Ināyati Order), in a form tailored to the needs of Western seekers. One of his sisters was Noor Inayat Khan GC MBE. He taught in the tradition of

Universal Sufism Western Sufism, sometimes identified with Universal Sufism, Neo-Sufism, and Global Sufism, consists of a spectrum of Western European and North American manifestations and adaptations of Sufism, the mystical dimension of Islam. Sufism flourish ...

. His parents met at the New York City ashram of American yogi, Pierre Bernard, half-brother of his mother Pirani Ameena Begum. In 1975 he founded the

Abode of the Message The Abode of the Message was a Sufi Order International (currently the Inayati Order) community founded in 1975 by Vilayat Inayat Khan. The Abode was the central residential community of the Inayati order, a conference and retreat center, and ...

, which serves as the central residential community of the Sufi Order International, a conference and retreat center, and a center of esoteric study.Sutton, Robert P. (2005)
Modern American Communes: A Dictionary
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. pp. 3-4; .

Death

Vilayat Inayat Khan died on 17 June 2004, two days before his 88th birthday. His son is

Zia Inayat Khan Zia Inayat-Khan (born 1971) is a scholar and teacher of Sufism in the lineage of his grandfather, Inayat Khan. He is president of the Inayati Order and founder of Suluk Academy, a school of contemplative study with branches in the United States ...

Bibliography

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References

1916 births 2004 deaths Chishtis École Normale de Musique de Paris alumni University of Paris alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Ināyati Sufis Sufi psychology People from Suresnes Indian emigrants to France {{Islam-bio-stub