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 flourished in Spain from the tenth to fifteenth centuries and spread throughout the Balkans during the Ottoman period. Enslaved Africans maintained Sufi traditions in the Americas. It was not until the twentieth century, however, that Sufi organizations were established in Western Europe and North America.

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 ...

promulgated Sufism in the United States and Europe from 1910 to 1926. In 1911 Ivan Aguéli established a Sufi society in Paris. Inayat Khan's legacy has sometimes been associated with the neologism "Universal Sufism", though he never used the phrase. Inayat Khan opened his London-based Sufi Order to people of all faiths and simultaneously founded the Anjuman-i Islam (Islamic Society) for "the furtherance of the study of Islam and unity between the Muslims and the non-Muslims in the world by discovering the universal spirit of Islam." Aguéli's legacy is associated with the

Traditionalism Traditionalism is the adherence to traditional beliefs or practices. It may also refer to: Religion * Traditional religion, a religion or belief associated with a particular ethnic group * Traditionalism (19th-century Catholicism), a 19th–c ...

and

Perennialism The perennial philosophy ( la, philosophia perennis), also referred to as perennialism and perennial wisdom, is a perspective in philosophy and spirituality that views all of the world's religious traditions as sharing a single, metaphysical trut ...

of his student

René Guénon René Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon (15 November 1886 – 7 January 1951), also known as ''Abdalwâhid Yahiâ'' (; ''ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Yaḥiā'') was a French intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having writte ...

History

The Legacy of Inayat Khan

The scion of a family of Indian mystics and musicians of Central Asian origin,

was trained and authorized in the

Chishti The Chishtī Order ( fa, ''chishtī'') is a tariqa, an order or school within the mystic Sufi tradition of Sunni Islam. The Chishti Order is known for its emphasis on love, tolerance, and openness. It began with Abu Ishaq Shami in Chisht, a ...

, Suhrawardi,

Qadiri The Qadiriyya (), also transliterated Qādirīyah, ''Qadri'', ''Qadriya'', ''Kadri'', ''Elkadri'', ''Elkadry'', ''Aladray'', ''Alkadrie'', ''Adray'', ''Kadray'', ''Kadiri'', ''Qadiri'', ''Quadri'' or ''Qadri'' are members of the Sunni Qadiri ta ...

, and Naqshbandi lineages of Sufism. The Chishti order had for centuries engaged with Hindu spiritual traditions, thus exemplifying a broader Indian cultural phenomenon popularly known as ganga-jamni tahzib. In a similar fashion, Inayat Khan saw his mission as the spiritual unification of the Abrahamic (Jewish, Christian and Islamic) and

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...

traditions of

monotheism Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxfo ...

. To this end, at the request of his students, he founded The Sufi Order in London in 1918 and The Sufi Movement in Geneva in 1923. At the time of his death in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in 1927, Sufi centers had been established in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, Sweden, and Switzerland. Following the death of

, his brother Maheboob Khan was elected to lead his Movement. On the latter's death in 1948, their cousin Mohammed Ali Khan was elected leader. Inayat Khan's eldest son and Sajjadanishin Vilayat Inayat Khan deferred to Mohammed Ali Khan, but subsequently assumed his father's mantle in 1956. His lineage, traced via his elder sister Noor Inayat Khan (d. 1944) and now represented by his eldest son and successor Zia Inayat-Khan, is known today as the Inayatiyya. Mohammed Ali Khan (d. 1958) designated Maheboob Khan's son Mahmood Khan (1927-) as his successor, but the latter stood down in deference to his uncle Musharaff Khan. Following Musharaff Khan's death in 1967, the Sufi Movement was led in turns by Fazal Inayat Khan (d. 1990) and

Hidayat Inayat Khan Hidayat Inayat Khan ( ur, ; 6 August 1917 – 12 September 2016) was a British-French classical composer, conductor and Representative-General of the Inayati Order. Biography Hidayat was born in London to Sufi Master Inayat Khan and Pirani Am ...

(d. 2016). The current Representative General of the Sufi Movement is Nawab Pasnak. In 2021, students of Mahmood Khan established the International Sufi Centre 1923 as an alternative structure for members of the Sufi Movement. Fazal left the Sufi Movement in 1988 and founded a new organization named The Sufi Way. Its current leader is Elias Amidon. Rabia Martin (d. 1947), who served as the North American representative of the Sufi Movement in Inayat Khan's lifetime, broke away when Maheboob Khan assumed leadership. Another disciple of Inayat Khan, Samuel Lewis (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti, d. 1971), left with her, but subsequently broke from her when she affiliated herself with

Meher Baba Meher Baba (born Merwan Sheriar Irani; 25 February 1894 – 31 January 1969) was an Indian spiritual master who said he was the Avatar, or God in human form, of the age. A major spiritual figure of the 20th century, he had a following of ...

.On Samuel Lewis' dissent, see Rabia Martin's successor Ivy Duce went on to found an organization under the leadership of Meher Baba named Sufism Reoriented. Samuel Lewis in turn founded a California-based organization named Sufi Islamia Ruhaniat Society. Now known as Sufi Ruhaniat International, its current leader is Shabda Kahn. Another organization, known as Sufi Contact, was founded by the Dutch Sufi proponent Gauri Voute. Its structure is strictly egalitarian, hence there is no central leader.

References

{{sufism-stub

History

The Legacy of Inayat Khan

See also

References