10. Le Séjour à l’Objectif, Partie 4
Chèr(e)s Sœurs et Frères Bien-aimées,
On vit dans un monde d’êtres humains de différentes natures et Hazrat Inayat Khan nous averti que ceci peut donc présenter un chemin d’épines sur notre séjour vers l’objectif. Il nous encourage de raffiner notre caractère, de développer le pardon, la patience et la tolérance. Que sa prière puisse nous guider sur notre chemin.
"Enseigne-nous Ton pardon Affectueux,
Élève- nous au-delà des distinctions
et différences qui divisent les hommes.
Envois- nous la Paix de Ton Esprit Divin et
Unis-nous tous dans Ton Être Parfait."
Nos salutations affectueuses et Prières pour un monde illuminé,
Nuria, KarimaGita, Kabriya
Gatheka Social n° 10, Partie n° 4, Le Voyage vers l’Objectif
par Hazrat Inayat Khan
Quand l’attitude de l’homme est une attitude affectueuse, une tendance à servir, à pardonner, à tolérer, avoir de la révérence pour tous (bon et mauvais, jeune et vieux) alors il commence son chemin.
Pour expliquer de quel voyage il s’agit: il n’y a pas de meilleur symbole que le chemin de la croix. Une personne sans courage, sans volonté et sans patience ne peut aller sur ce chemin. Quand une personne doit vivre parmi des gens de toutes natures, elle doit rendre son caractère doux comme une rose; le rendre plus fin, pour qu’ainsi personne ne soit blessé par les épines.
Deux épines ne peuvent pas se nuire l’une l’autre. Les épines peuvent nuire la rose mais la rose ne peut pas casser les épines. Le voyage commence par un chemin d’épines, et on doit y marcher pieds nus. Ce n’est pas facile d’être tolérant, d’être toujours patient, de s’abstenir de juger les autres et d’aimer son ennemi.
An open heart 开放的心
An Open Heart
开放的心
The word Sufi, according to Greek and Arabic etymologies, means "wisdom" for the one, and "purity" for the other. However, both concepts clearly suggest one and the same ideal. Wisdom is only there when the mind is purified from preconceived ideas, the burdens of dogma and an unrestful conscience. As to the origin of Sufism, one could say that it is also just as ancient as the concepts of wisdom and purity, which have always been the inspiration of devotional worship all down the ages. Sufism is not a cult nor is it a school of theology. Sufism is an open door, an attitude of truest sympathy towards all beliefs. As the essence of all religious ideals, Sufism has been appropriated by large cultural and religious streams during different periods in history, but without ever losing its own identity.
苏菲一词，据希腊语和阿语词源，既有“智慧”，也有“纯洁”的意思。然而，这两者表达的是一件事。当心中的成见、教条和良心被洁净之后，智慧才会产生。从苏菲起源而言，人们也可以认为苏菲是一种关于智慧和纯洁的古老概念，这一概念就是从古至今一以贯之的虔诚崇拜。苏菲既不是狂热的仪式也不是一个神学派别。苏菲是一扇敞开的大门，是一种对所有信仰真正赞赏的态度。作为所有宗教理念的本质，苏菲主义适当的融入进历史各个阶段产生的宗教和文明之中，不过苏菲主义并没有因此失去自身的特质。
When pronouncing the word Sufism, the 'ism' has a tendency to confine the understanding of wisdom, which is in truth beyond limitations and could never be identified with only one belief, although there are as many descriptions of wisdom as there are seekers on the path. Wisdom might perhaps be recognisable but can not be tangible nor, even less, subject to definition. Therefore, for the one who is truly wise there is only the reality of wisdom itself, beyond all speculative interpretations.
苏菲主义这个词中，“主义”一词有限制对智慧的理解的倾向，智慧实际上打破了各种限制，也不被某个教条所局限，尽管求道者在行道中会发现很多有关智慧的说明，事实上智慧只能被领悟而无法被实质性的触及，更不用说为之下定义了。因此，明智的人会发现智慧的实质本身打破了所有的思辨推理。
As soon as one attempts to define abstract concepts, one is taken away into the labyrinth of one's own thoughts which descend into speculative descriptions, and one builds up one's own illusions which, added to the many which one picks up, together with numerous impressions and influences, constitute our mind world. Then, when putting one's beliefs and understandings into words, these tend to deviate from the original ideas, which were themselves only arbitrary concepts, and it is the result of all this which is so often presented as being the one and only truth.
一旦人们试图去定义抽象的概念，就会陷入迷雾，并且他们自身的成见将会使他们落入思辨推理之中，然后他们将会为自己编织幻觉，在本性上增添很多东西，连同大量的印象和影响，组成自己的意识世界。然后，当人们将此由上环节而来信条和理解转化为文字，又会与那些原来的想法有些差别，这些信条和理解就会变得只剩武断的概念，这样人们就会认为自己所得到的就是唯一的真理。
For a Sufi, the diversity of religious names and forms are like veils covering the phenomena of the Spirit of Guidance manifested at all levels of evolution. This explains why one of the great ideals of the Sufi is the awakening of a broader outlook, with deeper insight into the tragic misunderstandings which divide earnest followers of various cultural and philosophical traditions.
对于苏菲而言，不同的宗教名目和形式就像一个面纱遮盖于体现在所有进化层面上灵性指导之上。这就可以解释为何苏菲的伟大视见之一就是拥有一种广大心量的觉悟，对于不幸的谬见有一种深刻的洞察，这种不幸的谬误使各种文化和哲学传统热诚的追随者产生分歧。
All religions are in their origin of Divine inspiration, but, like the image of water poured into different coloured glasses, as soon as Divine inspiration becomes formulated in human thought it acquires the image of one's thinking. We then call one religion Hinduism, another Buddhism, and still another Zoroastrianism, while others are called Judaism, Christianity, Islam, as well as many other religious denominations, known or unknown to the world at large.
所有宗教都源自神圣的灵感，但是，正如水倒进不同的容器就有不同的形状，一旦神圣的灵感开始为人类思想所表达，它就不可避免的带上其人的印记。我们为之命名为印度教、佛教，还有琐罗亚斯德教，此外还有犹太教、基督教、伊斯兰教，还有其他很多教派，知名的和不知名的。
A Sufi, by definition, is a religious soul whose nature is to be freed from imposed theories, and who is perfectly conscious that life is not necessarily just what one might think it to be. For a Sufi, life is not only lived at the level of physical experience, nor only at the levels of thought and feeling, but also, and most importantly, at a still higher level of consciousness where the self is no more a barrier separating reality from illusion. At this level of consciousness there are no limitations nor opposites, nor any place for dualistic speculation on the subject of the Divinity. When trying to explain God one only fashions an individual concept, limited to the size of one's own mind world.
苏菲，顾名思义，是指一个虔诚的灵魂，他的本性已经从假象之中解脱，他已经完美的意识到生命并非一定是如人所想的那样。对于苏菲而言，生命不仅仅只有物质层面，也不是只有思想和感觉的层面，更重要的是一种高层次的觉悟，在这种觉悟中，自我不再是个障碍从幻象中将真实区分出来。在这种觉悟状态中，没有局限和对立，也没有对神圣主题的二元化的推理。当试图解释神成为一种时尚和个体的概念，那么人们自身的意识世界就会被局限。
Another subject found in Sufi teachings is the alchemy of happiness, which, as we know from fairy tales, is the use of a magic formula to turn base metal into gold. This mystical legend symbolises so beautifully the fundamental principle of the Inner School of the Sufis, where deep consideration is offered to training the ego along a thorny path known as the art of personality, and where false identification and illusory aspirations are less of a hindrance in discovering the Divine Presence hidden as a pearl in one's heart. This requires constant efforts in forging the character into a living example of wisdom, so as to become a bringer of happiness to brothers and sisters of all beliefs.
在苏菲思想中可以发现另一个主题叫做“幸福点金术”，这个词我们知道来自于童话故事，使用一种神奇的秘方可以将物质转变为黄金。这种神秘的传说象征着苏菲内在学派美丽的基本原则，在其中自我得到训练沿着我们所知的个性的艺术的痛苦之路前进，在其中错误的分别和虚幻的愿景对于揭开蒙在心中的像珍宝一样的神圣存在的面纱，较少障碍。这就要求通过不断的努力将个人的品质打造成为一种活生生的智慧，以便将幸福带给各种信仰的兄弟姐妹们。
Happiness, which is a birthright, although we are not always conscious of that privilege, is only there to the extent that one becomes a source of happiness for others, through trying to appreciate the good in others, and overlooking that which disturbs when not in accord with one's own thinking; through trying to see the point of view of others, even though these might be contrary to one's own; and through trying to attune oneself to the rhythm of all those one meets, and in whose presence there might be a lesson to learn.
幸福，是一种与生俱来的权利，尽管我们不常意识到这种权利，在这个意义上，通过欣赏他人的美德，每个人都可以成为他人的幸福之源；当他人不符合自己的想法时，尝试去理解他人的立场，哪怕他人的立场与己相对立；尝试使自己与每一个见到的人相协调，这样我们就会发现有很多功课可学。
Hazrat Inayat Khan came to us with a message of Spiritual Liberty, revealing thereby the real nature of spirituality as inherent to liberty of thought and feeling. Another great teaching of our Master is the Unity of Religious Ideals, which implies being liberated from such feelings as 'my religion' as opposed to 'your religion.' The religion of our time is destined to be the religion of the heart, and since there are many hearts, there are just as many religious ideals springing forth from one and the same source, wherein wisdom and purity prevail. When the doors of the temple of the heart are open, humility awakens upon finding oneself face to face with the living God within.
哈兹拉特因纳雅堪给我们带来灵性自由的讯息，揭示了灵性的真实状态乃是思想和情感的自由，此自由是本有的。大筛海给我们带来的另一个讯息是所有宗教理念的融合，这意味着我们将不再区分这是“你的宗教”那是“我的宗教”。当代的宗教必然是心的宗教，有多少心，就有多少种宗教理念，它们都是来自于同一个源流，在其中有智慧和纯洁。当心之寺庙的大门敞开，就会谦卑的醒悟发现自己在神之中已直面永生之神。
The message of Love, Harmony and Beauty is like a Divine stream of spiritual evolution flowing onwards throughout our daily lives, and this awakening to purity and wisdom is the true essence of all that is understood by the term 'Sufi.'
这爱、和谐和美妙之讯息就像灵性进化的神圣的溪流贯穿我们日常的生活推动着我们前进，纯洁和智慧是万有的本质，这些是对于术语“苏菲”的理解。
开放的心
The word Sufi, according to Greek and Arabic etymologies, means "wisdom" for the one, and "purity" for the other. However, both concepts clearly suggest one and the same ideal. Wisdom is only there when the mind is purified from preconceived ideas, the burdens of dogma and an unrestful conscience. As to the origin of Sufism, one could say that it is also just as ancient as the concepts of wisdom and purity, which have always been the inspiration of devotional worship all down the ages. Sufism is not a cult nor is it a school of theology. Sufism is an open door, an attitude of truest sympathy towards all beliefs. As the essence of all religious ideals, Sufism has been appropriated by large cultural and religious streams during different periods in history, but without ever losing its own identity.
苏菲一词，据希腊语和阿语词源，既有“智慧”，也有“纯洁”的意思。然而，这两者表达的是一件事。当心中的成见、教条和良心被洁净之后，智慧才会产生。从苏菲起源而言，人们也可以认为苏菲是一种关于智慧和纯洁的古老概念，这一概念就是从古至今一以贯之的虔诚崇拜。苏菲既不是狂热的仪式也不是一个神学派别。苏菲是一扇敞开的大门，是一种对所有信仰真正赞赏的态度。作为所有宗教理念的本质，苏菲主义适当的融入进历史各个阶段产生的宗教和文明之中，不过苏菲主义并没有因此失去自身的特质。
When pronouncing the word Sufism, the 'ism' has a tendency to confine the understanding of wisdom, which is in truth beyond limitations and could never be identified with only one belief, although there are as many descriptions of wisdom as there are seekers on the path. Wisdom might perhaps be recognisable but can not be tangible nor, even less, subject to definition. Therefore, for the one who is truly wise there is only the reality of wisdom itself, beyond all speculative interpretations.
苏菲主义这个词中，“主义”一词有限制对智慧的理解的倾向，智慧实际上打破了各种限制，也不被某个教条所局限，尽管求道者在行道中会发现很多有关智慧的说明，事实上智慧只能被领悟而无法被实质性的触及，更不用说为之下定义了。因此，明智的人会发现智慧的实质本身打破了所有的思辨推理。
As soon as one attempts to define abstract concepts, one is taken away into the labyrinth of one's own thoughts which descend into speculative descriptions, and one builds up one's own illusions which, added to the many which one picks up, together with numerous impressions and influences, constitute our mind world. Then, when putting one's beliefs and understandings into words, these tend to deviate from the original ideas, which were themselves only arbitrary concepts, and it is the result of all this which is so often presented as being the one and only truth.
一旦人们试图去定义抽象的概念，就会陷入迷雾，并且他们自身的成见将会使他们落入思辨推理之中，然后他们将会为自己编织幻觉，在本性上增添很多东西，连同大量的印象和影响，组成自己的意识世界。然后，当人们将此由上环节而来信条和理解转化为文字，又会与那些原来的想法有些差别，这些信条和理解就会变得只剩武断的概念，这样人们就会认为自己所得到的就是唯一的真理。
For a Sufi, the diversity of religious names and forms are like veils covering the phenomena of the Spirit of Guidance manifested at all levels of evolution. This explains why one of the great ideals of the Sufi is the awakening of a broader outlook, with deeper insight into the tragic misunderstandings which divide earnest followers of various cultural and philosophical traditions.
对于苏菲而言，不同的宗教名目和形式就像一个面纱遮盖于体现在所有进化层面上灵性指导之上。这就可以解释为何苏菲的伟大视见之一就是拥有一种广大心量的觉悟，对于不幸的谬见有一种深刻的洞察，这种不幸的谬误使各种文化和哲学传统热诚的追随者产生分歧。
All religions are in their origin of Divine inspiration, but, like the image of water poured into different coloured glasses, as soon as Divine inspiration becomes formulated in human thought it acquires the image of one's thinking. We then call one religion Hinduism, another Buddhism, and still another Zoroastrianism, while others are called Judaism, Christianity, Islam, as well as many other religious denominations, known or unknown to the world at large.
所有宗教都源自神圣的灵感，但是，正如水倒进不同的容器就有不同的形状，一旦神圣的灵感开始为人类思想所表达，它就不可避免的带上其人的印记。我们为之命名为印度教、佛教，还有琐罗亚斯德教，此外还有犹太教、基督教、伊斯兰教，还有其他很多教派，知名的和不知名的。
A Sufi, by definition, is a religious soul whose nature is to be freed from imposed theories, and who is perfectly conscious that life is not necessarily just what one might think it to be. For a Sufi, life is not only lived at the level of physical experience, nor only at the levels of thought and feeling, but also, and most importantly, at a still higher level of consciousness where the self is no more a barrier separating reality from illusion. At this level of consciousness there are no limitations nor opposites, nor any place for dualistic speculation on the subject of the Divinity. When trying to explain God one only fashions an individual concept, limited to the size of one's own mind world.
苏菲，顾名思义，是指一个虔诚的灵魂，他的本性已经从假象之中解脱，他已经完美的意识到生命并非一定是如人所想的那样。对于苏菲而言，生命不仅仅只有物质层面，也不是只有思想和感觉的层面，更重要的是一种高层次的觉悟，在这种觉悟中，自我不再是个障碍从幻象中将真实区分出来。在这种觉悟状态中，没有局限和对立，也没有对神圣主题的二元化的推理。当试图解释神成为一种时尚和个体的概念，那么人们自身的意识世界就会被局限。
Another subject found in Sufi teachings is the alchemy of happiness, which, as we know from fairy tales, is the use of a magic formula to turn base metal into gold. This mystical legend symbolises so beautifully the fundamental principle of the Inner School of the Sufis, where deep consideration is offered to training the ego along a thorny path known as the art of personality, and where false identification and illusory aspirations are less of a hindrance in discovering the Divine Presence hidden as a pearl in one's heart. This requires constant efforts in forging the character into a living example of wisdom, so as to become a bringer of happiness to brothers and sisters of all beliefs.
在苏菲思想中可以发现另一个主题叫做“幸福点金术”，这个词我们知道来自于童话故事，使用一种神奇的秘方可以将物质转变为黄金。这种神秘的传说象征着苏菲内在学派美丽的基本原则，在其中自我得到训练沿着我们所知的个性的艺术的痛苦之路前进，在其中错误的分别和虚幻的愿景对于揭开蒙在心中的像珍宝一样的神圣存在的面纱，较少障碍。这就要求通过不断的努力将个人的品质打造成为一种活生生的智慧，以便将幸福带给各种信仰的兄弟姐妹们。
Happiness, which is a birthright, although we are not always conscious of that privilege, is only there to the extent that one becomes a source of happiness for others, through trying to appreciate the good in others, and overlooking that which disturbs when not in accord with one's own thinking; through trying to see the point of view of others, even though these might be contrary to one's own; and through trying to attune oneself to the rhythm of all those one meets, and in whose presence there might be a lesson to learn.
幸福，是一种与生俱来的权利，尽管我们不常意识到这种权利，在这个意义上，通过欣赏他人的美德，每个人都可以成为他人的幸福之源；当他人不符合自己的想法时，尝试去理解他人的立场，哪怕他人的立场与己相对立；尝试使自己与每一个见到的人相协调，这样我们就会发现有很多功课可学。
Hazrat Inayat Khan came to us with a message of Spiritual Liberty, revealing thereby the real nature of spirituality as inherent to liberty of thought and feeling. Another great teaching of our Master is the Unity of Religious Ideals, which implies being liberated from such feelings as 'my religion' as opposed to 'your religion.' The religion of our time is destined to be the religion of the heart, and since there are many hearts, there are just as many religious ideals springing forth from one and the same source, wherein wisdom and purity prevail. When the doors of the temple of the heart are open, humility awakens upon finding oneself face to face with the living God within.
哈兹拉特因纳雅堪给我们带来灵性自由的讯息，揭示了灵性的真实状态乃是思想和情感的自由，此自由是本有的。大筛海给我们带来的另一个讯息是所有宗教理念的融合，这意味着我们将不再区分这是“你的宗教”那是“我的宗教”。当代的宗教必然是心的宗教，有多少心，就有多少种宗教理念，它们都是来自于同一个源流，在其中有智慧和纯洁。当心之寺庙的大门敞开，就会谦卑的醒悟发现自己在神之中已直面永生之神。
The message of Love, Harmony and Beauty is like a Divine stream of spiritual evolution flowing onwards throughout our daily lives, and this awakening to purity and wisdom is the true essence of all that is understood by the term 'Sufi.'
这爱、和谐和美妙之讯息就像灵性进化的神圣的溪流贯穿我们日常的生活推动着我们前进，纯洁和智慧是万有的本质，这些是对于术语“苏菲”的理解。
57. Sufi Thoughts, Part 7
Religious Gatheka
By Hazrat Inayat Khan
7. ‘There is one moral, the love which springs forth from self-denial and blooms in deeds of beneficence’.
There are moral principles taught to mankind by various Teachers, by many traditions, one differing from the other; which are as separate drops coming from the fountain. But when we look at the stream that on falling turns into several drops, we find that there is but one stream. There are many moral principles, as many drops falling from the fountain, but there is one stream that is at the root of all, and that is love. It is love that gives birth to hope, patience, endurance, forgiveness, tolerance, and to all moral principles. All deeds of beneficence take root in the soul of the loving heart. Generosity, charity, adaptability, an accommodating nature, even renunciation are the off springs of love alone. The great, rare and chosen beings for ages have been looked up as ideal in the world, are the possessors of hearts kindled with love. All evil and sin come from the lack of love.
People call love blind, but love in reality is the light of the sight. The eye can only see the surface, love can see much deeper. All ignorance is the lack of love, as fire when not kindled gives only smoke, but when kindled the illuminating flame springs forth, so it is with love; it is blind when undeveloped, but when the fire is kindled, the flame that lights the path of the traveler from immortality to everlasting life springs forth and the secrets of earth and Heaven are revealed to the possessor of the loving heart, and the lover has gained mastery over himself and others and he not only communes with God but unites with Him.
‘Hail to thee, then, O Love, sweet madness, thou who healest all our infirmities, who art the physician of our pride and self-conceit, who are our Plato and our Galen!’- Rumi.
Daily Reflections on the following point in Religious Gatheka 57,
Part 7
Point One: There are many moral principles, as many drops falling from the fountain, but there is one stream that is at the root of all, and that is love.
Contemplation: Unite us all in Thy Perfect Being. (From the Prayer Khatum by Hazrat Inayat Khan).
Point Two: It is love that gives birth to hope, patience, endurance, forgiveness, tolerance, and to all moral principles.
Contemplation: Draw us closer to Thee every moment of our life, Until in us be reflected Thy Grace (hope), Thy Glory (patience), Thy Wisdom (endurance), Thy Joy (forgiveness) and Thy Peace (tolerance).
By Hazrat Inayat Khan
7. ‘There is one moral, the love which springs forth from self-denial and blooms in deeds of beneficence’.
There are moral principles taught to mankind by various Teachers, by many traditions, one differing from the other; which are as separate drops coming from the fountain. But when we look at the stream that on falling turns into several drops, we find that there is but one stream. There are many moral principles, as many drops falling from the fountain, but there is one stream that is at the root of all, and that is love. It is love that gives birth to hope, patience, endurance, forgiveness, tolerance, and to all moral principles. All deeds of beneficence take root in the soul of the loving heart. Generosity, charity, adaptability, an accommodating nature, even renunciation are the off springs of love alone. The great, rare and chosen beings for ages have been looked up as ideal in the world, are the possessors of hearts kindled with love. All evil and sin come from the lack of love.
People call love blind, but love in reality is the light of the sight. The eye can only see the surface, love can see much deeper. All ignorance is the lack of love, as fire when not kindled gives only smoke, but when kindled the illuminating flame springs forth, so it is with love; it is blind when undeveloped, but when the fire is kindled, the flame that lights the path of the traveler from immortality to everlasting life springs forth and the secrets of earth and Heaven are revealed to the possessor of the loving heart, and the lover has gained mastery over himself and others and he not only communes with God but unites with Him.
‘Hail to thee, then, O Love, sweet madness, thou who healest all our infirmities, who art the physician of our pride and self-conceit, who are our Plato and our Galen!’- Rumi.
Daily Reflections on the following point in Religious Gatheka 57,
Part 7
Point One: There are many moral principles, as many drops falling from the fountain, but there is one stream that is at the root of all, and that is love.
Contemplation: Unite us all in Thy Perfect Being. (From the Prayer Khatum by Hazrat Inayat Khan).
Point Two: It is love that gives birth to hope, patience, endurance, forgiveness, tolerance, and to all moral principles.
Contemplation: Draw us closer to Thee every moment of our life, Until in us be reflected Thy Grace (hope), Thy Glory (patience), Thy Wisdom (endurance), Thy Joy (forgiveness) and Thy Peace (tolerance).
100 Years and Beyond
From the Jubilee Edition of the Dutch Journal titled Soefi Gedachte
Jaya Bakker
‘Companions of Hazrat Inayat Khan? I’ve never heard of.’ Many new mureeds hardly ever heard of the three brothers of Hazrat Inayat Khan: Shaik-ul-Mashaik Maheboob Khan, Murshid Ali Khan and Murshid Musharaff Khan. That is remarkable, for they have led the Sufi Movement from 1927 until 1968 one after the other. Which atmosphere surrounded them?
We as mureeds sang, among other places, in Katwijk, in the Murad Hassil, songs for which Maheboob Khan composed the music on lyrics of Inayat Khan and gradually it dawned on me that the brothers, the companions, had played an utmost important part in the continuity of the body of thought which Inayat Khan brought to the West. And whoever, as mureed, as a member of the Brotherhood or as an interested person, has committed oneself to the ideals of Inayat Khan, owes them gratefulness. In the Sufi Darbar, the The Hague Centre at the Banstraat, the brothers were commemorated on their birthdays and on the day of their death. And thereby the thoughts of them remained living.
Within our movement there are some mureeds who have known and witnessed one or more of the brothers. It is important that Karin Jironet has written a historic treatise on these three Murshids. Her book has to an important degree the nature of a historiography of heights and lows of those times. While reading it those who have witnessed that time can include their own precious memories. Those for whom this period is unknown will be curious after the experience of the association with the companions and the atmosphere which surrounded them. At any rate, that is how it was for me. In order to know more about the companions I contacted some mureeds who could tell about those times at first hand. In italic words I refer to what they have said, not only about their experience of those days with the companions but how, from that background, they think about the Sufi Movement right now and how they see the future.
It was surprising – each one of them told something no one had ever mentioned before. Two mureeds sighed that they were heard at last. It would be useful to develop a way of working in which listening to the ideas and suggestions of mureeds would become accepted.
In those interviews more than once it was mentioned that Murshida Shahzadi should be always be bracketed together with the companions. She was responsible for the progress, formed a bridge to the present day. She played a great role in the Sufi Movement, first as wife and support of Musharaff Khan and after his passing away as one of the leaders of the Sufi Movement and guide of many mureeds. She was part of the special atmosphere of the brothers. The one who has witnessed her in the Banstraat or somewhere else has been connected to that atmosphere and hopefully still is.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COMPANIONS TO THE MUREEDS
Inayat Khan and his brothers came to the West as musicians. They were mystics, healers and seers. They supported themselves by giving concerts. The significance of the companions to mureeds is hard to express in words. There is hardly someone who has known and experienced Shaik-ul-Mashaik. A few have known Ali Khan and most of the persons I have interviewed cherish warm memories of Musharaff Khan. The stories told about the three of them were very respectful. They, the brothers, followed the tradition of Inayat Khan with the exception of giving ‘collective interviews’. The Summer Schools were sources of inspiration. Though, more than once it was stated that they were immigrants and that this has complicated their work. For example, they did not speak Dutch but only English to mureeds. Murshida Shaszadi always accompanied Musharaff Khan and, if necessary, translated the interviews of her husband with mureeds. That language barrier made some mureeds shy and timid. Among other things Ali Khan and Musharaff Khan also gave physical practices. They were keen on being healthy. I have the idea that nowadays this does not take place within the Sufi training. Those who have known all three of them were very young when they came into touch with Sufism. Shaik-ul-Mashaik was only mentioned by those who were born in a Sufi family and saw him from a distance. The beautiful songs, the ‘Sufi songs’, we owe to him. He composed the music to texts of Inayat Khan. His clairvoyance was illustrated, among other things, by an event during WOII. After a bombardment he was told which building had been flattened. ‘No’, he said, ‘it was a building at the big road.’ That proved to be right.
Ali Khan has been described in quite an opposite experience. An imposing presence under dramatic and oppressive conditions. A formidable human being, a strong leader. Because of that many people deserted. Those who had contact with him in private do understand that some people were a little bit afraid of him. They themselves call him: my soul guardian and referred to his loving attitude, his pleasant manner with other people, his sense of humor. His presence and silences have left an everlasting impression on the mureeds. Sometimes he cooked for his hosts when he stayed with them. He loved to sing with the whole family, sometimes in Chinese with words as spaghetti. If he laughed it was as if a whole mountain was laughing. He was rather corpulent and the average Dutchman did not expect this from a spiritual man. But soon his radiance was perceptible. He learned to ride a bicycle and that was not very easy for him. The person who told this thought this was very funny. Ali Khan was considered a man who could do everything and having a hard time in learning to ride a bicycle did not fit in.
His healing voice has permeated many people deeply and a great number of people have experienced his healing themselves. It is a pity I did not ask him more questions, someone sighed.
Those who did not have contact with him in private but only knew him as an initiator and a guide, a Pir-o-Murshid, told in awe about his authority, wisdom and power. He always was reserved, all dignity. Whatever deviated from that dignity was not good. Games within the Youth Brotherhood (Sufi youngsters) he thought beneath our dignity. You’d better not mention a campfire. ‘If I had no questions, he sang to me’, a mureed said.
In Karen Jironet’s book I read that he has been engaged for a little while and that he broke this friendship twice because one of the women accompanied a male violinist and the other woman had an animated conversation with a male co-mureed. For him that meant infidelity. To me it invoked a great compassion. I noticed how important it is that an initiator and a guide speaks the language and understands the culture in which he is working. In essence that goes for different communities and environments in the Netherlands too.
About Musharaff Khan all of my conversation partners consented that he was a man without any distance, either as an initiator and a guide or as a Pir-o-Murshid. Contact with him was like a tea party. But when one left, one felt that something had happened. The superlatives stated seem limitless: a radiant personality, kind, ‘When I met him it was as if I stood before a clear crystal’, one person said. Two other persons, ‘when I think of him, I experience a deep calmness’ and, ‘when I think of him, I see the sun in the parlor’. The relationships with him were characterized by friendship, a friend in the highest sense, remarkably happy, always amiable, a radiant personality, a great reconciler; he extinguished domestic fires before they could burst into flames. He did not talk much, was humble, but was experienced as being a counselor, a guide, an inspiring example of devotion and solidarity’. The words ‘Come and follow me’, which I had already learned from Jesus, I could apply to my Murshid in the truest sense’, a mureed wrote. In his presence difficulties disappeared. The words ‘smiling forehead’, introduced by Inayat Khan, did apply to him par excellence. ‘Looking back I have experienced Musharaff Khan as a guide, friend and father. It felt as family, warm, that is what we miss nowadays’, is told to me melancholically. Often he visited the weekends of the Sufi youngsters at the Hoornboeg and stayed there. ‘If he asked about what we would talk and out of shyness I hesitated, he began talking about what I dearly wanted to talk about’, was said more than once. A remarkable oneliner of his is, ‘All is well and all will be well’. A son of a mureed, who had been initiated by Inayat Khan, called his resemblance with Inayat Khan striking.
SUCCESSION
It is remarkable that the succession within the Sufi Movement is not clear to this very day, as well as concerning the leadership of the Movement as for most of the leaders of the Sufi centers. Only Ali Khan left a will in that sense, but with an ambiguous condition. There are no wills found of Inayat Khan, Shaikh-ul-Mashaikh and Musharaff Khan. It is said that Inayat Khan trusted his will to a mureed, who probably burnt it at home after his death in a mental breakdown. My first impulse was ‘Weren’t there any notaries at that time?’ After Inayat Khan’s passing away this uncertainty made some mureeds claim that they were the true successor because they had understood it that way.
From this several fractions originated. One mureed with whom I talked said sadly, ‘then someone died and a new fraction originated’. We can derive from this repetitively ambiguity that clarity is needed and that agreements should be recorded where they belong.
In 1968 Fazal Inayat-Khan, a son of Murshid Hidayat, a grandson of Inayat Khan, then 24 years old, has written a clear statement concerning the question of the succession within the Sufi Movement: ‘Statement on succession’. In short, he wrote, ‘one cannot succeed a Prophet’. Murshid Hidayat again and again characterized our time as a time in which we have to deal with followers of the followers of the followers etc. Fazal, ‘The Sufi Movement has been established for two reasons: to preserve and to spread this message. This is a twofold task. The spiritual and the organizational. For all Sufis all around the world the spiritual task goes. In the organizational sense it is a task for all Sufis who want to serve the message with their talents.’ If we can support this vision and take it seriously, we can face the future with joy, with the accompanying changes. The lesson we can learn from it is: think continuously of the best way of succession, prepare persons to it and include them into the whole at an earlier stage. In this, a sound grasp of the qualities of mureeds is essential.
It would be helpful if an age limit would be introduced for leadership of the Sufi Movement and the various activities. Introducing a limited duration for functions could also be considered. This is for the sake of the Sufi Movement. In this way everyone can remain aware of the need of paying attention to succession. Taking over functions unexpectedly usually ends in conflicts.
When attention and energy are given to the increase and the settlement of conflicts, they cannot be directed towards the preservation and the spread of the precious body of ideas of Inayat Khan. Therefore, a strong, clear organization is needed: an organization/a movement which indicates what is important and what is not important for this pursuit. We have to bear in mind that various activities which do not fit in this twofold aim of the Sufi Movement, can silt up.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SUFI MOVEMENT
Within the Sufi Movement it is striking that mureeds are often involved in various activities at the same time. One says ‘yes’ to perform a certain task and soon it so happens that that same task grows into an assignment of which it is no longer possible to have an overall view. From my interviews it shows that the companions were mainly involved in the spiritual guidance of mureeds and that the organization did hardly come on screen. Concerning this question lots of suggestions were made. One person suggested that the spiritual leaders would show up best if they could focus on guidance and would not be unnecessarily hindered by organizational questions. Some suggested to appointing an organizational leader next to a spiritual leader, who leads the Sufi Movement organizationally in good consultation with the spiritual leader. The financial aspect also belongs to this. From the beginning the Sufi Movement has been dependent upon persons who are ‘well to do’. Karin Jironet mentions this in her book. In a situation like that whoever pays, decides. The Sufi Movement should be able to support itself by membership fees, donations, the publication of books, lectures outside of our own circle, rental of owned buildings etc.
THE ESSENCE OF THE MESSAGE MUREEDS WANT TO SPREAD
In most cases the Universal Worship Service is a settled and regular weekly or monthly gathering. In some places other gatherings have been added or have replaced them. The cherags convey the message by kindling the candles, reading from the Holy Scriptures of the world and giving a lecture. The atmosphere accounts for the rest.
I remember very well that, when I became a mureed, Murshida Shahzadi said clearly during the ordination that we do not evangelize from Sufism. That seems to contradict with the term spreading, but that is not the case. Spreading occurs more or less of itself by the attitude one has acquired and when people have questions about Sufism a short and clear answer is appropriate. But my conversation partners experienced mixed feelings about the degree to which we succeed in this. The unity of religious ideals is the main thing: love, harmony and beauty. Our time needs this very much. Brotherhood was mentioned, ‘but that has not been realized within the Sufi Movement. How do I treat people? That always has to be with respect, that is what it is all about. But keep your feet on the ground.’
‘What I see in the Sufi Movement: it is all very beautiful, but when it comes to the crunch, it fails quite often. We are talking beautifully, but do we practice it at all? Friendship and enmity are hardly mentioned in the classes. People are looking for a kind of safety. Threats are less pleasant. The danger is that one escapes into all sorts of things. One has to come to the point where one sees that one is escaping. We have a Sufi Movement and that means that is has to flow, otherwise it does not have any life in it’, someone explains to me.
A few mureeds told me that they did not talk much and had not been involved in spreading the message. As a reaction one person said that he spreads out the altar, in which the unity of religious ideals takes shape. ‘The prayers are alive to me and arise spontaneously’. Another person thinks back in nostalgia of the circle in which the mureeds were sitting during memorials, ‘Now we are sitting in rows and receive pies. At Murshida Shaszadi’s we received little pieces of cake, made by Rahman, with a little glass of rosewater, as it were, a little bit of holy water, a ritual. At that moment the essence is unity, peace, friendship and brotherhood’. ‘The love I got from the companions and what Inayat Khan writes, that music is a divine art, I have never experienced so strongly as during the singing of Ali Khan and Musharaff Khan. The songs of Shaikh-ul-Mashaikh decided me to go to the conservatory in order to make his music known as a professional musician’, an older mureed said.
Someone else wants ‘to spread the understanding of the divinity of the soul and how it affects the issues of today, such as life, death, education, training and the tone of debate. If you see what is going on in the world, the Sufi way of thinking has been spread throughout the world; the more authenticable human beings are the better. The Sufi Message spreads of itself.
More clarity about the true meaning of hierarchy would be useful. One of the respondents mentioned this and Ratan Witteveen writes about this in the last chapter of the book of Karen Jironet, ‘Hierarchy can be misinterpreted. It should not be based upon strict rules’.
POSSIBLE CHANGES IN THE SPREADING OF THE SUFI MESSAGE
We should go more public and be not too modest about it, but find a way through our attitude, wherever we are, at the workplace, in the neighborhood, in the family. Not only the spreading is important, but it is our task. We are not allowed to keep it to ourselves and the source does not have to be mentioned. Let’s focus more on social discussions, discussions groups, writing, more planned actions in virgin territory and countries. It would be good if the lectures were not being given by the same persons over and over again. Mureeds can be encouraged and prepared. That requires an understanding of the qualities of the mureeds. A study of the Holy Scriptures belongs to this preparation and understanding what the original message was like. Reading the Sufi texts of Inayat Khan intensely, so that one emerges in them. And we should focus on the youth explicitly.
Our PR needs expansion. That means making optimal use of the Internet nowadays, selling books in stores and not only on the book tables of the Sufi centers, maintaining a good relation with the tape and record library, writing in magazines and journals.
And all of this without evangelizing!
CONCLUSION
In review of the above-mentioned the mureeds have made concrete remarks and remarks focused on actions, based upon their deep experience, about the present day and the future, remarks that are in accordance with what Inayat Khan has said, namely that we have to take care of the Movement and that the Movement takes care of itself.
What is the most important of the Sufism to create in one’s own life? As an answer I would like to refer to a quote one of the mureeds gave to me during our conversation and which motivates him in his life:
‘Therefore for the Sufi there is one principle which is most essential to be remembered and that is consideration for human feeling. If one practices in his life this one principle he need not learn much more, he need not trouble about philosophy, he need not to follow an old, or a new religion, for this principle in itself is the essence of all religions. God is love, but where does God dwell? He abides in the heart of man’.(2)
(1) Letter from the archive of the Sufi Movement.
(2) Sangatha, page 30.
Jaya Bakker
‘Companions of Hazrat Inayat Khan? I’ve never heard of.’ Many new mureeds hardly ever heard of the three brothers of Hazrat Inayat Khan: Shaik-ul-Mashaik Maheboob Khan, Murshid Ali Khan and Murshid Musharaff Khan. That is remarkable, for they have led the Sufi Movement from 1927 until 1968 one after the other. Which atmosphere surrounded them?
We as mureeds sang, among other places, in Katwijk, in the Murad Hassil, songs for which Maheboob Khan composed the music on lyrics of Inayat Khan and gradually it dawned on me that the brothers, the companions, had played an utmost important part in the continuity of the body of thought which Inayat Khan brought to the West. And whoever, as mureed, as a member of the Brotherhood or as an interested person, has committed oneself to the ideals of Inayat Khan, owes them gratefulness. In the Sufi Darbar, the The Hague Centre at the Banstraat, the brothers were commemorated on their birthdays and on the day of their death. And thereby the thoughts of them remained living.
Within our movement there are some mureeds who have known and witnessed one or more of the brothers. It is important that Karin Jironet has written a historic treatise on these three Murshids. Her book has to an important degree the nature of a historiography of heights and lows of those times. While reading it those who have witnessed that time can include their own precious memories. Those for whom this period is unknown will be curious after the experience of the association with the companions and the atmosphere which surrounded them. At any rate, that is how it was for me. In order to know more about the companions I contacted some mureeds who could tell about those times at first hand. In italic words I refer to what they have said, not only about their experience of those days with the companions but how, from that background, they think about the Sufi Movement right now and how they see the future.
It was surprising – each one of them told something no one had ever mentioned before. Two mureeds sighed that they were heard at last. It would be useful to develop a way of working in which listening to the ideas and suggestions of mureeds would become accepted.
In those interviews more than once it was mentioned that Murshida Shahzadi should be always be bracketed together with the companions. She was responsible for the progress, formed a bridge to the present day. She played a great role in the Sufi Movement, first as wife and support of Musharaff Khan and after his passing away as one of the leaders of the Sufi Movement and guide of many mureeds. She was part of the special atmosphere of the brothers. The one who has witnessed her in the Banstraat or somewhere else has been connected to that atmosphere and hopefully still is.
Not everyone in the immediate surroundings of the brothers experienced the same. For example, the widow of Inayat Khan. In a letter Ameen Begum begged Ali Khan, her brother in law, to come and visit the children’s party of the children.(1) It has to be stated that Shaik-ul-Mashaik, who was the guardian to the children, never visited her in her home after feeling not welcome on one occasion. Ameen Begum did not want to part with the guardianship. As a result the children did not see their uncle at their home anymore, at Fazal Manzil. Obviously, none of the children has received spiritual guidance from the companions in the Sufi tradition of Inayat Khan.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE COMPANIONS TO THE MUREEDS
Inayat Khan and his brothers came to the West as musicians. They were mystics, healers and seers. They supported themselves by giving concerts. The significance of the companions to mureeds is hard to express in words. There is hardly someone who has known and experienced Shaik-ul-Mashaik. A few have known Ali Khan and most of the persons I have interviewed cherish warm memories of Musharaff Khan. The stories told about the three of them were very respectful. They, the brothers, followed the tradition of Inayat Khan with the exception of giving ‘collective interviews’. The Summer Schools were sources of inspiration. Though, more than once it was stated that they were immigrants and that this has complicated their work. For example, they did not speak Dutch but only English to mureeds. Murshida Shaszadi always accompanied Musharaff Khan and, if necessary, translated the interviews of her husband with mureeds. That language barrier made some mureeds shy and timid. Among other things Ali Khan and Musharaff Khan also gave physical practices. They were keen on being healthy. I have the idea that nowadays this does not take place within the Sufi training. Those who have known all three of them were very young when they came into touch with Sufism. Shaik-ul-Mashaik was only mentioned by those who were born in a Sufi family and saw him from a distance. The beautiful songs, the ‘Sufi songs’, we owe to him. He composed the music to texts of Inayat Khan. His clairvoyance was illustrated, among other things, by an event during WOII. After a bombardment he was told which building had been flattened. ‘No’, he said, ‘it was a building at the big road.’ That proved to be right.
Ali Khan has been described in quite an opposite experience. An imposing presence under dramatic and oppressive conditions. A formidable human being, a strong leader. Because of that many people deserted. Those who had contact with him in private do understand that some people were a little bit afraid of him. They themselves call him: my soul guardian and referred to his loving attitude, his pleasant manner with other people, his sense of humor. His presence and silences have left an everlasting impression on the mureeds. Sometimes he cooked for his hosts when he stayed with them. He loved to sing with the whole family, sometimes in Chinese with words as spaghetti. If he laughed it was as if a whole mountain was laughing. He was rather corpulent and the average Dutchman did not expect this from a spiritual man. But soon his radiance was perceptible. He learned to ride a bicycle and that was not very easy for him. The person who told this thought this was very funny. Ali Khan was considered a man who could do everything and having a hard time in learning to ride a bicycle did not fit in.
His healing voice has permeated many people deeply and a great number of people have experienced his healing themselves. It is a pity I did not ask him more questions, someone sighed.
Those who did not have contact with him in private but only knew him as an initiator and a guide, a Pir-o-Murshid, told in awe about his authority, wisdom and power. He always was reserved, all dignity. Whatever deviated from that dignity was not good. Games within the Youth Brotherhood (Sufi youngsters) he thought beneath our dignity. You’d better not mention a campfire. ‘If I had no questions, he sang to me’, a mureed said.
In Karen Jironet’s book I read that he has been engaged for a little while and that he broke this friendship twice because one of the women accompanied a male violinist and the other woman had an animated conversation with a male co-mureed. For him that meant infidelity. To me it invoked a great compassion. I noticed how important it is that an initiator and a guide speaks the language and understands the culture in which he is working. In essence that goes for different communities and environments in the Netherlands too.
About Musharaff Khan all of my conversation partners consented that he was a man without any distance, either as an initiator and a guide or as a Pir-o-Murshid. Contact with him was like a tea party. But when one left, one felt that something had happened. The superlatives stated seem limitless: a radiant personality, kind, ‘When I met him it was as if I stood before a clear crystal’, one person said. Two other persons, ‘when I think of him, I experience a deep calmness’ and, ‘when I think of him, I see the sun in the parlor’. The relationships with him were characterized by friendship, a friend in the highest sense, remarkably happy, always amiable, a radiant personality, a great reconciler; he extinguished domestic fires before they could burst into flames. He did not talk much, was humble, but was experienced as being a counselor, a guide, an inspiring example of devotion and solidarity’. The words ‘Come and follow me’, which I had already learned from Jesus, I could apply to my Murshid in the truest sense’, a mureed wrote. In his presence difficulties disappeared. The words ‘smiling forehead’, introduced by Inayat Khan, did apply to him par excellence. ‘Looking back I have experienced Musharaff Khan as a guide, friend and father. It felt as family, warm, that is what we miss nowadays’, is told to me melancholically. Often he visited the weekends of the Sufi youngsters at the Hoornboeg and stayed there. ‘If he asked about what we would talk and out of shyness I hesitated, he began talking about what I dearly wanted to talk about’, was said more than once. A remarkable oneliner of his is, ‘All is well and all will be well’. A son of a mureed, who had been initiated by Inayat Khan, called his resemblance with Inayat Khan striking.
SUCCESSION
It is remarkable that the succession within the Sufi Movement is not clear to this very day, as well as concerning the leadership of the Movement as for most of the leaders of the Sufi centers. Only Ali Khan left a will in that sense, but with an ambiguous condition. There are no wills found of Inayat Khan, Shaikh-ul-Mashaikh and Musharaff Khan. It is said that Inayat Khan trusted his will to a mureed, who probably burnt it at home after his death in a mental breakdown. My first impulse was ‘Weren’t there any notaries at that time?’ After Inayat Khan’s passing away this uncertainty made some mureeds claim that they were the true successor because they had understood it that way.
From this several fractions originated. One mureed with whom I talked said sadly, ‘then someone died and a new fraction originated’. We can derive from this repetitively ambiguity that clarity is needed and that agreements should be recorded where they belong.
In 1968 Fazal Inayat-Khan, a son of Murshid Hidayat, a grandson of Inayat Khan, then 24 years old, has written a clear statement concerning the question of the succession within the Sufi Movement: ‘Statement on succession’. In short, he wrote, ‘one cannot succeed a Prophet’. Murshid Hidayat again and again characterized our time as a time in which we have to deal with followers of the followers of the followers etc. Fazal, ‘The Sufi Movement has been established for two reasons: to preserve and to spread this message. This is a twofold task. The spiritual and the organizational. For all Sufis all around the world the spiritual task goes. In the organizational sense it is a task for all Sufis who want to serve the message with their talents.’ If we can support this vision and take it seriously, we can face the future with joy, with the accompanying changes. The lesson we can learn from it is: think continuously of the best way of succession, prepare persons to it and include them into the whole at an earlier stage. In this, a sound grasp of the qualities of mureeds is essential.
It would be helpful if an age limit would be introduced for leadership of the Sufi Movement and the various activities. Introducing a limited duration for functions could also be considered. This is for the sake of the Sufi Movement. In this way everyone can remain aware of the need of paying attention to succession. Taking over functions unexpectedly usually ends in conflicts.
When attention and energy are given to the increase and the settlement of conflicts, they cannot be directed towards the preservation and the spread of the precious body of ideas of Inayat Khan. Therefore, a strong, clear organization is needed: an organization/a movement which indicates what is important and what is not important for this pursuit. We have to bear in mind that various activities which do not fit in this twofold aim of the Sufi Movement, can silt up.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE SUFI MOVEMENT
Within the Sufi Movement it is striking that mureeds are often involved in various activities at the same time. One says ‘yes’ to perform a certain task and soon it so happens that that same task grows into an assignment of which it is no longer possible to have an overall view. From my interviews it shows that the companions were mainly involved in the spiritual guidance of mureeds and that the organization did hardly come on screen. Concerning this question lots of suggestions were made. One person suggested that the spiritual leaders would show up best if they could focus on guidance and would not be unnecessarily hindered by organizational questions. Some suggested to appointing an organizational leader next to a spiritual leader, who leads the Sufi Movement organizationally in good consultation with the spiritual leader. The financial aspect also belongs to this. From the beginning the Sufi Movement has been dependent upon persons who are ‘well to do’. Karin Jironet mentions this in her book. In a situation like that whoever pays, decides. The Sufi Movement should be able to support itself by membership fees, donations, the publication of books, lectures outside of our own circle, rental of owned buildings etc.
THE ESSENCE OF THE MESSAGE MUREEDS WANT TO SPREAD
In most cases the Universal Worship Service is a settled and regular weekly or monthly gathering. In some places other gatherings have been added or have replaced them. The cherags convey the message by kindling the candles, reading from the Holy Scriptures of the world and giving a lecture. The atmosphere accounts for the rest.
I remember very well that, when I became a mureed, Murshida Shahzadi said clearly during the ordination that we do not evangelize from Sufism. That seems to contradict with the term spreading, but that is not the case. Spreading occurs more or less of itself by the attitude one has acquired and when people have questions about Sufism a short and clear answer is appropriate. But my conversation partners experienced mixed feelings about the degree to which we succeed in this. The unity of religious ideals is the main thing: love, harmony and beauty. Our time needs this very much. Brotherhood was mentioned, ‘but that has not been realized within the Sufi Movement. How do I treat people? That always has to be with respect, that is what it is all about. But keep your feet on the ground.’
‘What I see in the Sufi Movement: it is all very beautiful, but when it comes to the crunch, it fails quite often. We are talking beautifully, but do we practice it at all? Friendship and enmity are hardly mentioned in the classes. People are looking for a kind of safety. Threats are less pleasant. The danger is that one escapes into all sorts of things. One has to come to the point where one sees that one is escaping. We have a Sufi Movement and that means that is has to flow, otherwise it does not have any life in it’, someone explains to me.
A few mureeds told me that they did not talk much and had not been involved in spreading the message. As a reaction one person said that he spreads out the altar, in which the unity of religious ideals takes shape. ‘The prayers are alive to me and arise spontaneously’. Another person thinks back in nostalgia of the circle in which the mureeds were sitting during memorials, ‘Now we are sitting in rows and receive pies. At Murshida Shaszadi’s we received little pieces of cake, made by Rahman, with a little glass of rosewater, as it were, a little bit of holy water, a ritual. At that moment the essence is unity, peace, friendship and brotherhood’. ‘The love I got from the companions and what Inayat Khan writes, that music is a divine art, I have never experienced so strongly as during the singing of Ali Khan and Musharaff Khan. The songs of Shaikh-ul-Mashaikh decided me to go to the conservatory in order to make his music known as a professional musician’, an older mureed said.
Someone else wants ‘to spread the understanding of the divinity of the soul and how it affects the issues of today, such as life, death, education, training and the tone of debate. If you see what is going on in the world, the Sufi way of thinking has been spread throughout the world; the more authenticable human beings are the better. The Sufi Message spreads of itself.
More clarity about the true meaning of hierarchy would be useful. One of the respondents mentioned this and Ratan Witteveen writes about this in the last chapter of the book of Karen Jironet, ‘Hierarchy can be misinterpreted. It should not be based upon strict rules’.
POSSIBLE CHANGES IN THE SPREADING OF THE SUFI MESSAGE
We should go more public and be not too modest about it, but find a way through our attitude, wherever we are, at the workplace, in the neighborhood, in the family. Not only the spreading is important, but it is our task. We are not allowed to keep it to ourselves and the source does not have to be mentioned. Let’s focus more on social discussions, discussions groups, writing, more planned actions in virgin territory and countries. It would be good if the lectures were not being given by the same persons over and over again. Mureeds can be encouraged and prepared. That requires an understanding of the qualities of the mureeds. A study of the Holy Scriptures belongs to this preparation and understanding what the original message was like. Reading the Sufi texts of Inayat Khan intensely, so that one emerges in them. And we should focus on the youth explicitly.
Our PR needs expansion. That means making optimal use of the Internet nowadays, selling books in stores and not only on the book tables of the Sufi centers, maintaining a good relation with the tape and record library, writing in magazines and journals.
And all of this without evangelizing!
CONCLUSION
In review of the above-mentioned the mureeds have made concrete remarks and remarks focused on actions, based upon their deep experience, about the present day and the future, remarks that are in accordance with what Inayat Khan has said, namely that we have to take care of the Movement and that the Movement takes care of itself.
What is the most important of the Sufism to create in one’s own life? As an answer I would like to refer to a quote one of the mureeds gave to me during our conversation and which motivates him in his life:
‘Therefore for the Sufi there is one principle which is most essential to be remembered and that is consideration for human feeling. If one practices in his life this one principle he need not learn much more, he need not trouble about philosophy, he need not to follow an old, or a new religion, for this principle in itself is the essence of all religions. God is love, but where does God dwell? He abides in the heart of man’.(2)
(1) Letter from the archive of the Sufi Movement.
(2) Sangatha, page 30.
I give thanks to Hamida Verlinden, who provided me with information from the archive of the Sufi Movement. Furthermore I have referred to:
* Fourteen mureeds. With ten of them I had a conversation by phone based upon questions I had sent to them. Four persons sent a written answer.
* Dr. Karin Jironet: Sufi Mysticism into the West: Life and Leadership of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s Brothers. 1927 – 1967. Publisher Peeters 2009 Leuven Belgium.
* Wali van Lohuizen: Some comments on the book of Sitara Jironet on the Brothers of Hazrat Inayat Khan. July 2007/January 2010.
* Shahzadi Musharaff Khan-de Koningh: Pages of a life with a Sufi, without date, not published.
* Walia van Lohuizen: lecture on Treasury of Sufism, October 2009.
* Musharaff Khan: Pages in the life of a Sufi, Miranda, Wassenaar, 1982, ISBN 90 62716628.
* Nasiban Xhrouet: Memories of Murshid Musharaff Khan. March 16, 1994.
* Fazal Inayat-Khan: Statement on succession, Deventer, August 29, 1968.
* Fourteen mureeds. With ten of them I had a conversation by phone based upon questions I had sent to them. Four persons sent a written answer.
* Dr. Karin Jironet: Sufi Mysticism into the West: Life and Leadership of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s Brothers. 1927 – 1967. Publisher Peeters 2009 Leuven Belgium.
* Wali van Lohuizen: Some comments on the book of Sitara Jironet on the Brothers of Hazrat Inayat Khan. July 2007/January 2010.
* Shahzadi Musharaff Khan-de Koningh: Pages of a life with a Sufi, without date, not published.
* Walia van Lohuizen: lecture on Treasury of Sufism, October 2009.
* Musharaff Khan: Pages in the life of a Sufi, Miranda, Wassenaar, 1982, ISBN 90 62716628.
* Nasiban Xhrouet: Memories of Murshid Musharaff Khan. March 16, 1994.
* Fazal Inayat-Khan: Statement on succession, Deventer, August 29, 1968.