Our Lineage

The Sufi Way is a direct continuation of the inner school established in the West in 1921 by Inayat Khan. Inayat Khan (also referred to by the honorific titles Sufi Inayat Khan, Hazrat Inayat Khan, and Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan) was an accomplished musician as well as a spiritual master initiated in the four major Sufi orders: Chishti, Qadiri, Suhrawardi, and Nakshbandi.

The prophetic nature of his teachings, which were given over the course of sixteen years in Europe and America (1910-26), reflected on the full scope of humanity's spiritual challenges and offered guidance accessible to people of all faiths. Known as "the Sufi Message," these teachings have been collected in 14 volumes of prose and prayers and are a continual source of inspiration for students of the Sufi Way. Among Inayat Khan's most important teachings was his description of "the unity of religious ideals," a recognition that has had far-reaching influence in the evolution of world culture since his time. As he often pointed out,

"Sufism takes away the boundaries which divide different faiths by bringing
into full light the underlying wisdom in which they are all united."

Traditional Muslim Sufi fraternities trace their lineages from teacher to teacher back to the Prophet Mohammad, and this lineage of blessing also applies to the Sufi Way. However, by opening the understanding of "lineage" beyond Sufism's historic connection with Islam, Inayat Khan both extended the recognition of Sufism's roots into pre-Islamic times and started afresh.

This fact is essential in understanding the history and flavor of the Sufi Way. We accept both our Islamic and pre-Islamic roots, as well as the realization that our spiritual lineage includes all authentic human awakening, in whatever culture or religion it has been experienced. This is the profound gift offered to us by our ancestors. Thus, in our view, one can be a Muslim Sufi, a Christian Sufi, and Buddhist Sufi, a Hindu Sufi, or of any other faith tradition, or none at all. Everyone who sincerely wishes to enter the path of awakening and open-heartedness is welcome.

Inayat Khan passed away unexpectedly in 1927. Leadership of the Sufi Movement he had founded first passed to his brother, Shaikh-ul-Mashaikh Maheboob Khan; in 1948 to his cousin, Pir-o-Murshid Ali Khan; in 1956 to his youngest brother, Pir-o-Murshid Musharaff Khan; and in 1968 to his grandson, Pir-o-Murshid Fazal Inayat-Khan. (See brief biographies below.)

Pir-o-Murshid Fazal Inayat-Khan, grandson of Sufi Inayat Khan, was a musician, poet, psychotherapist, and an inspiring teacher. Responsive to the spirit of the times, his style of teaching was extraordinarily creative and dynamic — he developed new forms of practice such as chillas, musical meditations, itinerancy, “war games,” and psychotherapeutic inquiry.

Murshid Fazal’s presence was magnetic and loving, and he developed a wide following through his many talks and programs. He taught a style of Sufism which he described as being non-definitive (free from conclusion-making), inclusive (both of view and practice), and experiential (emphasizing direct experience over received information).

The richness and variety of teachings within the western Sufi tradition inspired by Inayat Khan is a sign of its vitality. As Murshid Fazal described it:

"One can conclude in historical perspective that the cause of Sufism's resurgent, adaptive and changing permanency as a feature of human, spiritual thought and practice, is its ability to decentralize and evolve its body of thought among a great variety of leaders. So it remains continuously in a flux of spiritual searching, responding to the present human condition at any particular time."

Happily, relations among the five major orders that have emerged from Sufi Inayat Khan’s message (Inayatyya, Sufi Movement, Sufi Ruhaniat, Sufi Way, Sufi-Contact) have become considerably more peaceful and respectful in the 21st Century, each with their own style, forms of practice, and teachings.

In the Tradition of
Sufi Inayat Khan

Shaikh-ul-Mashaik Maheboob Khan, younger brother of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, took on the leadership of the Sufi Movement upon Inayat’s passing, and held this post until his own death in 1948. An accomplished musician, Maheboob composed over 60 sacred songs, many of them based on the poetry of Inayat Khan. A quiet and intelligent man, he led the Sufi Movement with steadiness and kindness through the turbulence of World War II and was deeply loved.

Pir-o-Murshid Ali Khan, the cousin/brother of Inayat Khan, succeeded Maheboob as the leader of the Sufi Movement. Also an accomplished musician of Indian classical music, he later trained in Western music, singing opera and playing the trumpet, trombone, and bagpipes. Ali Khan was a strong presence and deeply devotional, and was known for his natural gift of healing through his touch, glance, and prayers.

Pir-o-Murshid Musharaff Khan succeeded Ali Khan as leader of the Sufi Movement upon Ali’s death in 1958. The youngest brother of Inayat Khan, Musharaff was a gentle and perceptive teacher, spreading Inayat’s Sufi Message both through his words and his loving presence. His well-loved book, Pages in the Life of a Sufi, describes aspects of his life and travels with Sufi Inayat Khan. His wish was that the book would “help produce that inner and outer peace every soul is longing for.” Before he died in late 1967 he appointed Inayat’s grandson, Fazal Inayat-Khan, as his successor.

After 15 years leading the Sufi Movement, in the early 1980's some older members of the Movement objected to Murshid Fazal’s more radical and experiential style of teaching, preferring a more traditional approach. In order to accommodate both tendencies, Murshid Fazal proposed a bifurcation between the more traditional Sufi Movement and the more inclusive and experiential Sufi Way, which became a specific branch of Inayat Khan's lineage that Murshid Fazal founded in 1985.

At various times during the 20th century there were other disputes among Sufi Inayat Khan's mureeds about who should most rightfully be the next leader of the Sufi Movement and represent his lineage. Inayat Khan's eldest son, Vilayat, contended for many years that it was his right, culminating in his establishing his own order, now known as the Inayatiyya Order. Another American mureed of Sufi Inayat's, Samuel Lewis, also rose to prominence in the late 1960's, and while not claiming leadership of the Sufi Movement, began his own related order, the Sufi Ruhaniat International. (Links to these sister orders can be found at the bottom of this page.)

Pir-o-Murshida Sitara Brutnell became the first woman Pir of our order after the unexpected passing of Pir-o-Murshid Fazal in 1990. Sitara was introduced to Sufi ideals and practices in a natural way while growing up. She met Inayat Khan several times as a child and he made a lasting impression on her. Both of her parents were mureeds (and later Murshid and Murshida) in the Sufi Movement. Sitara was initiated into the Inner School of the Sufi Movement by Murshida Saintsbury-Green.

During the war her parents built a house called Roughwood about an hour from London. Over the years, Roughwood became a center rich with Sufi activities and it was visited often by all the Pirs of the Sufi Movement.

After 1968, Sitara became a friend and co-worker of the newly-appointed Pir-o-Murshid Fazal Inayat-Khan. She was a true mureed to him, and Roughwood was his second home and refuge. In time she was appointed Madar-ul-Maham of the Inner School. When Murshid Fazal passed away in 1990, it was she who gathered up the mureeds mourning the sudden loss of their guide. She became Pir of the Sufi Way and with great courage and patience brought the community onto a path of self-direction and new inspiration.

An accomplished pianist, during this time Sitara turned to music both to reach others and to reach within. She composed beautiful zikrs and often expressed her deepest feelings in her exquisite playing of Brahms. Over the years her wisdom and lightness healed many. She nurtured a strong group of leaders to follow her and, in passing, delivered into their care a healthy Sufi community full of potential and maturity, touched with her grace and elevated by her dignity.

Murshida Sitara was without pretensions and talked always of her work as “watering the roots”, never taking credit for the many beautiful flowers that blossomed under her care. An unpredictable blend of mystical subtlety, British propriety, and charming playfulness, she loved her gardens and tended them to the last with intensity and enjoyment.

In 1998 Murshida Sitara announced that Murshid Elias Amidon was to succeed her as Pir of the Sufi Way upon her passing. She died in 2004 and was buried in the churchyard of Shalden Green, near Roughwood, to the voices of her mureeds singing her beloved Zikr of Gratitude.

Our sister orders in the lineage of Sufi Inayat Khan:

The Sufi Movement — www.sufimovement.org
Inayatiyya Order — www.inayatiyya.org
Sufi Ruhaniat International — www.ruhaniat.org
Soefi-Contact — www.soefi-contact.nl