Sufi Ruhaniat International

Inayat Khan, founder of Universal Sufism

Universal Sufism was established in the early 20th century.[1] Two forms made up early Universal Sufism: the Sufi Order, which Inayat Khan separated from Islam and brought to the West, and westerners of the more traditional Shadhili Order. Both held the principle of universalism, according to which Sufism can be valid for anyone, regardless of their background.[2]

Inayat Khan originally belonged to the Chishti Order, but founded the Sufi Order between 1915 and 1917 as an independent universalist take on Sufism.[3] After his death in 1927, the Sufi Order split over Khan's succession. Leadership over the Order ultimately went to Inayat Khan's brother, Maheboob Khan.[2]

Inayat Khan's first disciple in America, Rabia Martin, assuming from a letter from Inayat Kahn that she would have to "attend to my [Inayat Khan's] affairs in the West", found herself rejected by the community. She continued independently,[2] and recognized Meher Baba as the Avatar of the age, eventually giving rise to Sufism Reoriented.[4]

One of Martin's disciples was Samuel Lewis, who had also been a student of Inayat Khan. In the late 1960s, Murshid Samuel L. Lewis began initiating and training students first under the banner of Zen and then of Sufism. The Sufi Ruhaniat International was incorporated as the Sufi Islamia Ruhaniat Society by Lewis in November 1970 to help carry on his Sufi initiatic lineage in the Chishti Sufi tradition, shortly before his death in 1971.[5] In 2002 the name was changed to Sufi Ruhaniat International.[6]

Shortly before his passing, Lewis appointed as his successor his Khalif Moineddin Jablonski, who directed the organization from 1971 until his own passing in 2001.[7] Jablonski was succeeded by Shabda Kahn as Pir of the lineage.

Inayat defined three objectives of Universal Sufism: 1. To establish a human unity with no consideration of caste, creed, race, nation, or religion. Differences produce inharmony and cause all miseries in the world.

2. To spread the wisdom of Sufis which has been until now, a hidden treasure, it being the property of humankind which does not belong to a certain race or religion.

3. To attain that perfection where mysticism remains no more a mystery, which relieves the disbeliever from ignorance and the believer from falling victim to hypocrisy.

Pir Shabda Kahn

Leadership of SRI is provided by a pir (spiritual leader) and a council of murshids and murshidas (senior teachers). Teachers are referred to as sheiks and sheikhas. SRI is not "guru-centered" and maintains a minimal hierarchy required for any effective organization to function. All members are respected for the unique perspectives and abilities they offer.[20]

Shabda Kahn received bayat (initiation) from his teacher Murshid Samuel L. Lewis, a disciple of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan, in 1969. He served as his personal assistant during the fall of 1970, shortly before Murshid Sam's death. He then served as an assistant to Pir Moineddin, throughout the 1970s. At the request of Pir Moineddin, Shabda Kahn was initiated as a Sheikh in 1977 by Pir Vilayat Khan, eldest son of Inayat Khan, at the tomb of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan in Delhi, on the occasion of Inayat Khan's 50th Urs . He was initiated as a Murshid in 1997 by Pir Hidayat Inayat Khan uniting all of the previously disparate Universal Sufi lineages. In 2001, at the death of Pir Moineddin Jablonski, Shabda Kahn succeeded him as Pir of the Sufi Ruhaniat International, by Pir Moineddin's appointment.

As Pir of the Sufi Ruhaniat International, Shabda directs the Jamiat Khas (the Ruhaniat leader circle), directs the SRI Board of Trustees, and is the spiritual director for the Dances of Universal Peace worldwide, as well as the director of the Chisti Sabri School of Music.

Every tariqa or Sufi order has a silsila, or named lineage of succession. Centuries ago, Arabia did not have schools for formal education. Students went to teachers who taught them. Upon completion of their study, they received ijazah (permission) which acted as the certification of their education. A graduate then acted as a teacher having their own students or disciples. This chain of teachers is known as silsila or lineage. Somewhat analogous to the modern situation where degrees are only accepted from recognized universities, the certification of a teacher having a verifiable chain of teachers was the only criteria which accorded legitimacy:

"Theoretically one can only receive instruction in these practices (talqîn) from an authorised teacher of the tariqa, and only after pledging a vow of obedience (bay'ah) to this shaikh. The shaikh gives his disciples permission (ijâza) to practice the tariqa: he may also authorise one or more of them to teach it to others, i.e. appoint them as his khalîfa. In this way a hierarchically ordered network of teachers may emerge. Each shaikh can show a chain of authorities for the tarekat he teaches, his silsila or spiritual genealogy. Usually the silsila reaches back from one's own teacher up to the Prophet, with whom all tarekats claim to have originated although there have been modifications along the way. A Sufi's silsila is his badge of identity and source of legitimation; it provides him with a list of illustrious predecessors and shows how he is related to other Sufis."[21]

Although the silsilas have traditionally only been formed of men, there have been women Sufi masters, notably Rabia al-Adawiyya, and the Sufi Ruhaniat initiates men and women on an equal basis at every level of the organisation.

The Salsila of the Sufi Ruhaniat International follows the Nizami branch of the spiritual lineage of the Chishti Order:[22]

• Nizamuddin Auliya Mahbub-i Ilahi
• Nasiruddin Chiragh Delhi
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Kamaluddin ‘Allama
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Sirajuddin
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh ‘Ilmuddin
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Mahmud Rajan
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Jamaluddin Jamman
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Hasan Muhammad
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Muhammad Chishti
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Yahya Madani
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Shah Kalimullah Jahanabadi
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Nizamuddin Aurangabadi
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Maulana Fakhruddin Delhi
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Ghulam Qutbuddin
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Nasiruddin Mahmud Kale Miyan
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Muhammad Hasan Jili Kalimi
• Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Muhammed Abu Hashim Madani
• Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
• Pir-o-Murshid Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti
• Pir Moineddin Jablonski
• Pir Shabda Kahn

Other teachers have informed the Sufi Ruhaniat International's spiritual tradition and are acknowledged as "godparents" of the movement. Among these are:

Sensei Nyogen Senzaki (1876–1958) was a Rinzai Zen monk and student of Soyen Shaku. He was the Zen teacher of Samuel L. Lewis. His last words were said to be "Remember the Dharma! Remember the Dharma! Remember the Dharma!"[23]

Ruth St. Denis (1879–1968) was a modern dance pioneer and a major influence on Samuel L. Lewis, who called her "Mata-Ji" (Honored Mother) and referred to her as "my fairy godmother". She was a source of inspiration in Samuel L. Lewis' creation of the Dances of Universal Peace and of the Spiritual Walks.[24]

Joe Miller (1904–1992) was an American mystic best known for his Thursday Morning Walks in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park with his wife Guin during the 1970s and 1980s. Joe was widely respected for his spiritual clarity and Walter Evans-Wentz, the original translator of the Tibetan Book of the Dead, and other sacred Mahayana texts, considered Joe Miller "the only man he had met in the West who understood the Doctrine of the Clear Light." Joe was a close friend of Samuel L. Lewis who upon his deathbed asked Joe to "Take care of my disciples." Joe provided spiritual guidance to Sam's disciples, and many others, until his death in 1992.[25]

Swami Papa Ramdas and Mother Krishnabai – In the 1950s Murshid SAM reported a recurring vision with the face of a saint accompanied by poetry, “By one year’s time, by land or sea, I will come to thee.” In 1954, in keeping with the vision, Papa (Swami) Ramdas and Mother Krishnabai came to San Francisco on their World Tour and Murshid SAM found his “Hindu” Guru.

Sufi Barkat Ali was a Muslim Sufi who belonged to the Qadri spiritual order. He became Murshid Samuel L. Lewis' Sufi guide after the passing of Inayat Khan, and continued to advise Lewis' disciples after his own death. Ali was the founder of the non-political, non-profit, religious organisation, Dar-ul-Ehsan.

• Sufi Vision & Initiation: Meetings with Remarkable Beings (ISBN 091542410X)
• Spiritual Dance & Walk: An Introduction to the Dances of Universal Peace & Walking Meditations of Samuel L. Lewis (ISBN 0915424134)
• This is the New Age in Person Published by Sufi Islamia Ruhaniat Society (1972). Omen Press (ISBN 0912358130)
• Murshid – A Personal Memoir of Life with American Sufi Samuel L. Lewis by spiritual secretary of Samuel Lewis, Mansur Johnson (http://www.mansurjohnson.com/ – ISBN 0-915424-16-9)
• Sedgwick, Mark (2016). Western Sufism: From the Abbasids to the New Age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199977659.
• Rawlinson, Andrew (1993). "A History of Western Sufism". Diskus. 1 (1): 45–83.

• Sufi Ruhaniat International website
• Pir Shabda Khan's Website
• Sufi Soulwork Foundation
• Ruhaniat Europe
• Ruhaniat United Kingdom
• Ruhaniat Netherlands
• Ruhaniat Europe
• Inayati Order International
• Sufi Movement International
• Soefi Contact
• Wahiduddin's Web
• Sufi Way - the Open Path
• Nekbakht Foundation
• Mevlevi Order of America
• Threshold Society
• Golden Sufi Center
• International Association of Sufism
• Federation of the Sufi Message