Thursday, November 28, 2024

A00010 - Hazrat Inayat Khan, Indian Professor of Musicology, Poet, Philosopher and Transmitter of Sufism to the West

  Inayat Khan, Hazrat

"Everything in life is speaking in spite of its apparent silence." 

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Inayat Khan
عنایت خان رحمت خان
Title
  • Pir-o-Murshid
  • Shaikh al-Mashaikh
  • Tansen Zamanihal
  • Yüzkhan
  • Bakhshi
  • Shah
  • Mir-Khayl[1]
Personal
Born
Inayat Khan Rehmat Khan

July 5, 1882
DiedFebruary 5, 1927 (aged 44)
New Delhi, British India
ReligionIslam
SpousePirani Ameena Begum
ChildrenVilayatHidayatNoor; Khair-un-Nisa Inayat Khan
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceHanafi
CreedSufism
ProfessionMusician, PirMusicologist
Muslim leader
SuccessorVilayat
ProfessionMusician, PirMusicologist
Universel Murad Hassil, Netherlands
Sant and Pir
Venerated inInayatiyyaWestern Sufism
Major shrineDargah in Hazrat Nizamuddin, Delhi
InfluencesSayyid Abu Hashim Madani
InfluencedUniversal Sufism
Tradition or genre
Chishti, and other major Sufi tariqa















































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Inayat Khan Rehmat Khan (Urduعنایت خان رحمت خان; 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.[2] At the urging of his students, and on the basis of his ancestral Sufi tradition and four-fold training and authorization at the hands of Sayyid Abu Hashim Madani (d. 1907) of Hyderabad, he established an order of Sufism (the Sufi Order) in London in 1914. By the time of his death in 1927, centers had been established throughout Europe and North America, and multiple volumes of his teachings had been published.[3]

Early life

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Inayat Khan was born in Baroda to a noble Mughal family. His paternal ancestors, comprising yüzkhans (Central Asian lords) and bakshys (shamans), were Turkmen from the Chagatai Khanate who settled in SialkotPunjab during the reign of Amir Timur. Inayat Khan's maternal grandfather, Sangit Ratna Maulabakhsh Sholay Khan, was a Hindustani classical musician and educator known as “the Beethoven of India.” His maternal grandmother, Qasim Bibi, was from the royal house of Tipu Sultan of Mysore.[4]

Sufism

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Inayat Khan's Sufi sources included both the traditions of his paternal ancestors (remembered as the Mahashaikhan) and the tutelage he received from Sayyid Abu Hashim Madani.[4]: 3–64  From the latter he inherited four transmissions, constituting succession in the ChishtiSuhrawardiQadiri, and Naqshbandi orders of Sufism. Of these, the Chishti lineage, traced through the Delhi-based legacy of Shah Kalim Allah Jahanabadi, was primary.[5]

Travels

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Inayat Khan toured the United States with his brother Maheboob Khan and cousin Mohammed Ali Khan between the years 1910 and 1912. Further travels took him to England, France, and Russia. During the First World War, living in London, he oversaw the founding of an order of Sufism under his guidance. Following the war he traveled widely, and numerous Sufi centers sprang up in his wake in Europe and the U.S. He ultimately settled in SuresnesFrance, at the house and khanqah (Sufi lodge) known as Fazal Manzil.[citation needed]

Teaching

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Inayat Khan's teaching emphasized the oneness of God (tawhid) and the underlying harmony of the revelations communicated by the prophets of all the world's great religions. His discourses treated such varied subjects as religion, art, music, ethics, philosophy, psychology, and health and healing. The primary concern of Inayat Khan's teaching was the mystical pursuit of God-realization.[6] To this end he established an Inner School comprising four stages of contemplative study based on the traditional Sufi disciplines of mujahadamuraqabamushahada, and mu‘ayyana, which he rendered in English as concentration, contemplation, meditation, and realization.[7]: 218–227 

Foundational principles

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Ten principles, known as the Ten Sufi Thoughts, enunciate the universal spiritual values that are foundational to Inayat Khan's mystical philosophy.[7]: 3–13 

  1. There is One God, the Eternal, the Only Being; none exists save God.
  2. There is One Master, the Guiding Spirit of all Souls, Who constantly leads followers towards the light.
  3. There is One Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, the only scripture which can enlighten the reader.
  4. There is One Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction towards the ideal, which fulfills the life's purpose of every soul.
  5. There is One Law, the law of reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience together with a sense of awakened justice.
  6. There is One Brotherhood and Sisterhood, the human brotherhood and sisterhood, which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the Parenthood of God.
  7. There is One Moral, the love which springs forth from self-denial, and blooms in deeds of beneficence.
  8. There is One Object of Praise, the beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshippers through all aspects from the seen to the unseen.
  9. There is One Truth, the true knowledge of our being, within and without, which is the essence of all wisdom.
  10. There is One Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality, and in which resides all perfection.

Family and personal life

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In New York, he met the woman who would become his wife, Ora Ray Ameena Begum née Baker. They had four children: Vilayat Inayat KhanHidayat Inayat KhanNoor Inayat Khan, and Khair-un-Nisa Inayat Khan.[citation needed]

Death and legacy

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In 1926 Inayat Khan returned to India; he died in Delhi on 5 February 1927.[8][9][10][11] He is buried in the Inayat Khan dargah in Nizamuddin, Delhi. The dargah is open to the public and hosts qawwali sessions. [12]

Bibliography

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Musicological works

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  • Balasan Gitmala
  • Sayaji Garbawali
  • Inayat Git Ratnawali
  • Inayat Harmonium Shikshak
  • Inayat Fidal Shikshak
  • Minqar-i Musiqar

Sufi works

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  • 1914 A Sufi Message of Spiritual Liberty
  • 1915 The Confessions of Inayat Khan
  • 1918 A Sufi Prayer of Invocation
  • Hindustani Lyrics
  • Songs of India
  • The Divan of Inayat Khan
  • Akibat
  • 1919 Love, Human and Divine
  • The Phenomenon of the Soul
  • Pearls from the Ocean Unseen
  • 1921 In an Eastern Rosegarden
  • 1922 The Way of Illumination
  • The Message
  • 1923 The Inner Life
  • The Mysticism of Sound
  • Notes from the Unstruck Music from the Gayan Manuscript
  • The Alchemy of Happiness
  • 1924 The Soul—Whence and Whither
  • 1926 The Divine Symphony, or Vadan

Posthumous Sufi works

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  • 1927 Nirtan, or The Dance of the Soul
  • The Purpose of Life
  • 1928 The Unity of Religious Ideals
  • 1931 Health
  • Character Building; The Art of Personality
  • 1934 Education
  • 1935 The Mind World
  • Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
  • 1936 The Bowl of Saki
  • The Solution of the Problem of the Day
  • 1937 Cosmic Language
  • Moral Culture
  • 1938 Rassa Shastra: The Science of Life's Creative Forces
  • 1939 Three Plays
  • Metaphysics: The Experience of the Soul in Different Planes of Existence
  • 1980 Nature Meditations

Collected works

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  • 1960–1967 The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan, 12 volumes
  • 1988– Complete Works of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan: Original Texts, 12 volumes (to date)
  • 2016– The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan: Centennial Edition, 4 volumes (to date)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Pirzade Zia Inayat Khan, ed. (2001). A Pearl in Wine: Essays on the life, music and Sufism of Hazrat Inayat Khan. New Lebanon, NY; USA: Omega Publications. ISBN 093087269X.
  2. ^ Mehta, R.C (2001). "Music in the Life of Hazrat Inayat Khan". In Pirzade Zia Inayat Khan (ed.). A Pearl in Wine: Essays on the life, music and Sufism of Hazrat Inayat Khan. New Lebanon, NY; USA: Omega Publications. pp. 161–176. ISBN 093087269X.
  3. ^ Graham, Donald A. (2001). "The Career of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan in the West". In Pirzade Zia Inayat Khan (ed.). A Pearl in Wine. New Lebanon, NY; USA: Omega. pp. 127–160. ISBN 093087269X.
  4. Jump up to:a b Khan, Shaikh al-Mashaik Mahmood (2001). "The Mawlabakhshi Rajkufu 'Alakhandan: The Mawlabakhsh Dynastic Lineage, 1833-1972". In Pirzade Zia Inayat (ed.). A Pearl in Wine. New Lebanon, NY: Omega. pp. 3–126. ISBN 093087269X.
  5. ^ Pirzade Zia Inayat Khan (2001). "The 'Silsila-i Sufian': From Khwaja Mu'in ad-Din Chishti to Sayyid Abu Hashim Madani". In Pirzade Zia Inayat Khan (ed.). A Pearl in Wine. New Lebanon, NY: Omega. pp. 267–322. ISBN 093087269X.
  6. ^ Keesing, Elisabeth de Jong (1977). Inayat Answers. London: Fine Books Oriental. ISBN 978-0856920080.
  7. Jump up to:a b Hazrat Inayat Khan (2019). The Sufi message of Hazrat Inayat Khan. Vol. 4, Healing and the mind world. (Centennial ed.). Richmond, VA; USA: Sulūk Press; Omega Publications. ISBN 978-1941810309.
  8. ^ van Beek, Wil (1983). Hazrat Inayat Khan: Master of life, Modern Sufi Mystic (1st ed.). New York: Vantage Press. ISBN 978-0533054534.
  9. ^ Inayat Khan (1979). Elise Guillaume-Schamhart; Munira van Voorst van Beest (eds.). Biography of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. London; The Hague: East-West Publications. ISBN 0856920134.
  10. ^ Keesing, Elisabeth Emmy de Jong (1974). Inayat Khan: A Biography [Translated from the original Dutch: Golven, waarom komt de wind]. Translated by Hayat Bouman; Penelope Goldschmidt. The Hague: East-West Publications; Luzac. ISBN 0718902432.
  11. ^ Sirkar van Stolk; Daphne Dunlop (1967). Memories of a Sufi Sage: Hazrat Inayat Khan. London; The Hague: East-West Publications. ISBN 0856920134.
  12. ^ Bergman, Justin (24 November 2016). "36 Hours in Delhi"The New York Times.
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Tuesday, March 17, 2015

A00009 - Yasar Kemal, Master Turkish Novelist

Kemal, Yasar
Yasar Kemal, Yasar also spelled Yashar, original name Kemal Sadik Gogceli, (b. 1923, Hemite, Turkey - d. February 28, 2015, Istanbul) was a Turkish novelist of Kurdish descent best known for his stories of village life and for his outspoken advocacy on behalf of the dispossessed. 

At age five, Kemal saw his father murdered in a mosque and was himself blinded in one eye.  He left secondary school after two years and worked at a variety of odd jobs.  In 1950, he was arrested for his political activism, but he was ultimately acquitted.  The following year, Kemal moved to Istanbul and was hired as a reporter for the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, where he worked in various capacities until 1963.  During this time, he published a novella, Teneke (1955, "The Tin Pan"), and the novel Ince Memed (1955, Memed, My Hawk).  The latter, a popular tale about a bandit and folk hero, was translated into more than twenty (20) languages and was made into a movie in 1984.  Kemal wrote three more novels featuring Memed as the protagonist.  In 1962, he joined the Turkish Labour Party, and in 1967, he founded Ant, a weekly political magazine informed by Marxist ideology.  He was arrested again in 1971, and in 1996 a court sentenced him to a deferred jail term for alleged seditious statements about the Turkish government's oppression of the Kurdish people.

Kemal's other novels include the trilogy Ortadirek (1960, The Wind from the Plain); Yer demir, gok bakir (1963, Iron Earth, Copper Sky), Olmez otu (1968, The Undying Grass), and Tanyeri horozlan (2002, The Cocks of Dawn).  He also published volumes of nonfiction -- including Peri bacalan (1957, The Fairy Chimneys),  collection of reportage, and Baldaki tuz (1974, The Salt in the Honey), a book of political essays -- as well as the children's book Filler sultani ile kirmizi sakalli topal karinca (1977, The Sultan of the Elephants and the Red-Bearded Lame Ant).  In 2007, an operatic adaptation of Kemal's Teneke premiered at La Scala in Milan.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

A00008 - Abdullah ibn Muhammad, Khalifa of Sudan

Abdullah ibn Muhammad or Abdullah Ibn-Mohammed or Abdullah al-Taashi or Abdullah al-Taaisha or Abdallahi ibn Muhammad or 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad At-ta'i'shi, also known as "The Khalifa" (Arabic:  عبدالله بن سيد محمد خليفة)‎ (b. 1846, Sudan – d. November [24?] 25, 1899, Kordofan) was a Sudanese Ansar General and ruler who was one of the principal followers of Muhammad Ahmad. Ahmad claimed to be the Mahdi, building up a large following. After his death Abdallahi ibn Muhammad took over the movement, adopting the title of Khalifat al-Mahdi (usually rendered as "Khalifa"). His attempt to create an Islamist military dictatorship led to widespread discontent, and his eventual defeat and death at the hands of the British.
Abdullah followed his family’s vocation for religion. In about 1880 he became a disciple of Muḥammad Aḥmad, who announced that he had a divine mission, became known as al-Mahdī, and appointed Abdullah a caliph (khalīfah). When al-Mahdī died in 1885, Abdullah became leader of the Mahdist movement. His first concern was to establish his authority on a firm basis. Al-Mahdī had clearly designated him as successor, but the Ashraf, a portion of al-Mahdī’s supporters, tried to reverse this decision. By promptly securing control of the vital administrative positions in the movement and obtaining the support of the most religiously sincere group of al-Mahdī’s followers, Abdullah neutralized this opposition. Abdullah could not claim the same religious inspiration as had al-Mahdī, but, by announcing that he received divine instruction through al-Mahdī, he tried to assume as much of the aura as was possible.
Abdullah believed he could best control the disparate elements that supported him by maintaining the expansionist momentum begun by al-Mahdī. He launched attacks against the Ethiopians and began an invasion of Egypt.  But Abdullah had greatly overestimated the support his forces would receive from the Egyptian peasantry and underestimated the potency of the Anglo-Egyptian military forces, and in 1889 his troops suffered a crushing defeat in Egypt.
A feared Anglo-Egyptian advance up the Nile did not materialize. Instead Abdullah suffered famine and military defeats in the eastern Sudan. The most serious challenge to his authority came from a revolt of the Ashraf in November 1891, but he kept this from reaching extensive proportions and reduced his opponents to political impotence.
During the next four years, Abdullah ruled securely and was able to consolidate his authority. The famine and the expense of large-scale military campaigns came to an end. Abdullah modified his administrative policies, making them more acceptable to the people. Taxation became less burdensome. Abdullah created a new military corps, the mulazimiyah, of whose loyalty he felt confident.
However, in 1896 Anglo-Egyptian forces began their reconquest of the Sudan. Although Abdullah resisted for almost two years, he could not prevail against British machine guns. In September 1898 he was forced to flee his capital, Omdurman, but he remained at large with a considerable army. Many Egyptians and Sudanese resented the Condominium Agreement of January 1899, by which the Sudan became almost a British protectorate, and Abdullah hoped to rally support.  On November 24, 1899, a British force engaged the Mahdist remnants, and Abdullah died in the fighting.