Over the course of his eighty-eight years of life, the great Sufi mystic and teacher Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan wove the timeless essence of Sufism into the unfolding expressions of contemporary culture and consciousness. A senior statesman of the world spiritual community, Pir Vilayat stood out as one who saw spiritual awakening as not separate from intellectual learning and creativity, or from full engagement with the latest developments in philosophy, psychology, science, culture, and the arts. He spoke five languages, studied philosophy at Oxford, and was an accomplished cellist.

As Pir Zia, his son and spiritual heir, reflected: “Spurning the temptation to succumb to the inertia of routinization, impelled by a string of discoveries—spiritual openings alternating with deep readings of science and scripture—Pir Vilayat blazed a trail toward the spirituality of the future.”

For more information on the Sufi Order International (now the Inayatiyya) see www.inayatiorder.org.