Sufi Order International activities are organized into five Concentrations, which were established by our order’s founder, Pir-O-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan.

1. The Universal Worship

In the Universal Worship Service we light candles symbolically representing the world’s spiritual traditions, read from their sacred texts, and experience their music and chants. This moving ceremony brings people of all backgrounds together to invoke the spirit of the Messengers of all time, celebrate our unity, and rekindle the light of our inner truth.

Celebration – Reflection – Devotion

These words reflect the essence of the Universal Worship Service. We light candles for the world’s religions to celebrate their greatness and their attempts to remove darkness from daily life. We read from the holy books of each religion and sing their sacred music, bringing devotion into our hearts and into the Service. We continue this devotional spirit by reciting prayers to God and all the Prophets. We have an opportunity to be silent, to allow the blessings created by the service to penetrate our beings, and to reflect on the message created during the Service.

Just as every day brings newness and blessings, so each of our Services is unique, even though following a similar format. We may be joined by a featured musician, which adds a different flavour to the Service, and deepening the devotional aspect. A few of our services include a Healing Service, creating a very special event which helps us connect to our spiritual purpose. At each Service, we invite the participation and love of the Prophets, Saints and Sages that have preceded us over time.

The theme that is chosen for each Service is far-reaching, and at the same time universal. The readings taken from the holy books demonstrate beyond doubt that each religion is truly a gift from the same God, even though culture or time may vary the words or their expression. In the end, we recognize that although many differences may exist between this or that religion, the ideals of each are similar, inspiring all of humanity to live a better life, in balance with each other and with nature.

Some attending the Universal Worship Service for the first time erroneously assume that this is yet another new religion. Such is not the case. Hazrat Inayat Khan, through whom the service came to us, felt very strongly that the world already had many very beautiful religions, and there was no need to add to this number. His intention was that those attending the service could receive inspiration while remaining with their own religion, thereby helping their religion to grow and become that much more beautiful.

2. The Esoteric School

The Esoteric School is the primary vehicle for personal transformation of initiates of the Sufi Order International. The goal of the initiate is to identify experientially a source of inner guidance to the realization and fulfillment of his or her unique purpose in life.

The Esoteric School is the primary vehicle for personal transformation of initiates of the Sufi Order International. Individuals are asked to establish a relationship with a spiritual guide, who has been trained and empowered by the Pir. Within the context of this relationship, the mureed (student) is given a “prescription” of spiritual practices intended to facilitate the emergence of qualities lying dormant beneath the layers of personality and habitual thinking. The goal of the mureed is to identify experientially a source of inner guidance to the realization and fulfillment of his or her unique purpose in life.
Initiation: The First Step

Initiation on a spiritual path signifies one’s desire to undergo a spiritual training. Those who do not elect to make this formal commitment, however, are fully welcome to participate in the teachings and programs offered by the Sufi Order. Those who choose to mark their commitment by initiation are known as mureeds (students).

Initiation only means a step forward, a step which should be taken with hope and courage, for without courage and hope it would be most difficult to take any forward step.
— Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

Initiation into the Sufi Order demonstrates one’s sincerity in entering the Sufi path, strengthens one’s powers to do so, and confers a blessing upon the pupil which enables progress. This initiation is the linking of the individual Sufi student with the Initiationchain of masters and teachers stretching back through the ages. The link so formed is of lifetime duration and forges a solemn bond, similar to the practice of baptism.

One may be initiated into the Sufi Order by one of its Representatives. Those interested in initiation are encouraged to select a Representative with whom they feel a deep trust and respect, for those qualities are necessary to facilitate the training offered. The Initiate receives spiritual practices from her/his initiator which are designed to promote spiritual realization, facilitate the unfoldment of his/her being and assist in meeting life’s challenges and demands. The practices are not compulsory, but are given as a gift.

A mureed in the Sufi Order is welcome to be initiated into other esoteric traditions such as Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism, or other Sufi Orders. However, it is advised that a student receive his/her daily practices from only one guide and consult the Sufi Order guide about practices he/she is doing from other Orders or traditions. The intention is to safeguard the well being of the student, so he/she is not confused by mixing practices that may not be complementary.

“We are given a great blessing to have a teacher, a teaching, and a spiritual community. Yet, each individual creates his/her own destiny by following the spirit of guidance within, by sacrifices, service, and dedication to one’s ideal. In spiritual practice, one is able to touch upon that part of oneself that is beyond change, and is eternal and everlasting. The ultimate purpose is God consciousness, awakening through all levels of existence, from human to divine, and realizing the true Self.”
— Aziza Scott, head of the Esoteric School

The Sufi Order International is not a “guru-centered” school; no one is considered infallible, and guides are discouraged from giving mureeds advice about their lives, focusing instead on the method of contacting inner guidance, or the mureed’s own insight, to deal with his or her problems. Guides are held accountable to a published set of ethical guidelines.

The Way of the Heart is an ongoing introductory class presented within the Esoteric School. For more information about the Esoteric School, you can write to us using our contact form, or registered website members can post to our Esoteric School discussion forum.

3. The Healing Order

The primary activity of the Sufi Healing Order is to facilitate group healing services that operate at a distance through attunement, prayer, breath, and concentration. The healing service is a group prayer circle which asks the divine to heal those who ask this of us, through ritual, prayer and attunement to the Divine Spirit.

“The purpose of the Sufi Healing Order is to awaken humanity to a greater realization of the power of the Divine Spirit to heal, and thus to bring about a better state of physical, mental and spiritual health” … Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan

The Sufi Healing Order was established by Hazrat Inayat Khan circa 1925.

The mission of the Healing Order is to awaken humanity to the power of the Divine spirit to heal. Members of the Order participate in groups throughout the world to offer distant healing through the Healing Service.

The primary activity of the Sufi Healing Order is to facilitate group healing services that operate at a distance through attunement, prayer, breath, and concentration. The healing service is a group prayer circle which asks the divine to heal those who ask this of us, through ritual, prayer and attunement to the Divine Spirit. The Healing Service offers the possibility of healing to those who request it. The Sufi Healing Order also offers Healing classes, seminars, retreats and distance trainings.

Every person has hidden within themselves an innate capability to heal that is waiting to be unveiled and developed. Throughout the centuries – the millennia – there have been schools of healing that help people to awaken this capacity. The work of the Healing Order is to offer meditative practices and techniques that develop this inner capacity. … Devi Tide, Kefayat (Head), Sufi Healing Order – North America

To obtain further information about International Healing Order Activities, contact the Sufi Healing Order at: 518-794-0030
or mail to:
Sufi Healing Order
PO Box 807
New Lebanon, NY 12125
or email at: office@sufihealingorder.org

4. Ziraat

Ziraat uses the symbols and dynamic processes of agriculture as ways of describing the inner life, and as ways of finding a bridge between the spiritual and material worlds.
Although in essence, even after touching the deepest depths of the earth, the soul is divine, in order to realize for itself that Divine Element it has a task waiting even after being human. It is the manner in which that task is accomplished, and the object gained which is called Ziraat.
Hazrat Inayat Khan.

Ziraat was inaugurated in 1926 by the founder of the Sufi Order International, Hazrat Inayat Khan, who taught in the United States and Europe in the early 1920′s. Inayat Khan introduced the inner life to many westerners and spoke of spiritual liberty and the underlying unity of all the world’s spiritual traditions.

Basket of flowersZiraat uses the symbols and dynamic processes of agriculture as ways of describing the inner life, and as ways of finding a bridge between the spiritual and material worlds.

Ziraat is an initiatic school, open to all who feel a commitment to spiritual awakening and to the protection of this sacred world. It is an activity of the Sufi Order International, but one need not be a member of the Sufi Order to join. Initiation in Ziraat confirms a pledge to affirm and cultivate the divine seed within our being, and thereby to help in the preservation and restoration of our world

Ziraat activities in Toronto are led by Hafiz Rothenberg. The Ziraat Lodge Ceremony and Ziraat classes are held on the Winter and Summer Solstices and Spring and Fall Equinoxes, and will be listed among our upcoming, special events. Our current focus in the Ziraat classes is on nature, the elements, balance and mental purification. For additional information please write to us using our contact form, or registered members can post to our Zira’at discussion forum.

Message from Sharifa Norton, Head of the Ziraat Concentration in North America:

“The work of Ziraat is deeply rooted in the esoteric teachings of the Sufi Order. As the last Activity which Hazrat Inayat Khan inaugurated, Ziraat draws from and extends the work of each of the other Activities: healing of the individual soul and of the planet; kinship in our mutual interdependence with the brotherhood and sisterhood of humanity; and realizing life itself as a universal worship celebration, honoring the unity and truth at the core of all the great spiritual traditions and prophetic teachings.

The meaning of Ziraat is profound and mysterious, ever-revealing of deeper and deeper levels. Its symbology derives from agriculture, from ploughing and cultivation of the land, from planting and caring for the seed until it becomes a fully blossoming plant. At one most basic level, Ziraat serves to remind us of our sacred relationship with the Creator and with nature, and the crucial need at this time to restore the fragile balance necessary to sustain life on this planet.
At another level, Ziraat informs us that the first place for the work of protecting the life around us is inside of us. Here, the farm symbolizes the mind, and Ziraat focuses on the purification of the mind and the restoration of our natural and true self. Here, the “work” of Ziraat consists of allowing all the old roots and stems of past harvests to be uprooted, in order that new life may emerge from the fertile earth of our souls. Here also, we come to recognize, by the action of the Divine in our lives, an intimate love relationship and alchemy.

Ziraat has to do with the completion and fulfillment of the journey of spiritual awakening. It is a journey of purification, of ploughing, of digging to uncover the seed of the divine in the human heart, and of bringing this seed to fruition. It teaches how we make a bridge between heaven and earth in our lives, each in our most unique way. And Ziraat has to do with how we harmonize our human will to the Divine Will, how we unite with our divine essence and how we bring the light and spirit of our beings most fully into life.”

5. Kinship Activity

Unity being the primary message of the Sufi Order, kinship with all beings permeates our activities. Our spiritual development moves us to be of service to others, which we express through the Kinship Concentration. The Hope Project near the Dharga of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan in New Delhi, India has been our major fund-raising focus so far.

The purpose of life is not fulfilled by realization alone. The sense of sympathy and responsibility toward all life is expressed by the spiritual person in making a contribution toward improving the conditions of life. Individuals, Sufi centers and communities have found ways to concretize through service the ideals to which we aspire. These include food banks, soup kitchens, holiday gift baskets, counseling, birthing and health clinics, prison book funds, transformational theater, school projects, involvement in community organizations and interfaith groups, and so on.

Major international fund raising has concentrated on the Hope Project in New Delhi, India. Guided by the spiritual ideals of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan, the Hope Project is driven by the spirit of service to humanity and respect for all religions. Hope Project textiles craftIt strives to provide people, especially the poor and vulnerable, with opportunities and resources, so that they can realize their hidden potential and are able to help themselves. Currently the project runs a community health center, a crèche, a school, vocational courses and income generation projects for the poor. The project has 50 Indian staff members and is financed largely by private donations. Contribution instructions are at the Hope Project’s website.