The Dargah of Hazrat Inayat Khan {Dehli}

The Dargah of Hazrat Inayat Khan:The Indian musician and Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan’s journey with his brothers from India to the United States in 1910, and on to Europe in 1912, marked the beginning of the first wave of Sufism in the West (Rawlinson 1997) and the creation of what has been seen variously as a new religious movement (Melton 1986), a Western Sufism (Genn 2006; Hammer 2004; Hermansen 2004), and as a worldwide Chishtiyya Sufi diaspora (Ernst and Lawrence 2002). The order founded by Inayat Khan is now one of the oldest and most prominent Sufi orders in the West. It is a transnational spiritual movement with well-developed formal organizations and groups on virtually every continent. Inayat Khan was part of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century wave of the Indian diaspora. This early diaspora, a product of colonialism, involved mainly what has been described as ‘dispersal’– Indians journeying in search of a livelihood but also elements of ‘expansion’ – by Indian cultural elites. 

By the time of Inayat Khan’s death in 1926 in Delhi on a return visit to India, there were several thousand mureeds in Europe and America. The Sufi work was, at first, continued in Europe by his brothers and then by a grandson until the 1980s. In 1993, after a period of co-operative leadership, Hidayat Inayat-Khan, the founder’s younger son, was recognised as the Representative General.

In 1926, Hazrat Inayat Khan returned to India, the country of his birth. After a brief illness, he passed away in Delhi on February 5th, 1927. According to his wishes, his body was laid to rest on a small piece of property not far from the grave of the Sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia. The Dargah [tomb] of Hazrat Inayat is now a place of peace, prayer and meditation in the midst of the crowded city to which pilgrims come from around the world. It is also a centre for music concerts, lectures, conferences, and social programs helping the people of the surrounding district.

By the time of Inayat Khan’s death in 1926 in Delhi on a return visit to India, there were several thousand mureeds in Europe and America. The Sufi work was, at first, continued in Europe by his brothers and then by a grandson until the 1980s. In 1993, after a period of co-operative leadership, Hidayat Inayat-Khan, the founder’s younger son, was recognised as the Representative General.

Here is some additional information:

The elder son of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan was Vilayat Inayat-Khan, who was trained and ordained as a Sufi Pir in the Chishtiyya, was also actively teaching in Europe and North America from the early 1950s to his passing in 2004, initiating several hundred murids into the Chishti-Inayati tariqat. The public face of his Order was at first called "The Sufi Order of the West" (after the name given by Hazrat Inayat Khan) and recently changed to "The Sufi Order International." His successor, Pir Zia Inayat-Khan, was ordained as a Pir in two branches of the Chishtiyya and is the current head of the Sufi Order International, with its headquarters in New York State, USA.

Further information is available at http://www.sufiorder.org.

To know more : http://www.sufimovement.org/dargah.htm