"The seed of belief unfurls in faith,
branches out in experience,
blossoms in realization, and bears fruit in service".

Pir Zia Inayat Khan

eldest son and successor of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, was born in 1971 in Novato, California. He received his B.A. from the London School of Oriental and African Studies and his M.A. in Religious Studies from Duke University, where he is currently completing a doctoral dissertation on Sufism.

In addition to the interfaith mystical training he has received from his father, Pir Zia has studied Buddhism under the auspices of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and Sufism in the classical Indian tradition of the Chistiyya. As a grandson of Hazrat Inayat Khan he follows the "Message of spiritual liberty", recognizing the essential truth of all religions and appealing to us for awaken to the divine heritage. By stories and poems, contemplative prospects and meditation practices Pir Zia imparts the ecumenical, universal teachings of Sufism.

He serves as President of the Sufi Order International, and is currently teaching and resident with his wife and his two children at The Abode of the Message, a spiritual community and retreat center in New Lebanon upstate New York. Pir Zia has spoken on the heart of Sufism in North America, Europe and India.

He is the editor of A Pearl in Wine, Essays on the Life, Music and Sufism of Hazrat Inayat Khan (Omega Publications, 2001). He has also authored two booklets published by the Sufi Order Secretariat: Risala and The Chishti Silsila of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan.