Sirat-i Inayat
Interfaith Sufi Path
Welcome
We are an interfaith community of spiritual seekers and friends striving to understand and embody the teachings and guidance of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan in our everyday lives.
Inayat Khan said, “Sufism does not mean goodness, kindness or piety; Sufism means wisdom.”
Wisdom is the grounded, stable, God-essence, the foundation of our deepest knowing. It is not “intelligence and information,” nor is it “morality and doctrine.”
Wisdom is the integrated experience of Reality we touch when we untangle from our confused attachments and turn towards the vast perspective of the All-Pervading Divine.
There are many ways we can approach this effort: study, spiritual practices, human relationships, self-inquiry, music, ritual, conversation, meditation, to name a few.
Whether you are a scholar, a helper, an artist, whether you are a dancer, a singer, a prayerful devotee, all paths lead to the same goal. The Sirat-i Inayat, as a Sufi order, church, and community of friends, is here to support you in your aspirations toward peace, happiness, equanimity, useful service, kinship, and the fulfillment of your soul’s purpose. There is great comfort, warmth, and endless opportunity for growth, challenge and joy that happens in a spiritual community, sharing the journey with fellow seekers, friends, and human mirrors.
Hazrat Inayat Khan’s wisdom teachings, spiritual training instructions, and inspired services are the central guiding light for Sirat-i Inayat. As a living expression of Inayat’s message, we try to understand and continue his work in the ways that are vibrant and resonant with the hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits of our community.
All the leaders and teachers in Sirat-i Inayat are, first and foremost, mureeds. We are life-long students, continuing to work on ourselves, and to welcome the flow of guidance and grace that purifies the heart and enlivens the spirit. We give honor and thanks to the Sufi masters and illuminated souls who constitute our Silsila, the lineage stream of wisdom and blessings that flow from teacher to student through the generations.
Murshid said,
“If we inquire of our self within for what purpose we have come to earth and why we have become human beings, wondering whether it would perhaps have been better to remain angels, the answer will certainly come to the wise, from his own heart, that we are here to experience a fuller life, to become fully human.”
You are warmly invited to explore the website and participate in any of the activities and events you find here.
Please contact us if you’d like help navigating the terrain. We are happy to serve you.
Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan described the core principles and tenets of Sufism through these 10 Sufi Thoughts:
1. There is one God, the Eternal, the Only Being; none else exists save God.
2. There is one Master, the Guiding Spirit of all souls, who constantly leads all followers towards the light.
3. There is one Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, which truly enlightens all readers.
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 human Brotherhood, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the Parenthood of God.
7. There is one Moral Principle, 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 worshiper 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.
