The Inayati Family: Just How Big Are We?by Aslan Sattler, June, <strong>2009</strong>On September 13, 2010, it will have been 100 years since Inayat Khan left India to spread therevolutionary notion of the universality of the spiritual ideal, and to call forth a new era of spiritualliberty based upon the awakening of humanity to the divinity within. Enjoined by his murshidMohammed Abu Hashim Madani to spread this <strong>Sufi</strong> message to the western world, Inayat Khan leftIndia on September 13, 1910. He spent the next 16 years traveling among three continents, tilling thesoil of the human condition and planting these seeds of wisdom to the best of his ability. In 1926 hereturned to India and, after a brief illness, he died there on February 5, 1927 at the age of 44. HazratInayat Khan’s life touched thousands as he traveled through the United States, England, centralEurope, Scandinavia and Russia, teaching and initiating mureeds onto the path of the <strong>Sufi</strong> Messageand into the Family of Universal <strong>Sufi</strong>sm.After his death, the Inayati family tree experienced the emergence of several distinct branches,each based on Hazrat Inayat Khan’s teachings yet unique in their identities and subcultures. Fordecades many of us in the <strong>Ruhaniat</strong> have known the <strong>Sufi</strong> Order and the <strong>Sufi</strong> Movement as two otherbranches of this family. For various historical reasons, interaction between these orders becamesomewhat compromised, and as families do over time, we grew apart.About ten years ago in Europe a significant event occurred. Members of the Soefi Contact, abranch of the Inayati Family located in Haarlem, Netherlands, met with the <strong>International</strong> <strong>Sufi</strong> Movementand put forward the idea of creating an umbrella organization that would embrace the entireInayati Family. The purpose of this loosely organized structure would be to help the various ordersget to know each other better and enhance our ability to continue bringing Hazrat Inayat Khan’s visioninto being. This idea was next presented to the <strong>Ruhaniat</strong>, and shortly thereafter the Federation of the<strong>Sufi</strong> Message was born. Other Inayati Orders were contacted. The Fraternity of Light soon joined theFederation. The <strong>Sufi</strong> Order <strong>International</strong> is currently on the threshold of joining. The <strong>Sufi</strong> Way, whilenot joining the Federation, has consistently interacted with the organization since its conception.Last year the Federation Council promoted a simple project that proved quite informative. Werealized that we didn’t have a good idea of the current size of the Inayati Family nor of the extent ofits geographical distribution, so we set out to gather that information. Membership data was gatheredfrom the 5 orders primarily involved with the Federation, asking only for the current numberof initiates and their geographic location by country. For those living in the USA, we also asked formembership by individual state. The information was then collated via Excel spreadsheets, and aGoogle Earth file was created to better display the distribution of Federation mureeds around theworld. The results of this endeavor are noteworthy and it is the purpose of this brief article to sharethem with you.A Brief Summary:Total Number of Mureeds represented: 9, 188Total Number of Countries represented: 52Total Number of States represented:50 (Includes D.C., but not N. Dakota)26 <strong>HeartBeat</strong> <strong>Summer</strong> <strong>2009</strong>
Federation Membership by Nation - 2008ISM = Intnl. <strong>Sufi</strong> Movement SRI = <strong>Sufi</strong> <strong>Ruhaniat</strong> Intnl. SOI = <strong>Sufi</strong> Order Intnl.FOI = Federation of Light SC = Soefi ContactISM SRI SOI FOI SC TotalArgentina 5 1 6Australia 47 16 44 107Austria 130 130Belgium 19 4 6 29Bosnia-Herzegov. 4 4Brazil 3 29 4 36Canada 117 41 529 687Chile 7 7Columbia 82 1 83Costa Rica 1 1 2Croatia 1 1Czech Republic 5 5Denmark 1 1Ecuador 92 92Egypt 1 1Estonia 8 8France 4 5 251 260Germany 30 106 851 987Greece 2 1 3India 2 6 8Ireland 1 1Israel 1 4 5Italy 60 1 2 63Japan 3 3Jordan 1 1Kenya 1 5 6Latvia 27 1 28Lithuania 1 1Malaysia 3 3Mexico 10 3 13Morocco 2 1 3Netherlands 509 12 292 89 902New Zealand 13 10 37 60Nigeria 5 5Norway 2 2 27 31Pakistan 10 10»<strong>Sufi</strong> <strong>Ruhaniat</strong> <strong>International</strong> 27
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