Pir-O-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan Murshida Rabia Ada
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“Yours in the Infinite” transcribed handwritten letters from Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan to Murshida Rabia Ada Martin 1911 – 1926 and “Sunrise in the West” by Murshid Wali Ali Meyer Foreword On September 13, 1910 Hazrat Inayat Khan left Mother India for the West following his Murshid Syed Abu Hashim Madani’s guidance. In San Francisco he connected with his first Western disciple, Ada Martin, an American Jewish woman. After leaving San Francisco he began guiding her through handwritten letters filled with prac- tices and blessings from wherever his travel took him in the world. She went on to become his first Murshida using the name he gave her, Murshida Rabia Martin. In 2006, Pir Zia was writing his dissertation on the life of his grandfather Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan. Through his research he received an archive of handwritten letters from Hazrat Inayat Khan written to Murshida Rabia Martin dating from April 1911 to November 1926. These were in the possession of Sufism Reoriented, a lineage that has its roots in Murshida Rabia Martin who turned her organization over to Meher Baba in 1949-1950. Knowing how precious they would be to us, Pir Zia shared them with Murshid Wali Ali and myself. They were poor photocopies, not easy to decipher but still readable. After being deeply moved by the intimacy of the letters and guidance stream we received through them, we asked Narada Ian Ramsey to help us transcribe them. He did the initial work, I went through his transcriptions to decipher many of what seemed unreadable words and to make editorial decisions. What you have now is that work in progress. As an introduction to the history around the letters we have included an edited version of “A Sunrise in the West, Hazrat Inayat Khan’s Legacy in California,” written by Murshid Wali Ali for Pir Zia’s book A Pearl in Wine. It will help give context to the times, conditions and relation- ships that the letters occurred in. With deep appreciation for receiving the guidance in these letters and the opportunity to share them, Pir Shabda Kahn October 2009 Editing Notes: Some of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s spelling was idiosyncratic. An editorial decision was made to regularize it for the ease of the reader. As the originals were often poorly photo- copied, some of the handwriting was indiscernible in places. These are indicated by [xxx] or other words in bracketed italics. Some of the letters were undated and were placed in order based on location and context. Dates in brackets were inserted by the editor based on these considerations. 1 Table of Contents Foreword by Pir Shabda Kahn ............................................................. 1 April 17, 1911 ........................................................................................ 5 4 May 1911 ............................................................................................ 6 13 June 1911 .......................................................................................... 7 19 June 1911 .......................................................................................... 8 30 June 1911 .......................................................................................... 9 5 July 1911 ............................................................................................. 10 17 July 1911 ........................................................................................... 11 23 July 1911 ........................................................................................... 12 29 July 1911 ........................................................................................... 13 3 August 1911 ....................................................................................... 14 7 August 1911 ....................................................................................... 15 16 August 1911 ..................................................................................... 16 8 September 1911 ................................................................................. 17 13 September 1911 ............................................................................... 18 [no date] ................................................................................................ 19 26 September 1911 ............................................................................... 21 10 October 1911 .................................................................................... 23 7 November 1911 ................................................................................. 24 21 November 1911 ............................................................................... 25 11 December 1911 ................................................................................ 26 18 December 1911 ................................................................................ 27 22 December 1911 ................................................................................ 28 28 January 1912 .................................................................................... 29 4 October 1912 ...................................................................................... 30 15 November 1912 ............................................................................... 31 25 December 1912 ................................................................................ 32 10 June 1913 .......................................................................................... 33 postmarked 27 July 1913 .................................................................... 34 note indicates 24 October 1913........................................................... 35 7 November [1913] ............................................................................... 36 13 July 1914 ........................................................................................... 37 18 August [1914] ................................................................................... 38 18 September 1914 ............................................................................... 40 postmarked 8 February 1915 .............................................................. 41 24 March 1915 ....................................................................................... 42 2 22 June [1915]........................................................................................ 43 20 October 1915 .................................................................................... 44 9 February 1916 .................................................................................... 46 postmarked 12 February 1917 ............................................................ 48 Saturday [1917] .................................................................................... 49 20 August 1917 ..................................................................................... 50 21 November 1917 ............................................................................... 51 Wednesday [1917] ................................................................................ 52 postmarked 28 December 1917 .......................................................... 53 postmarked 3 May 1918 ...................................................................... 54 postmarked 19 November 1918 ......................................................... 55 Post card ................................................................................................ 56 Tuesday [1918] ...................................................................................... 57 17 January 1919 .................................................................................... 58 postmarked 23 April 1919 ................................................................... 59 20 February 1920 .................................................................................. 60 postmarked 15 September 1920 ......................................................... 61 28 August 1920 ..................................................................................... 63 18 November 1920 ............................................................................... 64 27 December 1920 ................................................................................ 65 8 January 1921 ...................................................................................... 67 2 June 1921 ............................................................................................ 68 [August] 1921 ........................................................................................ 69 14 September 1921 ............................................................................... 70 4 June 1922 ............................................................................................ 71 25 August 1922 ..................................................................................... 72 27 June 1923 .......................................................................................... 73 16 July 1923 ........................................................................................... 74 10 September 1923 ............................................................................... 75 2 March 1924 ......................................................................................... 76 23 March 1924 ....................................................................................... 77 6 November 1924 ................................................................................. 78 9 December 1925 .................................................................................