SUFI RUHANIAT INTERNATIONAL TOWARD THE ONE, THE PERFECTION OF LOVE, HARMONY AND BEAUTY, THE ONLY BEING, UNITED WITH ALL THE ILLUMINATED SOULS, WHO FORM THE EMBODIMENT OF THE MASTER, THE SPIRIT OF GUIDANCE BISMILLAH, ER-RAHMAN, ER-RAHIM February 5, 2013 Beloved Ruhaniat Family, While our Secretariat & Treasurer, Basira Beardsworth was preparing for our pilgrimage to India to celebrate the Urs of Hazrat Inayat Khan in February 2012, she starting reading Sadia Dehlvi’s book, Sufism, The Heart of Islam. I had made arrangements for our group to meet Sadia and to have her join us on our visit to the Dargah of Bibi Fatima Sam. Her book has short biographical sketches on many Sufi masters, which inspired Basira to study the Ruhaniat Silsila. We found some major errors in our current silsila list. We further consulted with both the Sufi Order and the Sufi Movement about their lists. What follows is a summary to reflect the changes that we have made. We do not know the exact origin of the current version of the Ruhaniat Silsila, though we do know that it was revised in 1977. It is similar to the silsila published in Toward the One, by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, and in all likelihood this is the source we used. Further, we could not find a silsila document given to us from Murshid Samuel Lewis anywhere in the archives, nor does a document still exist from Hazrat Inayat Khan that we know of. The traditional Chishti silsila is quite available through research and it is natural to conform to that until our own period of history is added. The first correction was to put Prophet Muhammad at the beginning of the silsila, as he was not named on our current version. The next correction was to add Hazrat Khwaja Abu Muhammad Chishti, who was missing from our current version. One person was divided into two separate names: Hazrat Jemal ul Haq Chishti and Hazrat Jaman Chishti. This has been corrected to: Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Jamaluddin Jamman. Keeping with Chishti tradition, we added the title Khwaja starting with Hazrat Khwaja Hasan Basri through Hazrat Khwaja Nasiruddin Chiragh Delhi. In the Chishti silsila, the line of Khwajas ends with Khwaja Nasiruddin, who asked that the tabarrukat, or insignia of spiritual office, be buried with him. OFFICE OF THE PIR • 304 DEVON DRIVE • SAN RAFAEL, CA 94903 • USA 415-499-1778 PHONE • [email protected] WWW.RUHANIAT.ORG • WWW.MARINSUFIS.COM • WWW.PHYSICIANSOFTHEHEART.COM The spiritual chain from Prophet Muhammad to Khwaja Nasiruddin is referred to as the Silsila of 22 Khwajas, with Archangel Gabriel being the first in the sequence, though he is mostly not named in the Chishti silsila. The title Khwaja is not usually used for Prophet Muhammad and Hazrat 'Ali Wali Allah, as they are exalted figures. From Pir Zia Inayat Khan we learned that the figures who followed Khwaja Hazrat Nasiruddin Chiragh Delhi held the title Shaykh al-Masha’ikh. Pir Zia’s source for this is the unpublished Persian chronicle, Takmila-yi siyar al-awliya', circa 1815, by Gul Muhammad Ahmadpuri. The spelling of Shaykh al-Masha’ikh specifically in this manner conveys the meaning, “Shaykh of Shaykhs”. If one was to spell it Sheikh al-Masheikh, the meaning, in the grammatical sense, would be lost. Our lineage is commonly and scholarly referred to as Chishti. Our Murshid Samuel Lewis spelled his spiritual name Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti, without the second “h”. On the silsila we have chosen to use the widely accepted “Chishti” spelling in general and keep Murshid’s name as he spelled it “Chisti”. There is precedence in allowing for a different spelling of the word in modern time, and still keeping a historical spelling. On how we have listed Murshid Samuel Lewis in our silsila, Murshid Saadi Douglas-Klotz wrote: “Pir-o-Murshid Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti. This may seem a large step, but if we are correcting the silsila now, then now is the time to make it reflect what is actually, functionally, the case. We know that Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan was not the designated successor of Hazrat Abu Hashim Madani. Likewise Murshid S.A.M. was not Hazrat Inayat Khan's designated successor. So with all due respect to the Pir-o-Murshid title, we could properly affirm that Murshid S.A.M. also began a new branch of the Chishti tree, which has been tempered and tested through two successors.” In each generation only one person is mentioned in the silsila, though we know from direct experience, the transmission is carried by many beings in each generation and we wish to honor them all, known and unknown. I invite you to keep this document, and place it where you do your practices and spend some time invoking our Silsila. In a letter from Hazrat Inayat Khan to Murshida Rabia Martin he wrote: “All the praise of your advancement in this line is due to our masters in the chain who are sending the vibrations of their joy, love, and peace.” Yours in the Infinite, Inayat Khan Yours in the Infinite, Pir Shabda Kahn Silsila of Sufi Ruhaniat International Hazrat Muhammad Rasul Allah Hazrat ‘Ali Wali Allah Hazrat Khwaja Hasan Basri Hazrat Khwaja ‘Abd al-Wahid bin Zayd Basri Hazrat Khwaja Fuzayl bin ‘Ayaz Hazrat Khwaja Ibrahim ibn Adham Balkhi Hazrat Khwaja Huzafa Mar’ashi Hazrat Khwaja Hubayra Basri Hazrat Khwaja Mumshad ‘Ulu Dinwari Hazrat Khwaja Abu Ishaq Shami Chishti Hazrat Khwaja Ahmad Abdal Chishti Hazrat Khwaja Muhammad Chishti Hazrat Khwaja Nasiruddin Yusuf Chishti Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin Maudud Chishti Hazrat Khwaja Sharif Zindani Hazrat Khwaja ‘Usman Haruni Hazrat Khwaja Moineddin Chishti Ajmeri Gharib Nawaz Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki Hazrat Khwaja Baba Fariduddin Mas’ud Ganj-i-Shakar Hazrat Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya Mahbub-i Ilahi Hazrat Khwaja Nasiruddin Chiragh Delhi Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Kamaluddin ‘Allama Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Sirajuddin Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh ‘Ilmuddin Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Mahmud Rajan Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Jamaluddin Jamman Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Hasan Muhammad Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Muhammad Chishti Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Yahya Madani Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Shah Kalimullah Jahanabadi Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Nizamuddin Aurangabadi Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Maulana Fakhruddin Delhi Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Ghulam Qutbuddin Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Nasiruddin Mahmud Kale Miyan Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Muhammad Hasan Jili Kalimi Hazrat Shaykh al-Masha’ikh Muhammed Abu Hashim Madani Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti Hazrat Pir Moineddin Jablonski Pir Shabda Kahn .