Curriculum of the Sufi Order In January of 2000, Pir Vilayat created for Representatives of the Sufi Order (now the Inayatiyya) an in-depth study of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s teachings, including “parallels with earlier Sufis, comparative religion, comments and practices,” as said in the opening lesson. Each month, a new lesson was offered to Sufi Order teachers for their students; and subsequently to the murids themselves. The lessons reflected Pir Vilayat’s most current thinking on foundational teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, and with them, instructions on how to experience these essential insights and apply them to daily life.
Initially, there were two versions of the Curriculum: one for Representatives that contained resonant pairings of one or more of the Beautiful Names of Allah; and one for murids without the Names. As more and more publications of the Names came into the public arena from other sources, it seemed unnecessary to make a distinction between the two versions’ recipients. Rather, the wazaif (practice with the Names) accompanying specific aspects of the lessons, bring Pir Vilayat’s contribution to the field of commentary on the Names. Thus, the Representatives’ Curriculum is offered here.
Invoking the Beautiful Names, is a sacred practice of Remembrance. While honoring the Names as a holy language, Pir Vilayat cautioned against formulaic, “vain,” repetition. He taught that the archetypes of the Names are living beings, and could be realized when the recitation was one of sincere prayer, sacred attunement, creative beauty, penetrating insight and deep meditation. Ultimately, he enjoined us to pledge to live the quality of the Name, becoming exemplars, albeit limited in expression, of those perfected qualities. Thus, there is nothing casual, fanciful, or superficial about them. To invoke a Name is to open to transformation.
Above all, the lessons relay the dynamism of Pir Vilayat’s thinking, which he distinguished from static “thoughts,” noting that, as with all living beings, the Curriculum is to grow, evolve, and “keep being improved.” Perhaps, dear reader, to “keep being improved” is our task and joy – to evolve ourselves, inspired by Pir Vilayat’s teachings – and thus keep the thinking and embodiment of these lessons alive and real.
We invoke the One
Whose Body is the cosmos of the galaxies and our own bodies,
Whose Mind courses through our thinking,
And Whose Ecstasy arouses our acts of glorification;
Whose Personality is customized as our personalities,
Whose Presence is always there,
Whose consciousness is focalized as our consciousness,
And Whose Reality is beyond our reach.
~ Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan
Written by Amida Cary
