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Vilayat Inayat Khan

ولاية عنايت خان

–

Delhi

Sufi teacher (1916–2004), born in London and died two days before his 88th birthday. A son of Inayat Khan and his successor as head of his order, he taught meditation and the traditions of the Chishti order, founded The Abode of the Message in the United States in 1975, and wrote Sufi books including Awakening: A Sufi Experience and In Search of the Hidden Treasure.

Depth

At a glance

Roles
mystic · teacher · writer
Region
al-Andalus & Europe
Identifiers
Wikidata
Review

Life in time

18751900192519501975200020252050
The Colonial Era · The Contemporary Era · The Modern Era Contemporaries: Abdul Latif Chowdhury Fultali · Aden Adde · Ahmed Kuftaro · Ali Safi Golpaygani · Muhammad Sarfaraz Khan Safdar

In space

Delhi

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

Place in the story

    sufi (documented)

    Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.

    Summary

    Vilayat Inayat Khan (19 June 1916 – 17 June 2004) was an Indian teacher of meditation and of the traditions of the Chishti Order of Sufism, and a mystic of the Inayati Order.1 He was a son of Inayat Khan, founder of the Sufi Order in the West, whose teaching he carried on in a form tailored to Western seekers, and a brother of Noor Inayat Khan.1

    Before his teaching career

    Before teaching, he worked in London in 1949 as an assistant to Ghulam Mohammed, the finance minister of Pakistan, and served as a personal assistant to Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan during his visit to England.1

    Teaching and foundations

    In 1975 he founded The Abode of the Message, the central residential community of the Sufi Order International, a conference and retreat centre and a centre of esoteric study.1 His own books include The Message in Our Time (1978), on the life and teaching of his father, Awakening: A Sufi Experience (1999), and In Search of the Hidden Treasure (2003).1 He chose his eldest son, Zia Inayat Khan, as his successor.1

    Death

    He died on 17 June 2004, two days before his 88th birthday; his dargah is in Delhi, India.12

    References

    {1} {2} {3}

    Connections

    Explore the connections

    Parent of
    Zia Inayat Khan
    Child of
    Hazrat Inayat Khan
    Buried in
    Delhi

    People and things also explored

    Hazrat Inayat Khan· Delhi· Coronation of Aurangzeb at Delhi· Founding of Shahjahanabad· Humayun returns to Delhi, 962 AH· Ibn Battuta named envoy to China· Completion of the Jama Masjid of Delhi· Nadir Shah sacks Delhi (1739)

    Sources

    1. Wikipedia (English): Vilayat Inayat Khan
    2. Wikipedia (Arabic): ولاية عنايت خان
    3. Vilayat Inayat Khan — Wikidata Q721476
    Cite this page

    islam.museum contributors. “Vilayat Inayat Khan”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/vilayat-inayat-khan/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-26.

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    People

    Prophets, companions, scholars, rulers, scientists, poets, travelers: women and men who shaped the story.     Related

    Hazrat Inayat Khan

    Indian musician and Sufi teacher (1882–1927), born in Baroda and died in Delhi. A pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West, he received training and authorisation in four Sufi orders from his teacher Sayyid Abu Hashim Madani, founded the Sufi Order in London in 1914, and left many musical and Sufi works, later collected as The Sufi Message.