_____________________________________________________________________________ \\\\\___PRINCESS NOOR APPRECIATION SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL 1998___\"-._ /////~~~ BEGUM NOOR CONNECTION ~~~/.-' _____________________________________________________________________________ Please Note: Scroll down to read details of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan's death June 17, 2004 _____________________________________________________________________________ Memories of My Sister by Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan _____________________________________________________________________________ Near the gate of Fazal Manzil, Hazrat Inayat Khan's home in Suresnes, France, stands a memorial plaque bearing the name Noor Inayat Khan. _____________________________________________________________________________ Ici habitait NOOR INAYAT KHAN 1914-1944 Madeleine dans la Resistance Fusillee a Dachau operatrice-radio des reseaux Buckmaster Croix de Guerre 1939-1945 George Cross _____________________________________________________________________________ Here lived Noor Inayat Khan 1914-1944 Called Madeleine in the Resistance Shot at Dachau Radio operator for the Buckmaster network Awarded the French Croix de Guerre 1939-1945, and the English George Cross _____________________________________________________________________________ She stood out among her schoolmates for her shyness. Her mysterious and luminous glance and slightly tanned face could not fail to attract notice. Undoubtedly she was intimidated by the teasing directed against any unfamiliar child, yet she answered with an understanding and winning smile. One could hardly believe that her mother was a blonde American with blue eyes, if it were not for certain hardly discernible features. Her father had come from India and settled in Suresnes. This Eastern sage drew people from all corners of the world to Suresnes. _____________________________________________________________________________ She so greatly gained the affection of her school pals that they elected her for the prize of "good comradeship." When she was twelve years old, after the Master's death, she became a little mother to her brothers and sisters, as her mother was committed to bed for years, suffering from the physical symptoms of a broken heart. All those who knew her had a deep respect for her and were moved by some endearing feature of her being. Was it because she so deeply cared for all those she came across-even her jailers? _____________________________________________________________________________ During the Second World War, this gentle girl distinguished herself by her courage as one of the heroes of the French Resistance. And yet, in the middle of her greatest acts of courage she was afraid, which makes her extreme courage the more remarkable. This should embolden those who are afraid of being cowards when tested. _____________________________________________________________________________ On the eve of the war, Noor and I conferred deeply and at length on the pros and cons of our participation in the war. The problem was the same question asked today by conscientious objectors. We had been formed at the school of our father, an Eastern sage and teacher. Behind him lay the entire tradition of Eastern spirituality. The then budding Gandhian non-violent campaign had proven its effectiveness as a means of confronting violence but was barely explored in the West. And was this not the message of Christ? Was there not a contradiction in killing in order to stop manslaughter? But suppose a Nazi should hold hostages at gunpoint and starve them to death; it would be complicity in their murder if, having the means to kill the Nazi and unable to otherwise prevent him from carrying out his deed, we abstained from doing it in the name of non-violence. As we had that conversation, could we have ever imagined that one day Noor would find herself in the plight of the people she wanted to save? _____________________________________________________________________________ In the face of the extermination of Jews, how could one preach spiritual morality without actively participating in preventive action? The secret behind Noor's courage was the spiritual power inspired by our father, Hazrat Inayat Khan: spiritual idealism in action, not just in words. _____________________________________________________________________________ After our exodus from Paris, the convoys of cars were mowed down by the machine guns of the Nazi pilots zooming at ground level during the embarkation at Bordeaux. We volunteered, Noor in the secret service network linking up with the French underground, the Maquis, I as a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force. The secret service discovered in Noor the ideal agent: she was bilingual and knew the French territory and French customs and so gentle that nobody could have suspected her daring. _____________________________________________________________________________ During the intensive training at the limits of human endurance, Noor distinguished herself by her perseverance. So much depended upon the leverage applied by the French Underground from inside. At the critical moment before the D-Day landing in Normandy she remained the last radio operator on the Continent, ensuring the last link between the Allied Headquarters and the French Underground. The life and death of millions and the fate of generations after the war was to depend upon one spirited by the vocation of a hero who accepted the risk of the supreme sacrifice: torture. _____________________________________________________________________________ She was denounced by a "friend," a sister of a colleague in the network who sold information about her whereabouts to the Gestapo for a fee of approximately one thousand francs. The annals of her interrogation are silent about the torture, but one gleans echoes that are filled with terror. Her attempts to escape resulted in her being chained in a cold prison in Pforzheim with one bowl of soup daily, made out of potato peel. Her ordeal lasted until the very moment when, as the Allies advanced into West German territory, they discovered the horrors of the concentration camp. She was immolated at the extermination camp of Dachau a few days before the Allies rescued those few who could still be saved from the carnage. A witness affirms having seen the gauleiter try to coerce her into saying, "Heil Hitler." She refused, saying, "The day will come when you will see the truth," wherefore she was whipped to death. _____________________________________________________________________________ From The Crystal Chalice by Taj Inayat ____________________________________________________________________________ Pir Vilayat Inayat-Khan, 87, Sect Leader, Dies ____________________________________________________________________________ By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: June 22, 2004 ARIS, June 21 - Pir Vilayat Inayat-Khan, who headed an international order of Sufis, members of a mystical offshoot of Islam, and wrote books about it, died on Thursday at his home in Suresnes, a suburb of Paris. He was 87. His death was announced by Donald Graham, an official of the Sufi Order International. A teacher and lecturer, Pir Vilayat was the son of Hazrat Inayat Khan, who helped bring Sufism to the West and created the Sufi order. He allowed followers to keep practicing their own religions as they explored Sufi mysticism, though traditional Sufism is a form of Islam. Pir Vilayat's books included "Toward the One" and "The Call of the Dervish." His works were translated into several languages. Born in 1916 in London to an Indian father and an American mother, Pir Vilayat studied cello and received a degree from the Sorbonne in Paris, Mr. Graham said. In World War II, he served in the British Royal Navy on a minesweeper. The boat was torpedoed during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, and Pir Vilayat was one of the few rescued, Mr. Graham said. Pir Vilayat's sister, Noor, worked with the French Resistance before she was captured and executed at the Dachau concentration camp. Pir Zia Inayat Khan, Pir Vilayat's eldest son, has been preparing to take over his father's position. He is also survived by his wife, Mary Walls; a daughter, Maria; another son, Mirza; and two grandchildren. _____________________________________________________________________________ Additional Notes: Many thanks to David Fideler at caravansarai for forwarding this :- Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, an internationally known lecturer and author, and head of the Sufi Order International, died yesterday, June 17, 2004, at his home in Suresnes, just outside Paris, France, two days before his 88th birthday. He was recently awarded the Hollister Prize for creating interfaith understanding. The award will be presented on July 10th in Barcelona, at the Parliament of World Religions. Pir Vilayat, born in London in 1916, was the spiritual successor of his father, the pioneer Sufi teacher in the West, Hazrat Inayat Khan, who had been a celebrated musician in India. Pir Vilayat became a musician himself, playing cello, and studying composition with Nadia Boulanger. He took a degree in psychology from the Sorbonne. During the Second World War he and his older sister Noor served the British war effort. Noor, known as Madeleine, was a heroine of the Resistance, executed at Dachau. Pir Vilayat served on a minesweeper which was torpedoed in the D-Day invasion in Normandy. In the 1950s Pir Vilayat began teaching through the Sufi Order, and particularly in America he drew a large number of people. More than one hundred local centers for the study of Sufism exist in the United States, as well as many in Germany and in many other countries around the world. In 1975 he founded, in upstate New York, a spiritual community, the Abode of the Message, and also Omega Institute, a flourishing learning center embracing many teaching approaches. In 1974 he published Toward the One, a highly successful introduction to spiritual traditions and practices. He followed that up with A Message in Our Time, 1978, a study of the life and teachings of his father. After that he published a series of books on various aspects of meditation and realization: The Call of the Dervish (1981), Introducing Spirituality into Counseling and Psychotherapy (1982), That which Transpires through that Which Appears (1994), Awakening (1999), and finally, in 2003, In Search of the Hidden Treasure, a wide-ranging exploration of Sufi teachings in the form of an imagined congress of Sufis through the ages. Pir Vilayat traveled very widely, and spent much time in India, learning meditation techniques from teachers of different traditions. He taught his students techniques of meditation drawn from Yoga, Buddhism, Jewish and Christian traditions, as well as established Sufi methods. Since 1965, Pir Vilayat assembled every spring a Congress of Religions in or near Paris, where representatives of various traditions met together to discuss and understand each others' viewpoints. He also took a keen interest in new developments in science, and often spoke at symposia dedicated to dialogue between scientists and spiritual teachers. He regularly incorporated the latest scientific thought into the discourses he delivered with great flair at seminars and meditation camps. Every summer, he conducted a camp in the Swiss Alps and in the United States, attended by thousands of people. He is survived by his wife of more than 50 years, Mary Walls, his younger brother Hidayat and sister Claire Harper; by a daughter, Maria, and two sons, Zia of New York, who has been designated his spiritual successor, and Mirza of California, and three grandchildren. His body will be taken for burial to Delhi, India, in the tomb complex where his father is buried. Additional information can be found at PirVilayat.org, Universel.net, and sufiorder.org. 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