There is a tradition that there should be flowers and fruit in the vicinity of any dargah, or tomb, of a Sufi saint. In that connection, it is said that the tomb of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia originally stood beneath an orange tree, a place chosen because that is where Mehboob-e-ilahi (‘the beloved of God’) often prayed. That tree has long since vanished, of course, for he passed away nearly eight centuries ago, but the fruitfulness continues in other ways.

At the Dargah of Hazrat Inayat Khan, we have bananas, in season, for fruit, and various sorts of trees give flowers. From late August until November the nights are blessed with the sweet, distinctive perfume of the harsingar or night-jasmine. This is a tree found from the slopes of the Himalayas across northern India, and according to Hindu teaching the harsingar is one of the five trees found in heaven; it is also found on earth, we are told, because it was brought here by Lord Krishna.

Every evening, hundreds of small white flowers with vivid saffron-orange centres unfold and send their scent through the soft, warm air. By dawn, their work is done and they have fallen. And every morning, one of the staff, on his own initiative, gathers a bag of these still fragrant flowers to place on the tomb of Hazrat Inayat Khan.