Murshid Hidayat Inayat-Khan recalls a moment of great meaning in the last months of his Father’s life.

Four Candidate Murshids

During the last weeks of Summer School in 1926, Murshid invited four senior mureeds for an evening meal. A very delicious Indian curry dish was served, and those four gentlemen as well as everyone else were apparently quite content. Some happy jokes were exchanged, and nothing seemed to darken the clouds, other than sincere regrets at the thought of the approaching closing date of Summer School, besides some concerns in connection with the Hejirat Day celebrations, which had not yet been planned in all details. At that special occasion, Murshid intended to inaugurate the first stone of the ‘Universelle,’ the Sufi Temple, which he had so much hoped to see built, some day, as a model for so many more to come in other parts of the world.

During the meal, Murshid was explaining about the ‘Confraternity of the Message,’ and the tall Candle of Wish, which was supposed to symbolize the magic wand which helps make all dreams come true… Then suddenly, while counting on his fingers which were slightly lifted, Murshid said, “We have four Murshidas: Murshida Fazal Mai, Murshida Goodenough, Murshida Greene, Murshida Martin; but we don’t have any Murshids. Who could be considered as suitable Murshids?”

One of the senior ones among the four guests immediately presented himself as being suitable. The second one said that he should really have the priority, being the oldest of the four. The third explained that owing to all the great experience which he had gathered in various esoteric schools previously to Sufism, he felt that he was the best trained out of the four and should therefore be considered as the most suitable one to be made a Murshid. The fourth candidate tried to convince everyone, saying that with the tremendous fortune of which he disposed, he could really launch the whole Sufi Movement right out into the world.

Murshid became very stern, and, visibly dominating his emotions, while silently rising from his chair, he gently addressed the four candidates saying, “How would you all feel if you found yourselves all of a sudden at the top of a high mountain, without having had the opportunity of experiencing the joys and the hardships of the climbing?”

Murshid added, “If all four of you were made Murshids today, who among you would be able to recognize in one out of you four the real one, other than yourself, if as it obviously appears, each one of you thinks himself as a suitable candidate?” …and with tears in his beautiful eyes, Murshid again added, “Could you really say ‘Murshid’ to anyone other than to your own Murshid, while Murshid is still with you?”

Following that dramatic incident, Murshid called our Mother, asking her to come to the Oriental Room, together with us four children, and then he blessed our Mother and said to her with all the intensity of his heart and soul, “As of this day, you are the real Pirani.” And he added, “Without your unceasing help, day and night, it never would have been possible to have brought the Sufi Message to the Western world.”

Then, while holding our Mother tight in his arms, our Father said to us children, with so much tenderness in his loving voice, “Children, do congratulate your Amma (Mother) on this very special occasion. I want you, as well as the future generations to know that your Amma is the first and the only Pirani of your Abba’s Sufi Message of Love, Harmony and Beauty. You are never to forget this as long as you live, and it is your most sacred duty to make sure that this historical ceremony, to which you have assisted, shall never ever be forgotten.”

After we had all hugged our Father and Mother, with our hearts beating with happiness, our Father wrote down on paper the word Pirani, and explained to us that it is the feminine equivalent of the Pir-o-Murshid, only to be used by the ‘Begum’ of the bringer of the Message.

To be continued…