Encyclopedia of Islam

Khadir

  

429  J

---

on Failaka Island off the coast of Kuwait, and in 

Sri Lanka at Kataragama, Bosra (Syria), Jerusalem, 

Iraq, and Samarkand (Uzbekistan). Not all Mus-

lims accept Khadir as a 

saint

 or prophet, however. 

Sayyid q

Utb

 (d. 1966), chief ideologist of militant 

Islam, argued that the connection between Kha-

dir and the “servant” mentioned in the Quran 

was mere conjecture, and that the figure was to 

be understood in the literal sense as a righteous 

(salih) man, not a prophet or saint.

See also 

batin

; 

boat

; 

Folklore

; 

prophets

 

and

prophecy

.

Further reading: Gordon Darnell Newby, The Making 

of the Last Prophet: A Reconstruction of the Earliest Biog-

raphy of Muhammad (Columbia: University of South 

Carolina Press, 1989), 182–188; John Renard, All the 

King’s Falcons: Rumi on Prophets and Revelation (New 

York: State University of New York Press, 1994), 83–86; 

Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Thalabi, Arais al-majalis fi 

qisas al-anbiya, or “Lives of the Prophets.” Translated by 

William M. Brinner, (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2002), 361–382.

Khan, Inayat

 

(1882–1927)  first Sufi leader to 

spread Sufism in America and Europe; founder of the 

Sufi Order of the West

Inayat Khan was born in i

ndia

 and grew up in a 

musical family. At the age of 12 he left home to pur-

sue a life of 

mUsic

 and devotion, traveling around 

India and working in various environments, such 

as serving as the court musician for the Nizam, or 

ruler, of Hyderabad. From there Khan was initiated 

into the Nizami branch of the c

histi

  s

UFi

  o

rder

,

a very popular order of Muslim mystics in India. 

Khan blended Hindu and Muslim philosophy, 

working under masters from both traditions. He 

was instructed to spread Sufism in the Americas 

and Europe, where he spent most of his adult years, 

and he left for New York in 1910. In his travels he 

aimed to bring universal harmony between East 

and West by introducing Sufi concepts.

Khan lectured for some time at Columbia Uni-

versity and then traveled across America attract-

ing initiates. In New York he met Ora Ray Baker, 

whom he would marry in 1913 after moving to 

England. In 1916 Khan founded the Sufi Order 

in London and shortly after began a quarterly 

magazine,  Sufism. In the 1920s Khan visited the 

U

nited

  s

tates

  several times to tour the country, 

lecture, and continue to attract initiates. He died 

in 1927 in India. Following his death, Khan’s 

son, Vilayat Khan (1916–2004), still a youth, was 

appointed leader of the order. However some initi-

ates decided to accept the mentorship of the Sufi 

leader, Meher Baba (1894–1969). In the 1960s 

Vilayat Khan actively took over leadership of the 

Sufi Order of the West in America. The order 

sponsors a variety of activities, including heal-

ing seminars, retreats, and psychotherapy. Inayat 

Khan’s teachings are available in several collec-

tions that bring together his essays and lectures, 

such as The Heart of Sufism: Essential Writings of 

Hazrat Inayat Khan.

See also e

Urope

; n

izam

 

al

-d

in

 a

Wliya

; s

UFism

.

Mehnaz Sahibzada