Born a Musician. Died a Mystic. Changed the World in Between.

How Sufi mystic Hazrat Inayat Khan taught the West about Divine Harmony

Do you remember the first time you read a Rumi poem? I do.

My fingers traced the words on the page:

“The minute I heard my first love story,

I started looking for you, 

Not knowing how blind that was.

Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.

They’re in each other all along.”

That wild, immediate, intimate love affair with God–I wanted it for myself.

Little did I know that I might never have held that book of poems in my hand had it not been for Hazrat Inayat Khan, the masterful musician and mystic who first introduced Sufism to the West.

But who was he?

Born into an accomplished family of Sufi musicians in Baroda, India in 1882, Inayat Khan was a master of several instruments and a renowned performer and professor of music by the age of 20.

He went on to study under a Sufi teacher for four years in Hyderabad. Just before the teacher’s death in 1907, he encouraged Inayat Khan to go forth into the world and harmonize the east and the west with his music.

Inayat Khan took this message seriously; he left for several years in the United States in 1910 and lived the remainder of his life in Europe and Russia, founding the Sufi Order in 1917 and leading others in the study of unity, beauty, and harmony.

His teachings are timeless and highly relevant to our modern age; they may in fact be more needed than ever before. Inayat Khan’s three central lessons provide a contemplative oasis for spiritual seekers and for every person trying to make sense of a world full of noise.

The Music of All Things

Inayat Khan was raised in a tradition of Sufism that treasured a practice called “sama’,” listening to music as a way to commune with God. Why music? Inayat Khan explained that the non-representational form of music was vital in understanding a God of Mystery–a God beyond the constructs of language and image.

But furthermore, attuning to the movement of music allowed practitioners to connect with the music of the entire cosmos, all set into motion by God’s loving command, “be,” as the world was created. 

“Music is the beginning and end of the universe,” Inayat Khan explained, “ All actions and movements made in the visible and invisible world are musical. That is: they are made up of vibrations.” 

Inayat Khan believed that every living thing participated in the symphony of creation, from huge crashing waves to gentle drops of rain, from great trumpeting swans to tiny buzzing bees.

This sacred music, he taught, is also something we can hear in our own bodies: in the rhythm of our breath, the beating of our hearts, the stretching of our arms and legs.

If God is nearer than our next breath, Inayat Khan taught us how to hear the Divine within ourselves.

 “To attain spirituality,” he assured his students, “is to realize that the whole universe is one symphony in which each individual is one note.”

The next time I’m feeling utterly adrift, I’m going to make it a point to stop and feel my pulse, note the rising and falling of my chest, and remember that I am part of a sacred work of art set in motion by Divine Love.

The Centrality of Harmony

When Inayat Khan spoke about harmony, he was not referring to some pie-in-the-sky, kumbaya platitude. 

He was speaking about something urgent, something to be attained right here and right now, on this beautiful, damaged earth.

Although his mysticism was, of course, informed by the musical concept of harmony, it meant something far greater to him–harmony among peoples, harmony within ourselves.

Inayat Khan found this harmony, always a reflection of the love and beauty of God, to be something within reach of all of us.

“All the tragedy in the world, in the individual and in the multitude, comes from lack of harmony,” Inayat Khan explained. “And harmony is the best given by producing harmony in one's own life. ”

Through a conscious tuning of the heart to the harmony of God and the natural world, he believed that we could become bearers of that harmony ourselves.

And wherever there was a glimpse of harmony, he taught, there was a glimpse of God.

Inayat Khan lived through the horrors of World War I. He knew that the world was sorely in need of every type of healing. And he believed that, through the power of harmony, it was very much possible.

The Unity of All Religions

Inayat Khan’s Sufism was always an inclusive one.

He practiced a radical ecumenism and welcomed people of other faiths.

He believed in one God, one religion into which all religions flowed, and one sisterhood and brotherhood of all peoples. He honored one Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature.

“If people but knew their own religion,” he was known to say, “how tolerant they would become, and how free from any grudge against the religion of others.”

Inayat Khan made this central message concrete in the development of a ceremony called universal worship.

During universal worship, six candles are lit, and the holy books of six different faith traditions are placed on a table; a seventh candle is lit for all other religions not explicitly named.

Not only can participants bask in the one light revealed by multiple traditions, but people of different traditions can worship together in peace and, you guessed it, harmony.

What a powerful antidote to the exclusionary practices we have all encountered!

Inayat Khan believed that mysticism was the mighty light that transcended all religions and held them all together.

And he believed that by embodying the love through which God set the universe in motion, we could shine that light bright enough for all to see.

The more I learn about Inayat Khan, the more at peace I feel in a world that is, admittedly, out of harmony. I can feel my ears tuning to the divine music all around me, drawing my heart into unity with all living creatures. But there is still so much more I want to learn.

Fortunately, we have the chance to join beloved Islamic teacher Omid Safi for a one-time-only masterclass this May 17! Omid, a Duke professor of Islamic studies, will share the gifts of his teacher, Hazrat Inayat Khan. Together, we’ll explore the universal love that transcends boundaries, the inner music that calls us home, and the ways we can embody the harmony our world so desperately needs.

Come be part of a gathering where seekers from all paths are welcome, where head and heart meet, and where the ancient song of unity is still being sung. I hope you’ll join us — and add your voice to the great symphony of love.

JOIN NOW

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Cameron Bellm is a Seattle-based spiritual writer, speaker, and retreat guide. After completing her PhD in Russian literature, she traded the academic life for the contemplative life, combining her love for language with a deeply-rooted spirituality. Her work can be found at the intersection of mysticism and activism, linking ancient spiritual practice with modern social engagement. Cameron's work has been featured in America Magazine, National Catholic Reporter, Jesuit Media Lab, and more. Her first book, The Sacrament of Paying Attention: How Writers, Artists, and Mystics can Lead Us into Sacred Human Communion, will be published in 2026. When her nose isn't in a book and her feet aren't softly padding through a library, you can find her marveling at the ferns, salmonberries, and spruce trees along a Seattle trail.