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Pir Zia Inayat-Khan is the spiritual leader of the Sufi Order International, a mystical and ecumenical fellowship rooted in the visionary legacy of his grandfather, Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. Pir Zia is also the President of the Suluk Academy and founder of Seven Pillars House of Wisdom. Pir Zia holds a Doctoral degree in Religion from Duke University and is a recipient of the U Thant Peace Award. |
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Zarifah Kadian and Munawir Mangold are psychotherapists in private practice in Bethesda, Maryland, integrating the psychological and the spiritual. Jack is also an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University, and Nancy leads ongoing women’s groups and retreats. Both have studied Sufism with their teacher Pir Vilayat Khan for over 30 years, teach in the Sufi Order International (SOI), and serve as co-coordinators of the Kinship activity of SOI. Their great love for God and humanity is the guiding impulse that that shapes all of their work. |
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Devi Tide is the Kefayat (Primary Representative) of the Sufi Healing Order in North America. Devi is a healer, retreat guide & teacher of spiritual healing practices and meditation. She has led healing retreats and seminars all over the world and speaks internationally on healing. Sarmad Tide is a senior teacher in the Sufi Order International, a certified retreat guide, and a mentor-teacher for the Dances of Universal Peace. His approach to spirituality is: "It's what we are doing right now." Describing himself as a recovering intellectual, he combines a deep knowledge of esoteric lore and practices with a lively sense of humor |
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Aziza Scott has been a student of the retreat process for over twenty years and serves as the head of the Esoteric School and as Director of the Retreat Guide Training Program of the Sufi Order International, working closely with first Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan and now Pir Zia. She has many years of experience leading individual and group retreats and conducting workshops in the United States, Europe and India. Aziza runs a retreat center in Western Massachusetts.
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Shahabbuddin Less has been studying and teaching the Sufi message of Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan for over 30 years. He is a direct student of Pir Vilayat Khan and Murshid Sam Lewis, and has studied with Shamcher and Mother Krishnabai. In addition to teaching in Sarasota, Florida, he may be found leading spiritual tours of sacred sites around the world.
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Sharifa Felicia Norton is a senior teacher and retreat guide within the Sufi Order International and the Ziraat tradition. Sharifa dances professionally and teaches dance at the United Nations School. Together with Muinuddin Charles Smith, she coauthored the newly released book, An Emerald Earth–Cultivating a Natural Spirituality and Serving Creative Beauty in Our World.
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Reverend Giovanna Vannall is the Director of The Center for Holistic Awareness & Study, and an interfaith minister with the Light of Christ Community Church. She serves on the faculty of Sancta Sophia Seminary as an instructor of Esoteric Christianity, Christian Theology and a mentor with the seminary's online school. Rev. Giovanna works as a hospice and home health care Chaplain with a national organization. She is a traditional Reiki Master/Teacher of the Usui Tradition. Rev. Giovanna is co-founder and contributing editor to the center's newsletter, The Awakening.
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Rabbi David Ingber is the Founder and Spiritual Director of Romemu. All his life David dreamed of creating a Jewish place where anyone of any background or denomination could come and pray in an integrated way, exercising one’s body, mind and soul. David is also a sought after nationally and internationally for his unique, open-hearted and embodied approach to Jewish teaching. David received his smicha from Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in 2004.
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Dr. Marcia Hermansen is Director of the Islamic World Studies Program and Professor in the Theology Department at Loyola University Chicago She has lived for extended periods in Egypt, Jordan, India, Iran, Turkey, and Pakistan, and conducts research in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu as well as the major European languages. Her book, The Conclusive Argument from God, a study and translation (from Arabic) of Shah Wali Allah of Delhi's, Hujjat Allah al-Baligha was published in 1996.
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HuDost is living proof that the whole really is greater than the sum of its parts, pulling together musical styles as diverse as the jellies in Marco Polo’s kitchen cupboart, they weave a seamless tapestry that renders tears and laughter in listeners and cultivates the lameness longing that abides somewhere in all our hearts.
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Summer Gathering 2009 