Pir Zia Inayat Khan

Pir Zia Inayat Khan (born 1971) is the current spiritual head of the Inayatiyya, the Sufi lineage that grew out of the work of his grandfather Hazrat Inayat Khan, who in 1910 was the first Sufi teacher to bring universal Sufism to the West. Following the death of his father, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, in 2004, Pir Zia took over his role as spiritual leader.

What sets him apart from many contemporary teachers is his academic background: he holds a PhD in religious studies from Duke University and combines that scholarly training with his role as a spiritual teacher. He founded the Suluk Academy, a multi-year training programme within the Inayatiyya, and Seven Pillars House of Wisdom, an interfaith platform for dialogue between Sufism and other wisdom traditions.

His teaching emphasises the universal core of Sufism — the search for unity behind religious forms — and connects classical Sufi poetry and philosophy with contemporary themes such as ecology and interfaith cooperation. A recurring element in his more recent work is meditation in and with nature, as seen in his 'Nature Meditations' video series.

Pir Zia travels internationally to teach, publishes books on Sufi cosmology and poetry, and leads annual retreats in Europe and North America.