We must realize that essentially Murshid did not write any books himself. Exceptions to this are his first work, "A Sufi Message of Spiritual Liberty," his four plays and the publications containing aphorisms like "Gayan," "Vadan," and "Nirtan." But the rest of his oeuvre was created from the many lectures he gave over the years:

• In London and other cities in the UK, during World War I

• During his travels, when visiting the centres in the US and several European countries, throughout the twenties

• At the Suresnes Summer Schools from 1922 onward (June till August)

In Suresnes his secretaries (Sakina Nekbakht Furnée and Kismet Stam) started to take down his lectures in shorthand. Together with Murshida Sharifa Goodenough they also selected, arranged, and edited series of his lectures based on a common theme, for instance: music and sound, health, education, morality, mysticism, happiness, and so on. Murshida Sherifa Goodenough had a leading role in the proces of compiling new issues. During his lifetime Murshid himself always had the supervision over the publication of his work. After his passing Goodenough continued to make new books ready for publication, by then always after consulting the Head Quarters of the Sufi Movement in Geneva.

Not all books were created this way. For example:

• 'Confessions' (an early biography from 1915) was written by Miriam Bloch

• The books with Songs and poetry were compiled by Murshid in close co-operation with Jessie Duncan Westbrook

• The books by Sherifa Goodenough (Aqibat, Life after Death, Love, Human and Divine, The Phenomenon of the Soul) and Zohra Williams (Pearls from the Ocean Unseen) were based on Murshid's lectures, but do not reflect his exact words per se

• 'The Story of my Mystical Life' (a biographical lecture from 1919), 'In an Eastern Rose Garden' (1921) and 'The Way of Illumination' were edited by Dr. O.C. Gruner

• 'The Purpose of Life' (1927) was compiled by Mumtaz Armstrong

• The collection 'Aphorisms' (1927) was compiled by Kefayat Gladys Lloyd and contains sentences from the various lectures of Murshid

• 'Biography of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan' (1979, revised edition 2020) was compiled, edited and supplemented by Munira van Voost van Beest and Elise Guillaume – Schamhart in the seventies, based of the reports of Meher Bakhsh (biography section) and Murshid's dictations to Sakina (Nekbakht) Furnée (the autobiography part)

• As mentioned above Murshid's four plays were written by himself. The titles are: 'The Bogey-Man', 'The Living Dead', 'Una' and Amin, the Faithfull Trustee'. They have been included in Volume XII of the series 'The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan' (also known as the Yellow Volumes). For decades these plays have been performed at the annual Summer Schools in Suresnes and later The Netherlands.