Leadership & Succession

From 1910 onward Murshid Inayat Khan was the informal leader of the International Sufi Community. In 1917 he became the official leader of the Sufi Order, founded in London. The Sufi Order was renamed International Sufi Movement in 1923. In that year, and from then on, the Sufi Order became the name for the esoteric school of the Movement.

Sh-u-M Maheboob was the leader of the Sufi Movement for twenty years until his passing in 1948 at the age of sixty.

For 10 years Murshid Ali Khan led the Sufi Movement. After the war he decided to organize the Summer Schools in Holland.

After a merger with Pir Vilayat's Sufi Order International finally failed in 1986, the Leadership Council of the Movement consisted of Murshid Hidayat Inayat-Khan, Murshid Karimbakhsh Witteveen, Murshida Shazadi Khan and Shaik-ul-Mashaik Mahmood khan Youskine.

In 1993 Hidayat became the Pir-o-Murshid and single leader of the Sufi Movement. However he prefered to be called Murshid-Zade (son of the Murshid). He considered his father to be the only Master of the Sufi Movement.

In 2009 he founded the Pir-o-Murshid Council to prevent succession issues in the future. He and Karimbakhsh Witteveen became the co-General Representatives of the Movement, representing the Movement to the outside world.

In February 2016 Murshida Nuria Sabato succeeded Karimbaksh Witteveen as co-General Representative of the Movement. For six month she was the co-Representative General together with Murshid Hidayat Inayat-Khan

In July 2016 Murshid Nawab succeeded Murshid Hidayat as co-General Representative and from then on he and Murshida Nuria were the joint leaders of the Sufi Movement until 2018 when Murshida Nuria resigned.

After Murshida Nuria's resignation, Murshid Nawab became the single leader of the Movement and was granted the title Pir. Some time later he abolished the Pir-o-Murshid Council.

From 1968 onward Gawery Voûte gathered mureeds at a venue called 'Hoorneboeg'. These mureeds did not want to connect with the Sufi Movement headed by Fazal anymore, nor with Pir Vilayat's Sufi Order. The informal group named themselves 'Soefi Contact'. In 1974 an official society was formed bearing the same name.

From the second half of the sixties (but no formal organization yet). At the end of his life, Samuel prepared for the establishment of the Sufi Islamia Ruhaniat Society (SIRS), but he died before the official founding date.

(Note: Murshid S.A.M. is an acronym of Sufi Ahmed Murad and is therefore capitalized)

(In 2001 the name SIRS was renamed SRI – Sufi Ruhaniat International)