Hidayat and Noor

Hidayat’s letter to Fazal

November 20, 196.

Dear Fazal,

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First of all, may I thank you deeply for your kind letter dated 17th Nov, together with the article which you have so kindly made in regard to the programming of my music for the 18th as you did inform me when we were in Stuttgart.

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I am afraid that there is some misunderstanding in this connection. First of all because the work which is to be played is the MONOTONIA FOR STRINGS and not the POEME en FA. Another point is that the POEME en FA is not dedicated to my sister. It is the MONOTONIA which is so.

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Then, there are two more points which I just must bring up to your kind attention. One is that I am presenting myself as a “xxxxxxxx” (edited out for privacy)

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Then the second point which I really beg you to consider, is never to present my Noble Sister Noorunissa as having been … just a secret agent of the English Intelligence Service. First of all, because this denomination is not reverent to the memory of my Father and secondly it is not reverent to the memory of my Sister who was the Beloved daughter of the Founder of the Sufi Movement and the bringer of the Message. It is just as prejudicial to the memory of my Father, as would be the fact of making a public mention concerning the Dance-Shows for which my Father played the Vina and sang to the half-naked dancing body of Matha Hari, the world-famous spy. This actual fact, of which there are photos would be terrible if given public notice, just as it is terrible to present PIRADI NOORUNISSA as being or as having been a spy.

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In fact, she was not a spy, and no one in the Sufi Movement has ever understood what she really was and what was really the noble character of her heroic enterprise. Few are aware that she had the blood of her Father in her veins and the only thing that she ever did was to offer her body heart and soul for the freedom of the world in which we are now talking about “Freedom of the Soul”. If it was not for the purest soul form which poured out of ‘souls of the nature of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s beloved daughter’, as well as other heroes of that nature, none of us would be here today.

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If some mureeds and even Dear Chacka have never been able to understand or to tolerate the idea that the daughter of Murshid … did such a thing, it is only because no one has ever either understood or known what she did or why she did it, and what were the exact circumstances which pushed her into doing it.

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I myself have never wanted to explain to Chacka during his lifetime because I always considered that there is a time for everything in this life, and I did not want to discuss this type of subject with him. For the sake of his own peace of mind. Just like I avoided talking about other subjects of the same nature.

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As to you Fazal, you are certainly aware that your Mother could not bear the sound of the name of Noorunissa. Just as she could not bear the name of my Mother. This is why you have never known anything about either Noorunissa or about Pirani Ameena Begum Inayat Khan, other than nasty pointedness talking. 

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Noorunissa wanted to be herself, that is to say, the purest and the humblest and the most beautiful expression of the very personality about which the whole of Hazrat Inayat Khan’s Teaching is venturing to explain to those who can read through the lines of his thoughts.  

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Noorunissa was not a spy nor was she an agent of the British Intelligence service, although those were the garments inherent to the war name “Madeleine”. No, she was the living personality of that most beautiful “Ideal” about which her Father has built his Message. The crucifixion of her life, it was neither for the “British” whom she refused to promise faithfulness after the war if she was to live through it nor was it for the fun of money or adventure or God knows what more nonsense…

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Just as I am the only one today to be in a position to talk about my Father, in the same way, I am the only one who knows exactly what happened, why Noorunissa was given over to that sad end, and that is why I am stressing with all that strength in my soul that it is essential that the “right” should right-the-wrong.

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I am adding the following: No one would be more proud of Noorunissa’ s Soul Force, her courage and her spiritual evolution then her Father himself. I would add again to this that no one has ever deserved my Father’s Pride more that has his own beloved daughter.

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So all we have to say about her in the public is that she lost her life during the war and her young life was nothing else than an endless flow of poetry of music of loving devotion to her Father, whom no one has ever understood more than she herself.

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Let us remember the definition which my Father gave of her in these words: There is nothing that does not exist. If not on the physical plane it certainly exists in the sphere of mind…

When Pirzadi Noorunissa Inayat Khan, was caught into the situation which made it inevitable for her to be 'shaken in her faith', she turned to her inner conscience and said, there is nothing which does not exist… and in so doing she made it possible, together with other noble souls, for us to exist today in a free world, in which it is now quite easy for us to talk about freedom. That freedom for which those souls offered their lives, and to whom we owe all we have today.

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… Those souls about whom the Maire De Suresnes writes in his Homage to “Madeleine” ‘AU NOM DE TOUS NOS CAMARADES MARTYRISES ET MASSACRES POUR N’AVOIR PAS ACCEPTE L’OMBRE’ … (Lecture of the Maire de Suresnes herewith enclosed).

So, as to the article, I am begging you to take out the points xxxxxxxx(edited out), or if you prefer, the denomination as being SUFI MODERN MUSIC, which is perhaps still better. Then, as explained, out of reverence for Hazrat Inayat Khan and Pirzadi Noorunissa Inayat Khan, I feel sure that you appreciate my frank and sharp determination to save the honor of both my Father and my Sister’s memories.

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All the other sections, that is to say, all else was just perfect and wonderfully styled as you can always do so well, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for each move of consideration which you offer your Abba.

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Now, of course, this article, after the corrections which you shall be so kind as to make on receipt of this long letter, does not apply to the music which is due to be played in the ‘Bosh’ (Hertogenbosch / Den Bosch), as explained on page I. This article which you have written has to do with the POEME EN FA, which in reality is dedicated to my own Father, since the middle theme is composed on the song of my Father called Awake for morning…

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Now, as to the 30th of November, I shall not be able to come as I have explained in my previous letter for the very simple reason that I am ill with blood pressure and am under Doctor’s control. That is to say that I have to follow a severe treatment, and this is imperative. This treatment lasts a certain length of time, as I said in my previous letter. I must follow this treatment and every elderly person can understand the importance of following this particular treatment and control.

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Naturally, I understand that you shall be missing me, but after all, if I was to give a sermon on that day, I would only cry all the tears out of my eyes and not a word would come out of my mouth… because, Chacha was, as I said in my article: the living continuation of the presence of my Father ever since I lost my Father from sight. If ever there was a link during the last years of Chacha’s life it was the link between Chacha and his “Bhayajan”, that is to say, that Chacha’s was the light that my Father had kindled. So, what more could I say on the Visalat day of my Chacha then just only …. thank you Chacha for having opened my heart to the light of gratitude the rays of which can only shine in the humble chambers of a melted heart. Then I would burst into tears…

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And now, with all the love in my heart, I want to thank you, dear Fazal, for all the expressions of love and sympathy which you are offering your Abba, and I would appreciate you giving thousands of kisses to your sweet little children, also most loving greetings to Wallia, and my respectful thoughts to CHACHI.

                                                                With all the love in the world to all

                                                                From your Abba

(signed Abba meaning father)