In the late 1960’s, Samuel Lewis began to envision and create the Dances of Universal Peace (although he originally referred to them as “sufi dancing”), as a dynamic method to promote “Peace through the Arts.”
As a senior sufi teacher, Samuel Lewis was known as Murshid Samuel L. Lewis, and he founded the Sufi Ruhaniat International shortly before he died in 1971.
Sufi Ruhaniat International (SRI) consists of sincere mureeds (formally initiated students) who seek the truth of the inner life through personal practice and direct experience. The sacred practices and teachings which form this ages-old wisdom lineage, were brought the the West in 1910 by Hazrat Inayat Khan and his disciple Murshid Samuel L. Lewis (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti).
This work was continued by Pir Moineddin Jablonski, the spiritual successor of Murshid Samuel Lewis, who guided the Ruhaniat from 1971 until his death in 2001. It continues today under the guidance of Pir Shabda Kahn, the successor of Pir Moineddin.
Sufi Ruhaniat International
Sufi Teachers in the UK
- Murshid Saadi Shakur Chishti (Neil Douglas-Klotz), Glenrothes, Fife
- Murshid Tansen Phillip O’Donohoe, Hazelbury Bryan, Dorset
- Sheikha Ayesha Foot, Glastonbury, Somerset
- Sheikha Darvesha Claire Misani, Somerset, England
- Sheikha Dakini Maris Warrior, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
- Sheikha Rabia Mary Dowson, Lancashire, England
- Jilani Cordelia Prescott, Yorkshire, England
- Fateah Saunders, Edinburgh, Scotland
- Narada Ian Ramsey, Belfast, Northern Ireland
- Cinda Basira O’Donohoe, Hazelbury Bryan, Dorset
- Sarmad Daren Messenger, Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Sufi Ruhaniat Europe
The major Ruhaniat project in Europe each year is our annual Sufi Summer School, which celebrates the living tradition of Sufism, the path of the heart, through Dances of Universal Peace, Walking Meditation, Healing, Spiritual Music, Zikr (Remembrance), Art, Soulwork and Spiritual Psychology and more.
official website of the Sufi Ruhaniat Europe
The annual summer school, usually in early July, features a programme of classes every day for a week, with attendees from all over Europe, enjoying an extremely high standard of teaching of Sufi principles, many wonderful sessions of dances and a unique opportunity to meet, and form deep friendships with, people from several other countries than one’s own.
For a flavour of the classes and dances, you can listen to recordings of a previous summer school.