Sufi Remembrance

April 9, 1927, Rotterdam  – February 6 2021, Wassenaar, the Netherlands

In the Words of Ameen Carp, Published in The Sufi Thought June 2016 by Zubin van de Besselaar and Sakya van Male
I came to Sufism through love! In December 1945 I met Isabelle van Stolk, my later wife. She was the eldest daughter of Sirkar of Stolk, who had been secretary to Hazrat Inayat Khan and meant a great deal to the development of Sufi work. He was a fascinating man. I was immediately seized by him and by the Sufi message and was initiated by him in 1949. He thought I was too young at first. I was only 18 years old in 1945. And Isabelle was 17 at the time, so we had to wait a little longer to get married.
I was raised reformed, born in Rotterdam. I also went there to catechization, but I thought that was too one-sided. I asked questions such as: what happened to the people who died in the time before Christ? I didn’t get an answer to that and then I said goodbye to the vicar and I continued with Sufism. From 1949 I followed classes in The Hague. Our wedding service in 1950 was also a Sufi service led by my father-in-law Sirkar. In the same year I emigrated to South Africa with my wife. Sirkar followed us some time later. Sirkar went to give Sufi classes at home with Wazir  van Essen in Cape Town. There was no temple in Cape Town at the time. The services were kept at Isabelle’s house with Isabelle and me. I worked at a bank in Cape Town. Sirkar founded the Sufi Centre in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria.
I went to Cape Town because I wanted to see some of the world and I loved it there. My oldest daughter was born there. But in 1955, my father became seriously ill. I was then asked to come back and take over the business, an import store of wines. That’s what you did at the time. Your father asked you to come back and then you went whether you wanted it or not. So in October 1955 I came back to the Netherlands. I had to get all kinds of diplomas to take over the management of the wine trade. In Rotterdam I reported directly to the Sufi Centre. I ended up with  Kafia  Blaauw who led a class there every week.
In 1960 I moved with my family to Wassenaar. At that time Murad  Hassil had not yet been built and so we were again dependent on the Sufi center in The Hague. We had the choice between the Anna Paulownastraat and the Banstraat. Intuitively I chose the Anna Paulownastraat. I had heard a lot about  Sirdar and his wife Saïda, and when we had experienced an Easter service where Saïda  spoke we were sold. Unfortunately,  Sirdar had already died in 1958; I never knew him. So Saïda was more or less on her own and I offered her my services at the time.
Sirdar had built up a nice center. During his lifetime, he spoke every week in the Universal Worship at Anna Paulownastraatt, except in the war when Sufism was forbidden. Imagine every week! The service was then visited weekly by about 150 people. He was a gifted speaker. After his death in 1958, about half of the people left. They felt like it could never be like it was when he was there. When I offered my services in 1960, it was therefore important to rebuild the center. I went to Saïda almost every day and when she died in March 1966 I succeeded her as center leader.
At the end of 1967 Murshid Fazal Inayat-Khan, son of Murshid Hidayat Inayat-Khan, came to the Netherlands. He had been appointed by Murshid Musharaff Khan as leader of the International Sufi Movement and also by  Sirdar as spiritual leader of the Sufi Centre in Anna Paulownastraatt. For me, the organizational leadership remained. Thus, the basis was laid for the division between the esoteric side of the center and the organizational side in the form of the SSIFS. In the end, Fazal only had the esoteric leadership of the center for two years (from 1968 – 1970
Eventually there was a merger, but the two buildings continued to function separately. Only[1]  under the leadership of Murshid Hidayat Inayat-Khan as leader of the International Sufi Movement, all activities were housed in the Anna Paulownastraat and the secretariat of International  Headquarters was established in the Banstraat. The Mursharaff Khan Foundation with the Sufi Museum and archive also remained in the Banstraat. In 1982 I was asked by Murshid Karimbakhsh Witteveen to become National Representative. With a break from 1985 to 1995, I was National Representative until 2014.
And then there’s my work as a publisher. That’s a very important part of my life. I started publishing in 1966. My father-in-law, Sirkar van Stolk, had written a book ‘Memories of a Sufi  sage’ and I was the first to published it. I still had the wine trade at the time and did this work on weekends. The publishing house was then called East West  Publication Fonds BV. The books I published were spiritual books both from the west and from the east. Later it became more and more Sufi books. I also had an office in London and four bookshops in central London where I started selling spiritual books (which was then called new age) and music. Yet at one point, I sold those bookshops and later gave up the London office. It became too complicated to work in two countries. East West Publications later became Sufi Publications to indicate where my focus was. You can see that on my newly renewed website www.sufipublications.nl more than half of the titles are Western and classical Sufism.
What draws you to Sufism? Sufism is my life; I owe it everything. What I think is important in Sufism is the unity of religious ideals. Especially in this day and age, that’s so important. In addition, I think the inner school is so wonderfully rich. There are so many beautiful meditations and exercises. I used to belong in Rotterdam to the so-called “Zikarboys”. That was a group of young people who came together under the leadership of Kafia Blaauw for esoteric classes that always ended with the Zikar. Most of these people have remained active in the Sufi Movement. Also important is the Ideal of God. I love that contact with and love to God are so central to Sufism. The thought that in every human being that God spark is present appeals to me very much. The Brotherhood idea is also very beautiful.
I am also glad that we have been given so many centers in the Netherlands. That was always my goal as a National Representative. Places where people can get acquainted with Sufism through Universal Worship. Cooperation with other Sufi organizations is also important to me. I hope that in this way we can further blossom the wonderful message of Hazrat Inayat Khan in the 21st century.
Submitted by Paul Ketelaar, Netherlands

Murshid Ameen (Wite) Carp April 9th, 1927 – February 6, 2021
In December 1945, the then 18-year-old Wite (Ameen) Carp met Isabella van Stolk, the daughter of Sirkar van Stolk. They married in 1950. This meeting brings Ameen  Carp into contact with the Sufi Movement for the first time. In 1949 he was initiated as a mureed of the Sufi Movement by his father-in-law Sirkar van Stolk. From this year he followed classes in The Hague.
In 1950, Wazir van Essen and his wife Zohra van Essen-van Houten emigrated to South Africa, where Wazir worked as a director of a fishing company. There, Wazir and Sirkar van Stolk (who emigrated in 1951), started Sufi activities together. Ameen Carp also lived in Cape Town from 1950 – 1955 and supported Van Essen and Van Stolk in setting up a center in that place. In October 1955 Ameen was recalled by his family to the Netherlands to take over the wine trade from his father, who was ill and later died. He lived in Rotterdam and became a member of the center of Kafia Blaauw.
In 1960, Ameen Carp moved with his family to Wassenaar and joined the Sufi Centre of Sirdar van Tuyll, which is located at Anna Paulownastraat 78. Sirdar passed away in 1958. Ameen offered his services to Sirdar’s wife, Saïda van Tuyll and was closely associated with the center ever since.
In 1965, plans arose to establish a Sufi center around the Dargah of Hazrat Inayat Khan that would play a central role for followers. An attempt was made to seek cooperation with Sufis from different groups and different countries for the realization of these plans. In the Netherlands, consultations were held by Karimbakhsh Witteveen, Saïda van Tuyll, Gawery Voute, Ameen Carp and Musharaff Khan.
On March 15, 1966, Saïda van Tuyll, wife of Sirdar Baron of  Tuyll van Serooskerken, passed away. Ameen  Carp succeeded her as center leader of the Anna Paulownastraat (AP). According to a will, her entire estate (property AP, household effects and documents) was bequeathed to the Sufi Foundation Inayat, Foundation Sirdar (SSIFS). Fazal Inayat-Khan was appointed as esoteric leader of the AP. Ameen Carp remained the  organizational leader. This co-leadership lasted until 1970.
Carp was the de facto center leader of The Hague from 1966 to 2016. In addition, after his career in the wine trade, he was a publisher by profession. His organizations were called East West Publications in England and Sufi Publications in the Netherlands. He was also the National Representative of the Sufi Movement in the Netherlands and editor of Sufi Thought from 1983 to 2014.
sufipedia.org, edited