At a lecture during his first visit to America, Hazrat Inayat met the young woman destined to be his wife, Ora Ray Baker, later Pirani Ameena Begum. Ora Ray was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1892, and counted among her relations Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science movement.
Although the couple were attracted to each other, Ora Ray’s brother, who was her guardian, objected, and did everything possible to keep them apart. When Inayat and his brothers left for England, therefore, they could not say good bye, and spent several months in miserable separation. It was only when she was tidying up her brother’s desk that Ora Ray found the address of Inayat’s family in India, and was able at last to re-establish contact. They were married in London in 1912.
In his Autobiography, Hazrat Inayat wrote:
In spite of the vast difference of race and nationality and custom she proved to be a friend through joy and sorrow, proving the idea, which I always believed, that outer differences do not matter when the spirit is in at-one-ment.
Although the couple were attracted to each other, Ora Ray’s brother, who was her guardian, objected, and did everything possible to keep them apart. When Inayat and his brothers left for England, therefore, they could not say good bye, and spent several months in miserable separation. It was only when she was tidying up her brother’s desk that Ora Ray found the address of Inayat’s family in India, and was able at last to re-establish contact. They were married in London in 1912.
Pirani Ameena Begum (to whom Inayat also gave the name Sharda) bore four children: two girls, Noorunnisa, born January 1st, 1914; and Khairunnisa, born June 3rd, 1919; and two boys, Vilayat, born June 19, 1916; and Hidayat, born August 6th, 1917.
In his Autobiography, Hazrat Inayat wrote:
In spite of the vast difference of race and nationality and custom she proved to be a friend through joy and sorrow, proving the idea, which I always believed, that outer differences do not matter when the spirit is in at-one-ment.
The tests that my life was destined to go through were not of a usual character, and were not a small trial for her. A life such as mine, which was wholly devoted to the Cause, and which was more and more involved in the ever growing activities of the Sufi Movement, naturally kept me back from that thought and attention which was due to my home and family. Most of the time of my life I was obliged to spend out of home, and when at home, I have always been full of activities, and it naturally fell upon her always to welcome guests with a smile under all circumstances. If I had not been helped by her, my life, laden with a heavy responsibility, would have never enabled me to devote myself entirely to the Order as I have. It is by this continual sacrifice that she has shown her devotion to the Cause.
After the passing of her beloved husband, Pirani Ameena Begum expressed her deep-felt emotions in many poems, some of which have been published in the book of memoirs, “Once Upon a Time…”
Below is the chronicling incident which led to the initiation of Ameena Begum as Pirani. (excerpt from ONCE UPON A TIME, Early Days Stories About My Beloved Father and Mother, by Hidayat Inayat-Khan)
During the last weeks of Summer School in 1926, Murshid invited four senior mureeds for an evening meal. A very delicious Indian curry dish was served, and those four gentlemen, as well as everyone else, were apparently quite content. Some happy jokes were exchanged, and nothing seemed to darken the clouds, other than sincere regrets at the thought of the approaching closing date of Summer School, besides some concerns in connection with the Hejirat Day celebrations, which had not yet been planned in all details. At that special occasion, Murshid intended to inaugurate the first stone of the ‘Universelle,’ the Sufi Temple, which he had so much hoped to see built, some day, as a model for so many more to come in other parts of the world.
During the meal, Murshid was explaining about the ‘Confraternity of the Message,’ and the tall Candle of Wish, which was supposed to symbolize the magic wand which helps make all dreams come true. . . Then suddenly, while counting on his fingers which were slightly lifted, Murshid said, “We have four Murshidas: Murshida Fazal Mai, Murshida Goodenough, Murshida Greene, Murshida Martin; but we don’t have any Murshids. Who could be considered as suitable Murshids?”
One of the senior ones among the four guests immediately presented himself as being suitable. The second one said that he should really have the priority, being the oldest of the four. The third explained that owing to all the great experience which he had gathered in various esoteric schools previously to Sufism, he felt that he was the best trained out of the four, and should therefore be considered as the most suitable one to be made a Murshid. The fourth candidate tried to convince everyone, saying that with the tremendous fortune of which he disposed, he could really launch the whole Sufi Movement right out into the world.
Murshid became very stern, and, visibly dominating his emotions, while silently rising from his chair, he gently addressed the four candidates saying, “How would you all feel, if you found yourselves all of a sudden at the top of a high mountain, without having had the opportunity of experiencing the joys and the hardships of the climbing?”
Murshid added, “If all four of you were made Murshids today, who among you would be able to recognize in one out of you four the real one, other than yourself, if as it obviously appears, each one of you thinks himself as a suitable candidate?” …and with tears in his beautiful eyes, Murshid again added, “Could you really say ‘Murshid’ to anyone other than to your own Murshid, while Murshid is still with you?”
Following that dramatic incident, Murshid called our Mother, asking her to come to the Oriental Room, together with us four children, and then he blessed our Mother and said to her with all the intensity of his heart and soul, “As of this day, you are the real Pirani.” And he added, “Without your unceasing help, day and night, it never would have been possible to have brought the Sufi Message to the Western world.”
Then, while holding our Mother tight in his arms, our Father said to us children, with so much tenderness in his loving voice, “Children, do congratulate your Amma (Mother) on this very special occasion. I want you, as well as the future generations to know that your Amma is the first and the only Pirani of your Abba’s Sufi Message of Love, Harmony and Beauty. You are never to forget this as long as you live, and it is your most sacred duty to make sure that this historical ceremony, to which you have assisted, shall never ever be forgotten.”
After we had all hugged our Father and Mother, with our hearts beating with happiness, our Father wrote down on paper the word Pirani, and explained to us that it is the feminine equivalent of the Pir-o-Murshid, only to be used by the ‘Begum’ of the bringer of the Message.
Pirani Ameena Begum passed away in Paris May 1, 1949.
From a letter of 1st June 1949, where Nekbakht writes to Azmat Faber about the last stay in hospital of Begum, after an operation: (my translation from Dutch) Until the last moment Begum has been lucid, realising everything so clearly, each little change in her own situation and what happened around her… As for myself, never ever was she other than kind to me. In 1948 I have spoken different times with her, in my house; also with Claire. And when I wanted to say something or to bring her something she always asked me in, and sometimes we had a long talk. My impression then was that of a sacrificing Mother who was absolutely forgetting herself, living only for the welfare of her children, Vilayat and Claire, with whom she has been during the whole period of war – at least as far as their work allowed her to see them. The depth of their sorrow, certainly with Claire, proves what their Mother has been for them.