Sufi Remembrance

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13 Memories for “Iman Ibrayni-Kiss”

1. on 08 May 2009 at 8:52 pm1Sami Greene

   I met Iman in the late ’70’s at an Abode summer camp with Pir Vilayat. Iman had an engaging, beautiful spiritual aura which drew me to her. A friendship developed quickly between us. Something she said has stuck with me over the years: that one has to rest, equal to the energy one expends, in order to maintain good health. It was a painful shock to hear of her accident.

2. on 01 Dec 2009 at 5:20 pm2Akhbar Quddus Cumming

   Iman and I were the same age. I visited her Manhattan Center which had a huge picture of Murshid on the wall as the elevator doors opened. She led the sufi dancing one night in the alps which was one of the more powerful ones I experienced showing how beautiful the counter point female -male zhikr could become. She also said “Children have a blank check in the Sufi Order”, when commenting on the young ones wandering about the Somet Bucher camp. She also visited Barton Farm in the UK when it was starting up and gave much helpful advice to those interested in community building. Her book “Seven Women” is a treasured part of my collection. She taught me some practices for elevators and before meetings, and shared many humorous and amazing “airport stories” about meeting Pir Vilayat in the NYC airports. When she passed it was so amazing that there was no major marks on her and the car was full of white roses, on the way to Universal Worship. She was an amazingly powerful and positive force within the Order, the first female to learn turning from Sulieman Dede, and she taught us how to do it.
   It has been said that Iman worked with Noor-un-Nissa Inayat Khan in the unseen realms with children who had passed over “early” and did not understand what was happening with them.

   She will always be in my heart.
   Akhbar Quddus Cumming

3. on 02 Apr 2011 at 3:12 pm3Subhan Burton

   Iman was a REAL Sufi. We used to visit at Leaders’ Camp in the smoking area; she smoked unfiltered Camel cigarettes. Although I was somewhat fearful of the neighborhood, I visited Iman’s NYC Center many times. I was blessed to see the first presentation of her play, SEVEN WOMEN, at the Abode and was deeply touched by it. I later produced and directed her play in Bala Cynwyd, PA (near Philadelphia; it was a wonderful success. She was planning to lead a weekend at our Mississippi Center but had the auto accident. I think of Iman frequently with love and inspiration, and continue to share her SEVEN WOMEN stories with our university and sufi students.
   Love and Blessings to All,
   Grandfather Subhan Jim Burton

4. on 02 Apr 2011 at 7:07 pm4Melissa Clare

   Iman picked me up at the JFK airport on January 22nd 1976, the evening of the worst snowstorm that year. She had never heard of me before – had no idea I was coming, but braved the weather in a dilapidated and unreliable car with her friend Awliya, and continued to show me the utmost hospitality for the ensuing week, until I was able to get a ride to the Abode.
   She had a wonderful heart quality and deep devotion without being pretentious in any way.

5. on 27 Apr 2011 at 5:52 pm5Khalid Triebe

   From the 14th street haven to now, she remains in the forefront of my heart.

6. on 28 Apr 2011 at 8:15 pm6Akhbar Quddus Cumming

   In addition to my post above I wanted to add that you can see Iman in action in the movie “Woodstock” very briefly, wearing white as a nurse in the tent for first aid. She is gone in a blink but if you are careful you can notice her, she looks at the camera and keeps moving off into the tent, busy as ever, on a mission. But she was there, … alive, … in the picture, … and this is how her life was, … contributing, caring, doing the real work of the message.

7. on 03 Oct 2011 at 9:22 pm7Carol Sill

   I just saw the 1980 Merchant-Ivory film “Jane Austen in Manhattan” which includes Iman and the New York group. It made me fondly remember her, even though those scenes aren’t exactly right. She was a powerful force in the Sufi work.

8. on 01 Nov 2011 at 1:28 pm8rifaat

   I remember in 1979, Iman posting a countdown;
   ’13 more Shahabuddin-less days.
   To be followed by, Shahabbuddin Less days!
   12 more…
   11 more…
   10 more…’ …
   I also remember riding down to her funerary launch with Shems Friedlander. Salik and Betul. Shems was saying,
   “I always assumed I would have another fifty years to argue with Iman.”
   I concluded that Iman left to be Shamcher’s secretary. His
   taking the cap off a volcano (St. Helen’s) seemed a bit much to me, but Shamcher and Iman never let appearences deter them from anything.
   I still have a cassette of her singing a zikr/ ilahi, and the
   ‘Jane Austin’ DVD with Iman, Sufi dancing with Salik, Betul, Mussawir, Khalissa and if I’m not mistaken, John Farrell!

   All Blessings, my dear Sister. That your ashes are in the wall of Murshids’ tomb is the perfect metaphor for your life and your legacy. Bodhi svaha!

   Selams,
   Haji rifaat al-Halveti, al-Jerrahi

9. on 24 Feb 2012 at 4:02 am9Christopher Vizet

   Iman, Iman was a second Mother to me. Living with Iman at the Kankah from age 6 to 10 I spent many hours with her and went on quite a few trips to various Sufi camps. Iman was the purest most loving woman. Her love was tangible and touched me deeply. She cared for me and helped guide me through many moments. She fed me and stood up for me . She was the secretary and keeper of the thread that kept the Khankah together in my opinion. She watched over all and kept people straight. Not to say she lorded over them she just did not allow unjustness to prevail. I enjoyed speaking with Iman and occasionally her lovely sister Siddiqi. I have many stories but this one I will share as it surprised me, although she was full of surprises. One time when I was about eleven we went to Sufi camp in Canada. I went with some Sufi friends of ours Elizabeth and Richard. It was a tumultuous border crossing but I arrived with a hand written letter stating I was going with permission and not being kidnapped. Iman was already there staying in a Ladies only cabin. She suggested I pitch my canvas pup tent outside. I did. A few days went by and I shared some meals with her. It started to rain and my tent sagged and leaked. I made no complaint, as night approached Iman came to my tent and invited me to sleep in an extra bunk in the ladies cabin. I was surprised and delighted at staying in a warm cabin with a mattress and a roof. I gathered my things and entered. A woman immediately got up and voiced her displeasure to Iman that I was a man and this was a ladies only cabin. Iman said something kind and the woman got upset and said something unpleasant about the nature of men or something.
   Iman became fierce like a fire erupting and said he is a child not a man, he is sweet and innocent and no threat to you or any women here. She said more but I really don’t remember. Her strength was such the woman apologized and said no more. I was truly a child, her kind words and the shelter and warmth she gave me were so powerful and meant the world to me.
   I will always remember Iman as beautiful a woman and a powerful Sufi. Her light abounds in the universe and her love fills my heart.
   Blessing to all.
   Christopher

10. on 10 Oct 2012 at 11:53 pm10Iman Martel

    Iman Kiss was my dear friend. She looked after me when I was a child and was always very welcoming and kind. I remember watching her dance at universal worship and thinking that she was the most beautiful dancer that I ever saw. I miss her presence in this world. I am so glad that she touched the lives of many.

    Love from Iman Martel

11. on 15 Nov 2015 at 2:54 am11Wajida Deborah Novak

    I had the good fortune of meeting Iman at the Summer Camp at Sommet Bucher in the mid-70’s. Her heart quality simply encompassed everything and everyone. I felt such magic when around her. Her presence helped my practice greatly. I remember the day when we were walking from Les Tines to the town of Chamonix; a church along the way was open. I had fallen behind the group, and when I reached the church, I heard her singing. She had spread her shawl on the altar, and lit candles for Universal Worship. We had an entire service without an angry priest appearing!

12. on 09 Dec 2015 at 5:51 pm12Amir O'Loughlin

    When I received bayat from Shahabuddin in 1979 at a Canada Camp, he blessed me with initiation and then passed me over to Iman to be shown the practices he was prescribing. Part of me was thinking “my teacher can’t take a moment to show me the pratices, he’s going to get his SECRETARY to do it?!”. But within moments with Iman, I knew I was receiving another deep and strong initiation from God through an incredible being. She impressed me so much in the short time we had together that my second daughter is named after her, so that should tell you something of the effect she had on me. As Subhan says, she was a ‘real Sufi’, unpretentious, not a slave of political correctness, and a true human being who expressed herself in raw and beautiful magnetism. I thank everyone who is sharing stories of Iman, which confirm everything I’ve always felt in the invisible relationship with her that I have carried.

13. on 27 Jan 2018 at 6:58 pm13Colleen Ameena Vest

    Dear-heart Iman was one of my dearest friends since the early
    1970s. She is in my heart always and often I feel her tenderness.

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