Ora Ray "Ameena Begum" Baker

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirani_Ameena_Begum

Ameena Begum (Hindustani: अमीरा बेगम / امیرآ بےگم) (born Ora Ray Baker; 8 May 1892 – 1 May 1949)[1] was the wife of Sufi Master Inayat Khan[2] and the mother of their four children Noor-un-Nisa (1914), Vilayat (1916), Hidayat(1917) and Khair-un-Nisa (1919).[3] The family settled in Suresnes, near Paris. She left a collection of 101 poems called "A Rosary of one hundred and one beads". Some poems were lost in the war of 1940 but 54 have been preserved and were published in 1998.

Hidayat Inayat Khan wrote: "In 1926, Hazrat Inayat Khan gave my Mother an exceptional initiation as "Pirani", which was only to be given to her. That special initiation was not to be given to any one else in the Sufi Movement, either in the present or in the future".[4] Hazrat Inayat Khan said in his Autobiography that without Ameena Begum's help he would never have been able to bring his Sufi Message to the Western world.

Ameena Begum (Hindustani: अमीरा बेगम / امیرآ بےگم) (born Ora Ray Baker; 8 May 1892 – 1 May 1949) was the wife of Sufi Master Inayat Khan[2] and the mother of their four children Noor-un-Nisa (1914), Vilayat (1916), Hidayat (1917) and Khair-un-Nisa (1919). The family settled in Suresnes, near Paris. She left a collection of 101 poems called "A Rosary of one hundred and one beads". Some poems were lost in the war of 1940 but 54 have been preserved and were published in 1998.

Hidayat Inayat Khan wrote: "In 1926, Hazrat Inayat Khan gave my Mother an exceptional initiation as "Pirani", which was only to be given to her. That special initiation was not to be given to any one else in the Sufi Movement, either in the present or in the future". Hazrat Inayat Khan said in his Autobiography that without Ameena Begum's help he would never have been able to bring his Sufi Message to the Western world.

Articles and poetry

Women's Seclusion in the East, by Amina Begum Inayat Khan. "The Sufi" magazine No. 3 Vol. I, Sept. 1915

Poems from Thy Rosary of a Hundred Beads, a collection of poems written by 'Sharda, Pirani Ameena Begum Ora-Ray Inayat Khan'. "Caravanseari" magazine (Canada) November 1988 pp. 31–34

Poems from Thy Rosary of a Hundred Beads by 'Sharda, Pirani Ameena Begum Ora-Ray Inayat Khan'. Published in book of Hidayat Inayat Khan "Once upon a time..." Groningen (Netherlands) 1998 pp. 53–87

Rosary of a Hundred Beads 'Sharda' to 'Daya by Pirani Ameena Begum Ora Ray Baker. Published by Petama books (Zurich) ISBN 978-3-907643-03-7, paperback, 64 p.