Volume 1926 I in the Complete Works of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan presents the lectures he gave in America during his last visit there, from December 1925 through March 1926. These lectures were exceptionally long and full, and represent a culmination of his public teaching, just as the last Summer School in Suresnes which followed contains the culmination of his esoteric teaching. He began the tour with a long stay in New York, then proceeded to Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. This volume is the first of two to cover the tour, as the lectures are exceptionally long and the whole tour could not be presented in a single volume. They were all taken down by his secretary Kismat Stam in shorthand, but she soon wrote them out in longhand as well, so our record of the lectures is strong. Many of these lectures have never before been published, and will provide a rich trove for those interested in the details of Inayat Khan's Sufi teaching. They also, by indirection, provide a colorful picture of the tumultuous spirituality of the Americans of that day, whom he was addressing. All in all, it is a most impressive and varied collection of teachings.

Hazrat Inayat Khan, founder of the Sufi Order International, came to the West as a representative of the highest musical traditions of his native India, and brought with him a message of love, harmony and beauty that was both the quintessence of Sufi teaching and a revolutionary approach to the harmonizing of Western and Eastern spirituality. He dedicated his early life to the mastery of subtle intricacies of classical Indian music, winning the high title of Tansen from the Nizam of Hyderabad, a powerful ruler and renowned patron of the musical arts.

In fulfillment of his quest for a spiritual teacher, Inayat Khan took initiation from Shaykh al-Mashaykh Sayed Muhammed Abu Hashim Madani. While he was an inititator of the four main Sufi lineages in India, Madani's primary connection was with the Chishti Order. At the end of his apprenticeship, Inayat Khan was enjoined by his teacher to travel to the West and harmonize the two cultures.

On September 13 of 1910 Inayat Khan began an odyssey which would encompass three continents, and transform the lives of thousands. He eventually settled in Suresnes, a suburb of Paris. During his sixteen years in the West, he created a school of spiritual training based upon the traditional teachings of the Chishti Sufis, and infused with a revolutionary vision of the unity of religious ideals and the awakening of humanity to the divinity within.

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