Easter Retreat 2025 with Pir Zia

Symbiosis: The Intertwining of Lives, Loves, and Lights

Discourse, Meditation, Music and Universal Worship w/ Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Holy Thursday until Easter Monday, April 17th to April 21st, 2025

In-Person & Online via Zoom

„Is the survival of the fittest the engine that drives evolution? Such was the supposition of science for many decades. Increasingly, however, attention is being paid to symbiosis: the way in which organisms work together and benefit each other.

In this spring retreat, we will explore the mutuality that exists between Creator and creation, soul and body, planet and person, and two friends. Through prayer, meditation, and invocation, we will sanctify and energize the symbioses at the heart of our lives and of the world.“ – Pir Zia Inayat Khan

The Easter Retreat will take place in the Stadthalle Gersfeld (in person) – alternatively you can participate live via Zoom (online). In addition, the entire retreat will be recorded and published as a video. You can therefore take part in the retreat in real time or at any time you wish.

Seminar fees:

Suggested Tuition: 315 €
Discounted Tuition (low income): 215 €
Early bird discount until March 1st, 2025: minus 20 € on all prices
Further reductions are available on request.

Program (Times are CET)

Thursday, April 17th

9.30 – 11.00 am: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
11.30 am – 12.30 pm: Exercises for the retreat with Zumurrud Butta
Lunch break
3.00 – 4.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
5.00 – 6.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan

Friday, April 18th (in Silence)

7.00 – 8.00 am: Early morning meditation with Zumurrud Butta
Break
9.30 – 11.00 am: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
11.30 am – 12.30 pm: Exercises for the retreat with Zumurrud Butta
Lunch break
3.00 – 4.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
5.00 – 6.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
8.00 pm: Concert

Saturday, April 19th (in Silence)

7.00 – 8.00 am: Early morning meditation with Zumurrud Butta
Break
9.30 – 11.00 am: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
11.30 am – 12.30 pm: Exercises for the retreat with Zumurrud Butta
Lunch break
3.00 – 4.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
5.00 – 6.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
8.00 pm: Zikr evening

Sunday, April 20th

7.00 – 8.00 am: Early morning meditation with Zumurrud Butta
Break
9.30 – 11.00 am: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
11.30 am – 12.30 pm: Exercises for the retreat with Zumurrud Butta
Lunch break
3.00 – 4.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Break
5.00 – 6.30 pm: Pir Zia Inayat Khan

Monday, April 21st

7.00 – 8.00 am: Early morning meditation with Zumurrud Butta
Break
10.00 am – 12.00 pm: Universal Worship

Accommodation:

The tourist information office in Gersfeld will be happy to help you with your search: +49 (0) 6654 – 1780
Online via www.gersfeld.de

Youth Hostel:

The youth hostel can now be booked online. Click on the “Availability” button. When booking, the available rooms (single, double, small and large multi-bed rooms) are displayed for the desired period.
Lunch and dinner (also vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, etc. possible) must be booked in advance.
There is the possibility of a subsidy of 15,-€ / night for people with low income (at the secretary’s desk in the Stadthalle on presentation of the youth hostel invoice)

Meals:

A high-quality and reasonably priced lunch buffet (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free) is provided in the Stadthalle gallery. No pre-registration required, payment on site.

For further information, please contact the seminar organizer Nura Silvia Kunkies: seminare@inayatiyya.de / Tel.: +49 (0) 5506 999 11 6

Teachers

Pir Zia Inayat Khan, PhD, is a scholar of religion and teacher of Sufism in the universalist Sufi lineage of his grandfather, Hazrat Inayat Khan. Pir Zia is president of the Inayatiyya and founder of Sulūk Academy, a school of Sufi contemplative study and practice. He is the author of Immortality: A Traveler’s Guide; Mingled Waters: Sufism and the Mystical Unity of Religions; Saracen Chivalry: Counsels on Valor, Generosity and the Mystical Quest; and the editor and compiler of Dream Flowers: The Collected Works of Noor Inayat Khan, for which he also wrote the critical introduction. Pir Zia divides his time between Richmond, Virginia and Suresnes, France. inayatiyya.org

Zumurrud Butta serves as Vice President of the Inner School of the Inayatiyya in Europe and leads the Inner School in Germany. She offers individual and group retreats and retreat guide training, has taught at Suluk Academy in North America and Europe and is serving on the Suluk Global Committee. Zumurrud teaches courses on Sufi mysticism in Europe and online, with a focus on the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Ibn ´Arabi and the female transmission of mysticism.

Mehmet Ungan is a sociologist, musician, lecturer and chairman of the board of the Oriental Music Academy in Mannheim, Germany. As a lecturer at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Mehmet Ungan teaches Islamic-mystical music. At the Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, he teaches transcultural music in social work. With his Sufi music group Hosh Neva he gives guest performances at intercultural and interreligious events all over Europe. He owes his virtuosity on his instruments Ud and Ney to his two teachers Necati Çelik and Ömer Erdogdular (pupil of the legendary Ney master Niyazi Sayin). Mehmet Ungan studied with Oruç Güvenç and for decades has dedicated his life to healing through sound.

Ophiel Maarten van Leer is a conductor, singer and music teacher with many years of experience in the fields of music and meditation. He is the Vice-President for Europe for the new Inayatiyya Music Activity. He comes from a musical family; His mother introduced him to the Sufi message. At 17, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan became his inspiring teacher. He studied conducting and school music-teaching in Utrecht. For many years he has led seminars in ensemble singing, musical improvisation and meditation. He teaches music at a Rudolf Steiner School and directs various choirs in the Rhine-Main area around Frankfurt, Germany.