Pir Moineddin Jablonski

Pir Moineddin Carl Jablonski (January 1, 1942 – February 27, 2001) was the first spiritual successor of Murshid Samuel L. Lewis, known to his students as Murshid SAM, and he guided our lineage — then incorporated as the Sufi Islamia Ruhaniat Society, today the Sufi Ruhaniat International — for thirty years, from 1971 until his passing. Those who wrote of his life remembered that his "Midwest upbringing laid a foundation that made strangers feel like friends." Like many seekers of his generation he was first drawn to Zen, and it was through Murshid SAM's early public teaching in the Zen tradition that the two met in San Francisco in the mid-1960s. He and his wife Fatima were among Murshid SAM's early disciples, moving into the khankah in Novato, California in November 1968.

Murshid Samuel Lewis designated Moineddin as his spiritual successor from among his disciples, and when Murshid SAM died in January 1971, Moineddin assumed leadership of the young community at the age of twenty-nine. Under his care, what began as a circle of roughly 150 people grew into a worldwide network of Sufi communities across more than forty states and in countries from the United Kingdom and Russia to Brazil, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand — carried by spiritual practice, the Dances of Universal Peace, the healing work, and conscious community life.

His leadership met the hard questions of spiritual authority and accountability that faced many communities born of the 1960s and 70s. In 1977 he shepherded the individuation of the Ruhaniat from the Sufi Order International, affirming Murshid SAM's conviction that the living relationship between mureed and guide matters more than organizational rule. In the early 1980s he instituted ethical guidelines and an ethics procedure, and required every initiator to have an active supervisor or "check-in" person — measures controversial at the time and later adopted by many spiritual groups. He deliberately decentralized leadership beyond the San Francisco Bay Area, and with Pir Hidayat Inayat Khan he helped cultivate the Federation of the Sufi Message, joining the family of lineages descended from Hazrat Inayat Khan. His spirit of shared leadership lives in an aphorism from his collection Job's Tears: "I am not Murshid; we are Murshid. I do not have all the answers; we may have the answers."

Moineddin carried this work through decades of grave illness. After complete kidney failure and several years of thrice-weekly hemodialysis, he received a kidney transplant in February 1981, moved that summer to Maui to rejuvenate body, mind, and spirit, and there married Mei-Ling Chang of Ha'iku, whose love sustained his healing. A second transplant some ten years later carried him further. Frail but determined, he kept giving counsel, teaching meditative practice, and helping people uncomplicate their lives with humor, truthful feedback, and what friends called his "don't tell me, show me" attitude.

Among his lasting gifts is SoulWork, a psychospiritual counseling approach he developed from the roots of Murshid Samuel Lewis, the Rev. Frida Waterhouse, and Hazrat Inayat Khan — work that helps a person heal their wounds and unite the struggling identities within, and which continues in the Ruhaniat today. He also completed commentaries on Hazrat Inayat Khan's "Moral Culture" papers and on "Instructions for the Pir," a commentary begun by Murshid SAM, writing there that the Pir "does have to become a stream of love." His poetry collections Job's Tears and The Color of Her Hair were published in 2007 as The Gift of Life, and a rich selection of his autobiographical writings, letters, poems, and interviews appeared in 2016 as Illuminating the Shadow: The Life, Love and Laughter of a 20th Century Sufi, edited by Saadi Neil Douglas-Klotz.

In 1995 Moineddin founded the Southwest Sufi Community near Silver City, New Mexico — a land-based community embracing Khankah Noor Inayat, the Voice of the Turtle Retreat Center, and the Bear Creek Nature Preserve — fulfilling Murshid SAM's vision: "Eat, dance, and pray together and you will bring peace to the world." He passed from this world on February 27, 2001, after several weeks of illness, while friends and family around the world held vigil. By his appointment, Pir Shabda Kahn succeeded him as Pir of the Sufi Ruhaniat International. In one of his letters he left this counsel: "Deepen your compassion. Love the wounded places in you that need healing. Open yourself to the grace of illumination. Give freely of your joy. Share your neighbor's burden. Through all these avenues, discover your soul."