Irina Tweedie

Who was Irina Tweedie?

Irina Tweedie was a Teacher of the Naqshbandiyya- Mujadiddiya Sufi Order.

Born in Russia and studied in Vienna and Paris, Irina Tweedie married a British naval officer after the Second World War, who then died in 1954. His death launched her on a spiritual quest that led her to India in 1959. There she met her spiritual master, whom she called Bhai Sahib. She became the first Western woman to be trained in this Naqshbandi system.

Her teacher's first request of her was to keep a complete diary of her spiritual training—everything, all the difficult parts, even all the doubts. He predicted that one day it would become a book and would benefit people around the world. Indeed it became the book, Daughter of Fire: A Diary of a Spiritual Training with a Sufi Master.

This diary spans five years. It is an account of a spiritual training with a Sufi Master and is the most detailed account of the relationship between disciple and teacher that exists in Western Literature. The book is written in diary form. From a psychological viewpoint, the diary maps the process of ego dissolution, gradually unveiling the openness and love that reside beneath the surface of the personality.