Musharaff Moulamia Khan

Who was Musharaff Moulamia Khan?

Musharaff Moulamia Khan was born in Baroda on 6 September 1895 and died in Hague in 30 November 1967. Не was the youngest brother of Hazrat Inayat Khan family, and shared his delight in music. While in his teens he had just come to Calcutta to study and be under the influence of his brother when Inayat was called away to America, and Musharaff was left alone. Within a year, however, he also journeyed to the west, where he joined Inayat and became one of 'The Royal Musicians of Hindustan.'

In the west, Musharaff took up the western method of vocal production and developed a strong tenor voice. To adapt to western business ways and make a career of music, though, was not so easy. In the words of Hazrat Inayat, "After many years of his stay in the West, Musharaff kept to the East just the same, in his way of looking at things and especially in living in eternity."

Musharaff was married twice, once to Savitri van Rossum du Chattel, who died in India in 1946, and a second time, to Shahzadi de Koningh, with whom he lived in The Hague and who survived his death in 1967.

On the death of Pir-o-Murshid Ali Khan in 1958, Pir-o-Murshid Musharaff assumed the leadership of the Sufi Movement, and served the great ideal of the Message with all his heart. He is remembered as simple, unpretentious, sympathetic to all and a source of comfort and hope.