Donald A. Sharif Graham
Donald A. Sharif Graham grew up in Arizona in the United States. He studied at Yale University and the University of California at Berkeley. He became a professor of Literature and Comparative Religion, first at the University of Arizona and then at Pima College. He began studying Sufism when he first encountered Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan in 1970. He has worked closely with Pir Vilayat on several of his books, and also edited books of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan. In 1982 he visited the archive of the Biographical Department in Suresnes, France, and from that time began working on The Complete Works of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan every summer. In 1998 he moved to Suresnes to work full time on The Complete Works, the seventh volume of which was recently completed. He has given seminars in many places about Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan and his teachings. He can be reached at:
Further Contact Information:
34, rue de la Tuilerie
92150 Suresnes, FRANCE
tel: (33)(0)1 41 38 25 56
fax: (33)(0)1 45 06 28 73
Berthi van der Bent
Hamel Berthi van der Bent Hamel was invited by the founding editor - Munira van Voorst van Beest - of The Complete Works of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan in 1990 to assist with the work of the Biographical Department in Suresnes, France, due to Berthi's background in sacred textwork and facility with various languages. Previously, in 1982 Berthi attended Pir Vilayat's groundlaying of the Universel Sanctuary in Suresnes and later the dedication; she is also a Cheraga, a member of the Sufi Healing order, a Representative and she frequents the Abode of the Message, a Sufi community in upstate New York. Berthi's current task at the Biographical Department of the Nekbakht Foundation is to retranscribe the shorthand of Hazrat Inayat Khan's discourses, word for word, as spoken in the 1920's. This shorthand, as taken down originally by Sakina Furnée, is the Pont system - a Dutch-English sound system. Any and every type of editing in the shorthand appears in the footnotes. However, if the speaker rephrased a train of thought, or repeated himself-these words are now left in the text, according to Hazrat Inayat Khan's explicit directive: "If you will preserve my words as I have spoken, it will be as saving my life."
Berthi carries dual citizenship. She was born and raised in Hilversum, The Netherlands; private education for primary and secondary schools, along with music institute education. World War II (brothers hiding, deprivations) precipitated the family's immigration to the United States after the war. Followed by marriage in Boston, then living overseas with a daughter and son also; first personal Sufi contact in Turkey. Berthi's undergraduate degree is in nursing - she taught at an associate degree program; received a Master's of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary. As a pastor of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) she was called to an ecumenical ministry with the destitute by the Dominican Sisters in the South Bronx (New York City). She served in leading functions in other ministries to the Homeless and Shut-Ins with AIDS in New York City, as well as in the Pocono Mountains. While living approximately 30 years on the Bangor Mountain in the Poconos (Pennsylvania), Berthi has cultivated and interacted (now a Boardmember Emerita) with Columcille, a Celtic Christian counterpart to Iona (Scotland). Currently and over the past several years, together with the Kirkridge Retreat Center (Bangor Mountain), Berthi has facilitated seminars for Interfaith Dialogue with neighbouring international religious centres.