Irina Tweedie

Irina Tweedie (1907, Russia - August 1999) 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. In 1961 she met her spiritual master, Radha Mohan Lal, a Hindu Sufi Sheikh from the Naqshbandiyya-Mujadiddiya Sufi Order, whom she called Bhai Sahib (Elder Brother). She became the first Western woman to be trained in this Naqshbandi system. Bhai Sahib asked her to keep a diary of her spiritual training, which later became the book Daughter of Fire.

After his death in 1966, she returned to England where she started a Sufi meditation group in North London. Gradually the group spread throughout Europe and North America. Irina Tweedie retired in 1992 after having named Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee as her successor.

Books

*"The Chasm of Fire: A Woman's Experience With the Teachings of a Sufi Master". Element Books, 1993.
*"Daughter of Fire: A Diary of a Spiritual Training with a Sufi Master". The Golden Sufi Center, 1995.

References