ABSTRACT
The study ofIslam in America has, in general, focused on two aspects: the Islam of immigrant populations and the Islam embraced by many AfroArnericans. There is, however, a third area of the American religious scene in which Islam plays a significant role: the New Agemovement. The phenomenon that has come to be called "the New Age movement" owes much of its character to the variety of traditions and movements it has grown out of, borrowed from, or otherwise appropriated. Sufism, the mystical tradition of Islam, is one such tradition which has had a great influence on the formation and character of the New Age. In fact a study of the full scope of Sufi influences on the New Age would be a major work. Such seminal New Age figures as G. I. Gurdjieff and Oscar Ichazo, for example, had Sufi training, and there are many Sufi organizations in America today. However, this study limits itself to one particular organization, the first of its kind to come to the West and in many ways the most important: the Sufi Order in the West founded by Hazrat Inayat Khan. This organization andits teachings helped give both form and philosophy to the New Age since its beginnings in the 1960's.
