Sufi principles: Noor Inayat Khan

By Darius Taraporvala - NDTV.com, Bangalore - India
Monday, July 3, 2006

London based journalist and author Shrabani Basu has chronicled the life of an Indian girl who joined the British Secret Service during World War II. Her code name was Madelaine, while her real name was Noor Inayat Khan.

She died at the hands of the Gestapo as a British spy, in 1944, in Dachau Concentration Camp, at the tender age of 30.
"First it was the courage to take on the Germans, and later in prison she had the courage to withstand brutal torture," said Shrabani Basu, author.

What is amazing about this story is that the beautiful young girl, who was brought up on Sufi principles of non-violence, decided to become a British secret agent.
She decided to do something to fight the violence that was spreading throughout the world during that period in history.

"Noor Inayat Khan, daughter of a Sufi decided against the Sufi principles that sometimes violence was called for and she had to fight against the brutality of the Nazis," said Girish Karnad, author and playwright.

"It is a very unusual kind of book, because it is connected with history. It's also connected with an Asian woman, and also an act of bravery," said Sudha Murthy, author. It was when the secret war archives were released in 2003 that the author managed to get her hands on the story of this extraordinary girl.

The book is to be made into a film, and quite appropriately it will be an Indo-British-French venture.