Noor-un-Nissa Inayat Khan (English: Noor-un-Nissa Inayat Khan, born- 1 January, 1914; martyrdom- 13 September, 1944) was a British spy of Indian origin, who spied for the Allies during World War II. Trained as Britain’s Special Operations Executive, Noor Inayat Khan was the first female wireless operator to go to Nazi-occupied France during World War II.
As an Indian princess and a British spy, Noor Inayat Khan was a descendant of Tipu Sultan, the 18th-century Muslim ruler of Mysore. She was captured by the Nazis in 1944 during World War II at the age of just 30 and was later killed.
Born on January 1, 1914 in Moscow, Noor’s full name was ‘Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan’. Her father, Hazrat Inayat Khan, was a Sufi musician and the great-grandson of Tipu Sultan. While Noor’s mother, Ora Ray, was a British woman who was raised in America. Noor’s father is credited with bringing Sufism to Western countries. Due to the First World War, Noor Inayat Khan’s family had to leave Russia and go to France. Here they settled in Paris. Here their house was named ‘Fazal Manzil’. Noor and her siblings were taught Sufism since childhood. Their father always taught them the lessons of non-violence, humanity, speaking the truth, and peace.
According to Shrabani Basu, who wrote a book on Noor Inayat Khan’s life titled ‘The Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan’ – “Noor was of a very calm nature. She was very interested in music along with reading and writing. She used to play the veena. Her first book was published at the age of 25. She wrote this book of stories for children, inspired by the Buddhist Jataka tales.”[1]
In the year 1940, when Germany occupied France, Hitler’s terror gradually started reaching Paris. Seeing the atrocities on innocent people, Noor Inayat Khan, who was brought up in Sufism, was shocked. She wanted to do something for those people where she had spent the most beautiful time of her life. Noor and her brother Vilayat decided to go to London. After coming here, Noor applied for recruitment in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. But her application was rejected by the British Army, because according to them how could they give a place in the British Army to a girl with an Indian name who had been a resident of France.
Noor Inayat Khan was not one to give up. She immediately wrote a letter to the British army and questioned them that she was the daughter of a British mother and wanted to help the country that had adopted her. If she wanted to fight against fascism, why couldn’t she work in the British army. In response to her audacity, the British government called her for an interview. Shravani Basu tells that during the interview, Noor was asked if she supported the leaders who rebelled against the British Empire in India? Noor said without hesitation that – “Today, when the war against fascism is going on all over the world, it is my duty to support Britain and America against it. But the moment this war ends, I will support my country for the freedom of India.” The British were surprised by her answer but at the same time they also understood that Noor was very courageous and also necessary for their mission. Because Noor could read and write French very well. She was selected and then her training began.[1]
In the year 1942, Noor Inayat Khan was recruited in the ‘Special Operation Executive’ organization formed by the then British Prime Minister Churchill. The job of this organization was to spy on the German army for the British while staying in France. From here Noor’s life took a new turn. All this was very new for Noor, who had always been brought up in a Sufi environment. Now she was not the daughter of the great Hazrat Inayat Khan or a princess of India, but she was just a number in the British army and here her name was ‘Nora Baker’! However, all her trainers felt that Noor was not meant to be a secret agent. Once during training, she had clearly said that she would not be able to lie. Noor Inayat Khan always learned to speak the truth, but after becoming a secret agent, everything from her name to her documents and her existence was a lie.
Training as a wireless operator was not easy for her. She would often get scared during the test. Her officers thought that Noor would not be able to do this job. But still it was decided to send her to France as a spy, because she was French-speaking and secondly she could code or decode any message very quickly. Noor always wanted to become a writer. She got the opportunity to write, but in a very different and new language. Noor Inayat Khan was sent to France in June 1943 as a radio operator for spying and her code name was ‘Madeleine’. Madeleine was the name of the heroine in a Jataka tale written by Noor Inayat Khan and the radio encryption code she used was created by Noor from one of her own poems.
Noor Inayat Khan was the first female wireless operator, because before her only men were wireless operators. However, this work was very risky. Because, the German secret police ‘Gestapo’ could easily catch these spies by identifying the electronic signals of the operator. So much so that the German army caught all the operators the very next month after reaching Paris. After this, only one transmitter was left in Paris and she was Noor Inayat Khan. The British army asked Noor to come back. But Noor refused to come back.
From June to October, Noor Inayat Khan worked alone and the messages sent by her were never wrong. Noor knew that if she sent messages from one place for 15 minutes, the German army would come to know. That is why she always went to a park after sending the message. Once when she was in the park with her transmission machine, the German soldiers stopped her and asked her what was in her briefcase? Noor could not tell the truth and lying was impossible for her. The name of her circuit was ‘Cinema’ and so she said that it was a ‘cinema showing machine’. Seeing her confidence, the German soldiers trusted her. In this way, Noor kept escaping many times by fooling the German army. But now her identity had become known to the enemies. That is why she had to change her appearance every day.[1]
In October 1943, Noor was arrested due to the betrayal of one of her colleagues. One of her colleagues revealed her secret for a few bucks and Noor Inayat Khan was caught from her apartment in Paris. However, it was not very easy for the German soldiers to arrest her. It is said that about 6 soldiers together overpowered her. She was tortured a lot in the jail as well, but Noor did not give any information. Rather, she was a very dangerous prisoner for the German officers. She tried to escape from the jail twice, however, she was caught both times. The German army made every possible effort to extract information about the British officers from her, but they could not even know her real name.
