Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan was the sister of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, the daughter of Hazrat Inayat Khan. Her mother, Ora Ray Baker, was a cousin of Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Christian Science movement.

Noor-un-Nisa Inayat Khan served in the French Resistance as a radio operator. She was a vital link between the British war office and the French Underground and her heroic services were instrumental during the landing at Normandy. Minutes before she would have flown to safety, she was arrested by the Gestapo, imprisoned, escaped, and then recaptured. She was then subjected to torture, starvation, repeated beatings, and humiliation for nearly a year, until taken to the concentration camp at Dachau, where she was shot and consigned to the crematorium. Her story is told in the book, A Man Called Intrepid, where she is referred to by her code name, Madelaine. The French government decorated her posthumously for her bravery in the face of the Nazi attack.