The Sufis

Through lack of information, misunderstanding and cultural prejudice, the words 'Sufi' and 'dervish' have acquired strange associations in the West, where they're likely to conjure up images of wild-eyed ragamuffins or whirling fanatics. Idries Shah's compelling book THE SUFIS shows this to be not only erroneous but unfortunate, because the world into which it gives a tantalizing glimpse is one of unsuspected sophistication, breadth and relevance to the human condition. With deft scholarship and eloquent prose, Shah shows Sufism to be nothing like what one might expect - not a religious cult, nor a political movement, nor a collection of vague-minded idealists. Instead it emerges as a body of men and women who see themselves as engaged in the practical task of unlocking the hidden potential of the human being and guiding it to completion, both on an individual and a societal level. The way in which they do this, they say, is tailored to local needs and conditions and thus varies from epoch to epoch and from culture to culture, as well as from individual to individual - something that has confused scholars no end and given rise to much misunderstanding. This has been exacerbated by a profusion of imitators, many of them well-meaning but misguided. Sufism seems to have achieved an understanding of the human mind that goes far beyond that of modern psychology, many of whose tenets - e.g., conditioning and the unconscious - it anticipated by centuries. Its influence on the world has been enormous, though not widely known. In the West alone, Sufism lies behind a host of diverse cultural heirlooms, ranging from Freemasonry to alchemy to the Kabala, and had a profound impact on such thinkers as Roger Bacon, Paracelsus and St. Francis of Assisi. While many of these examples have been well-documented by individual scholars operating in various fields, the information has been scattered here and there like broken fragments. In THE SUFIS, Shah combines these pieces with a wealth of other information to form a picture of a fascinating society of people, still very much alive and kicking, that since ancient times has had a profound affect on mankind. A fitting introduction to Shah's many other excellent books, it is one the reader is unlikely to ever forget. I know that I certainly won't.

The most comprehensive book on the subject available in our culture. Has chapters on Classical authors such as Attar and Rumi. Also, the amazing Mulla Nasrudin; whose antics, jokes, and quibs have helped to inspire and instruct for centuries. Yet this is not an historical book or an academic one, but real, live Sufi teaching and instructional material, designed for contemporary culture. Never boring, often challenging, The Sufis sheds light on organizations and people who have throughout history, come and gone, leaving only the empty husk. I especially enjoyed the Seeker After Knowledge chapter, a teaching narrative that memorably illustrates deficiencies in our approaches to knowledge.

If there is any book that can teach you all that you need to learn in the study of Sufism, it's this book. Although its major theme is to describe the course of the influence of Sufi ideas on the western world from ancient to modern times, it also delineates the path of a student of this knowledge. The mistakes of the beginner and the remedies for change may all be found: this, however, only over the passing of time, the renewal of the book, and certain other conditions, which bit by bit become apparent to the gradually shifted apprehension, and to which the text refers.

Terry W. Williams, Ph.D., Del Mar, CA. Idries Shah's The Sufis, first published in 1964, is the seminal work of this famous Afghan author and a first-of-its-kind modern statement on Sufism. A famous Sufi once said, "Previously Sufism was a reality without a name. Now it's a name without a reality." One meaning of this saying is that there was a time when the science and procedures of learning the meaning of mankind's existence was clearly understood and formed an essential part of human life. However, that meaning has been lost by humanity and only the name remains. In The Sufis, Idries Shah has made a monumental contribution to bringing this precious meaning back into the life stream of humanity. This book, written after years of travel, research, and collection of an amazingly diverse array of materials, presents the reader with a series of startling revelations concerning the basis of the knowledge structure of Western and Eastern thought. The idea of an advanced knowledge in the custody of, for the most part, unknown and mysterious people with strange powers, may seem at first glance to be an absurdity. The idea that the unified knowledge of the Sufis concerning the developmental and evolutionary potential of mankind influenced or lay behind the organization and theories such as those of Chivalry, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila, Roger Bacon, Geber, Hindu Vendantist teachings, the Troubadours, in Shakespeare, the Rosicrucians, the techniques of Japanese Zen, in Chaucer - to name only a few - is sure to clash with the conditioned thinking inculcated by submersion in conventional thought and maintained by our environment. In the book, Shah states: "Sufism, in one definition, is human life. Occult and metaphysical powers are largely incidental, though they may play their part in the process, if not in personal prominence or satisfaction. It is axiomatic that the attempt to become a Sufi through a desire for personal power as normally understood will not succeed. Only the search for truth is valid, the desire for wisdom the motive. The method is assimilation, not study." "The Sufi life can be lived at any time, in any place. It does not require withdrawal from the world, or organized movements, or dogma. It is coterminous with the existence of humanity. It cannot, therefore, accurately be termed an Eastern system. It has profoundly influenced both the East and the very bases of the Western civilization in which many of us live - the mixture of Christian, Jewish, Moslem and Near Eastern or Mediterranean heritage commonly called `Western.' Mankind, according to the Sufis, is infinitely perfectable. The perfection comes about through attunement with the whole of existence. Physical and spiritual life meet, but only when there is a complete balance between them. Systems which teach withdrawal from the world are regarded as unbalanced." "When, and where, did the Sufi way of thinking start? This is, to most Sufis, slightly irrelevant

Sufism is not a religion (if by that we refer to organized groups with prescribed methods of ritual and dogma) because Sufism is the shedding of one's externals, the releasing of the True Self from the Commanding Self. It is the purification of the soul through seven stages, largely centered around (but not necessarily restricted to) esoteric interpretations of the Qu'ran, the Holy Book of Islam. Idries Shah's work is based upon his lifetime experience, having been raised as a dervish (a student of Sufism) and ultimately becoming a Grand Sheikh, like his father before him (the recently deceased author's lineage was legitimately traced as far back as the Prophet Mohammed). Hailed internationally as a master and scholar, he was a guest lecturer at several Universities, including Stanford, as well as a visiting professor at Geneva. First published in 1964, THE SUFIS is Idries Shah's classic and most expansive work. It brings to light the wonders of a highly misunderstood international society first established in the East, whose influence in the West remains largely unknown, while its true birth remains concealed beneath the veils of space and time.