The Way of the Sufi (Idries Shah

ISBN: 0140192522
Author: Idries Shah
Publisher: Penguin Books / Arkana (September 1991)
Pages: 320 Binding: Paperback

Description from the publisher:

Intended to illustrate something of the richness and range of Sufi ideas, this remarkable book contains extracts, verses, anecdotes, epigrams, lectures, contemplation-themes and teaching stories culled from such classical authors as Rumi, El-Ghazali and Omar Khayyam as well as sources best known to Sufis themselves.

The Way of the Sufi offers the reader an introductory course of study, beginning with a review of special problems facing the Western student. Not least of these is the fact that Sufi writings are instrumental in function rather than didactic or just literature. Most are written to meet the needs of a specific community at a particular time, rather than to be universally or perennially read.

About the Author --

As the urgency of our global situation becomes apparent, more and more readers are turning to the books of writer Idries Shah as a way to train new capacities and new ways of thinking. Shah has been described as "the most significant worker adapting classical spiritual thought to the modern world." His lively contemporary books have sold more than 15 million copies in 12 languages worldwide. They have been reviewed positively by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Times (London), The Tribune, The Telegraph, and numerous other international journals and newspapers. "The most interesting books in the English language."

Saturday Review "A major psychological and cultural event of our time."

Psychology Today "One is immediately forced to use one's mind in a new way."

New York Times The instrumental function of Shah's work is now well established among people from all walks of life. Stockbrokers, scientists, lawyers, managers, writers, physicians, and diplomats have found Shah's literature for human development "extraordinary." "It presents a blueprint of the human mental structure."

Robert Ornstein, psychologist and author "Extremely useful in teaching students about management and computers."

Thomas Malone, MIT "Idries Shah provides the unique perspective that allows us to assess real motivations and social biases in a more accurate light."

E. Neilsen, attorney at law

AN ANSWER OF JESUSSome Israelites reviled Jesus one day as he was walking through their part of town. But he answered by repeating prayers in their name.

Someone said to him: 'You prayed for these men, did you not feel incensed against them?'

He answered: 'I could spend only of what I had in my purse.'

Excerpted from The Way of the Sufi by Idries Shah: Octagon Press, London, p. 63. Copyright © 1968, 1980 by The Estate of Idries Shah. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.