Idries Shah

Mulla Nasrudin, the wise fool of Eastern folklore, holds a special place in Sufi studies. The Sufis, who believe that deep intuition is the only real guide to knowledge, use the humorous stories of Nasrudin's adventures almost like exercises in Eastern thought. The Sufis ask people to choose a few which especially appeal to them, and turn them over in their mind, making them their own. Sufi teaching masters say that in this way a breakthrough into a higher wisdom can be effected. A single story can work on many levels, from great humour to initiating profound thought. Idries Shah's collection of Nasrudin tales is an excellent introduction to Sufi thought and Eastern philosophy.

Mulla Nasrudin, the wise fool of Eastern folklore, holds a special place in Sufi studies. The Sufis, who believe that deep intuition is the only real guide to knowledge, use the humorous stories of Nasrudin's adventures almost like exercises in Eastern thought. The Sufis ask people to choose a few which especially appeal to them, and turn them over in their mind, making them their own. Sufi teaching masters say that in this way a breakthrough into a higher wisdom can be effected. A single story can work on many levels, from great humour to initiating profound thought. Idries Shah's collection of Nasrudin tales is an excellent introduction to Sufi thought and Eastern philosophy.

More information to be announced soon on this forthcoming title from Penguin USA.

Small in size, but with a powerful punch, Idries Shah's Reflections is a collection of fables, aphorisms, and statements that challenge the conditioned mind. The book confronts the reader with unaccustomed perspectives and ideas, in an attempt to set the mind free, to see how things really are. As the book's foreword states, 'Do you imagine that fables exist only to amuse or to instruct, and are based upon fiction? The best ones are delineations of what happens in real life, in the community and in the individual's mental processes'.

The Sufis is the best introduction ever written to the philosophical and mystical school traditionally associated with the Islamic world. Powerful, concise, and intensely thought-provoking, it sums up over a thousand years of Eastern thought - the product of some of the greatest minds humanity has ever produced - into a single work, presenting timeless ideas in a fresh and contemporary style. When the book was originally published in 1964, it launched its author, Idries Shah, on to the international stage, attracting the attention of thinkers and writers such as J. D. Salinger, Doris Lessing, Ted Hughes and Robert Graves. It introduced to the Western world concepts which have subsequently become commonly accepted, varying from the psychological importance of attention and humour, to the use of traditional tales as teaching instruments (what Shah termed 'teaching-stories'), and the historical debt owed by the West to the Middle East in matters scientific, literary and philosophical. As a primer for the many dozens of Sufi books that Shah later produced, it is unsurpassed, offering a clear window onto a community whose system of thought and action has long concerned itself with the advancement of the whole of humankind, and whose ideas about individuals and society, their purpose and direction, need to be understood now more than ever before.

The appeal of Nasrudin is as universal and timeless as the truths he illustrates. His stories are read by children, by scientists and scholars, and by followers of philosophy. Idries Shah assembled this collection of Nasrudin's trials and tribulations from ancient manuscripts and oral literature, from sources in North Africa and Turkey, the Middle East and Central Asia. Many were known to the great Sufi masters, Rumi, Jami, and Attar the chemist.

<p>"The Way of the Sufi presents an unparalleled cross-section of material from Sufi schools, teachings and classical writings, as a basic course of Sufi study. Its author, Idries Shah, is regarded as the most influential modern exponent of Sufi ideas. His many books on the subject seek to make some of the Eastern world's greatest teachings accessible to a Western audience. In this book, Shah begins with the outward aspects of the teaching most likely to puzzle the student coming fresh to the subject. He considers various attitudes to Sufi ideas, and evidence of their absorption into medieval Christianity, Hinduism, Jewish mysticism and modern philosophical teachings. The greater part of the book illuminates aspects of Sufi activity and practice relevant to the contemporary world.</p> <p>" --</p> The Way of the Sufi presents an unparalleled cross-section of material from Sufi schools, teachings and classical writings, as a basic course of Sufi study.

**A collection of entertaining Sufi anecdotes and "parables in action" from the Middle East and Central Asia illustrating the practical and lucid approach of Eastern dervish teachers.** *Thinkers of the East* is a collection of short but potent teaching stories distilled from the guidance of more than one hundred sages in three continents. The recorded narratives ranging from dialogues, to fables, to conversations, to legends, stresses the experiential impact of Sufi knowledge in living situations. As the book's subtitle, 'Studies in Experientialism' suggests, these tales illustrate Sufi thinking in action, rather than in abstract theory. The stories were arranged partly with this in mind by the author to counteract the Western idea of the East as a place of convoluted spiritual and philosophical theory without tangible practice. As Idries Shah himself said, "Without direct experience of such teaching, or at least a direct recording of it, I cannot see how Eastern thought can ever be understood." *Thinkers of the East* is a book of enormous breadth and depth, the impact and vitality of which reflect the Sufi emphasis on the human illuminate's action upon the world.

**AMERICAN EDITION** **Because what narrow thinkers imagine to be ‘wisdom’ is often seen by the Sufis to be folly compared with deeper knowledge, the Sufis sometimes refer to themselves as ‘the Idiots.’** *Wisdom of the Idiots* is a collection of lively and intriguing stories, narratives, and anecdotes, which illustrate the experiential philosophy used in Sufi teaching. These ancient fables from the Middle East and Central Asia, many going back several hundred years, exemplify the non-linear and intuitive thinking styles of the masters of Sufism. This type of wisdom, which transcends the limits of conventional logic,is also equated with ‘idiots’ because it penetrates to a depth that is inaccessible to the merely intelligent or academically-knowledgeable. Shah’s stories contain several levels of meaning and work like psychological mirrors in which readers may see themselves and Reality reflected, and come to understand these better. *Wisdom of the Idiots* was awarded many prizes, including two gold medals, one for ‘Best Book’ in conjunction with UNESCO’s World Book Year.