Customer Reviews

Among the Dervishes

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This book is about a Scottish seeker of truth traveling to find some Sufis to study with, where he went, and what he learned along the way. The book is pleasant and easy to read. It has a lot of little insights folded into its pages. I found, for instance, it to humerous when Burke simply asks people in the town if there are any Sufis and they soon meet him, while others who are trying to find the right secret handshake, hidden center, or pass word fail. When he asks why, they simply say, "Sincerity opens many doors." I also found chapter 8 interesting in that it talks about Jesus in Kashmir, India. This is a story that I have bumped into many times. Gurdjieff mentioned this story. One of my friends traveled in India, met the Kashmiris, and was shown a book that Jesus left behind in Sanskrit for them to read. Since then I have found other books that mention this story of Jesus traveling to Kashmir. This book was, at the time, the third time I heard this story mentioned. It is interesting that Jesus, burned out on the violence of the Middle East, decides to teach the Kashmiris the "ring dance" in order to promote harmony within a village. While this book is not really enough to learn Sufism by itself, it is worthwhile to read to get a living feel about the Sufis and how they work with people. I would not recommend this book to be the first one that one reads about Sufism. Instead I would recommend THE SUFIS and THE WAY OF THE SUFI by Idies Shah (all the books by Idries Shah I feel are worth reading, but these two are more scholarly and historical).

This is an extremely enjoyable travelogue to remote outposts of Asian and Middle Eastern Sufism. As did another reviewer, I have some doubts as to the veracity of all of the anecdotes, and am suspicious that there is a hidden agenda to promote a somewhat cultish attitude towards the late Idries Shah.

That notwithstanding, the book is entertaining from start to finish, and provides glimpses into a world that is alternately attractive and menacing. (By the way, the incidents described in this book took place several decades ago, so the book will not necessarily provide insights into current events or current happenings within Sufism or the Islamic world.) Author O.M. Burke is an intelligent but pleasantly naive traveler, anticipating many of my questions and sharing many of my reactions to the unexpected twists and turns of his journey.

Idries Shah died in 1996. The latter part of his career is documented in Bashir M. Dervish's JOURNEYS WITH A SUFI MASTER. AMONG THE DERVISHES is about the early days. Both are unusual travel books, because in both cases the travels are orchestrated by well placed Sufis and the books written more to take the reader on a journey than to either tell about a journey or Sufism. Idries Shah's son, Tahir Shah, is writing similar books, the most recent: TRAIL OF FEATHERS.

I just finished reading this book an hour ago, so with a very fresh memory I can recommend it, but only with a considerable caveat. It is a well written and very easy-to-read travellogue which can serve as a pleasant diversion or as a very superficial introduction to some selected basics of Sufi history & teachings. If it is indeed a true traveller's account then it is the product of some remarkable journeys. But somehow the travel account aspect of the book --& particularly the author's revealed persona --seemed far too glib & intellectual to be "real" for me and at the end I could only conclude that "Among the dervishes" was written primarily to serve a hidden function [product placement], namely promoting the "school", personality & teachings of Idries Shah. And as such should probably be taken with a major grain of salt.
If you know nothing about Sufism and want something light & breezy to whet your curiousity, then this is probably as good a book as any to start with. But if you want to really get to grips with Sufi history & teachings then you will have to dig much further [Anne Marie Schimmel's "Mystical Dimensions of Islam"; J.S. Trimingham's "The Sufi Orders in islam"; A. Bennigsen & S.E. Wimbush "Mysitcs & Commissars", etc. Note that Schimmel remarks --in "Mystical Dimensions" that "Idries Shah...should be avoided by serious students" (footnote, page 9)]