The Sufis [Paperback]

Idries Shah (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 1971

A unique and little-known religion, Sufism follows a mystical teaching and a way of life that has had an enormous though largely unrecognized impact on both the East and West for four thousand years.  This authoritative book fills a colossal gap in Western documentation of Eastern subjects.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...more extraordinary the more it is studied, because what it states about a subject which is by definition beyond verbalization." -- Doris Lessing, Encounter: Books & Writers, August 1972

"...the best introduction to the body of Shah's work...one is ... forced to use one's mind in a new way." -- Doris Lessing, New York Times Book Review, May 7, 1971

"...vastness of learning and exposition that calls to our patience - and perhaps to our loss if it calls in vain." -- Stevie Smith, The Observer, November 1, 1964

"Important historically and culturally." -- Los Angeles Times

"The book has flashes of what (without intending to define the word) I can only call illumination." -- D. J. Enright, New Statesman

"The first fully authoritative book on Sufism and the human-development system of the 'dervishes'..." -- Afghanistan News, May 1964

From the Publisher

Idries Shah's definitive work, "The Sufis", completely overturned Western misconceptions of Sufism, revealing a great spiritual and psychological tradition encompassing many of the world's greatest thinkers: Rumi, Omar Khayyam, Ibn El-Arabi, Al-Ghazzali, Saadi, Attar, Francis of Assisi and many others.

The astonishing impact of Sufism on the development of Western civilization from the seventh century is traced through the work of Roger Bacon, John of the Cross, Raymond Lully, Chaucer and others. Many of the greatest traditions, ideas and discoveries of the West are traced to the teachings and writings of Sufi masters working centuries ago.

But "The Sufis" is far more than an historical account. In the tradition of the great Sufi classics, the deeper appeal of this remarkable book is in its ability to function as an active instrument of instruction, in a way that is so clearly relevant to our time and culture.

The spiritual and psychological tradition of Sufism was regarded, before this pioneering book was published, as the preserve of ecstatic religionists and a small number of Oriental scholars, who treated it in the main as a minority cult. The false image of Sufism as a mere Islamic sect was changed so much by this book that it is now given serious attention as a psychological and mystical system of extraordinary richness and importance.

Today, studies in Sufism, notably through Shah's research and publication, are pursued in centers of higher learning throughout the world, in the fields of psychology, sociology, anthropology, and many other areas of current human concern.

"The Sufis" is the pivotal work which heralded the revelation of the astonishing richness and variety of Sufi thought and its contribution to human culture contained in Idries Shah's many books on the subject. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (January 5, 1971)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385079664
• ISBN-13: 978-0385079662
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #317,727 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

64 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most important book on Sufism ever published., January 18, 1998

By 

galaxy 33 (Del Mar, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sufis (Paperback)

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 were 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 to the work at hand. The "place" of Sufism is within humanity....' The practice of the Sufis is too sublime to have a formal beginning," says the Asrar el Qadim wa'l Qadim (Secrets of the Past and Future). But as long as one remembers that history is less important than the present and future, there is a great deal to be learned from a review of the spread of the modern Sufi trend since it branched out from the areas which were Arabized nearly fourteen hundred years ago. By a glance at this period of development, the Sufis show how and why the message of self-perfection may be carried into every conceivable kind of society, irrespective of its nominal religious or social commitment."

"Sufism is believed by its followers to be the inner, `secret' teaching that is concealed within every religion; and because its bases are in every human mind already, Sufic development must inevitably find its expression everywhere. The historical period of the teaching starts with the explosion of Islam from the desert into the static societies of the Near East."

Thus, Idries Shah takes us on a developmental journey through the past fourteen hundred years, from the angle of how, when, and where the Sufic stream was in operation in the East and West. Thought provoking and written like a finely crafted mystery, The Sufis is an astounding and unparalleled source of information on the totally unexpected basis of Eastern and Western thought. It will appeal to those interested in spiritual and metaphysical ideas, as well as those with a yearning to discover the impulses which are the basis of our humanity.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unforgettable, eye-opening book, March 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sufis (Hardcover)

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.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Designed for contemporary culture., March 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sufis (Paperback)

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.