Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #124338 in Books
• Published on: 1971-02-05
• Released on: 1971-01-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

From The Washington Post
"A seminal book of the century."

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.

Customer Reviews

Understanding Sufism
This book is a stellar presentation about Sufism. It has really given me a comprehensive understanding of a topic that has long interested me as an aspect of mysticism without my feeling that I know much about it -- despite reading a fair amount. Most presentations are rather nonspecific, but Idries Shah makes a chapter of each of many specific issues to create a whole that gives me a really consistent picture of sufism. His analysis would, I think, appeal to someone with an analytic approach to things as well as to someone with a more "spiritual" approach as he shows how a person who truly understands sufism would use both at appropriate stages in his growth.

Excellent introduction to Sufism
This is an insightful book on Sufism, not an academic analysis of Sufism as in the case of many books by University professors..Whatever may be the authenticity of Shah as a Sufi master[about which several articles have been written] his book is great...it leads you into an appreciation of Sufi methods which are not easy to understand....Since it is a mystical path,words and literary accounts and books can provide only an indirect approach to it.Much depends on one's practice...I had been influenced by a Sufi master in India who is not alive....I can relate better to Shah's book because this master used similar methods and inspired others....Therefore, commenting on this book purely from the aspect of information and literary style is not correct....I wish we have more Sufi masters who can write like Shah ,whatever may be the tradition or linealogy [Silsila] of such a master.

Life Changing
I was one time last year doing some cleaning. This book fell off the shelf and bumped me on the head. I put it in my pack and when I finished, I read it for hours in a coffeshop. Then I read everything by Shah I could find, Tales of the Dervishes, etc. They say you can't be a sufi by reading about it. To a point, I agree with that, unless it triggers something inside you that you 'remember' or 'discover' that you are one perhaps.