In 1978 Idries Shah published The Hundred Tales of Wisdom, subtitled, “Tales, anecdotes and narratives used in Sufi schools for the development of insights beyond ordinary perceptions.” The work is a pastiche of snippets and vignettes from the life of Jalaluddin Rumi, and a handful of certain important stories from Rumi’s own canon of written … Read More
We visit the tomb of the 13th century Afghan-born Sufi, Jalaluddin Rumi, in Konya, Turkey. Idries Shah drew extensively from his teaching, adapting Sufism — just as Rumi did — to his time and environment. Watch the video below or in Full HD on YouTube
The Meaning of Rumi’s Work by Peter Brent
Jalaluddin Rumi, whom Sufis call ‘The Master’ and Professor Fatemi entitles ‘The Light of Sufism’, was born in Balkh, now in Afghanistan, in 1207. His father was a famous scholar and theologian, so that Rumi’s early training was in the rigorously classical and logical modes.
Jalaludin Rumi’s major work, generally considered to be one of the world’s greatest books, is his Mathnavi-i-Maanavi (Couplets of Inner Meaning). His table-talk (Fihi Ma Fihi), letters (Maktubat), Diwan, and the hagiography Munaqib el-Arifin, all contain important parts of his teachings. The following selections, from all of these sources, are meditation-themes which can be taken … Read More
Beginning in 1979, just as the soon-to-be-popular (and popularised) books on Rumi and his poetry began to flood the western market, The Octagon Press, the publishing predecessor of ISF, printed two important titles on Rumi. Both books were produced for the general public and remain authentic landmark works about the Sufi luminary. Those titles are: … Read More
We’re sad to announce the passing of ISF’s friend, Aubrey Davis, the Canadian writer and master storyteller.
We’ve received entries from India and Pakistan, Japan, Germany, the United States. Even Iceland!
If you can draw a really scary, dastardly, horrible Dib Dib in time for Halloween, then this is the competition for you!
We’re delighted to announce a partnership between ISF and dynamic new Turkish publisher, Destek Yapım Prodüksiyon in Istanbul. Destek has ambitious plans for the distribution of our Turkish editions across the Turkish-speaking world, helping to re-seed Shah’s work and ideas in the Islamic world. Destek has created a series of new covers. Here’s the one … Read More
Over the past six months, thanks to your generous support, ISF has distributed 6,000 copies of ISF’s Dari translations – including the Nasrudin titles and our illustrated children’s edition, Speak First and Lose – to Afghan refugees recently arrived in the UK. We have been working with Care4Calais, Bath Welcome Refugees, the Refugee Council, the … Read More
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