During his lifetime, Idries Shah published scores of books aimed at showing lesser-known traditions of the East to Western society. His extraordinary corpus of works, which remain in publication today, span numerous distinct genres and together provide an inclusive course of study.

Sufi Studies: East and West, first published 50 years ago, is a collection of 24 papers commissioned for a symposium in honour of Idries Shah’s services to Sufi studies. Composed by leading authors, scholars, and thinkers, the wide-ranging spectrum of articles explore Shah’s work and his contribution to human thought.

‘Sufism is universal and timeless in its appeal, though the local form taken varies, being adapted to work within the local culture and mental set,’ wrote Leonard Lewin in a review of Sufi Studies: East and West in International Philosophical Review. ‘Hence, quite different external formulations have often not been recognized by some scholars as stemming from the same ultimate source. A corollary to this is the (mistaken) attempt to use an outdated formulation designed for peoples of another culture and another period and to try to apply it to a present-day situation. In contrast, Shah’s formulations are specifically adapted to Western twentieth century ideas and methods.’

The Idries Shah Foundation is publishing this title in new paperback and hardback editions to mark the 100 anniversary of Idries Shah’s birth.

Foreword
by Sir Edwin Chapman-Andrews, KCMG, OBE, KStJ, KCSG

INTRODUCTION: SCOPE AND EFFECT OF SUFI WRITINGS BY IDRIES SHAH
by The Hon. Mr Justice Hidayatullah, OBE, MA (Cantab.), LLD

I. IDRIES SHAH: BACKGROUND AND WORK
by Aga Ahmad Saidi (Imperial Iranian Order of
Humayun)

II. SHAH IN HIS EASTERN CONTEXT
by Professor L.F. Rushbrook Williams, CBE, MA,
BLitt, FRSA, JP

III. PROJECTING SUFI THOUGHT IN AN APPROPRIATE CONTEXT
by Professor Ishtiaq Husain Qureshi MA, PhD
(Cantab.)

IV. IDRIES SHAH: BRIDGE BETWEEN EAST AND WEST – HUMOUR, PHILOSOPHY, AND ORIENTATION
by Mir S. Basri

V. LITERARY COMPARISONS AND EFFECTS
by Professor John H.M. Chen, MA, MS, PhD, EdD

VI. A MESSAGE AND METHOD OF LOVE, HARMONY, AND BROTHERHOOD
by Professor Nasrollah S. Fatemi, MA, PhD

VII. TRAVEL, TEACHING, AND LIVING IN THE EAST
by Professor A.K. Julius Germanus, DPh, DLitt

VIII. HISTORICO–LITERARY ASPECTS OF THE WORK OF IDRIES SHAH
by Dr Saleh Hamarneh, PhD

IX. PSYCHOLOGY OF THE SUFI WAY TO INDIVIDUATION
by Professor A. Reza Arasteh, PhD, MRSM

X. SPIRITUALITY, SCIENCE, AND PSYCHOLOGY IN THE SUFI WAY
by Professor Mohamed Yahia Haschmi, PhD

XI. EXPERIENCE, BEHAVIOUR, AND DOCTRINE IN THE QUEST OF MAN
by Professor Rom Landau, DHumLitt

XII. IDRIES SHAH AND THE SUFIS
by Sir John Glubb, KCB, CMG, DSO, OBE, MC

XIII. IDRIES SHAH: PHILOSOPHER, WRITER, POET – AND THE TRADITIONAL TEACHERS
by Dr Zeki el-Mahassini, DLitt, LLD

XIV. DERVISH TALES
by Professor James Kritzeck, MA, PhD, LittD

XV. IDRIES SHAH: THE MAN, THE SUFI, AND THE GUIDING TEACHER
by Adnan Mardam Bey

XVI. THE SUFI ATTITUDE
by The Reverend Sidney Spencer

XVII. SUFISM IN THE ART OF IDRIES SHAH
by Dr Aref Tamer, DLitt

XVIII. THE WAY TO ECSTASY
by Dr Bankey Behari, DTheol

XIX. FILLING A GAP IN KNOWLEDGE
by Sir Razik Fareed, Kt, OBE, JP, UM

XX. POSSIBILITIES OF EASTERN MORAL INFLUENCE ON MODERN CIVILISATION
by Dr Hilmi Makram Ebeid, BA, LLB, LLD

XXI. ISLAM, SUFISM, AND TOLERANCE
by Professor Ahmed Emin Yalman, PhD

XXII. SHAH: KNOWLEDGE, TECHNIQUE, AND INFLUENCE
by Professor M.Y. Shawarbi, PhD

APPENDIX I Note on Transliteration

APPENDIX II Biographical Notes on the Contributors

VI: A MESSAGE AND METHOD OF LOVE, HARMONY, AND BROTHERHOOD
By Professor Nasrollah S. Fatemi

The Sufi law of life requires:
Kindness to the young
Generosity to the poor
Good counsel to friends
Forbearance with enemies
Indifference to fools
Respect to the learned
– IDRIES SHAH, THE SUFIS

1. Many of the great spiritual movements in history have begun at moments of stress and strife. Confucius, Buddha, the Prophets of Israel, Zoroaster, Socrates, Plato, Jesus, Mohammed, Gandhi, and other thinkers, philosophers, and religious leaders spoke up amid trials and discord. In their times, the world was much like our own: states were at war, and people suffered disillusion, frustration, mistrust – a spiritual and moral anarchy.

Among the writers and thinkers who played a great role in the history of the Muslim world during its periods of stress were the Sufis. Their movement was expressed in outward form as a protest against the formalism of orthodoxy in Islam, and gradually developed into a rebellion against the decadence, corruption, and tyranny of a sick, materialist society. Sufism was the antithesis of arrogance, intolerance, demagogism, hypocrisy and inhumanity. The Sufis’ purpose was to create a renaissance of man’s spirit, through which he might live a simple, innocent, happy, and harmonious life. They hoped to open man’s eyes, that he might see how egoism, greed, pride, and strife are folly and that the universe is spiritual, and that men are the sons of God. The Sufis agreed with St Paul that ‘the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance’.

Few terms in the dictionary of Islam are as impressive as the term ‘Sufi’ or ‘Sufism’. Its very mention often provokes debate about its meaning, its evaluation, and its purpose. To some orthodox and traditionalist Muslims it can stand for qualities deeply distrusted and despised. To others, it connotes humanitarianism, tolerance, harmony, defiance of the superficial rituals, love of mankind, and the attempt to achieve spiritual fellowship. To a few, the Sufis are dreamers, rebels, and meddlers who interfere with the serious rituals of the church and the business of the state. To many, they are the conscience of society and the antennae of the community, who exhibit in their activities a pronounced concern for humanity and a deep interest in and knowledge of the values at the core of society. They oppose the civil and religious leaders who, for the sake of selfish interests, create conflict and division in their communities. In the words of Bayazid Bastami: ‘A Sufi belongs to the sect of God.’

‘Being a man of timelessness and placelessness,’ states Idries Shah, ‘the Sufi brings his experience into operation within the culture, the country, and the climate in which he is living.’

While the church and civil powers in the ninth and tenth centuries tended to be absorbed in the pursuit of material and personal power, the Sufis felt the need to resist that cruel, tyrannical, and arrogant society, to ridicule the corrupt rich and the merciless mighty, to exalt the low and to help the helpless. They turned their eyes to the huge masses of simple, poor, ignorant people. For during this so-called golden age of Baghdad civilisation, a minority of rich people ruled an immense empire of millions of poor peasants and slaves. These people accepted poverty, hunger, ill-treatment, disease and suffering with tranquil resignation. They accepted the whip of the agents of the caliphs and the empty words of the church as a preordained fate. They accepted their Hell as did Milton’s Satan:

So farewell hope and with the hope, farewell fear, Farewell remorse, all good to me is lost; Evil be thou my good.

The Sufis considered this situation reprehensible and risked imprisonment and even met death, protesting against the materialism, indifference, extravagance, and inhumanity of the society. They tried to attack the hypocritical pretension of the bigoted religionists and to introduce people into the realms of ‘inner thoughts and values’. The questions they repeatedly asked were, ‘Is God the object of formal worship, or of love? Is the purpose of religion to unite, to comfort, to improve and to bring all races and peoples of the world together in love and brotherhood, or to divide, to tyrannise, to shed the blood of the innocent in futile wars, to mesmerise, to commit all kinds of crime in the name of Allah and to exploit our fellow men?’

From Sufi Studies: East & West by Idries Shah
Copyright © The Estate of Idries Shah

Idries Shah was born in India in 1924 into an aristocratic Afghan family. He was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition and is considered one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century.

Shah devoted his life to collecting, translating and adapting key works of Sufi classical literature for the needs of the West. Called by some 'practical philosophy' - these works represent centuries of Sufi and Islamic thought aimed at developing human potential. His best-known works include the seminal book The Sufis, several collections of teaching stories featuring the ‘wise fool’ Nasrudin, Reflections and Knowing How to Know.

Shah's corpus - over three dozen books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and cultural studies - have been translated into two dozen languages and have sold millions of copies around the world. They are regarded as an important bridge between the cultures of East and West.