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The World of Nasrudin is the fourth book in the Mulla Nasrudin corpus by Idries Shah, and is the last to be published by the celebrated Afghan author.
Mulla Nasrudin is the greatest of all Middle Eastern folk heroes, whose jokes and stories are found across the Islamic World, from Morocco to Pakistan, and beyond.
Nasrudin’s many incarnations are almost as numerous as the tales he appears in: sometimes as an impoverished wanderer, a merchant, a mayor, a judge, vizier, or even the King. He is said to have been the wisest fool who ever lived – that is, if he ever did live at all.
The World of Nasrudin is a priceless storehouse of immemorial tales studied by Sufis for their hidden wisdom, and which are universally enjoyed for their humour.
Acknowledgement
A
A Better Beard than Yours
A Certain Clientele
A Cobbler with Wings
A Gift from God
A Gift from Tamerlane
A Happy Childhood
A Humble Target
A Loaf for the Head
A Matter of Opinion
A Matter of Weight
A Perfect Copy
A Pious Man
A Question of Nature
A Question of Timing
A Supper of Oh and Ah
A Way with Words
A Weaker Man
A Wolf for the Imam
After your Demise
Allah’s Guest
Allah’s Mercy
Allah’s Words
Altered Circumstances
Always Too Late
Among Strangers
Another Man’s Treasure
Appetite
Apples
Apricot Rewards
Are You Me?
Asking the Wrong Man
Ask Our Neighbor
Ask Them, not Me
Ask the Owner
Ask your Wife
Avoidance
B
Beastly Insults
Being an Expert
Best Way to Learn
Better Be a Sinner
Better Bundles
Better off Barefoot
Birth and Death
Bitten Noses
Bones and All
Borrowed Names
Borrowed Pies
Borrowed Slippers
Boy or Girl?
Burglars and the King
C
Camels and Men
Careless Head
Carving Pheasant
Chains Tomorrow
Cheating the Stars
Child Psychology
Choice Meals
City Doctors
Civil Unrest
Close to an Idiot
Coats
Color Blind
Come Judgment Day
Commander of the Hoofed
Compensation
Confused Sentences
Console Yourself
Crime and Punishment
Crowded House
D
Dangerous Glasses
Dangers of Rain
Dangers of Sleep
Dead Chicken
Dead or Alive?
Deceitful Donkey
Descendants
Devious Chickens
Different Hearts
Different Owners, Different Birds
Different Paths
Dissolving Sins
Diving for Food
Do Angels Chase Thieves?
Dog or Ox?
Doing Things in Reverse
Donkey Astrologer
Donkey Burial
Donkey King
Donkey-loads
Donkey versus Steed
Do Something for Yourself
E
Each Gets what he Deserves
Eat then Drink
Embarrassed, not Offended
Equal Reward
Every Last Stitch
Evil
Exile
Explanations
Extraordinary Accounts
Extraordinary Woman
Extreme Laziness
F
Face your Donkey
Fallen off my Donkey
False Evidence
Family Tradition
Far More Becoming
Far Too Simple
Fisherman’s Tales
Five for the Price of One
Five of Us
Following Instructions
Fond Memories
Fool’s Gold
Forgotten your Face
For Safekeeping
Four Huntsmen
From Sermons to Sentences
Friends in High Places
Funeral Guest
G
Goat Defense
God’s Home
Going Hungry
Good Ingredients
Good Intentions
Grand Judge
Green Ribbons
Grounds for Divorce
Growing my Field
Growing Tall and Strong
H
Hand-me-downs
Hands Full
Hang On for a Cure
Hard Bargains
Hazardous Food
Heaven and Hell
Heaven is Full
Heavenly Flock
Heaven or Hell?
Hereditary
He Will Be Here Soon
Hidden Strength
Hiding
High and Low
His Own Ban
Hit the Wrong Man
Hole after Hole
Holy Donkey
Hospitality
House Calls
How Did they all Know?
How Long Will I Live?
How to be Wise
How to Fall Asleep
How to Find a Bride
Human Nature
I
I Cannot Be Rebuilt
Identified by a Goat
If it Pleases Allah
If I Were You
If Only I had Known Earlier
If You Are what You Say
If Your Tongue Was Mine
Immodest
Impossible
Impromptu Speeches
In Advance
In a Ravenous Hurry
In Charge of the List
Incomplete Chickens
Inconsiderate
Indecision
Infernal Snoring
Inherited Talent
In my Own Time
In Need of Correction
Inside Out or Outside In?
Interest
I Should Know
Itchy Palms
J
Jaliz, the Eagle
Just a Humble Loaf
Just Ask
Just in Case
Just Keeping him Company
Just Like his Mother
Just Reward
Just Testing
Just the Judge
K
Keeping an Eye Out
Keeping Sleep Away
Knowing the Name
L
Large Sparrows
Last In, First Out
Laughter and Tears
Left-handed Hooves
Left or Right?
Life as a Hermit
Literate Animals
Literate Donkey
Live Long and Prosper
Longer Days
Look and See
Losing One’s Head?
Lost Donkey
Lucky Escape
Lying Low
M
Magician or Locksmith?
Manners Cannot Be Disguised
Many Ways to Kill a Tiger
Master and Servant
Meditation
Melon or Mountain?
Misjudged
Missing Saddlebags
Mistaken
Money for his Funeral
Monkey in Court
Multiple Questions
Mustapha, Ruler of the World
Mutual Gain
Mutual Respect
My Back Told Me
My Burden
My Donkey’s Idea
My Enemies
My Master’s Importance
My Wife’s Money
N
Naked Truth
Nasrudin Dies
Nasrudin’s Parrot
Nasrudin’s Shoes
Nasrudin’s Unruly Sandal
Natural Layout
Natural Skill
Nature’s Blanket
Never Born
Never Satisfied
Next Time
Night Blindness
Nobody’s Fool
No Consideration
No Ears, No Crime
No Good for my Health
No Need for Brains
No Room for More
No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
Not a Question of Age
Nothing to Do with Me
No Time for Clothes
No Time to Grieve
Not in Stock
Not until I Say
No Witnesses
O
Offensive Explanations
Once on Dry Land
One Horse, Two Owners
One Little Word
One or the Other
On Foot
Only One Prophet
On my Mother’s Behalf
Outliving Death
P
Painful Dreams
Palpitations
Paradise Is Not Far
Partial Recovery
Pastry without Pies
Payment in Kind
Peasants and Kings
Peel and All
Pen or Axe?
Pheasant Messenger
Pies or Crumbs?
Plans for Expansion
Poor Conditions
Power of the Prophets
Prayers
Prayers for Hire
Praying for Miracles
Precociousness
Present and Correct
Preserving the Fish
Price of an Education
Professional Fee
Q
Quite Possible
R
Reading Aloud
Real Bravery
Reasons for Lament
Reckless Salt
Relayed Messages
Repaid Debt
Repeated Words
Repentant Thief
Rescue, not Theft
Respect
Respectable Gourmets
Rice, Mice and Children
Riches or Rice
Ridiculous Proportions
Ripe Apples
Ruler of the World
Ruler or Tyrant?
Rumble the Mouse
S
Saint Nasrudin
Sandbags
Satan’s Replacement
Saved Shoes
Secret Seeds
Self Defense
Sensitivity
Sent by God
Servant and Master
Seven Days
Sharp Ribs
Shock Tactics
Shoes and Donkeys
Simple Arithmetic
Since becoming a Mulla
Sinner for the Evening
Six and Three make Nine
Small Appetite
Soldiers and Weapons
Statement and Belief
Strict Sentences
Strong Teeth
Stuck in the Mud
Successive Tyrants
Sugar Coins
Superlatives
Sweet Revenge
Swollen Feet
Sympathy Pains
T
Talking in Gestures
Tamerlane’s Death
Teaching by Example
Terrible Nature
The Angry Pot
The Best Liar
The Best Teacher
The Beautiful Guest
The Boastful King
The Butcher’s Cat
The Charmer
The Cost of a Curse
The Cursed Leg
The Desert Speaks
The Devil’s Advice
The Drowned Man Returns
The Forgotten Groom
The Historian’s Bet
The Importance of Gold
The Instructions Must Be Followed
The Keeper of the Shrine
The King’s Father
The King’s Horse
The King’s Messengers
The King’s Scraps
The King’s Shadow
The King’s Tail
The King’s Voice
The King’s Worth
The Letter
The Mayor’s an Ass
The Miserly Cave
The Missing Tail
The Most Tolerant Man
The New House
The Only Cure
Theoretical Knowledge
The Other Five
The Plague
The Poorer Man
The Price of Mercy
The Same Reason
The Servant’s Footsteps
The Sky Is Falling
The Storm
The Stronger Oath
The Sun’s Game
The Swimming Bucket
The Thrifty Imam
The Ugly Emperor
The World’s End
The Worn Coin
Thieves and Chickens
Time to Doze
To Fool the Cat
Tongue on the Loose
Tonics
Too Good for Promotion
Too Heavy a Load
Too Hot to Eat
Too Late
Too Many Salesmen
Trading at a Loss
Translations
Troublesome Foot
True Justice
True Vision
Trumpeters at Court
Turning in his Grave
Two Coins Behind
Two Disasters
Two Saddlebags
Two Shoes More
Two Tricksters
Two Woodcutters
U
Unable to Help
Unhappy at Home
Unorthodox Means
Useful Stones
W
Walking Companions
Wanted: A Foolish Man
Warriors’ Tales
What a Waste
What Price Advice?
What’s the Difference?
What to Do?
When You See Me...
Where Does It Hurt?
Where There Are People
Where Will I Go?
Who Bought Whom?
Whom to Respect
Whose Beard?
Why Pay Twice?
Window Shopping
Winter Coat
Wise Investment
With One Silver Piece
Woken the Wrong Man
Women of Distant Lands
Worth Stealing
Worthy Men
Worthy of Cream
Y
You Lost it, You Find it
You Must be Deaf
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.
