As the book’s subtitle Studies in Experientialism suggests, these illustrate Sufi thinking in action, rather than in theory. This contrasts sharply with the Western idea of the East as a place of theory without practice, or thought without action.

Idries Shah says, ‘Without direct experience of such teaching, or at least a direct recording of it, I cannot see how Eastern thought can ever be understood.’

The Times Literary Supplement noted the book would mainly ‘appeal to the modern man who finds current materialistic outlooks and attitudes insufficient to his needs’.