Idries Shah maintained that, for a Western audience, Sufi ideas are better presented within psychology than religion. Read the latest article in Saira Shah’s series looking at this startling claim.
An interview with Giovanna Comani, on April 2, 2025, the author of Jorge Luis Borges: Sources and Illumination, (Octagon Press, 1978, written under her surname by marriage, Giovanna de Garayalde).
Idries Shah maintained that, for a Western audience, Sufi ideas are better presented within psychology than religion. In the first of a series of articles, Saira Shah takes a look at this startling claim.
Find out how you can continue to support and partner with ISF as we continue our mission to grow a worldwide readership for Idries Shah’s works.
The publication of The Sufis in 1964 was a watershed for the development of Sufi philosophy in the West. It remains a dynamic book of instruction for modern times.
We all fear change and yet change is the very essence of life. How does a stream cross the mighty, desolate desert? Can it allow itself to change its very form to survive the journey?
‘In many Islamic countries, the Sufi outlook is increasingly under threat.’ ISF is working to renew this ancient tradition.
For over 40 years, Shah collected and published centuries of Sufi literature, and offered an interpretation of this invaluable resource uniquely framed for our time
‘These stories…nurture a part of the mind that is unreachable in more direct ways…’
– Robert Ornstein, Professor of Psychology, Stanford University
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