The Sufis

Idries Shah's 1964 reframing of Sufism not as the mystical wing of Islam but as a perennial "science of the human being" that has expressed itself through Islamic culture among others. The book covers Rumi, Ibn al-Arabi, Ghazzali, Saadi, Attar, Omar Khayyam and the "hidden" Western figures Shah claimed as Sufi-influenced (Roger Bacon, Francis of Assisi, Cervantes), with Robert Graves's thirty-page introduction as substantial framing. The opening fable "The Islanders" is the book's most-anthologised set piece.

First issued by Doubleday in 1964 and reprinted by Anchor Books, Jonathan Cape, and Octagon Press, the book launched Shah's Western teaching enterprise and the long publishing relationship with Robert Graves, Ted Hughes and Doris Lessing that gave it serious literary cover. The structure moves from the fable and the Mulla Nasrudin tales through chapter-length treatments of the named Persian and Arabic masters, into "The Secret Language" and "Mysteries in the West" — Shah's controversial chapters tracing Sufi transmission into European chivalry, alchemy, Roger Bacon's Opus Maius, and the Franciscan and Templar orders — and closes with chapters on the dervish orders, miracles and magic, and the teacher-teaching-taught relationship.

First lines

Once upon a time there lived an ideal community in a far-off land. Its members had no fears as we now know them. Instead of uncertainty and vacillation, they had purposefulness and a fuller means of expressing themselves. Although there were none of the stresses and tensions which mankind now considers essential to its progress, their lives were richer, because other, better elements replaced these things.

Contents

Reception

The book that introduced Sufism to a wide Anglophone audience and the foundation of Shah's controversial Western teaching enterprise. Doris Lessing's lifelong endorsement and Ted Hughes's praise gave it serious literary cover. Academic Islamic studies and orthodox Sufi orders have been consistently sceptical: Shah's attribution of European hidden-Sufi influences is largely unsupported by Arabic-source scholarship, and his claim to a transmitted teaching role inside an actual order is not accepted by the major tariqas. James Moore's 1986 critique remains the standard scholarly takedown. The book continues to sell; serious students of Sufism are typically directed to Sells, Schimmel or Chittick instead.

Frequently asked

What is The Sufis about?

Idries Shah's 1964 reframing of Sufism not as the mystical wing of Islam but as a perennial "science of the human being" that has expressed itself through Islamic culture among others. The book covers Rumi, Ibn al-Arabi, Ghazzali, Saadi, Attar, Omar Khayyam and the Western figures Shah claimed as Sufi-influenced (Roger Bacon, Francis of Assisi, Cervantes), with Robert Graves's thirty-page introduction as substantial framing.

Who is Robert Graves to this book?

The English poet and novelist (I, Claudius; The White Goddess) wrote the long introduction and, with Ted Hughes and Doris Lessing, gave Shah literary cover in the 1960s and '70s English-language reception of his work. Graves's endorsement is one reason The Sufis was treated as serious by Anglophone readers who had no Arabic-source means of evaluating Shah's claims.

Is it a reliable introduction to Sufism?

It is the most influential popular introduction in English and the foundation of Shah's controversial teaching enterprise — but it is not a scholarly source. Academic Islamic studies and orthodox Sufi orders have been consistently sceptical of Shah's attributions of European hidden-Sufi influences. Serious students of Sufism are typically directed to Michael Sells, Annemarie Schimmel or William Chittick instead.