The Way of the Sufi presents an unparalleled cross-section of material from Sufi schools, teachings and classical writings, as a basic course of Sufi study. The author begins with the outward aspects of the teaching most likely to puzzle the student coming fresh to the subject. He considers various attitudes to Sufi ideas, and evidence of their absorption into medieval Christianity, Hinduism, Jewish mysticism and modern philosophical teachings. The...

A Perfumed Scorpion. The 'perfuming of a scorpion', referred to by the great Sufi teacher Bahaudin, symbolizes hypocrisy and self-deception: both in the individual and in institutions. In A Perfumed Scorpion, Idries Shah directs attention to both the perfume and the scorpion – the overlay and the reality – in psychology, human behavior and the learning process. Crammed with illustrative anecdotes from contemporary life, the book is nevertheless...

One of the best books to understand what a Muslim Mystic is trying to achieve through meditation and selfless service and love for humanity.

Followed by many millions of Muslims throughout the world, Sufism is the heart of Islamic spirituality. However, not only is there still in the West a widespread ignorance of Islam and Sufism, there is also, thanks to the "Islamic" terrorists, a widespread hostility. This book offers a succinct, yet comprehensive overview of Sufism's fundamental doctrines and spiritual practices. Stoddart highlights Sufism's intricate symbolism and explains the central...

Small in size, but with a powerful punch, Idries Shah's Reflections is a collection of fables, aphorisms, and statements that challenge the conditioned mind. The book confronts the reader with unaccustomed perspectives and ideas, in an attempt to set the mind free, to see how things really are. As the book's foreword states, 'Do you imagine that fables exist only to amuse or to instruct, and are based upon fiction? The best ones are delineations of...

Between 1300 and 1500 C. E. a new form of Sufi Islam took hold among central Islamic peoples, joining individuals through widespread networks resembling today's prominent paths and orders. Understanding contemporary Sufism requires a sophisticated analysis of these formative years. Moving beyond a straight account of leaders and movements, Shahzad Bashir weaves a rich history around the depiction of bodily actions by Sufi masters and disciples, primarily...

This new edition of Frithjof Schuon's important work, Sufism: Veil and Quintessence, is a revised translation from the French original, and has, an extensive Appendix containing previously, unpublished letters and other private writings.

A 'Veiled Gazelle', as the great mystic Ibn Arabi explains in his Interpreter of Desires, is a subtlety, an organ of higher perception. Sufi experientialists refer to the activation of these centres of awareness as the awakening of real knowledge of Truth beyond form. A Veiled Gazelle considers the symbolic and instrumental employment of its literature in Sufi studies. Seldom didactic, and never meant only as entertainment, such works are regarded...