The The Idries Shah Anthology

The Idries Shah Anthology is a special collection of previously published work by Idries Shah and was edited by Saira Shah. This title includes an Introduction by Saira Shah as well as comments and annotations throughout the text. Each chapter includes a selection from the works of Idries Shah on topics such as Sufism Nasrudin fables poetry proverbs and teaching stories. It includes methods of the masters and themes for study and contemplation. This new compilation of excerpts from the classic texts of Idries Shah will leave you with a new perspective on his work.From the introduction: In his writing about Sufism Idries Shah did some revolutionary things. Critically and almost alone he said that it was possible to divorce the essence of Sufi philosophy from what he insisted were secondary accretions of islamic culture and religion. Moreover he said in making this material available to the West you could not only do this you must do it. This is because he believed you can only absorb materials that are designed for your own time and place. Sufism as an essence may be truth without form but in order to penetrate into the human mind it must be delivered in a package shaped to fit the receiving culture.When something new enters a culture there is a period where like a new object being thrown into the chimpanzee pen at a zoo all the chimps rush over to touch it throw it on the floor fight over it and so on he once told me. We must wait until the dust settles; only then will people be in a position to assess this material.My father died in 1996 and the dust is settling fast. He leaves a body of work behind and on this work alone he believed he should and would be judged. This anthology is intended to provide a basic sample of his work an essential reader to allow people to do exactly what he would have wished them to do: to think for themselves and to make up their own minds.-- From the Editors Note by Saira Shah