Books by Idries Shah Sufi Studies and Middle Eastern Literature The Sufis Caravan of Dreams The Way of the Sufi Tales of the Dervishes: Teaching-stories Over a Thousand Years Sufi Thought and Action Traditional Psychology, Teaching Encounters and Narratives Thinkers of the East: Studies in Experientialism Wisdom of the Idiots The Dermis Probe Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way Knowing How to Know The Magic Monastery: Analogical and Action Philosophy Seeker After Truth Observations Evenings with Idries Shah The Commanding Self University Lectures A Perfumed Scorpion (Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge and California University) Special Problems in the Study of Sufi Ideas (Sussex University) The Elephant in the Dark: Christianity, Islam and the Sufis (Geneva University) Neglected Aspects of Sufi Study: Beginning to Begin (The New School for Social Research) Letters and Lectures of Idries Shah Current and Traditional Ideas Reflections The Book of the Book A Veiled Gazelle: Seeing How to See Special Illumination: The Sufi Use of Humour The Mulla Nasrudin Corpus The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin The World of Nasrudin Travel and Exploration Destination Mecca Studies in Minority Beliefs The Secret Lore of Magic Oriental Magic Selected Folktales and Their Background World Tales A Novel Kara Kush Sociological Works Darkest England The Natives are Restless The Englishman‟s Handbook Translated by Idries Shah The Hundred Tales of Wisdom (Aflaki‟s Munaqib) THE WORLD OF THE SUFI An anthology of writings about Sufis and their work Introduction by IDRIES SHAH ISF PUBLISHING Copyright © The Estate of Idries Shah The right of the Estate of Idries Shah to be identified as the owner of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved Copyright throughout the world ISBN [ENTER NUMBER HERE] First Published 1979 Published in this edition 2016 No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photographic, by recording or any information storage or retrieval system or method now known or to be invented or adapted, without prior permission obtained in writing from the publisher, Octagon Press Ltd, except by a reviewer quoting brief passages in a review written for inclusion in a journal, magazine, newspaper, blog or broadcast. Requests for permission to reprint, reproduce etc., to: The Permissions Department ISF Publishing The Idries Shah Foundation P. O. Box 71911 London NW2 9QA United Kingdom [email protected] In association with The Idries Shah Foundation The Idries Shah Foundation is a registered charity in the United Kingdom Charity No. 1150876 Individual Copyrights are owned as follows, and the items are reproduced herein by permission Introduction, Copyright © 1979 by Idries Shah The Classical Masters and Learning and Teaching © 1979 by The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge Sanai and Sufism in the 20th Century West © 1978 by David Pendlebury The Mulla Nasrudin Tales in A Naqshbandi Circle © 1967 by Raoul Simac Indian Thought and Sufis © 1961 by Dr. Tara Chand Specialized Techniques in Central Asia © 1962 by Ja‟far Hallaji Sufism and Psychiatry and Report on Mysticism © 1977 by Dr. AJ. Deikman Sufi Studies Today © 1968 by William Foster Sufi Studies: East & West © 1976 by Dr. Leonard Lewin Abshar Monastery © 1964 by Julian Shaw The Pointing Finger System © 1968 by Sheikh Ahmed Abdullah The Known and the Unknown in Studies © 1968 by John Grant Emulation and Cycles of Study © 1968 by Ali Sultan Learning by Contact © 1968 by Rustam Khan-Urff Meditation Method © 1968 by Mir S. Khan A Sufi Organization in Britain © 1961 by Arkon Daraul A Dervish Assembly in the West © 1961 by Selim Brook-White Use of the Five Gems © 1968 by Edouard Chatelherault CONTENTS 1. Introduction Idries Shah 2. The Classical Tradition of the Sufi i. The Classical Masters Peter Brent ii. Sanai and Sufism in the 20th Century West David Pendlebury iii. Some Sufi Tales from Burton‟s Arabian Nights iv. In the World, not Of It Doris Lessing 3. Humour and the Sufi i. In a Naqshbandi Circle Raoul Simac ii. Forty-five Adventures of Mulla Nasrudin How Far to Samarkand? How to Learn The Drunk One Thing at a Time Lost Property Man of Truth The Well and the Water Men and Women Snakebite As I Thought Stand-in What Cream-Cakes Are For The Brain is Safe Nasrudin in the Land of Fools Straight Line Let‟s Leave it at That Lucky It‟s Mine Honey Nasrudin‟s Brother Light His Porterage The Well Wool and Sand Poison Why the Mulla Never Had Halwa Storage Problem No Drunks Out With the Light In the Cellar How to Pay Debts Accident Known it Long Enough Books and Rabbits Stolen: One Rusty Coin Miraculous Remedy Hot and Cold Then and Now What I Need Ground Wheat Quantity and Quality Bad Environment He Won‟t Listen Pussy Cat Flog Him The Holes of Moles 4. Sufism in Eastern Religion i. Indian Thought and the Sufis Dr. Tara Chand ii. Sufi Influence on the Formation of Sikhism Frederic Pincott, M.R.A.S. iii. Yoga and the Sufis Pundit Kishan Chand 5. Therapy and the Sufi i. Specialized Techniques in Central Asia Ja‟far Hallaji ii. Nasrudin Looks at Mental Health Marjory A. Bancroft iii. Sufism and Psychiatry Arthur J. Deikman, M.D. iv. Report on Mysticism Arthur J. Deikman, M.D. 6. The Practice of the Sufi i. Learning and Teaching Peter Brent ii. Sufi Studies Today William Foster iii. Sufi Studies: East and West Leonard Lewin, Ph.D. iv. Abshar Monastery Julian Shaw v. The Pointing Finger Teaching System Ahmed Abdullah vi. The Known and Unknown in Studies John Grant vii. Emulation and Cycles of Study Ali Sultan viii. Learning by Contact Rustam Khan-Urff ix. Meditation Method Mir S. Khan x. A Sufi Organization in Britain Arkon Daraul xi. A Dervish Assembly in the West Selim Brook-White xii. Use of the Five Gems Edouard Chatelherault 7. Current Study Materials i. First Principles ii. The Known as the Channel to the Unknown iii. Journey beyond History iv. The Regeneration and Degeneration Cycles in Mystical Sufi Study v. An Important Aspect of Sufic Study vi. Letter from a Sufi Teacher 1. INTRODUCTION According to the Sufis, human beings are ordinarily cut off from Objective Reality, which is the origin of everything. Human faculties, although perceptive, are limited: like a radio set which can receive only certain electromagnetic waves and not other parts of this band; all perceptions exclude external impulses as well as receiving others. The perceived world, again according to this assertion, is therefore a distortion. The inability to transcend the barrier of limited senses explains human subjectivity: and secondary effects are usually perceived as primary ones. So Rumi says, in his Fihi ma Fihi: „If a sleeve moves, it is because the hand moved. But if the hand moves, the sleeve does not always have to move. So if you look at the caused and do not know the causer, you imagine that the “sleeve” is something which has a life of its own‟.* [* Professor B. Faruzanfar‟s 1952 Tehran edition of Fihi ma Fihi, Section 63 of the Persian text.] The Sufis further assert that they can penetrate beyond the apparent to the real in this sense, and Sufism is the method or, rather, provides the methods, for this enterprise. They further state that theirs is a spiritual path, because their experience, in their judgment, verifies that the Objective Truth, the First Cause, that which lies beyond appearances, is divine. The methods which are adopted to pierce the veil between truth and humankind are, accordingly, those chosen by experienced Sufis (nobody who has not completed this journey can properly be called a Sufi; someone who is only trying is known as a seeker, a dervish, and by other names), the ones which their own overview tells them are appropriate for the current time, place and people. This explains why so many Sufis have worked in so many fields, and why so many Sufi schools have had so many different conceptions of the path. Sufism is, in operation, pragmatic. Most of the supposedly Sufi organizations, exercises and „orders‟ are in fact only of archaeological interest. Those who know do not need them: those who do not must find those who know, not the obsolete garments of previous formulations. It cannot be denied, even from an outside point of view, that someone who has been along a certain path may be able to conduct others by that route, or find a better one: both enterprises being more promising than a route from an old map which has been rendered irrelevant by a landslide. Whether acceptable by outward minds or not, the contention cannot be faulted if the premises are conceded. If this is so, then, it may be asked, what is the use of the map which is now said to be superseded? Why collect accounts of former enterprises and their activities? The answer is that these materials have a use other than the leading of a disciple from A to Z. Just as it would be absurd to imagine that an orange was only taste, only colour, only flavour or only a vehicle for seeds in its value to us, so with Sufi expressions. On one of the lowest, but yet fundamental, levels, the value lies in removing misconceptions about humanity in human thinking and about narrowness in Sufi studies. It is easy to illustrate one of the important uses of this kind of material from an experiment carried out in the case of the present book.