Idries Shah
Idries Shah (Persian: ادریس شاه), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس هاشمي), was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen critically acclaimed books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.
Born in India, the descendant of a family of Afghan nobles, Shah grew up mainly in England. His early writings centred on magic and witchcraft. In 1960 he established a publishing house, Octagon Press, producing translations of Sufi classics as well as titles of his own. His most seminal work was The Sufis, which appeared in 1964 and was well received internationally. In 1965, Shah founded the Institute for Cultural Research, a London-based educational charity devoted to the study of human behaviour and culture. A similar organisation, the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK), exists in the United States, under the directorship of Stanford University psychology professor Robert Ornstein, whom Shah appointed as his deputy in the U.S.
In his writings, Shah presented Sufism as a universal form of wisdom that predated Islam. Emphasising that Sufism was not static but always adapted itself to the current time, place and people, he framed his teaching in Western psychological terms. Shah made extensive use of traditional teaching stories and parables, texts that contained multiple layers of meaning designed to trigger insight and self-reflection in the reader. He is perhaps best known for his collections of humorous Mulla Nasrudin stories.
Shah was at times criticised by orientalists who questioned his credentials and background. His role in the controversy surrounding a new translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, published by his friend Robert Graves and his older brother Omar Ali-Shah, came in for particular scrutiny. However, he also had many notable defenders, chief among them the novelist Doris Lessing. Shah came to be recognised as a spokesman for Sufism in the West and lectured as a visiting professor at a number of Western universities. His works have played a significant part in presenting Sufism as a secular, individualistic form of spiritual wisdom.
Idries Shah's books on Sufism achieved considerable critical acclaim. He was the subject of a BBC documentary ("One Pair of Eyes") in 1969, and two of his works (The Way of the Sufi and Reflections) were chosen as "Outstanding Book of the Year" by the BBC's "The Critics" programme. Among other honours, Shah won six first prizes at the UNESCO World Book Year in 1973, and the Islamic scholar James Kritzeck, commenting on Shah's Tales of the Dervishes, said that it was "beautifully translated".
The reception of Shah's movement was also marked by much controversy. Some orientalists were hostile, in part because Shah presented classical Sufi writings as tools for self-development to be used by contemporary people, rather than as objects of historical study. L. P. Elwell-Sutton from Edinburgh University, Shah's fiercest critic, described his books as "trivial", replete with errors of fact, slovenly and inaccurate translations and even misspellings of Oriental names and words – "a muddle of platitudes, irrelevancies and plain mumbo-jumbo", adding for good measure that Shah had "a remarkable opinion of his own importance". Expressing amusement and amazement at the "sycophantic manner" of Shah's interlocutors in a BBC radio interview, Elwell-Sutton concluded that some Western intellectuals were "so desperate to find answers to the questions that baffle them, that, confronted with wisdom from 'the mysterious East,' they abandon their critical faculties and submit to brainwashing of the crudest kind". To Elwell-Sutton, Shah's Sufism belonged to the realm of "Pseudo-Sufism", "centred not on God but on man."
Doris Lessing, one of Shah's greatest defenders,stated in a 1981 interview: "I found Sufism as taught by Idries Shah, which claim
“If, from time to time, you give up expectation, you will be able to perceive what it is you are getting.”
“The more you look at 'common knowledge', the more you realise that it is more likely to be common than it is to be knowledge.No real knowledge is common.”
“From time to time ponder whether you are unconsciously saying:'Truth is what I happen to be thinking at this moment.”
“Talent is the presence of ability and absence of understanding about the source and operation of knowledge.”
“Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information.”
“People cannot handle prejudice because they try to deal with the symptom. Prejudice is the symptom, wrong assumptions are the cause.'Prejudice is the daughter of assumption.”
“Effort makes some great men famous.Even greater effort enables other great men to remain unknown.”
“You say that this society will come to an end, because societies always have done so. I wonder whether they have ended because they were not really societies at all.”
“You are still adrift while you still think that a means is an end.”
“What can you do with a person who says that he is absolutely uncertain about everything, and that he is absolutely certain about that?”
“If a Manx cat tells you that it is trying to preserve its long, beautiful tail, you don't have to believe it - especially if you have eyes.”
“Have you noticed how many people who walk in the shade curse the Sun?”
“Knowledge is something which you can use.Belief is something which uses you.”
“Few things are more absurd than wise saws originally designed to inculcate or maintain the social needs of a society long past - when they are applied to today.”
“A man from the Land of Fools wanted to pull down the clouds.'Why?' someone asked him.'To squeeze out the rain.”
“If you want to strengthen an enemy and make him exult - hate him.”
“Because there is a word for perfection, people will always imagine that they know it.”
“Teach honesty by all means - you do know what it is, don't you?”
“Enemies are often former or potential friends who have been denied - or think that they have been denied - something.”
“It is not 'Have I got a chance?' It is more often: 'Have I seen my chance?”
“People are always trying to understand.There is only one way to do that.It is to discover < + i + >why< + i + > you want to understand.”
“Denial and affirmation are games which people play.There are people who deny that they are capable of denying, and who would insist that people do not insist.”
“A real secret is something which only one person knows.”
“Two people can illustrate crudity to you.The first is the crude man, whom you see perceiving the diamond as a stone.The other is the refined man, who makes clear to you the crudity of the first one.”
“Who is the wrong person to criticise?You”
“Banality is like boredom: bored people are boring people, people who think that things are banal are themselves banal.Interesting people can find something interesting in all things.”
“You can keep going on much less attention than you crave.”
“When the ignorant have become numerous or powerful enough, they have been referred to by a special name. This names is 'the Wise'.”
“Right time, right place, right people equals success.Wrong time, wrong place, wrong people equals most of the real human history.”
“Anyone can see that an ass laden with books remains a donkey. A human being laden with the undigested results of a tussle with thoughts and books, however, still passes for wise.”
“I have heard all that you have had to say to me on your problems.You ask me what to do about them.It is my view that your real problem is that you are a member of the human race.Face that one first.”
“We are adjured not to burn the candle at both ends.But how many people have verified that physically possible?”
“A man is deficient in understanding until he perceives that there is a whole cycle of evolution possible within himself: repeating endlessly, offering opportunities for personal development.”
“Prescribing hard work for the soft, or easy work for the hardy, is generally nonsense. What is always needed in any aim is right effort, right time, right people, right materials.”
“When the lion had eaten its fill, and the jackals had taken their share, the ants came along and finished up the meat from the bones of the haughty stag.”
“MAN: Kick him-he'll forgive you. Flatter him-he may or may not see through you. But ignore him and he'll hate you”
“The sufis believe that they can experience something more complete.”
“It is the message, not the man, which is important to the Sufis.”
“Enlightenment must come little by little - otherwise it would overwhelm.”