The Way of the Sufi by Idries Shah

• The Way of the Sufi is perhaps Idries SHah's best known work.
• An enjoyable introduction to the subject, it includes brief portraits of well-known Islamic figures he believed to be Sufi masters, including Ghazzali of Persia, Omar Khayyam of Rubaiyat fame, Attar of Nishapur (author of Conference of the Birds ), Ibn El-Arabi of Spain, Saadi of Shiraz (author of The Rose Garden), Hakim Sanai and Jalaludin Rumi (author of the famous Masnavi or Couplets of Inner Meaning). The four main Sufi orders, including the Chishti, Qadiri, Suhrawardi and Naqshbandi, are also described.

About the Author 

dries Shah was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies. In his writings, Shah presented Sufism as a universal form of wisdom that predated Islam.

Emphasizing 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.