Idries Shah

Idries Shah
Movement	Naqshbandi Sufism

Idries Shah (16 June, 1924–23 November, 1996) (Persian: ادریس شاه), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayyid Idris al-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس الهاشمي), was an author in the Naqshbandi sufist tradition on works ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.

Life

Idries Shah was born in Simla, India, to an Afghan-Indian father and Scottish mother into a revered family of Saadat (= Arabic plural of Sayyid) who had their ancestral home near the Paghman Gardens of Kabul. His paternal grandfather, Sayyid Amjad Ali Shah, was Nawab of the Jagir of Sardhana, near Meerut, north of Delhi (Uttar Pradesh). Shah's early years were mainly spent in Afghanistan, India and England, and his upbringing bridged East and West. He was educated, as his father before him, by private tutors in Europe and the Middle East, and through wide-ranging travel—the series of journeys, in fact, that characterise Sufi education and development.

Shah married Cynthia (Kashfi) Kabraji in 1958, and fathered one son, Tahir Shah, and two daughters Saira and Safia. One of the daughters, Saira Shah, reported on women's rights in Afghanistan in her documentary Beneath the Veil. Shah's brother, Omar Ali-Shah, was also a writer and teacher of Sufism.

Works

Idries Shah's writings greatly extended the western knowledge of the Sufi teachings. He profoundly influenced several intellectuals, notably Doris Lessing and Robert Ornstein. His definition of Sufism was liberal in that he was of the opinion that it predated Islam and did not depend on the Qur'an, but was universal in source, scope and relevance (see Sufi studies). He maintained that spiritual teachings should be presented in forms and terms that are familiar in the community where they are to take root. He believed that students should be given work based on their individual capacities, and rejected systems that apply the same exercises to all. In his own work he used teaching stories and humor to great effect.(His Mulla Nasruddin stories being famously illustrated by Richard Williams)

Shah's earliest published works reflected his interest in magic, witchcraft and occultism: Oriental Magic (London 1956), and The Secret Lore of Magic: Book of the Sorcerers (London 1957). In 1960 the Octagon Press ([2]) published its first title Gerald Gardner: Witch, the biography of a leading figure in the British witchcraft revival of the 1950s. Attributed to "Jack L. Bracelin", it has long been known as a pseudonymous work by Shah, who was Gardner's secretary at the time of writing (see F. Lamond, Fifty Years of Wicca, 2004). Shah developed the Octagon Press as a means of publishing and distributing Sufi books that might otherwise have gone out of print. His desire was to have these always available to each generation. The books range from traditional Sufi manuals, to contemporary works. Several books feature the Mulla Nasrudin character. These humorous teaching stories are said to have the ability to act as a mirror to human foibles, aiding philosophical self examination.

Shah started the "Society for Understanding the Foundations of Ideas" (or "SUFI") in London in the mid-1960s. This was renamed the "Institute for Cultural Research" ([3]), alongside a more esoteric "Society for Sufi Studies", also founded by Shah. The ICR, currently based in London, hosts lectures and seminars on topics related to aspects of human nature, while the SSS has ceased its activities.

Shah's books have sold over 15 million copies in 12 languages worldwide and have been reviewed in numerous international journals and newspapers. His best-selling novel Kara Kush was based on fact, incorporating Shah's first-hand knowledge of the courage of the Afghan people, and the atrocities inflicted upon them.

About a year after his last visit to Afghanistan in late spring of 1987, Shah suffered two successive and massive heart attacks. He died in London on November 23 1996, at the age of 72. According to the obituary in The Daily Telegraph, Idries Shah was a collaborator with Mujahideen in the Afghan-Soviet war, a Director of Studies for the Institute for Cultural Research and a Governor of the Royal Humane Society and the Royal Hospital and Home for Incurables.

Psychology

In a symposium (1973) marking the 700th commemoration of the death of Jalaluddin Rumi 24 scholars paid tribute to Idries Shah's service to Sufi studies. In reply to Elisabeth Hall who interviewed him for "Psychology Today", Juli 1975:- 'For the sake of humanity what would you like to see happen?' Idries Shah said: "What I would really want, in case anybody is listening, is for the products of the last 50 years of psychological research to be studied by the public, by everybody, so that the findings become part of their way of thinking (...) they have this great body of psychological information and refuse to use it."

Controversies

When Idries Shah started his famous introduction to Sufism with its highlight in 1964 -"The Sufis", with an introduction by Robert Graves (Doubleday,ed)- there was as yet no sign of internet, so he designed his work to be digested at the pace of studious reading. As his work unfolded, the reader willing to take his lead , was guided in the expierience of gathering original Sufi material.

While in the course of his project he publishedwork by Hafiz, Rumi, Ibn Arabi, Mahmud Shabistari, Attar, Jami, Khayyam, Al-Ghazali and others this was presented to fall outside the scope of Orientalism; hence the fierce nature of his initial critics

At the start of this particular phase of his work (1962) he received invaluable aid from John G. Bennett, who put some important assets at his diposal.Since Idries Shah disposed to outward appearance rather ruthlessly of the assets, destroying a famous landmark -the Djamichunatra at Coombe Spings- in the process, this interchange developed into somewhat of a controversy to the public at large.Apparantly not so to John Bennett who dealt with the issue in some detail in his autobiography

Idries Shah seems to have been equally ruthless in his dealing with the matter of the elusive Jan Fishan Khan manuscript of Khayyam upon which the new translation of the Rubaiyat by Robert Graves and Omar Ali Shah was alledgedly based. When the actual presentation of the manuscript was compromised by the death of Ikbal Ali Shah in a car accident in Tangier, Robert Graves asked Idries Shah ( with whom he had developed a tight friendship ) for help. Great was his surprise when Shah concluded his reply: " The manuscript, as you know, is not in my possesion. If it were, I would have no hesitation at all in refusing to show it to anyone under any circumstances at any time whatever. " Which caused the biographer of Robert Graves, Richard Perceval Graves, to muse " In practice, the manuscript was never produced; and after all these years it is difficult to believe, in view of the Shahs' numerous obligations to Graves, that they would have continued to withold it had it ever existed in the first place "

Further reading

• Marcia Hermansen [4] "Literary productions of Western Sufi movements" in: Sufism in the West, Jamal Malik and John Hinnells eds. -Routledge: London and New York, 2006 (pp 28-48)
• Richard Perceval Graves: "Robert Graves and The White Goddess 1940-1985" (biography) -Weidenfeld and Nicolson: London, 1995
• Reza Arasteh: "Rumi the Persian, the Sufi" -Routledge and Kegan Paul 1974
• Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah: "Islamic Sufism" (1933) Published by S.Sajid Ali for Adam Publishers & Distributors, Shandar Market, Chitli Qabar, Delhi-6 at Chaman Offset Press, N.Delhi-2 1998 -see also Tractus Books July 2000 ISBN 2909347079
• Tahir Shah ed.: "Cultural Research:Papers on Regional Cultures and Culture-Mixing" The Octagon Press London, 1993

Sources

• N.P.Archer compilation: "Idries Shah, Printed World, International Collection 8" London, 1977
• Halima Shali compilation: "Shah, International Press Review Collection 9" London, 1979 ISBN 0863040004

See also

• Tahir Shah
• Saira Shah
• Omar Ali-Shah

Partial bibliography

• Sufism:
  • The Sufis ISBN 0-385-07966-4
  • The Way of the Sufi ISBN 0-900860-80-4
  • Tales of the Dervishes ISBN 0-900860-47-2
  • The Book of the Book ISBN 0-900860-12-X
  • Neglected Aspects of Sufi Study ISBN 0-900860-56-1
  • Sufi Thought and Action ISBN 0-86304-051-9
  • Wisdom of the Idiots ISBN 0-863040-46-2
• Philosophy:
  • Knowing How to Know ISBN 0-86304-072-1
  • The Commanding Self ISBN 0-86304-066-7
  • Learning How to Learn - Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way ISBN 0-900860-59-6
  • The Elephant in the Dark - Christianity, Islam and The Sufis ISBN 0-900860-36-7
  • Thinkers of the East - Studies in Experientialism ISBN 0-900860-46-4
  • Reflections ISBN 0-900860-07-3
  • A Veiled Gazelle - Seeing How to See ISBN 0-900860-58-8
  • Seeker After Truth - A Handbook ISBN 0-900860-91-X
• Collections of Mulla Nasrudin Stories:
  • The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin
  • The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin
  • The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mullah Nasrudin
  • The World of Nasrudin
• Fiction:
  • Kara Kush
• Children's Literature:
  • World Tales
  • The Man With Bad Manners
  • The Old Woman and The Eagle
  • The Boy Without A Name
  • The Lion Who Saw Himself in the Water
  • Neem the Half-Boy
  • The Farmer’s Wife
  • The Silly Chicken
  • The Magic Horse

External links

• Octagon Press
• The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge -- ISHK
• Sufism and Sufi Orders
• Islamic sufi criticism of Gnostic and Fourth Way (including Shah) interpretations of Sufism
• Exegesis on Idries Shah by member of Blaketashi Sufi group
• List of works by Idries Shah or with his participation
• Neo-Sufism: The Case of Idries Shah (Article by Gurdjieff biographer James Moore, first published in Religion Today)