72 Facts About Idries Shah

Idries Shah, known as Idris Shah, Indries Shah, ne Sayed Idries el-Hashimi and by the pen name Arkon Daraul, was an Afghan author, thinker and teacher in the Sufi tradition.

Idries 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.

Idries Shah is perhaps best known for his collections of humorous Mulla Nasrudin stories.

Idries Shah was at times criticized by orientalists who questioned his credentials and background.

Idries Shah came to be recognized as a spokesman for Sufism in the West and lectured as a visiting professor at a number of Western universities.

Idries Shah's works have played a significant part in presenting Sufism as a form of spiritual wisdom approachable by individuals and not necessarily attached to any specific religion.

Idries Shah was born in Simla, Punjab Province, British India, to an Afghan-Indian father of Pashtun descent; Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, a writer and diplomat, and a Scottish mother; Saira Elizabeth Luiza Shah.

Such an upbringing presented to a young man of marked intelligence, such as Idries Shah soon proved himself to possess, many opportunities to acquire a truly international outlook, a broad vision, and an acquaintance with people and places that any professional diplomat of more advanced age and longer experience might well envy.

Idries Shah described his own unconventional upbringing in a 1971 BBC interview with Pat Williams.

Idries Shah described how his father and his extended family and friends always tried to expose the children to a "multiplicity of impacts" and a wide range of contacts and experiences with the intention of producing a well-rounded person.

Idries Shah returned to England in October 1946, following allegations of improper business dealings.

Towards the end of the 1950s, Idries Shah established contact with Wiccan circles in London and then acted as a secretary and companion to Gerald Gardner, the founder of modern Wicca, for some time.

In those days, Idries Shah used to hold court for anyone interested in Sufism at a table in the Cosmo restaurant in Swiss Cottage every Tuesday evening.

In January 1961, while on a trip to Mallorca with Gardner, Idries Shah met the English poet Robert Graves.

Idries Shah wrote to Graves from his pension in Palma, requesting an opportunity of "saluting you one day before very long".

Graves took a supportive interest in Idries Shah's writing career and encouraged him to publish an authoritative treatment of Sufism for a Western readership, along with the practical means for its study; this was to become The Sufis.

Idries Shah managed to obtain a substantial advance on the book, resolving temporary financial difficulties.

The book employed a deliberately "scattered" style; Idries Shah wrote to Graves that its aim was to "de-condition people, and prevent their reconditioning"; had it been otherwise, he might have used a more conventional form of exposition.

The book sold poorly at first, and Idries Shah invested a considerable amount of his own money in advertising it.

In June 1962, a couple of years prior to the publication of The Sufis, Idries Shah had established contact with members of the movement that had formed around the mystical teachings of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky.

Elizabeth and I went to dinner with the Hoares to meet Idries Shah, who turned out to be a young man in his early 40s.

Idries Shah spoke impeccable English and but for his beard and some of his gestures might well have been taken for an English public school type.

Idries Shah was restless, smoked incessantly and seemed too intent on making a good impression.

Idries Shah gave Bennett a "Declaration of the People of the Tradition" and authorised him to share this with other Gurdjieffians.

The document announced that there was now an opportunity for the transmission of "a secret, hidden, special, superior form of knowledge"; combined with the personal impression Bennett formed of Idries Shah, it convinced Bennett that Idries Shah was a genuine emissary of the "Sarmoung Monastery" in Afghanistan, an inner circle of Sufis whose teachings had inspired Gurdjieff.

Later, Idries Shah gave talks to the students at Coombe Springs.

Once the property was transferred to Idries Shah, he banned Bennett's associates from visiting, and made Bennett himself feel unwelcome.

Bennett says he did receive an invitation to the "Midsummer Revels", a party Idries Shah held at Coombe Springs that lasted two days and two nights, primarily for the young people whom Idries Shah was then attracting.

Idries Shah promised he would integrate all those who were suitable; about half of their number found a place in Idries Shah's work.

Idries Shah added that Langton Green was a far more suitable place for Shah's work than Coombe Springs could have been and said he felt no sadness that Coombe Springs lost its identity; he concluded his account of the matter by stating that he had "gained freedom" through his contact with Shah, and had learned "to love people whom [he] could not understand".

Idries Shah was an early member and supporter of the Club of Rome.

Ornstein was president and founder of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge, established in 1969; seeing a need in the US for books and collections on ancient and new ways of thinking, he formed the ISHK Book Service in 1972 as a central source for important contemporary and traditional literature, becoming the sole US distributor of the works of Idries Shah published by Octagon Press.

The planned animated feature film by Williams, provisionally titled The Amazing Nasruddin, never materialised, as the relationship between Williams and the Idries Shah family soured in 1972 amid disputes about copyrights and funds; however, Williams later used some of the ideas for his film The Thief and the Cobbler.

Idries Shah wrote around two dozen more books over the following decades, many of them drawing on classical Sufi sources.

Idries Shah's folktales, illustrating Sufi wisdom through anecdote and example, proved particularly popular.

Idries Shah received and accepted invitations to lecture as a visiting professor at academic institutions including the University of California, the University of Geneva, the National University of La Plata and various English universities.

In late spring of 1987, about a year after his final visit to Afghanistan, Idries Shah suffered two successive and massive heart attacks.

Idries Shah was told that he had only eight per cent of his heart function left, and could not expect to survive.

Idries Shah died in London on 23 November 1996, at the age of 72 and was buried in Brookwood Cemetery.

At the time of his death, Idries Shah's books had sold over 15 million copies in a dozen languages worldwide, and had been reviewed in numerous international journals and newspapers.

Idries Shah followed this in 1957 with The Secret Lore of Magic: Book of the Sorcerers, originally entitled Some Materials on European Minority-Belief Literature.

Idries Shah went on to say that his books on the subject were not written for the current devotees of magic and witchcraft, and that in fact he subsequently had to avoid them, as they would only be disappointed in what he had to say.

Idries Shah presented Sufism as a form of timeless wisdom that predated Islam.

Idries Shah emphasised that the nature of Sufism was alive, not static, and that it always adapted its visible manifestations to new times, places and people: "Sufi schools are like waves which break upon rocks: [they are] from the same sea, in different forms, for the same purpose," he wrote, quoting Ahmad al-Badawi.

Idries Shah was often dismissive of orientalists' descriptions of Sufism, holding that academic or personal study of its historical forms and methods was not a sufficient basis for gaining a correct understanding of it.

Idries Shah dismissed other Eastern and Western projections of Sufism as "watered down, generalised or partial"; he included in this not only Khan's version, but the overtly Muslim forms of Sufism found in most Islamic countries.

Idries Shah felt the best way to introduce Sufi wisdom in the West, while at the same time overcoming the problems of gurus and cults, was to clarify the difference between a cult and an educational system, and to contribute to knowledge.

Idries Shah lectured on the study of Sufism in the West at the University of Sussex in 1966.

Idries Shah's Sufi aims and methodologies were delineated in the "Declaration of the People of the Tradition" given at Coombe Springs:.

Idries Shah was frequently criticised for not mentioning God very much in his writings; his reply was that given man's present state, there would not be much point in talking about God.

Idries Shah used teaching stories and humour to great effect in his work.

Idries Shah did not reveal the layers, the nuggets of information, the fragments of truth and fantasy.

Idries Shah used to say that the great collections of stories from the East were like encyclopedias, storehouses of wisdom and knowledge ready to be studied, to be appreciated and cherished.

Idries Shah saw them as complex psychological documents, forming a body of knowledge that had been collected and refined since the dawn of humanity and, more often than not, passed down by word of mouth.

Idries Shah's concern was to reveal essentials underlying all cultures, and the hidden factors determining individual behaviour.

Idries Shah discounted the Western focus on appearances and superficialities, which often reflected mere fashion and habit, and drew attention to the origins of culture and the unconscious and mixed motivations of people and the groups formed by them.

Idries Shah did not advocate the abandonment of worldly duties; instead, he argued that the treasure sought by the would-be disciple should derive from one's struggles in everyday living.

Idries Shah considered practical work the means through which a seeker could do self-work, in line with the traditional adoption by Sufis of ordinary professions, through which they earned their livelihoods and "worked" on themselves.

Idries Shah considered his books his legacy; in themselves, they would fulfil the function he had fulfilled when he could no longer be there.

Idries Shah's brother, Omar Ali-Idries Shah, was a writer and teacher of Sufism; the brothers taught students together for a while in the 1960s, but in 1977 "agreed to disagree" and went their separate ways.

Idries Shah's son, Tahir Shah, is a noted travel writer, journalist and adventurer.

Idries Shah's works have been translated into many languages, such as French, German, Latvian, Persian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and others.

Idries Shah work was relatively late to reach the Polish reader.

Idries Shah is concerned with the method by which mystical knowledge is transmitted.

Idries Shah described Shah as supported by a "coterie of serviceable journalists, editors, critics, animators, broadcasters, and travel writers, which gamely choruses Shah's praise".

The psychologist and consciousness researcher Charles Tart commented that Idries Shah's writings had "produced a more profound appreciation in [him] of what psychology is about than anything else ever written".

Idries Shah understood the vital importance for humanity of the 'mental blueprint' aspect of them and his books are full of nourishing examples.

Some orientalists were hostile, in part because Idries Shah presented classical Sufi writings as tools for self-development to be used by contemporary people, rather than as objects of historical study.

Idries Shah is, in fact, a Grand Sheikh of the Sufi Tariqa.

Idries Shah took a dim view of Rushbrook Williams' festschrift of Shah, saying he considered many of the claims made in the book on behalf of Shah and his father, concerning their representing the Sufi tradition, to be self-serving publicity marked by a "disarming disregard for facts".

Idries Shah replied in a letter that the manuscript was not in his possession, but even if it were, producing it would prove nothing, because it could not be accurately dated using the current methods and its authenticity would still be contested.

Idries Shah pressed Shah again, reminding him of previous promises to produce the manuscript if it were necessary.