Special Problems in the Study of Sufi Ideas by Idries Shah

Author:Idries Shah [Shah, Idries]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ISF Publishing

It seems unlikely that much progress towards the widespread understanding of Sufi ideas will be made until more scholars avail themselves of Sufi interpretative methods. If they do not, they will continue to waste effort on secondary phenomena. This, in turn, poses a special problem for the Sufi himself. As Ibn el-Arabi has said: ‘The Sufi must act and speak in a manner which takes into consideration the understanding, limitations and dominant concealed prejudices of his audience.’ 7

The correct study of Sufi ideas depends upon the supply and right use of the literature and also the contact with the Sufi instructor.

As to supply of literature, time may put that right in the ordinary course of events, although two recent experiences indicate that the losses, again, may be serious.

One of my books was criticised by an eminent scholastic and expert on Sufism in the Middle East on the ground that Mulla Nasrudin the joker was no Sufi instruction-figure. He did not know at the time, and perhaps still does not know, that at that moment a European student was actually living in a dervish community in Pakistan which was using Mulla Nasrudin and nothing else, as instruction material. An account of these studies was recently published in a British journal of religion. 8

But merely adding to the information on Sufism is not enough. Not long ago, when I was innocently enquiring about holiday prospects from a Western intellectual whom I buttonholed on a Greek island, he rounded on me with a fair amount of abuse. Brandishing a copy of one of my own books, he said: ‘You are wasting your time thinking about a holiday, and trying to waste the time of a man who is reading this book: something more important than all your holidays!’

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