Idries Shah Biography

Biography

Type: Writer, Publisher

Born: 16 June 1924, Simla, India

Died: 23 November 1996 (aged 72), London, UK

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 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. 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. 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. His works have played a significant part in presenting Sufism as an individualistic form of spiritual wisdom not necessarily attached to any specific religion.

Idries Shah Quotes

Saying of the Prophet
Food
Nobody has eaten better food than that won by his own labour.

In the realm of Greater Understanding, the workshop is dismantled after the work is finished.. Idries
In the realm of Greater Understanding, the workshop is dismantled after the work is finished.

You have come a long way, and you do not know it. You have a long
You have come a long way, and you do not know it. You have a long way to do, and you do know what that means.

Anybody or anything may stand between you and knowledge if you are unfit for it.. Idries
Anybody or anything may stand between you and knowledge if you are unfit for it.

The Sufi must be able to alternate his thought between the relative and the Absolute, the
The Sufi must be able to alternate his thought between the relative and the Absolute, the approximate and the Real.

You call me an unbeliever. I shall therefore call you a True Believer since a lie
You call me an unbeliever. I shall therefore call you a True Believer since a lie is best met with one of similar magnitude.

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