Sufism: ‘a natural antidote to fanaticism’

Jason Webster on why the republication of Idries Shah book about Sufism – whose enthusiasts have included William Churchill, Ted Hughes and Doris Lessing – couldn’t be more timely:  The Guardian

Fifty years ago this autumn, Idries Shah published The Sufis, with an introduction by Robert Graves. The Washington Post declared it “a seminal book of the century”, while writers such as Doris Lessing, JD Salinger and Geoffrey Grigson were all drawn to it. Ted Hughes described it as “astonishing”. “The Sufis must be the biggest society of sensible men on Earth,” he wrote.

Now, the Idries Shah Foundation is bringing out new editions in English and commissioning translations of his work into Persian, Arabic and Urdu – the very cultures where much of his material originated.