The Sufis (1964, this
edition 2015) is a non-chronological historical account that seeks to present a
comprehensive understanding of Sufi thinkers, such as Rumi, Omar Khayyam, Ibn
El-Arabi, Al-Ghazzali, Saadi, Francis of Assisi, and others.
The book defines Sufis
and Sufism in (mostly) an understandable manner, sometimes through narrative lessons,
sometimes through explanations, and sometimes through parables and fables.
Basically Shah says
Sufis ‘cannot be defined by any single set of words or ideas. By a picture,
moving and made up of different dimensions, perhaps.’ Lovers and poets, rich
and poor, a neighbour, a pilot or a cleaner: ‘Sufism, in one definition, is human life,’ he writes.
Shah defines the
concepts and techniques of Sufis across different countries and cultures,
as well as through the vast range of literature on the topic. What seems like
inconsistencies are but varied interpretations.
The series of Sufic
fables in the book include one about shipbuilders and swimmers on an island –
‘a cage with invisible bars’ – and another about travellers and grapes, which highlights
disharmony due to the ‘faulty understanding of the language of others.’ Yet
another is the famous ‘elephant in the dark’ parable about people feeling
different parts of an elephant, yet do not understand the ‘big picture’ in
order to determine what the elephant actually looks like, leading to confusion.
The fables present
three forms of culture – worldly culture (the acquistion of information);
religious culture (following rules); and elite culture (self-development); and
two modes of knowledge – through argument and experience (practice). ‘Argument
brings conclusions and compels us to concede them, but it does not cause
certainty nor remove doubts in order that the mind may remain at rest in truth,
unless this is provided by experience.’
At the beginning of
the book Shah says that Sufism can’t be explained in words, and yet … this is a
dense book of 450 pages. It has patches of easy reading and patches of more
complex concepts. Perhaps the reason why the book is so long is because Shah
attempts to present as many different views of the Sufis as possible, in the
hope that readers will connect with knowledge that is relevant to their own
situations.
There are other ways
of understanding Sufism – and that is to read Sufi writings (especially poetry),
such as those in the magazines, such as ‘Sufism: an enquiry’ or ‘Sufi Journal’
– magazines of collective aspects of mysticism and spirituality through thought
and practice via articles, interviews, art, literature reviews, poetry, music,
and quotes.
MARTINA NICOLLS is an international
aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of
Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet
(2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
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