Este pequeno tratado verdadeira perola oculta nos escritos postumos de Schopenhauer foi elaborado 'como uma dissecacao limpa' para conferir uma sistematizacao formal aos 'artificios desonestos recorrentes nas disputas'. Schopenhauer apresenta 38 estratagemas licitos e ilicitos aos quais e possivel recorrer para 'obter' razao: para defende-la quando ela estiver do nosso lado e para conquista-la quando estiver do lado do adversario. Leitura atraente e muito util: com frieza classificatoria Schopenhauer nos indica 'os caminhos obliquos e os truques de que se serve a natureza humana em geral para ocultar seus defeitos'.

> Arkoun Mohammed. Shah (Idries) The Sufis.
In: Archives de sciences sociales des religions, n°58/2, 1984. pp. 309-310. … ; (en ligne),
URL : https://www.persee.fr/doc/assr_0335-5985_1984_num_58_2_2339_t1_0309_0000_5

> Le Professeur Mohammed Arkoun (voir 3e millénaire n°20 & 25) enseigne l’histoire de la pensée Islamique à l'Université de Paris III, et est Directeur de la revue Arabica. Il est l’auteur d’une thèse intitulée “L’humanisme arabe au IV/Xeme siècle : Miskawayh, philosophe et historien" (1982, Ed. J. Vrin), et des ouvrages suivants : “Pour une critique de la raison islamique" (1984, Ed. Maisonneuve & Larose), “L’Islam" (1989, Ed. Grancher), “" (1991, 4e éd., Ed. P.U.F Que sais-je ?), “Le Coran” (1991, Ed. Flammarion).

I checked out The Sufis by Idries Shah on a whim. I ran across it while looking for his English translations of the “Tales of Nasrudin”.

I’ve long been fascinated by the Sufi. The works of Rumi and Omar Khayyám, of Hafiz, Ibn el-Arabi, Ghazali, and Averroës, all had powerful effects on me when I first read them, and each time I reread them. The Sufi exerted a powerful and largely unappreciated influence over the course of Western culture and history.

Mr. Shah is an esteemed author and a Sufi. I thought this book would be a good history and insight into their beliefs and practices.

It’s tempting to use this review to analyze and critique the beliefs and claims of the Sufi. But the real question isn’t whether or not I agree, or even sympathize, with Sufi philosophy and practice.

The real question is whether or not this book successfully conveys an understanding of the Sufi to a non-Sufi reader. And the answer is:

Yes?

My answer to this question can’t be unqualified.

There’s benefit in reading this book. It offers a tremendous amount of information about the Sufi from someone who is, himself, a Sufi. At the time this work was published, such a perspective didn’t properly exist in the Western literature on the subject. That alone makes this work important.

In truth, the greatest benefit I find in the book is the unique Sufi / Persian / Arabic perspective it offers on Western history and culture. Mr. Shah also covers the influence of the Sufi in Asia to lesser extent. It’s a perspective I haven’t been exposed to before and I find it fascinating.

Mr. Shah works very hard to trace Sufic roots for many Western cultural phenomena, schools of thought, and traditions. This book was written at a time when Western historians were only beginning to acknowledge the influence that Arab, Persian, and Sufi culture had on the Western world.

Reading this work today, we have a far greater appreciation of the profound influence that Middle Eastern culture had on Europe during the Middle Ages. We know now that many essential aspects of Medieval Europe—from math and science, to philosophy and art, to religious ritual and orders—were borrowed and adapted from the Arab and Persian regions of the Middle East, either via the Crusades or through Saracen Spain.

Even now, it’s likely that we still haven’t plumbed the full extent of this influence. In tracing the Sufic roots and influences of various aspects of Western culture, Mr. Shah offers a wealth of compelling evidence to expand our sense of just how much the Western world owes to Arabic, Persian, and Sufi culture and thought. His chapter, “Mysteries in the West: V. The Secret Doctrine” offers a particularly compelling take on the relationship between the Arab East and Christian West during the Middle Ages and after.

However, the benefits of reading The Sufis weren’t easy for me to get to. I encountered some major stumbling blocks in the experience of reading this book.

One is that fact that it isn’t organized in any way that I’m familiar with for a work whose purpose is to explore the nature and history of a spiritual belief system.

I expected something along the lines of a philosophical discourse or a chronological history. But The Sufis isn’t either. While there are many names and dates mentioned throughout, it’s not a chronological tale of the Sufi and the diffusion of Sufi ideas. It's also not a pure philosophical or theological treatise. Given what this book teaches us about the Sufi, it can't be either of those things. Neither would convey a correct vision of the Sufi perspective.

This book is essentially a series of snapshots of the Sufi world—short biographies of some important figures; brief explorations of some central ideas; some tracings of the influence that the Sufi have had on history. As Mr. Shah states on p. 278, “We have various aspects of this diffusion in this book, chosen in order to illustrate it, not as any complete ennunciation.”

Another stumbling block is the language of the work. There’s an obfuscation to the text beyond it’s dense, scholarly tone. The scholarly tone is a product of its time—the work was published in 1964 for an academic press. Academia in 1964 had a certain style and this density is to be expected. The obfuscation comes from a deeper Sufic paradigm. The Sufi have a way of seeing the world that doesn’t translate fully into normal language patterns and expressions. Everything in this book needs to be read as more than merely information and description—this content is also allegorical and metaphorical. But these allegories and metaphors are created from a pool of cultural reference that’s largely unfamiliar to me.

I know that I can’t understand everything Mr. Shah meant to convey. I believe it’s a beneficial effort to try, and to understand what I can as well as I can, but it’s disappointing to know that there’s meaning in this work that’s inaccessible to me.

The biggest stumbling block in this book for me, however, is this:

At the very beginning of The Sufis, Mr. Shah warns the reader that Sufism isn’t something that can be explained in words. It’s not something that anyone can understand just by reading about it. Sufism must be experienced, and the experience must be guided by a qualified teacher. He emphasizes this point repeatedly throughout the book. As he states on p. 180, “[T]hings which are comprehensive experiences ‘cannot be penned by a mumbling wordsmith, any more than he himself would accept a paper copy of a fruit as edible or nutritious.’” It therefore begs the question:

If Sufism can’t be explained by writing about it, why did he bother writing a 450 page book on the subject?

More to the point, why should I bother to read it?

This alone makes the work very difficult for me to commit to. But my misgivings on this front go even deeper.

Several times throughout this book, Mr. Shah talks about the unique teaching methods of the Sufi. Greatest stress is placed on the belief that proper guidance along the Sufi path requires that the seeker be exposed to the proper experiences at the proper time and in the proper context. Only at the correct time and in the correct context can the correct experience lead to the correct psychological development.

For a seeker to attempt an act, to hear a poem or a song or a story, to be exposed to an experience at the wrong time, in the wrong context—when the seeker isn’t prepared to experience and understand it correctly—will not merely fail to render to proper outcome: it can actively impede the seeker’s forward progress by promoting an incorrect mindset which will perpetuate further misunderstanding.

Taken in these terms, I can’t help but wonder if this entire book—written for a non-Sufi, Western audience—is the wrong lessons, communicated to the wrong people, at the wrong time, with insufficient control to ensure the proper context. Given Mr. Shah's own belief system, this whole endeavor comes across as irresponsible.

Thus, we return to my original question:

Does The Sufis successfully convey an understanding of the Sufi to a non-Sufi reader?

Yes. To an unavoidably limited extent.

But if you’re really interested in the Sufi, you’re probably better off reading Sufi works than reading a work about the Sufi. ( )

> Vajda Georges. Idries Shah. Les Soufis et l'ésotérisme.
In: Revue de l'histoire des religions, tome 186, n°2, 1974. p. 212… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhr_0035-1423_1974_num_186_2_10231

> Shah (Idries). Les Soufls et l’ésotérisme. Paris, Payot, 1972, 342 p.
Se reporter au compte rendu de Jean-Paul CHARNAY
In: Archives de sciences sociales des religions, 18e Année, No. 35 (Jan. - Jun., 1973), p. 220… ; (en ligne),
URL : https://www.persee.fr/doc/assr_0335-5985_1973_num_35_1_2761_t1_0220_0000_1

LOS SUFÍS

LA SITUACIÓN
La humanidad está dormida, ocupada sólo en lo
que es inútil, viviendo en un mundo equivocado.
Creer que esto puede superarse es solo costumbre
y uso, no Religión. Esta «religión» es inepta ....

No parlotees ante la Gente del Sendero, antes
consúmete a ti mismo. Tu sabiduría y tu religión
están invertidos si te hallas cabeza abajo en relación
con la realidad.

El hombre está tejiendo una red en torno de si
mismo. Un león (el hombre del Camino) hace pedazos su jaula.

(El maestro sufí Sanai de Afganistán, maestro de Rumi,
en El cercado jardín de la Verdad, escrito en 1131)