Idries Shah
Idries Shah
Idries Shah (1924-1996) was a writer and teacher in the Sufi tradition. Born in Simla, India, into a family with Afghan connections, he collected, translated and adapted teaching stories for modern readers. His work is relevant to this wiki through its use of narrative, humour, analogy and shifts of perspective. Idries Shah Foundation biography.
Writing and teaching stories
Shah's The Sufis appeared in 1964. Other collections include Tales of the Dervishes, Caravan of Dreams and stories featuring Nasrudin, a figure whose apparent foolishness can expose assumptions in the people around him. The foundation's guide to his Sufi studies and story collections provides routes into these works.
A teaching story can bring several viewpoints into play: the narrator's, the characters' and the reader's. An unexpected ending may change how an earlier action is understood. This makes such stories useful material for comparing metaphor, analogy and the role of context. It does not require every story to have a single concealed message.
The distinction between a story offered to an audience and a person's own description of experience is useful here. A literary comparison comes from an author or tradition; a personal metaphor belongs to the speaker's account. Treating them as interchangeable can introduce meanings the speaker has not supplied.
Reception and perspective
Doris Lessing was among Shah's appreciative readers, as documented by the foundation. His presentation of Sufism should be read as a particular author's approach rather than as a complete account of every Sufi tradition. The foundation is a useful source for his publications and legacy, while also being an organisation devoted to promoting his work.
The Idries Shah Foundation
The foundation describes itself as an independent British charity founded in 2014. Its activities include making Shah's books available and publishing teaching stories. About the foundation.
- Foundation book catalogue, including editions and available reading formats.
- Nossrat Peseschkian, for a different author's use of stories in psychotherapy.
- Stories and literature, for other narrative examples in the wiki.
- Idiomatic, Literal and Figurative Communication, for distinctions between kinds of expression.