Idries Shah, also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi and by the pen name Arkon Daraul, was an Afghan author, thinker and teacher in the Sufi tradition. Shah wrote over three dozen books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.
A teaching story is a narrative that has been deliberately created as a vehicle for the transmission of wisdom. The practice has been used in a number of religious and other traditions, though writer Idries Shah's use of it was in the context of Sufi teaching and learning, within which this body of material has been described as the "most valuable of the treasures in the human heritage". The range of teaching stories is enormous, including anecdotes, accounts of meetings between teachers and pupils, biographies, myths, fairy tales, fables and jokes. Such stories frequently have a long life beyond the initial teaching situation and have contributed vastly to the world's store of folklore and literature.
Omar Ali-Shah was a prominent exponent of modern Naqshbandi Sufism. He wrote a number of books on the subject, and was head of a large number of Sufi groups, particularly in Latin America, Europe and Canada.
Khalilullah Khalili was Afghanistan's foremost 20th century poet as well as a noted historian, university professor, diplomat and royal confidant. He was the last of the great classical Persian poets and among the first to introduce modern Persian poetry and Nimai style to Afghanistan. He had also expertise in Khorasani style and was a follower of Farrukhi Sistani. Almost alone among Afghanistan's poets, he enjoyed a following in Iran where his selected poems have been published. His works have been praised by renowned Iranian literary figures and intellectuals. Many see him as the greatest contemporary poet of the Persian language in Afghanistan. He is also known for his major work "Hero of Khorasan", a controversial biography of Habībullāh Kalakānī, Emir of Afghanistan in 1929.
Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah was an Indian-Afghan author and diplomat descended from the Sadaat of Paghman. Born and educated in India, he came to Britain as a young man to continue his education in Edinburgh, where he married a young Scotswoman.
Saira Elizabeth Luiza Shah was a Scottish writer who wrote under the pen name Morag Murray Abdullah. She met the Pashtun author, poet, diplomat, scholar, and savant Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah and wrote about her marriage to this chieftain's son and her travels in the North-West Frontier Province of British India and the mountains of Afghanistan.
Robert Darr, also known as Robert Abdul Hayy Darr, is the author of several books on Sufism.
Amina Shah, later known as Amina Maxwell-Hudson, was a British anthologiser of Sufi stories and folk tales, and was for many years the Chairperson of the College of Storytellers. She was the sister of the Sufi writers Idries Shah and Omar Ali-Shah, and the daughter of Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah and Saira Elizabeth Luiza Shah Scottish woman. Her nephew is the travel writer and documentary filmmaker Tahir Shah; her nieces, Safia Shah and the writer and documentary filmmaker Saira Shah.
The Sufis is one of the best known books on Sufism by the writer Idries Shah. First published in 1964 with an introduction by Robert Graves, it introduced Sufi ideas to the West in a format acceptable to non-specialists at a time when the study of Sufism had largely become the reserve of Orientalists.
Saiyed Muhammed Shah, better known by his title as Jan-Fishan Khan, was a 19th-century Afghan warlord. He participated in the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–42) and the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and on both occasions, he supported the British. For his services to the British, Khan was granted the estate of Sardhana and is the forefather of the Nawabs of Sardhana.
The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK) is a non-profit educational charity and publisher established in 1969 by the psychologist and writer Robert E. Ornstein and based in Los Altos, California, in the United States. Its aim is to provide public education and information on issues of health and human nature.
Safia Nafisa Shah, now Safia Thomas, is a British writer, editor, television news producer and member of the Afghan-Indian Shah family.
The Dermis Probe is a book by Idries Shah published by Octagon Press in 1970. A paperback edition was published in 1989 and again in 1993. The stories presented in the book are also available in an audio format.
The Hundred Tales of Wisdom is a translation from the Persian by Idries Shah of the "Life, Teachings and Miracles of Jalaludin Rumi" from Aflaki's Munaqib, together with certain important stories from Rumi’s own works, traditionally known by that title. It was published by Octagon Press in 1978.
The Commanding Self is a book by the writer Idries Shah first published by Octagon Press in 1994. A paperback edition was published in 1997.
Special Illumination: The Sufi Use Of Humour is a book by the writer Idries Shah published Octagon Press in 1977. Later editions were published in 1983, 1989 and 1997.
Caravan of Dreams is a book by Idries Shah first published in 1968 by Octagon Press as part of his presentation of traditional Eastern teachings and Sufi ideas for contemporary society. New editions of the book were published in 2015 by The Idries Shah Foundation.
The Elephant in the Dark is a book by the writer Idries Shah, based on lectures he delivered at the University of Geneva as Visiting Professor in 1972–1973. He was invited to speak on the topic of “Salvation as a total surrender to God: an attempt at dialogue between Christians and Muslims.”
The Idries Shah Foundation (ISF) is an independent educational and cultural charity, set up by the family of the late thinker, writer, and teacher in the Sufi mystical tradition, Idries Shah, who wrote over three dozen books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.
The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mullah Nasrudin is a book by the writer Idries Shah, based on lectures he delivered at the University of Geneva as Visiting Professor in 1972–73. The book is a collection of tales, none more than two pages and almost all less than a page long, about the folkloric character Mulla Nasrudin. Published by Octagon Press in 1968, it was re-released in paperback, ebook and audiobook editions by The Idries Shah Foundation in 2015.
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