The Book of Strangers by Ian Dallas | Novel re Sufism

The Book of Strangers by Ian Dallas

A Novel re Sufism

This book offers a poignant personal view of Sufism by a Scottish-born actor and writer who became disillusioned with a world where people teach but know nothing, where the sentences flow on endlessly but lead nowhere. He seeks and finds wisdom and solace in the deserts of Sahara under the guidance of a Sufi master to whom he dedicates his short but powerful book. When I picked it up as a reading for my class on Sufism, I thought I would find a usual mushy account of Sufism by a starry-eyed neophyte. The book was anything but: it was eloquent, deeply personal, and felicitously free from platitudes. I was pleasantly surprised and so were my students. I recommend it to everyone interested in spiritual quests regardless of his or her background.