Published by Penguin UK, 1974, softcover, 320 pages, condition: new

Intended to illustrate something of the richness and range of Sufi ideas, this remarkable book contains extracts, verses, anecdotes, epigrams, lectures, contemplation-themes and teaching stories culled from such classical authors as Rumi, El-Ghazali and Omar Khayyam as well as sources best known to Sufis themselves. 

The Way of the Sufi offers the reader an introductory course of study, beginning with a review of special problems facing the Western student. Not least of these is the fact that Sufi writings are instrumental in function rather than didactic or just literature. Most are written to meet the needs of a specific community at a particular time, rather than to be universally or perennially read.

"Dominion of the earth from end to end is worth less than a drip of blood upon the earth." Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam that teaches love, humility, poverty, pragmatism and wisdom. In his timeless introduction, Idries Shah presents selections of lyric poems, fantastic tales, humorous anecdotes, and insightful maxims straight from the writings of revered Sufi masters. Originally a reaction against the increasing worldliness of Islam, Sufi wisdom still hits home in a modern world obsessed with pleasure and material wealth.