Saira Shah warns that the Sufi tradition is in danger of being forgotten

[@GraemeMurray-oo4dq]

Your postcard from Turkey is wonderful and reminds me of a visit to Istanbul. Good wishes for your publishing of Idries Shah's works there. the publications from the Octagon Press have given us a , legacy, a lasting access to the Way of the Sufi.

[@JASPER-hs3di]

i am from hong kong, I just came across your father's works, it really amazed me, keep going!!

[@christophorhill2320]

Your father, blessed be his memory, continues to be an inspiration, and one of the greatest teachers who ever graced our beautiful world. There are those of us who will never let the tradition fade - as we are limbs, we are also streams through which it can flow. I am eternally grateful to have found your father's teachings, to be inspired to look deeper into the wisdom of the Way of the Sufis. Thank you for reminding us!!! 🙏

[@xeropunt5749]

Great to see & hear you again Saira jan! From Dreamwalkers to Beneath the Veil…More project news & documentaries when you can, please:)!🎉

[@mrdProf42]

Thank you, Saira. Thank you.

[@mrsdee1656]

Just discovered your dad's books, in a round about way, of studying Gurdjieff, Nicoll & The Fourth Way, so I'm delighted to know his legacy is continuing via his close connections. 💫

[@georgemathews3360]

Thank you Saira. Inspired by your father's work every day

[@asadkhani29]

Salam: Thank you for making this video and reminding us of Idries Shah. It is indeed a misfortune that Sufi ideas and practices that he embodied are under threat in the Islamic world. His insights and teaching have been illuminating not just in the religious context but also in other areas of human life, particularly his emphasis on the content and essence as opposed to the outer labels and containers. For instance, note how a former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Jawwad S. Khawaja, employed this insight while developing constitutional jurisprudence in the following extract from one of his judgments: "We can now take up the submissions of Mr. Agha in relation to our finding that the Committee cannot be equated with Parliament nor can it be treated as a sub-set of Parliament in the manner in which a Parliamentary Committee elected and answerable to Parliament can be considered to be part of Parliament. There is ambivalence in the thinking of the Federation. This seems to be a result of the appellation of 'Parliamentary Committee' used in Article 175A and discussed in the judgment under review. The mistaken notion apparently has resulted from ignoring the wisdom of the Master al-Ghazzali of old and the contemporary thinker S. Idries Shah that the container or outward label is not and must not be confused with the content if we are to avoid the pitfalls of superficiality and muddled thinking. The Bard revered by the English spoke in similar vein a few hundred years after al-Ghazzali. With a slight twist to his words we can say, that the gainda, a beautiful flower in itself, will not become a rose or acquire its attributes and smell as sweet, if called a rose. Thus, while it may be possible for a layman or an uninformed commentator to be misled by an outward label, as Judges we would fall into serious error if we were to be inveigled by a title alone. In the judgment under review we have given reasons for our view that the Committee’s name is irrelevant; it is independent of Parliament and cannot be considered its part or be accorded the same status as Parliament. No reason has been given by the learned Additional Attorney General which can persuade us to depart from this opinion." This was back in 2011, about 15 years after Idries Shah left us. It is therefore safe to say that although he is no longer with us physically, his thoughts, teachings, and insights continue to guide us in multifarious ways, and thanks to you for keeping that flame burning. Warmly, Asad Ullah Khan, Advocate from Lahore, Pakistan

[@xeropunt5749]

like the real story of handing the bag of wheat to the farmer. he kept getting better & better yields. so he asked from where did you get that wheat? Idries said as I walked through the wheat field, I collected the best grains from your best stalks & I gave them back to you…

[@ClearLight369]

Thank you for this beautiful and informative video. God bless you.

[@carlgrove8793]

Somehow I never visualised Rumi's tomb as such a magnificent structure. A huge pity that even in the East Sufi ideas have to be reintroduced in this manner. Beautiful video.

[@cohenshcohen]

Idries Shah in a sense was a researcher...a researcher into the true nature of man...Gurdjieff was also a researcher... in much the same way...what is the role of humanity on this planet...

[@ToIsleOfView]

The veil is getting darker for the bulk of humanity. Athoritarian religion (including political worship) is closing our minds to accept only the official dogma of rote (programed) belief. This will pass. This generation of Sufi must concentrate on the preservation of enlightened wisdom. Reaching out to the masses can be dangerous. Al-Husayn bin Mansur al-Hallāj is an example of casting perls before swine. "Be Ye wise as serpents and harmless as doves".

[@TazKidNoah]

Irony is that it was Kemalism(Laicite & Liberalism) that defunted Tariqas. If Atatürk wasn't soo hostile towards Islam, this might have been avoided.

[@Adil-uk7vh]

The parts of Sufi tradition which promote Shirk and biddat should be forgotten.

[@kachahaan1660]

Unfortunately your father lived at the side of the oppressors and not the oppressed. Though I love the work he did for the Sufi world, there is the bitter taste that your family is attached for a long time with the British. Sufism is rooted in the Persian world which nowadays clearly stay in Sufi tradition on the side of the oppressed. Not so Britain. You can correct that.

[@quirquinchumisitu4211]

Thank you for that sentiment expressed so unusually. In the "English Trilogy" don Idries explains in a sideways, suggestive, manner what are some of the peculiarities of the English mind and its expressions. I had to read them 3 times to understand the undertow of that work, and I believe it was written as a cautionary to other masters that may find their destiny to deal with the anglo-saxon mentality. The role of the Anglophilic world is changing rapidly in 2024 and not for higher destinations. I believe that the English Trilogy could be useful. If I lay my hands on a copy i receive an awareness of a man in his last years, having received his health notice, amazingly producing these three funny and useful books, if I may without impudence put it like that. I would say that the fracturing of the Muslim community has been produced in part by the mischief-makers of Greater Anglia, I echo to some extent your expression. I hope for better things. In the midst of anger and agony I think better things are there to be sought (and the bad things removed). From far away in another ancient world I wish you better hopes and achievements, and of course thank you, yourself, and to Saira for the provocative mental stimulus that typed these words.