Tales of the Dervishes: Teaching Stories of the Sufi Masters over the Past Thousand Years - Paperback

by Idries Shah (Author)

Dervish tales are more than fable, legend, or folklore. For centuries dervish masters have instructed their disciples by means of these teaching stories, which are said to increase perception and knowledge and provide a better understanding of man and the world. In wit, construction, and piquancy, they compare with the finest tales of any culture. Idries Shah spent many years traveling through three continents to collect and compare oral versions of these remarkable stories. This anthology, presented in the dervish manner, contains stories drawn from the repertories of dervish masters over a period of more than a thousand years.

Author Biography

Idries Shah was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote dozens of books on topics ranging from psychology to spiritualilty to travelogues to other anthropological studies. In his writings, Shah presented Sufism as a universal form of wisdom that predated Islam. Shah is known for The Sufis, The Commanding Self, The Subleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin, The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin, Thinkers of the East, and Learning How to Learn.