Tales of the Dervishes Paperback – 17 March 2018

Like Panchtantra its a book of age old wisdom encapsulated in a fun loving format coming from the land of Islam. Stories are ageless and without religious overtones. A must read for all who believe in universal wisdom across religious boundaries. It has an element for all age groups as the meaning encoded is multidimensional. The higher meanings unfolding as you grow.I bought it for my daughter of 11 years to give her a cultural experience and for its different way of storytelling and she thoroughly enjoys it.

the book is for the perpose.....those who are seeking the truth can reach to it after reading this.A must have ...book.

Quality of the print is not ok

full of wisdom

This book is like Panchatantra stories.

I have read many books by Idries Shah going back 30+ years and this is another great one. Will read it again and again.

"Their true function, beyond sheer entertainment, as a metaphorical teaching instrument is so little-known in the modern world, that no popular terms exist to describe them."Metaphorical teaching instruments are called fables. These are excellent fables.

One of my all time favourite books... I keep it by my bedside and re-read the stories whenever I feel like I need a fresh perspective. One thing I love is that some of these stories are over a thousand years old, yet they get to the core aspects of human behaviour... I find it interesting that reading these stories helps me put the recent world events in perspective and feel more personally resilient as a result.

Shah suggests that there is a practical knowledge of humanity that we may wish to develop. In this book he presents stories from Sufi teachers over the last 14 centuries, as well as comments on each. Before you go looking for lessons here, however, remember that elsewhere Shah suggests that the first thing you want to do with a story is to enjoy it, and I hope that you enjoy the stories here as much as I do. If beyond that you find a little something extra in these stories, then so much the better. I happen to think that taken together they perhaps provide a glimpse of habits that we might wish to be more aware of in ourselves, and maybe even a little about perceiving reality more accurately. If you would like to call that spirituality, a “science of humanity,” or even just “common sense,” I do not think he would be greatly offended. But first and foremost I hope you will find the book is a fun read with delightful stories to enjoy and perhaps share.

A book of over eighty very entertaining and varied stories begins with some already appreciated by many in the West, like ‘The Tale of the Sands’, ‘The Food of Paradise’, and ‘The Blind Ones and the Matter of the Elephant’. Shah guides us through these, and the many unfamiliar tales which follow. He tells us that not all dervish stories are suitable for everyone, for all places, and for all times. As an example, ‘The Man Who Walked on Water’ provides great enjoyment and a superficial moral for those of us who read it in English; but, to be fully appreciated, it needs to be encountered in Arabic.The book contains a story composed by one of the greatest Arabic poets, el-Mutannabi. ‘The Three Truths’ was, like others in his collection, to remain an oral legend for a thousand years, because the retelling needed to be in accordance with ‘the changes of the times’. By the time Shah compiled this collection, a thousand years since the poet’s death had elapsed, and the story finally appeared in print.This is not the only reminder that the Eastern approach to storytelling is governed by what seem to us to be inexplicable rules. ‘The Lame Man and the Blind Man’, according to dervish lore, is only to be read after receiving definite instructions to do so. Alternately it can be read by those who have already studied ‘The Blind Ones and the Matter of the Elephant’. When you come to the penultimate story, make sure you leave yourself enough time to read the last one immediately afterwards, because ‘The Host and the Guests’ is one of the Sufi Tales which carry an embargo. In this case we are warned that it may not be studied in isolation.I read the Kindle edition of this book twice before attempting this, admittedly inadequate, review. I thoroughly enjoyed all the stories, but make a plea not to ignore, or dismiss lightly, the more down-to-earth tales. Some of the stories I found most surprising and rewarding included ‘The Time, the Place and the People’, ‘Wisdom for Sale’ and ‘The Lamp Shop’.