The Sufis by Idries Shah: Hidden Teachers and the Secret Tradition

The Book

The Sufis was published in 1964, with an introduction by the poet Robert Graves, and immediately became one of the most influential books on Sufism in the English language. It was not, however, a conventional introduction to Islamic mysticism. Idries Shah had something more ambitious in mind: a demonstration that Sufi teaching had shaped Western civilization through channels that the West had forgotten or never recognized.

The book moves through Western cultural history, identifying Sufi influence in places where conventional historians had not thought to look: the troubadour poets of Provence, the Franciscan movement, the Scholastic philosophers, the Rosicrucian Brotherhood, the development of experimental science, and the great works of Western literature (Dante, Cervantes, Chaucer). Shah's thesis is that the Western esoteric tradition is not purely Western. It carries within it a Sufi component that entered Europe through the Islamic-Christian contact zones of medieval Spain (al-Andalus) and Sicily.

Whether this thesis is fully supported by the evidence is debated (see the Scholarly Controversy section below). What is certain is that the book changed the way many Western readers thought about Sufism, about the relationship between Islam and the West, and about the hidden currents that shape cultural history.

Who Was Idries Shah?

Idries Shah (1924-1996) was born in Simla, India, into an Afghan family claiming descent from the Prophet Muhammad through the Musavi Sayyids. He moved to England as a young man and became one of the most prolific and widely read writers on Sufism in the 20th century, publishing over 35 books that have been translated into dozens of languages.

Shah was a polarizing figure. His supporters (who included Robert Graves, Doris Lessing, and the psychologist Robert Ornstein) considered him a genuine Sufi teacher who had adapted the tradition's methods for the modern West. His critics (including many traditional Sufis and academic scholars) accused him of commercializing Sufism, of making unsubstantiated historical claims, and of presenting a version of the tradition that was more Shah than Sufi.

Shah himself would have rejected the terms of this debate. He argued that Sufism is not a fixed doctrine that can be corrupted or preserved but a living method that must be adapted to each era and audience. If his presentation looked different from traditional Sufism, that was because his audience (modern Westerners) was different from the traditional audience (medieval Muslims). The essence, he claimed, was the same.

The Main Argument: Sufism as Hidden Current

Shah's central thesis can be stated simply: Sufi ideas entered Western culture during the medieval period (roughly 800-1300 CE) through the contact zones where Islamic and Christian civilizations met (Spain, Sicily, the Crusader states). These ideas were not received as "Islamic" or "Sufi" but were translated, adapted, and absorbed into Western forms: poetry, philosophy, science, alchemy, and mysticism.

The result is that much of what the West considers its own intellectual heritage (courtly love, experimental science, the Rosicrucian tradition, parts of the Divine Comedy) has Sufi roots that have been forgotten. The Western esoteric tradition, in Shah's view, is partly a Sufi tradition that has lost consciousness of its origins.

Shah supports this thesis through a series of chapters, each examining a specific Western figure or movement and tracing the Sufi connections: the troubadour poets, Roger Bacon, Raymond Lull, Francis of Assisi, the Rosicrucian manifestos, and others. The evidence varies in quality (some connections are well-documented, others speculative), but the cumulative effect is persuasive: there was significant cultural transmission from the Islamic world to the medieval West, and some of that transmission carried Sufi ideas.

The Troubadour Connection

Shah's most celebrated (and most controversial) argument concerns the troubadour poets of Provence (11th-13th centuries). The troubadours invented the concept of courtly love (fin'amor): the idealization of a distant, often unattainable Lady to whom the poet devotes absolute, self-sacrificing love. This concept has no precedent in classical Greek or Latin literature and no obvious source in Christian theology.

Shah argues it has a clear source in Sufi love poetry from Muslim Spain. The Sufi poets of al-Andalus (notably Ibn Hazm, author of The Ring of the Dove, 1022) developed a sophisticated literature of idealized love in which the human beloved functions as a symbol of the divine. The lover's devotion to the unattainable Lady is actually devotion to God, expressed through the metaphor of human passion.

Shah identifies specific parallels: the troubadour vocabulary (certain technical terms appear to derive from Arabic), the verse forms (the rondeau and the virelai have structural similarities to Arabic zaql and muwashshah), and the philosophical framework (love as a path of spiritual transformation). He argues these parallels are too precise to be coincidental and reflect direct transmission from Andalusian Sufi circles to Provençal poets, possibly through bilingual intermediaries in the border zones.

Dante and the Sufis

Shah connects Dante to the Sufi tradition through several channels:

• The Fedeli d'Amore (Faithful of Love), Dante's poetic circle, which Shah presents as influenced by Sufi love mysticism
• The structural parallels between the Divine Comedy and the Mi'raj (Muhammad's Night Journey through the seven heavens), first noted by the Spanish scholar Miguel Asín Palacios in 1919
• Beatrice as a figure parallel to the Sufi beloved: a human woman who functions as a symbol of divine wisdom, guiding the poet-lover through stages of spiritual ascent

The Dante-Sufi connection remains debated in academic scholarship. Asín Palacios's thesis was initially dismissed but has been partially rehabilitated by subsequent scholars. Shah goes further than Asín Palacios in claiming a direct Sufi influence on Dante's circle, but the structural parallels (the journey through levels, the guide figure, the beloved as divine wisdom) are undeniable, whether they reflect direct influence or convergent insight.

For Thalira's full treatment of the Divine Comedy, see our esoteric reading of Dante.

Roger Bacon and Arabic Science

Shah traces Roger Bacon's advocacy of experimental science to the Arabic scientific tradition, which transmitted Greek and Persian knowledge alongside Sufi philosophical frameworks. Bacon studied Arabic texts, cited Islamic scholars (particularly Ibn Sina/Avicenna and al-Haytham/Alhazen), and proposed a "universal science" that Shah connects to the Sufi concept of ilm (complete, integrated knowledge).

The historical claim is partially valid: Bacon was genuinely influenced by Arabic science, and Arabic science did carry philosophical and mystical elements alongside its empirical content. Whether this makes Bacon a "Sufi" transmitter (as Shah implies) is more debatable. He was certainly a Western figure who drew heavily on Islamic intellectual traditions.

The Rosicrucian Link

Shah argues that the Rosicrucian Brotherhood (announced in the Fama Fraternitatis of 1614) carries Sufi influence through its founder's legendary journey to the East. Christian Rosenkreutz (whether historical or fictional) is described in the manifestos as having studied in Damascus, Fez, and other Islamic centres, bringing back knowledge that he encoded in the Rosicrucian system.

Shah identifies specific parallels between Rosicrucian symbolism and Sufi practice: the rose as a symbol of spiritual opening (the Sufi gul), the cross as a symbol of the intersection of worlds, the emphasis on healing and service, and the concept of an invisible brotherhood operating behind the scenes of history. Whether these parallels reflect direct transmission or the convergence of two traditions drawing on common Hermetic sources is debated.

The Rosicrucian connection is one of Shah's most provocative claims and one of the hardest to verify. The Rosicrucian manifestos are themselves mysterious documents with disputed authorship and uncertain intent. Shah's reading adds another layer of mystery to an already opaque tradition.

Nasrudin: The Teaching Stories

Shah popularized the Mulla Nasrudin stories for Western audiences, publishing several collections (The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin, 1966; The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin, 1973; and others). These are tales of a wise fool from the Islamic world who says and does things that appear absurd but contain hidden wisdom.

Shah argued that these stories function as "mental vitamins": psychological devices that, when heard correctly, disrupt habitual thinking patterns and activate latent capacities for understanding. They operate not through the rational mind (which tries to "solve" the story) but through a deeper faculty that responds to the story's structure, pattern, and resonance.

This approach to teaching stories as psychological tools (rather than as entertainment or moral instruction) was Shah's most distinctive contribution to the Western understanding of Sufism. It influenced psychologists (Robert Ornstein used Nasrudin stories in his research on cognitive flexibility), educators (Shah's Institute for Cultural Research promoted story-based learning), and writers (Doris Lessing incorporated Shah's ideas into her later fiction).

How Shah Defines Sufism

Shah's definition of Sufism is deliberately broad: "the study of how to learn." This definition strips away the Islamic, mystical, and devotional elements that most definitions emphasize and presents Sufism as a method: a set of techniques for developing human potential that can operate in any cultural or religious context.

This definition is both Shah's greatest strength (it makes Sufism accessible to non-Muslims) and his most criticized position (traditional Sufis argue it severs Sufism from its Islamic roots and reduces it to a secular self-help methodology). Shah would respond that the essence of Sufism has always been adaptive: it took Islamic form in the Islamic world, but its principles are universal and can take Western form in the Western world.

Whether one agrees with this definition depends on whether one sees Sufism as essentially Islamic (in which case Shah's universalism is a distortion) or as essentially human (in which case its Islamic expression is one valid form among many). The debate is unresolved and may be unresolvable.

The Scholarly Controversy

The Sufis has been both celebrated and criticized since its publication:

Supporters: Robert Graves (who wrote the introduction) called it a "groundbreaking thesis." Doris Lessing (Nobel Prize for Literature, 2007) credited Shah with transforming her understanding of human consciousness. Robert Ornstein (The Psychology of Consciousness) used Shah's ideas in his cognitive research. These are serious endorsements from serious people.

Critics: Carl Ernst (Following Muhammad, 2003) has questioned Shah's historical claims, noting that many specific connections (e.g., troubadour vocabulary deriving from Arabic) are poorly documented. Alexander Knysh (Islamic Mysticism: A Short History, 2000) considers Shah's version of Sufism a modern construction that selectively uses traditional materials. Traditional Sufi orders have generally rejected Shah's claim to represent the tradition authentically.

The honest assessment: Shah's thesis contains genuine insights (there was significant Islamic-Western cultural transmission in the medieval period, and some of it carried Sufi ideas), but his specific claims often exceed the available evidence. The book is more valuable as a provocation (forcing readers to rethink the boundaries between "Western" and "Islamic" civilization) than as a work of historical scholarship.

Who Should Read It

Readers interested in the hidden connections between Islamic and Western civilization. Shah opens doors that most Western historians keep closed.

Anyone interested in teaching stories, cognitive flexibility, and alternative approaches to learning. Shah's Nasrudin stories and his theory of how they work remain fresh and applicable.

Readers who want a non-academic, non-devotional introduction to Sufi ideas. Shah writes clearly, wittily, and accessibly, making complex ideas available to general readers.

Anyone with a taste for intellectual provocation. Whether or not you accept Shah's specific claims, the book forces you to reconsider assumptions about where Western culture came from and what it owes to the Islamic world.

Where to Buy

Buy The Sufis on Amazon

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