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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dear Victor.
I had a look at the bibliography you put together and it seems quite
impressive, nevertheless it may be difficult to bring together all
the references to what Shah has written. Since you include references
to items not published by Octagon Press, let me add a few: I'm mostly
familiar with the Spanish speaking area, and there you could find a
book like "Sufismo en Occidente", a very interesting work, since its
authorship is anonymous, but includes the article The Teaching Story
by Idries Shah (although without acknowledgement of authorship), the
article goes on and on (beyond the English version/original) and
becomes the founding stone for a book which interplays traditional
teaching stories and explanations of its use or aim within the
context of sufi work, and a few things beside...
I say the book is interesting because it is used as initial reading
for Spanish speaking students of Omar Ali Shah, when they try to get
involved in Agha's work. So you have a book written by Shah
(anonymously) used as a basic text book by Omar Ali Shah. For all
those people who for years have been trying to work out the
differences and split between the two brothers it may almost be a
shock.
Another text originally published in Argentina in early seventies
is "Textos Sufis". It includes a couple of articles you could find
in "The Diffusion .....", although with a different length or
details, besides many other articles not found in the English books
I'm may be familiar with or you mention in the bibliography.
I'm not trying to play at: "I do have information you don't", Shah
and his school have been disseminating materials in different
cultures and at different time scale. If you were to meet somebody
from the Turkish speaking area or the Arabic one, he could probably
point out materials in his/her own cultural area related to Shah's
school not available elsewhere. At the same time materials of
internal diffusion within the Shah circles may have not been released.
Since you seem to have a Russian background you may be interested to
know there was a book published by Shah in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in
1993, the title is "Order of Nakshbandi", and as far as I know is a
tri-lingual English, Russian and Uzbek abridgement of his writings,
how this book can be tailored and have specific relevance to
Uzbek/Russian people I do not know. But that far could the story go...

I had a look months ago to the files of Mushkil Gusha and
Caravanserai to see the contributions different people have made, a
very interesting one -personal taste is almost always peculiar- was a
series of lengthy contributions by Bruce Main-Smith, a pupil of Shah
in the 60-70's. Besides a fresh down to earth account, he mentioned
the division sufis hold of different climates or cultural areas and
that people shouldn't jump from one to another. I've heard the same
principle several times and it may account for a lot of differences
in the public projection (writings included).

You will excuse me -I hope- if I have been fiddling around and
spoiled a little bit the concept of a full Shah's bibliography, but
the "riddle within an enigma" of the sufi teaching is something I do
not want to suffer in silence.

Warmest Regards.
Francisco

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Extensive quotes from 8 of Shah's books. See below. Introduction acknowledges Shah's work: "The Sufis assert that the present diffusion of this teaching is due to humanity's current need for normal development. To quote Idries Shah, the greatest living authority on

Sufism, he is interested in making available in the West those aspects of Sufism that will be of use to the West." He then footnotes with a reference to Shah's family. The book is only 80 pages but impressive in its command of both Shah's and Borges' published works. (Let me
know if you would like to borrow it)

Table of Contents:

I Borges: A Mysterious and Unknown Personality
2 A Foreshadowing of Borges' Thought in the Ancient Middle East
3 Guide-lines of Borges' Though
4 Thematic Coincidences
5 Coincidences in the Literary Techniques
6 Conclusions

Books by Shah referenced:

Caravan of Dreams
The Magic Monastery
Reflections
The Sufis
Tales of the Dervishes
Thinkers of the East
The Way of the Sufi
Wisdom of the Idiots

Further Reading:
Amina Shah
Tale of the Four Dervishes

Idries Shah
A Veiled Gazelle
Beginning to Begin
The Book of the Book
Destination Mecca
The Elephant in the Dark
Learning How to Learn
Oriental Magic
Special Illumination
Special Problems in the Study of Sufi Ideas
The Hundred Tales of Wisdom

[Eli]

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