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Caravan Of Dreams (book)
''Caravan of Dreams'' is a book by Idries Shah first published in 1968 by Octagon Press as part of his presentation of traditional Eastern teachings and Sufi ideas for contemporary society. New editions of the book were published in 2015 by The Idries Shah Foundation. Shah relates the title to three traditional sources: the story of ''Maruf the Cobbler'', which can be found in the ''One Thousand and One Nights''; a proverb which says, “The Dog may bark, but the Caravan moves on”; and some verses from the Sufi Master Bahaudin Naqshband which read: “Here we are, all of us: in a dream-caravan. A caravan, but a dream – a dream, but a caravan. And we know which are the dreams. Therein lies the hope.” Summary / content The book contains sections on the Traditions (Hadiths) of the Islamic prophet Muhammad (primarily from the Mishkat of Al-Baghawi of Herat), the folktales of Mulla Nasrudin, thoughts from Omar Khayyam, meditations of Rumi, and the definitions of Mulla Do-Piaz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Idries Shah
Idries Shah (; , , ; 16 June 1924 – 23 November 1996), also known as Idris Shah, Indries Shah, né Sayyid, Sayed Idries el-Hashemite, Hashimi (Arabic: ) and by the pen name Arkon Daraul, was an Afghans, Afghan author, thinker and teacher in the Sufism, Sufi tradition. Shah wrote over three dozen books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies. Born in British India, the descendant of a family of Afghans, Afghan nobles on his father's side and a Scottish people, Scottish mother, Shah grew up mainly in England. His early writings centred on magic (paranormal), magic and witchcraft. In 1960 he established a publishing house, Octagon Press, producing translations of Sufi classics as well as titles of his own. His seminal work was ''The Sufis'', which appeared in 1964 and was well received internationally. In 1965, Shah founded the Institute for Cultural Research, a London-based educational charity devoted to the study of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al-Baghawi
Abū Muḥammad al-Ḥusayn ibn Masʻūd ibn Muḥammad al-Farrā' al-Baghawī ( Persian/Arabic:ابو محمد حسین بن مسعود بغوی), also known as al-Baghawī () was a Persian Sunni Muslim scholar based in Khorasan. He was a prominent Quran exegete ('' mufassir''), traditionist (''muhaddith''), and Shafi'i jurist ('' faqih''). He best known for his two major works, '' Maʻālim at-Tanzīl'' and '' Masabih as-Sunnah''. Al-Baghawi was known by several titles and was referred to as the "''Supporter of the Religion''" (Dhahīr al-Dīn) by Ibn Khallikān, who describes him as an ocean in the religious sciences. Al-Baghawī was dubbed the "''Reviver of the Sunna''" (Muḥyī as-Sunna) because he supposedly dreamed of the Islamic prophet telling him, “You revived my Sunna through your commentary on my ḥadīths” and this was due to compiling his work ''Sharḥ al-Sunna''. He is also known as the "''Pillar of the Religion''" (Rukn al-Dīn). Name His last name, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teaching Stories
A teaching story is a narrative that has been deliberately created as a vehicle for the transmission of wisdom. The practice has been used in a number of religious and other traditions, though writer Idries Shah's use of it was in the context of Sufi teaching and learning, within which this body of material has been described as the "most valuable of the treasures in the human heritage". The range of teaching stories is enormous, including anecdotes, accounts of meetings between teachers and pupils, biographies, myths, fairy tales, fables and jokes. Such stories frequently have a long life beyond the initial teaching situation and (sometimes in deteriorated form) have contributed vastly to the world's store of folklore and literature. Function It is the teaching function of teaching stories that characterises them rather than any other categorisation, however much they may have other uses. Shah likened the Sufi story to a peach: :"A person may be emotionally stirred by the exterior ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jan-Fishan Khan
Saiyed Muhammed Khan, better known by his title as Jan-Fishan Khan, was a 19th-century Afghan noble chieftain (nawab)Obituary of Idries Shah, The Independent (London) of 26 November 1996., pp. 19–26 He participated in the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–42) and the Indian Rebellion of 1857, and on both occasions, he supported the British. For his services to the British, Khan was granted the estate of Sardhana and is the forefather of the Nawabs of Sardhana. Background Jan-Fishan Khan was the son of an Afghan noble, Saiyed Qutubuddin Hashmi, of Paghman, the family's ancestral home in Afghanistan. His family has historically claimed descent from Ali ar-Ridha, the eighth Imam, through Najmuddin Kubra and the Arab Sufi Saiyed Bahaudin Shah. Life In the First Anglo-Afghan War, Saiyed Muhammed Khan, also known to the British as the "Laird of Pughman",Sale, Florentia Wynch (1844). ''A Journal of the Disasters in Affghanistan, 1841-2''. London: John Murray, pp. 45, 142, 373 s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anecdote
An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Anecdotes may be real or fictional; the anecdotal digression is a common feature of literary works and even oral anecdotes typically involve subtle exaggeration and dramatic shape designed to entertain the listener. An anecdote is always presented as the recounting of a real incident involving actual people and usually in an identifiable place. In the words of Jürgen Hein, they exhibit "a special realism" and "a claimed historical dimension". Etymology and usage The word ''anecdote'' (in Greek: ἀνέκδοτον "unpublished", literally "not given out") comes from Procopius of Caesarea, the biographer of Emperor Justinian I (). Procopius produced a work entitled (''Anekdota'', variously translated as ''Unpublished Memoirs'' or as ''Secret History'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Destination Mecca
''Destination Mecca'' is an early book by the writer Idries Shah, who went on to produce an extensive corpus of material on Sufism that is both accessible and relevant to contemporary western readers. It was first published by Rider in 1957 (with photographs by the author), and subsequently by Octagon Press in 1969 (minus the photos). Shah had already made a name for himself as the author of two well-researched and in many ways ground-breaking books about magic. However, these scholarly works, and the vastly more influential work, ''The Sufis'', which was to follow in 1964, by their nature entailed keeping his own personality in the background. His intention in this present book appears to be to counterbalance this tendency through his skilful use of the familiar travel book format, and he steps out of the shadows as an approachable young man with a lively mind and a fine sense of humour and adventure – someone who is comfortable in his mid-twentieth century skin and equally at h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', sometimes shortened to ''Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. The six volumes cover, from 98 to 1590, the peak of the Roman Empire, the history of early Christianity and its emergence as the Roman state religion, the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, the rise of Genghis Khan and Tamerlane and the fall of Byzantium, as well as discussions on the ruins of Ancient Rome. Volume I was published in 1776 and went through six printings. Volumes II and III were published in 1781; volumes IV, V, and VI in 1788–1789. The original volumes were published in quarto sections, a common publishing practice of the time. Conception and writing Gibbon's initial plan was to write a history "''of the decline and fall of the ''city'' of Rome''", and only later expanded his scope to the whole Roman Empire. Although he published other books, Gibbon devoted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English essayist, historian, and politician. His most important work, ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1789, is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its polemical Criticism of religion, criticism of organized religion. Early life: 1737–1752 Edward Gibbon was born in 1737, the son of Edward Gibbon (died 1770), Edward and Judith Gibbon, at Lime Grove in the town of Putney, Surrey. He had five brothers and one sister, all of whom died in infancy. His grandfather, also named Edward, had lost his assets as a result of the South Sea Company, South Sea bubble stock-market collapse in 1720 but eventually regained much of his wealth. Gibbon's father thus inherited a substantial estate. His paternal grandmother, Catherine Acton, was granddaughter of Sir Walter Acton, 2nd Baronet. Gibbon described himself as "a puny child, neg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world's Major religious groups, second-largest religious population after Christians. Muslims believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a Fitra, primordial faith that was revealed many times through earlier Prophets and messengers in Islam, prophets and messengers, including Adam in Islam, Adam, Noah in Islam, Noah, Abraham in Islam, Abraham, Moses in Islam, Moses, and Jesus in Islam, Jesus. Muslims consider the Quran to be the verbatim word of God in Islam, God and the unaltered, final revelation. Alongside the Quran, Muslims also believe in previous Islamic holy books, revelations, such as the Torah in Islam, Tawrat (the Torah), the Zabur (Psalms), and the Gospel in Islam, Injil (Gospel). They believe that Muhammad in Islam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saadi Shirazi
Abu Mohammad Moshrefoldin Mosleh ebn Abdollah ebn Mosharraf, better known by his pen name Saadi (; , ), also known as Saadi of Shiraz (, ''Saʿdī Shīrāzī''; born 1210; died 1291 or 1292), was a Persian poet and prose writer of the medieval period. He is recognized for the quality of his writings and for the depth of his social and moral thoughts. Saadi is widely recognized as one of the greatest poets of the classical literary tradition, earning him the nickname "The Master of Speech" or "The Wordsmith" ( ''ostâd-e soxan'') or simply "Master" ( ''ostâd'') among Persian scholars. He has been quoted in the Western traditions as well. His book, '' Bustan'' has been ranked as one of the 100 greatest books of all time by ''The Guardian''. Background and name Saadi Shirazi's birth date is uncertain; most scholars consider him to have been born in 1209 or 1210. He was from the city of Shiraz, the provincial capital of the Fars province. Since 1148, the province had been under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mulla Do-Piyaza
Mulla Do Piyaza (1527-1620) was the Advisor and Vizier of the Mughal emperor Akbar. Mulla Do-Piyaza, also portrayed as witty, was Birbal's rival. Even though these folk tales originated at the end of Akbar's reign (1556–1605), Mulla Do-Piyaza began to appear much later. Most scholars consider him to be completely fictional. Background There is no historical proof of his existence. There are some sources which tell that Do-Piaza was born as Muhammad Al Abdul Momin to Atgah Khan, the commander of Mughals and to Jiji Anga, a wet nurse. He was given the honorific Mullah for his witty purpose. He served as the vizier of Akbar's Empire. In the folk tales, Mulla Do-Piyaza is depicted as Birbal's Muslim counterpart and as a proponent of orthodox Islam. Most of the time he is shown getting the better of both Birbal and Akbar, but there are other stories which portray him in a negative light. No Mughal-era records mention any courtier called Mulla Do-Piyaza, and pamphlets on his li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rumi
Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (), or simply Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi '' faqih'' (jurist), Maturidi theologian (''mutakallim''), and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empire. Rumi's works were written mostly in Persian, but occasionally he also used Turkish, Arabic and Greek in his verse. His ''Masnavi'' (''Mathnawi''), composed in Konya, is considered one of the greatest poems of the Persian language.C.E. Bosworth, "Turkmen Expansion towards the west" in UNESCO History of Humanity, Volume IV, titled "From the Seventh to the Sixteenth Century", UNESCO Publishing / Routledge, p. 391: "While the Arabic language retained its primacy in such spheres as law, theology and science, the culture of the Seljuk court and secular literature within the sultanate became largely Persianized; this is seen in the early adoption of Persian epic names by the Seljuk rulers (Qubād, Kay Khusraw and so on) and in the use of Pers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
