Sirdar
The rank of Sirdar () – a variant of Sardar – was assigned to the British Commander-in-Chief of the British-controlled Egyptian Army in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Sirdar resided at the Sirdaria, a three-block-long prope ...
Ikbal Ali Shah (, ; 1894 in
Sardhana
Sardhana is a city and a municipal board in Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is northeast of New Delhi and 13 mi from Meerut. It is 5 km from Meerut Karnal National Highway and 12 km from National Highway 5 ...
, India – 4 November 1969 in
Tangier
Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...
,
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
) was an Indian-
Afghan
Afghan or Afgan may refer to:
Related to Afghanistan
*Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...
author and diplomat descended from the
Sadaat of Paghman. Born and educated in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, he came to Britain as a young man to continue his education in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
, where he married a young Scotswoman.
Travelling widely, Ikbal Ali Shah undertook assignments for the British
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* United ...
and became a publicist for a number of Eastern statesmen, penning biographies of
Kemal Atatürk Kemal may refer to:
;People
* Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a Turkish politician and the first president of Turkey
* Kemal (name), a Turkish name
;Places
* Kemalpaşa, İzmir Province, Turkey
* Mustafakemalpaşa, Bursa Province, Turkey
;See also
*"Kema ...
, the
Aga Khan
Aga Khan (; ; also transliterated as ''Aqa Khan'' and ''Agha Khan'') is a title held by the Imamate in Nizari doctrine, Imām of the Nizari Isma'ilism, Nizari Isma'ilism, Ismāʿīli Shia Islam, Shias. The current holder of the title is the ...
and others. His other writing includes lighter works such as travel narratives and tales of adventure, as well as more serious works on
Sufism
Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism.
Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
, Islam and Asian politics. He hoped that Sufism might "form a bridge between the Western and the Eastern ways of thinking"; familiar with both cultures, much of his life and writing was devoted to furthering greater cross-cultural understanding.
Ikbal Ali Shah had three children, all of whom became notable writers themselves; his son
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 ...
became particularly well known and acclaimed as a writer and teacher of Sufism in the West. When Ikbal Ali Shah's wife died in 1960, he moved from Britain to
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
, spending the last decade of his life in
Tangier
Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...
. He died in a road accident in Morocco, aged 75.
Life
Family origins
Ikbal Ali Shah was born into a family of Musavi
Saiyeds (descendants of the
Islamic
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 ...
prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
through his daughter
Fatimah
Fatima bint Muhammad (; 605/15–632 CE), commonly known as Fatima al-Zahra' (), was the daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and his wife Khadija bint Khuwaylid, Khadija. Fatima's husband was Ali, the fourth of the Rashidun caliphs and ...
and also through
Musa al-Kadhim
Musa al-Kazim (; 745–799) was a descendant of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the seventh imam in Twelver Shia Islam. Musa is often known by the title al-Kazim (), apparently a reference to his patience and gentle disposition. He was born ...
, the great-great-grandson of
Husayn ibn Ali
Husayn ibn Ali (; 11 January 626 – 10 October 680 Common Era, CE) was a social, political and religious leader in early medieval Arabia. The grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and an Alids, Alid (the son of Ali ibn Abu Talib ibn Abd a ...
and seventh
Imam
Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...
of the
Twelver Shi'a sect of Islam).
The family originated from
Paghman near
Kabul
Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
.
In 1840, Ali Shah's great-grandfather was awarded the title
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 ...
for his support of
Shah Shuja, a puppet ruler installed by the British.
In 1841, following the defeat of the British, Jan-Fishan Khan was forced to leave Afghanistan.
The British-Indian government rewarded his loyalty with an estate in
Sardhana
Sardhana is a city and a municipal board in Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is northeast of New Delhi and 13 mi from Meerut. It is 5 km from Meerut Karnal National Highway and 12 km from National Highway 5 ...
,
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
, which thereafter became the family seat.
Ali Shah's granddaughter
Saira Shah relates that her grandfather "maintained that ancestry was something to try to live up to, not to boast about" and told her that "it is less important who your forebears were than what you yourself become."
Education and marriage
Ali Shah was educated in Britain before the
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
He met his future wife
Saira Elizabeth Luiza Shah (pseudonym: Morag Murray Abdullah, b. 1900)
[Saira Elizabeth Luiza Shah died on 15 Aug 1960, according to her tombstone in the Muslim section of the cemetery at Brookwood, Woking, Surrey, England where she, Ali-Shah and other members of the Shah family are buried.] during the war, while engaged in an unsuccessful attempt to study
medicine
Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
at
Edinburgh Medical School
The University of Edinburgh Medical School (also known as Edinburgh Medical School) is the medical school of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the United Kingdom and part of the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. It was esta ...
.
They eloped while she was only sixteen; her family did not approve of the match, and her father never spoke to her again.
[ Shah, Saira (2003). ''The Storyteller's Daughter''. Alfred A Knopf, New York. p. 34. ] Ali Shah's own father, asked to give his consent to the marriage, enquired by telegram "whether she was prepared to become a Muslim and whether she would be able to defend a fortress, if required."
She answered yes on both counts; satisfied, he gave his blessing.
The young couple subsequently had three children, the
Sufi
Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism.
Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
writers and translators
Amina Shah
Amina Maxwell-Hudson (born Amina Shah; 31 October 1918 – 19 January 2014) was a British anthologiser of Sufi stories and folk tales, and was for many years the Chairperson of the College of Storytellers. She was the sister of the Sufi writer ...
(b. 1918),
Omar Ali-Shah
Omar Ali-Shah (, ; 19227 September 2005) was a prominent exponent of modern Naqshbandi Sufism. He wrote a number of books on the subject, and was head of a large number of Sufi groups, particularly in Latin America, Europe and Canada.
Early lif ...
(b. 1922) and
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 ...
(b. 1924).
Traveller, writer, diplomat and publicist
In 1918, Ali Shah became only the second Asian to join the
Royal Society for Asian Affairs
The Royal Society for Asian Affairs (RSAA) is a learned society based in London (United Kingdom). Its objective is to advance public knowledge and understanding of Asia through its worldwide networks, its public events, its publications and its s ...
, contributing articles on Islam to the Society's journal. He travelled widely and became a publicist for a variety of Eastern statesmen such as President
Kemal Atatürk Kemal may refer to:
;People
* Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a Turkish politician and the first president of Turkey
* Kemal (name), a Turkish name
;Places
* Kemalpaşa, İzmir Province, Turkey
* Mustafakemalpaşa, Bursa Province, Turkey
;See also
*"Kema ...
of
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
,
King Abdullah of
Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
, King
Fuad I of Egypt
Fuad I ( ''Fu’ād al-Awwal''; 26 March 1868 – 28 April 1936) was the Sultan and later King of Egypt and the Sudan. The ninth ruler of Egypt and Sudan from the Muhammad Ali dynasty, he became Sultan in 1917, succeeding his elder brother Hu ...
, the Emir
Abdul Illah of
Iraq
Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
and members of the royal family of
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
.
He was on friendly terms with both orthodox leaders (like the Rector of
Azhar University in
Cairo
Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
) and reformers (like
Kemal Atatürk Kemal may refer to:
;People
* Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a Turkish politician and the first president of Turkey
* Kemal (name), a Turkish name
;Places
* Kemalpaşa, İzmir Province, Turkey
* Mustafakemalpaşa, Bursa Province, Turkey
;See also
*"Kema ...
).
Ali Shah was also a friend of
Inayat Khan
Inayat Khan Rehmat Khan (; 5 July 1882 – 5 February 1927) was an Indian professor of musicology, singer, exponent of the saraswati vina, poet, philosopher, and pioneer of the transmission of Sufism to the West. At the urging of his students ...
and involved in an unsuccessful attempt to set up an Islamic branch of the latter's Sufi Movement in London in 1918; after Khan's death, he criticised the Sufi Movement's universalist attitude, writing in ''Islamic Sufism'' (1933), "A Sufi must of necessity be a moslem" and adding that Sufism should not be confused with "such non-Islamic movements which due to utter ignorance are styled Sufism".
Ikbal Ali Shah believed that
Bolshevism
Bolshevism (derived from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined p ...
's encroachment on the countries of
Central Asia
Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
would almost inevitably lead to catastrophic results, and by 1921 was reporting in the
Edinburgh Review
The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929.
''Edinburgh Review'', ...
on the methods of propaganda and political influence used by the
Bolshevists in Central Asia and
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
, with its consequences for British rule in
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
He was also associated with the British
Foreign Office
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* United ...
for several decades.
James Moore states that his work for the Foreign Office occasionally raised controversy: in 1929, after Ali Shah "tried to compromise" the
British Prime Minister
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet, and selects its ministers. Modern pri ...
,
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first two of his governments belonged to the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, where he led ...
, Foreign Office investigations concluded that there "was hardly a word of truth in his writings".
Ali Shah was a passionate advocate of the modernisation of Islam.
He viewed this as nothing more and nothing less than a return to genuine Islam, an Islam without a priest class, writing in 1929:
"In the New Dark Age of my faith, from which we have just emerged into the sunny vistas of real religion, a curious politico-religious system had grown; and it is indeed by reason of our forebears having been seen so long under that influence that the average European wonders whether we have not definitely divorced Islam by our modernization. The truth is that the organization of the Doctors of Moslem Law, backed by autocratic Eastern monarchs was the very antithesis of the words of the Koran. In Turkey, for instance, no man was permitted to consult the Holy Book of Islam and seek interpretation for himself; despite the fact that the only reason for which the faithful places his book above every other Revealed Law is that any man can have his cue directly from it. The Prophet himself emphasized this fact repeatedly and thereby meant to destroy the human tendency of priestcraft. This particular teaching was so deep that it was not until many political cross-currents amongst the Moslem States had much weakened the spiritual essence that the clergy at last won the battle which they had fought for at least a thousand years."["The modernisation of Islam", ''Contemporary Review'', Vol. 135, pp. 263-264; quoted in ]
Justifying
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
's modernisation efforts under Kemal Atatürk, Ali Shah condemned what Islam had become in Turkey:
"Even the slightest divergence from the established church was considered the highest crime; and the faithful wandered in and out of the four water-tight compartments of schools of theology completely dazed by the priest-made dogma that neither would reconcile with the early teachings of Islam nor ring true to the advancing humanity of the present age. The clergy made every effort to circumscribe the view of every Moslim and placed the right of interpretation beyond the reach of even the intelligent seeker after truth."
He noted with approval that –
"When ecclesiastics frowned upon women parading the streets in Stamboul, the young men were able to silence the objections by quoting the Koran to prove that the Koran enjoined only modesty and not the cruel practice of closing women in the houses."
In the 1930s he was in Geneva, working in collaboration with the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
supporting
disarmament
Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing Weapon, weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, ...
,
["Sufism in the Art of Idries Shah" in ''Sufi Studies: East and West'', edited by Professor L.F. Rushbrook Williams, E.P.Dutton & Co., 1974, p. 180.] and attending the European Muslim Congress of 1935, promoting Islamic unity.
According to Augy Hayter (a student of Ikbal's son
Omar Ali-Shah
Omar Ali-Shah (, ; 19227 September 2005) was a prominent exponent of modern Naqshbandi Sufism. He wrote a number of books on the subject, and was head of a large number of Sufi groups, particularly in Latin America, Europe and Canada.
Early lif ...
) the Sirdar's connection with the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
began in its early days when he was working with professor
Gilbert Murray
George Gilbert Aimé Murray (2 January 1866 – 20 May 1957) was an Australian-born British classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greec ...
and the
Agha Khan
Aga Khan (; ; also transliterated as ''Aqa Khan'' and ''Agha Khan'') is a title held by the Imām of the Nizari Ismāʿīli Shias. The current holder of the title is the 50th hereditary Imām, Prince Shah Rahim al-Hussaini, Aga Khan V since ...
, and records of his contributions and position as a "respected intellectual" of the time can be found in the
Unesco
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
archives in Paris.
Ikbal Ali Shah was also a member of the
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
and the
Royal Asiatic Society
The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, commonly known as the Royal Asiatic Society, was established, according to its royal charter of 11 August 1824, to further "the investigation of subjects connected with and for the encourag ...
.
By contributing to the work of such organisations, he aimed to bridge the gap between east and west. In 1937, he wrote:
"... since my early days I have striven to interpret the East to the West, and Europe to Asia. Through this, I believe, lies the way of mutual sympathy between the nations; and such can only be accomplished by means of reading the effusions of one another's Great Minds; because if we but endeavour to understand about our fellow men, good will can come as the gentle dawn of peace."
In 1940, the family moved from London to Oxford to escape German bombing.
In 1945, Ali Shah and his son Idries travelled to
Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
as expert advisors on ''
halal
''Halal'' (; ) is an Arabic word that translates to in English. Although the term ''halal'' is often associated with Islamic dietary laws, particularly meat that is slaughtered according to Islamic guidelines, it also governs ethical practices ...
led'' meat questions for the
India Office
The India Office was a British government department in London established in 1858 to oversee the administration of the Provinces of India, through the British viceroy and other officials. The administered territories comprised most of the mo ...
; a scandal resulted, leading the British
ambassador
An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...
to describe him as a "swindler".
Latter years
Ikbal Ali Shah later taught Sufi "classes" in England, which were the precursors to the Sufi school established by his son, Idries Shah. He was also appointed by Dr.
Zakir Husain
Zakir Husain Khan (8 February 1897 – 3 May 1969) was an Indian educationist and politician who served as the vice president of India from 1962 to 1967 and president of India from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969.
Born in H ...
as India's cultural representative in all of West Asia.
According to his grandson
Tahir
Taher () (spelled Tahir and Tahar in English and French, Тагир in Russian; Pashto, Urdu and Persian: طاهر,; , ) is a name meaning "pure" or "virtuous". The origin of this name is Arabic. There are several Semitic variations that include ...
, Ali Shah was heartbroken when his wife died in 1960, aged 59; feeling unable to continue living in the places in which they had shared their lives, he moved to
Tangier
Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...
in
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
, a place they had never visited together, and lived there in a small villa close to the seafront.
L. F. Rushbrook Williams, a British scholar bound to Ali Shah through a friendship spanning more than half a century, attributes Ali Shah's move to Morocco to a tightening of British residence regulations and says that Ali Shah, never having acquired British domicile, was obliged to leave behind the study centre for Sufism that he had set up in England.
Near the end of his life, Ali Shah was caught up in the controversy surrounding the 1967 publication of a new translation of
Omar Khayyam
Ghiyāth al-Dīn Abū al-Fatḥ ʿUmar ibn Ibrāhīm Nīshābūrī (18 May 1048 – 4 December 1131) (Persian language, Persian: غیاث الدین ابوالفتح عمر بن ابراهیم خیام نیشابورﻯ), commonly known as Omar ...
's
Rubaiyat by his son
Omar Ali-Shah
Omar Ali-Shah (, ; 19227 September 2005) was a prominent exponent of modern Naqshbandi Sufism. He wrote a number of books on the subject, and was head of a large number of Sufi groups, particularly in Latin America, Europe and Canada.
Early lif ...
and the English poet
Robert Graves
Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was an English poet, soldier, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were b ...
.
The translation was based on an annotated "crib" made by Omar Ali-Shah, who asserted that it derived from an old manuscript said to have been in the Shah family's possession for 800 years.
[Stuffed Eagle](_blank)
''Time magazine
''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...
'', 31 May 1968 L. P. Elwell-Sutton, an
orientalist at
Edinburgh University
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...
, expressed his conviction that the story of the ancient family manuscript was false.
Graves believed that the disputed manuscript was in the possession of Ikbal Ali Shah, and that he was about to produce it at the time of his death from a road accident, to allay the growing controversy surrounding the translation.
However, the manuscript never was produced.
Richard Perceval Graves describes how, in a letter to Robert Graves in 1970, Idries Shah pointed out that "production of the MSS would prove nothing, because there would be no way of telling whether it was original, or whether someone had washed the writing from a piece of ancient parchment, and then applied a new text using inert inks." Shah believed that the critics were "intent only on opposition" and said he agreed with his father, who had been so infuriated by the "hyaenas" that he wanted nothing to do with the controversy. O'Prey (1984) writes that this last point was not entirely true: Ikbal Ali Shah had in fact written to Graves from Morocco, saying the manuscript should be produced; Graves then forwarded the letter to Omar Ali-Shah.
Unfortunately, he neglected to take a copy; Omar never received the letter, and Ikbal Ali Shah died a few days later.
The scholarly consensus today is that the "
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 ...
" manuscript was a hoax, and that the Graves/Shah translation was in fact based on a study of the sources of FitzGerald's work by Victorian amateur scholar
Edward Heron-Allen.
[Letter by Doris Lessing](_blank)
to the editors of The New York Review of Books
''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...
, dated 22 October 1970, with a reply by L. P. Elwell-Sutton The affair did considerable damage to Graves' reputation.
On 4 November 1969, Ikbal Ali Shah was struck by a reversing Coca-Cola truck in Tangier.
He was rushed to hospital unconscious, but died a few hours later.
He was buried in England next to his wife. On his gravestone, along with his name, there is only the appellation "Al Mutawakkil", which means "the one who resigns himself to the will of the Almighty."
Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah's obituary in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' of Saturday, 8 November 1969 stated:
Writings
In keeping with his theme of interpreting the East to the West, Ikbal Ali Shah authored travel narratives of his adventures in Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries, such as ''Alone in Arabian Nights'' (1933), and set up fiction-writing workshops to disseminate Eastern stories and tales in books like ''Fifty Enthralling Stories of the Mysterious East'' (1937). He wrote biographies of major leaders in the Islamic World, such as ''Kemal: Maker of Modern Turkey'' (1934) and ''Controlling Minds of Asia'' (1937), as well as anthropological, historical and political works like ''Afghanistan of the Afghans'' (1928), ''Pakistan: A Plan for India'' (1944) and ''Vietnam'' (1960).
Many of his works were anthologies of literature from the East, such as ''The Book of Oriental Literature'' (1937) and ''Oriental Caravan'' (1933), while other works sought to elucidate Eastern religious and mystical traditions, with an emphasis on Sufism, as in ''Spirit of the East'' (1939), ''Lights of Asia'' (1937), and ''Islamic Sufism'' (1933). He also authored books specifically on Islam, like ''Mohammed: The Prophet'' (1932) and ''Selections from the Koran'' (1933).
Octagon Press
Octagon Press was a cross-cultural publishing house based in London, UK. It was founded in 1960 by Sufism, Sufi teacher, Idries Shah to establish the historical and cultural context for his ideas. The company ceased trading in 2014.
Descriptio ...
published compilations of his tales and adventures in the books ''Escape From Central Asia'' (1980) and ''The Golden Caravan'' (1983). The latter two books also include selections from the Sirdar's writings which had previously been published under the names Sheikh Ahmed Abdullah, Rustam Khan-Urf, Bahloal Dana and Ibn Amjed.
Altogether, Ikbal Ali Shah was author of more than fifty books, including:
* ''Eastern Moonbeams'' (1918)
* ''Briton in India'' (1918)
* ''Afghanistan of the Afghans'' (1927)
* ''Westward to Mecca'' (1928)
* ''Eastward to Persia'' (1930)
* ''The Golden East'' (1931)
* ''Arabia'' (1931)
* ''Turkey'' (with Julius R. van Millingen, 1932)
* ''Mohamed: The Prophet'' (1932)
* ''Selections from the Koran'' (1933)
* ''Islamic Sufism'' (1933)
* ''Alone in Arabian Nights'' (1933)
* ''Oriental Caravan'' (1933)
* ''The Golden Pilgrimage'' (1933)
* ''The Tragedy of Amanullah'' (1933)
* ''The Prince Aga Khan'' (1933)
* ''Kemal: Maker of Modern Turkey'' (1934)
* ''Lights of Asia'' (1934)
* ''Afridi Gold'' (1934)
* ''Fuad: King of Egypt'' (1936)
* ''Coronation Book of Oriental Literature'' (1937)
* ''The Controlling Minds of Asia'' (1937)
* ''Modern Afghanistan'' (1938)
* ''Nepal: Home of the Gods'' (1938)
* ''Golden Treasury of Indian Literature'' (1938)
* ''Spirit of the East'' (1939)
* ''Pakistan: A Plan for India'' (1944)
* ''Occultism: Its theory and practice'' (1952)
* ''Viet Nam'' (1960)
* ''Escape from Central Asia'' (1980)
* ''The Golden Caravan'' (1983)
According to his grandson
Tahir Shah
Tahir Shah (, ; ''né'' Sayyid Tahir al-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد طاهر الهاشمي); born 16 November 1966) is a British author, journalist and documentary maker of Afghan-Indian descent.
Family
Tahir Shah was born into the '' saadat'' ...
, the Sirdar also published ''Through the Garden of Allah'' (1938) under the pseudonym of John Grant. A revised edition entitled ''Travels in the Unknown East'' was published by Octagon Press in 1992.
Sufism
According to his long-time friend
L. F. Rushbrook Williams, Ikbal Ali Shah believed that the Sufi message "might form a bridge between the Western and the Eastern ways of thinking, and that the methods that
he Sufiswere using to convey it— methods well-tested by centuries of successful practice— would certainly be of interest and might be of value to the Western world in the quest for the best ways of promoting independent thought and the re-examination of accepted values to test their suitability to the needs of modern social organization."
In his book ''Islamic Sufism'', Ikbal Ali Shah stated that he was instructed in the Sufi Way by his father, to whom he referred as "that Fountain of Goodness Hadrat Syedna Nawab Amjed Ali Shah Naqshbandi Paghmani". He said that the Nawab had, in turn, been taught by his father Nawab Mohammed Ali Shah, who is buried in the Delhi shrine of the Naqshbandi Khwaja
Baqi Billah (and an extract from whose ''Nishan-i-Ghaib'', Signs of the Unseen, is given in the "Letters and Lectures" section of Idries Shah's ''The Way of the Sufi''). Nawab Mohammed Ali Shah's father was
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 ...
, who in turn had been a disciple of the celebrated Naqshbandi master
Haji Dost Muhammad Qandhari. Ikbal Ali Shah sets out the remainder of this
silsila
''Silsila'' () is an Arabic language, Arabic word meaning ''chain'', ''link'', ''connection'' often used in various senses of :wikt:lineage, lineage. In particular, it may be translated as "spiritual genealogy" where one Sufi Master transfe ...
, from Qandhari backwards to Yaqub Charkhi (the disciple of Bahauddin Naqshband) in ''Islamic Sufism'' (where it is described as "The Punjab Tradition").
In addition to his father Ikbal Ali Shah also gives credit, in his introduction to "Islamic Sufism", to 'the earlier discourses of Sheikh al Akbar Hadratna Shah Abdul
icKhair Mujaddadi'. Shah Abul Khair Naqshbandi Dihlawi (1855-1922) was the successor of Shah Muhammad Umar Mujaddidi, who in turn was the son of Ahmad Saeed Mujaddidi Fārūqi Dehlavi, the teacher of Haji Dost Qandhari. Abul Khair took over responsibility for the 'Delhi house' - the dargah and burial place of Mirza Mazhar Jan-i-Janaan and Ghulam Ali Dihlawi by the Turkmen Gate of the old city of Delhi - from Haji Dost Qandhari's deputy Rahim Bakhsh Ajmeri, and today it bears his name. It seems most likely that Ikbal Ali Shah attended Abul Khair's assemblies in person, prior to his coming to Edinburgh, thus linking his Sufi teaching (and, by extension, that of his sons) directly into the main line of the Naqshbandiyya Mujaddidiya.
Ikbal Ali Shah introduced this tradition of Sufism in the West, with special reference to the controversial metaphors in Sufi poetry, in an article published in Hibbert Journal (1921–1922) entitled ''The General Principles of Sufism''.
Four consecutive stages of spiritual advancement were indicated there: Nasut—Humanity; Tariqa—the Way; Jabarut (Araff)—Power, and Haqiqa—Truth, corresponding to the four stages in Naqshbandi practice as observed by the Shattari Pir Shah
Muhammad Ghawth
Muhammad Ghawth (Ghouse, Ghaus or Gwath) Gwaliyari (1500–1562) was a 16th-century Sufism, Sufi master of the Shattari order and Sufi saint, a musician, Segoogle book search and the author of ''Jawahir-i Khams'' (Arabic: ''al-Jawahir al-Khams' ...
(died 1563).
[ First published 1964.]
These four stages involved the illumination (tajalli) of five centers:
Qalb
In Islamic philosophy, the qalb () or heart is the center of the human personality. The Quran mentions "qalb" 132 times and its root meaning suggests that the heart is always in a state of motion and transformation. According to the Quran and the ...
,
Ruh, Sirr, Khafi, Ikhfa—Heart, Spirit, Secret, Mysterious and Deeply Hidden.
[ First published 1964.]
In his more substantial introduction ''Islamic Sufism'' (1933), Ali-Shah includes excerpts from the work of Khaja Khan attributing the discovery of this system (''
Latayifi Sitta'')—with its corresponding colours: yellow (qalb); red (ruh); white (sirr); black (khafi), and green (ikhfa)—to Ahmad Sirhindi, the founder of the Naqshbandi Mujaddidi.
[ First published 1933. See chapter VI 'Reality of Existence'.]
In the preface to ''Islamic Sufism'', the Sirdar presents his views on how and why Sufism can be a way for modern humanity to reconnect with its spiritual heritage. Deploring the current state of the world, he notes that it is in such times that new revivals of spiritual thought often take place, guided by great exemplars who make a significant impact on society. Focusing on Sufism, he points out that the Sufi way is open to all people and that it can be followed in any society while maintaining contact with the world, regardless of the prevailing materialism. The student's work is done through ordinary life in human society: ''Be in the world, but not of it'' is the Sufi dictum. The Sufi encourages not only personal refinement, but the uplifting of others as part of working towards a 'universal brotherhood' of humanity."
[Shah, Sirdar Ikbal Ali (2000). Islamic Sufism. Tractus Books. . First published 1933]
As examples of practical methods of Sufism which can be of use in the modern world, the Sirdar discusses meditation, the giving of charity, and focusing more on durable truths and realities than on transient and illusory pursuits. He also discusses the relationship between Sufism and the mind-body connection in healing. He asserts that, through Sufism, "our latent forces for good can be increased, as well as our creative productivity."
''Islamic Sufism'' contains Sufi interpretations of Islamic beliefs and practices, explanations of the history and theory of Sufism with reference to similar Western ideas, selections from the work of the great Sufis of the past, like
Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...
,
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 ...
,
al-Hujwiri,
Jami
Nūr ad-Dīn 'Abd ar-Rahmān Jāmī (; 7 November 1414 – 9 November 1492), also known as Mawlanā Nūr al-Dīn 'Abd al-Rahmān or Abd-Al-Rahmān Nur-Al-Din Muhammad Dashti, or simply as Jami or Djāmī and in Turkey as Molla Cami, was a ...
,
Hafez
(), known by his pen name Hafez ( or 'the keeper'; 1325–1390) or Hafiz,
“Ḥāfeẓ” designates someoone who has learned the Qurʾān by heart" also known by his nickname Lisan al-Ghaib ('the tongue of the unseen'), was a Persian lyri ...
and others, as well as examples of the thought of contemporary visionaries like
Muhammad Iqbal
Muhammad Iqbal (9 November 187721 April 1938) was a South Asian Islamic philosopher, poet and politician. Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philoso ...
.
In the revised edition of ''Alone In Arabian Nights'', Ikbal Ali Shah had this to say about Sufism:
In contemporary terms, the Sufis can be seen as people who, initially, work against the evils of coercive organized religion and restrictive cults; then try to help expand the understanding of those who are interested: strictly according to the potential of the people and the times... This latter contention is.. unacceptable to the vast majority of people, who cannot feel happy with it at all... because they always need the reassurance of tradition and of the familiar. If they don't know what to reject, they may deify it.[Shah, Sirdar Ikbal Ali (1992). ''Alone in Arabian Nights''. Octagon Press Ltd, London. p. 212-215. . Originally published 1933; revised 1969.]
He adds that his travelling was done, in part, to carry out missions connected with Sufism, and he describes his attempts to explain to groups in the East and the West that what they imagined to be Sufism was highly inaccurate. As examples, he points out that, according to Sufi experience, random collections of people, indulgence in most of the popular mystical practices of physical and emotional excitement, and amalgamations of all kinds of Eastern ideas without regard for what is useful under prevailing circumstances, would usually not result in real Sufi developments. These explanations and admonitions, while intriguing to some, were often rejected by groups that felt threatened by them.
Rushbrook Williams affirms that Ikbal Ali Shah's more public work and activities, such as writing travel books and biographies of major figures, was only a byproduct of his determination to study and promote the value of Sufism as a link between Eastern and Western thought.
Reception
Ikbal Ali Shah's writings and work received mixed reviews and responses.
''Westward to Mecca'' (1928) was described by noted Orientalist
H.A.R. Gibb in the ''Journal of the
Royal Institute of International Affairs
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family or royalty
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Roya ...
'' as a "well-spiced Eastern review, featuring Afghan raiders, alchemists, enchanted walls, watery blue-eyed Bolshevists, singing dervishes and mysterious caves, relieved by more common-place political and literary interludes. Is it all true? How like the materially-minded West to ask such questions!"
In 1930, the
Aga Khan III
Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah (2 November 187711 July 1957), known as Aga Khan III, was the 48th Imamate in Nizari doctrine, imam of the Nizari Isma'ili, Ism'aili branch of Shia Islam. He was one of the founders and the first permanent president of ...
penned a foreword to Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah's book ''Eastward To Persia'', stating that he thought "Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah's books—and especially this latest book on Persia—should be read by those in the West who want to see the East through Oriental eyes."
In a review in the ''Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland'', ''The Golden East'' (1931) was criticised for its imperfect command of English, its "tedium heightened by the Sirdar's efforts at wit, by his imaginary yet dull stories of adventure", and for the many incorrect renderings of Persian words.
In his introduction to the 1939 edition of Ikbal Ali Shah's book, ''Alone In Arabian Nights'', Sir
Edward Denison Ross
Sir Edward Denison Ross (6 June 1871 – 20 September 1940) - known as Denison - was an orientalist and linguist, specializing in languages of the Middle East, Central and East Asia. He was the first director of the University of London's School ...
stated that while the Sirdar, well known to him for many years, was "tremendously modest about his achievements", he considered him "the greatest contemporary writer and traveller of the East". He referred to the book as "fascinating" and "extraordinary", commenting on its "erudition, scope and range" and declaring that the Sirdar wrote "the most excellently idiomatic English".
''Viet Nam'' (Octagon Press, 1960) fared worse; a reviewer in the ''Journal of the Royal Institute of International Affairs'' accused the book of "numerous elementary errors" and questioned whether Ali Shah had ever visited the country he was describing, or had mostly just drawn on official anti-
Communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
government propaganda.
Summing up, the reviewer concluded: "This book is heavily biased, meretricious, frequently inaccurate, and badly written. It cannot be recommended."
A review in the 1962 ''Year Book of World Affairs'' similarly described the book as "highly confused and unreliable".
The popularity of
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 ...
's work generated renewed interest in his father. Asked about his recently deceased father in a 1970
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
interview, Idries Shah agreed that Ikbal Ali Shah was "very unusual". Although he did make some enemies, Shah found it remarkable how few they were, given how uncategorizable and unusual he was. People often remarked to Shah that "the trouble is we never quite knew which side your father was on", to which Shah responded, "I'm sure it never occurred to him that he had to be on any side." Shah described him as "rather a mild sort of person in manner and appearance" but capable of behaving like an "unpredictable Oriental" who often did "unexpected" and "surprising" things when it was required by circumstances. He had a wide range of information and activity but much of it was compartmentalized so that few people knew everything, and no biography had ever been written.
Aref Tamer, an Ismaili Syrian author and scholar of Islamic culture, pointed out in 1973 that "Very little has been written about Saiyid Ikbal Ali Shah... not all
istorianshave been able to descry the underlying unity, the service of the community, and the view of the ultimate good that was found in him," because outside observers did not have the perspective to see the pattern.
According to Professor
L. F. Rushbrook Williams, the editor of a work published in honor of the services to Sufi studies of Ikbal Ali Shah's son Idries, "Sirdar Ikbal and his son
dries Shah both in writing and in other ways, were ultimately to show how Sufi thought and action, educational and adaptive as they are, could be of service to contemporary thinking" and he concluded in 1973 that "... whereas Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah, who pioneered the effective study of Sufi philosophy in the West, found that the time was not quite ripe for his message to be appreciated at its true value, Idries Shah has discovered that in this age of spiritual uncertainty and a dawning reaction against the prevalent materialism, the outlook and practices of Sufism are meeting exactly the needs that so many people are now experiencing."
Edinburgh orientalist L. P. Elwell-Sutton considered many of the claims made in Rushbrook Williams' book on behalf of Ikbal Ali Shah and his son Idries, concerning their representing the Sufi tradition, to be self-serving publicity, filled with "sycophantic phraseology, fawning adulation, and disarming disregard for facts."
Beginning in the 1970s, the
Octagon Press
Octagon Press was a cross-cultural publishing house based in London, UK. It was founded in 1960 by Sufism, Sufi teacher, Idries Shah to establish the historical and cultural context for his ideas. The company ceased trading in 2014.
Descriptio ...
, as part of its aim to establish "the historical and cultural context" for Idries Shah's Sufi work, began re-issuing several of Ikbal Ali Shah's books, among them ''The Book of Oriental Literature'' in 1976, a 400-page anthology containing extracts from important mystical and secular literature from all over the East, including excerpts from several classical Sufi authors. A review of the reprint in the
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...
''Books Abroad'' journal wondered why the book had been reprinted, since it no longer appeared to meet contemporary standards; the amount of space given to various national literatures appeared very uneven, the section on Arabia lacked many essential authors, and the section on Japan, consisting of just two pages, failed to give the names of the writers whose poems were featured.
As an anthology, it was considered woefully inadequate.
In 1986, James Moore researched Foreign Office records on Ikbal Ali Shah for a paper critical of his son Idries, and claimed to have found that "damaging material on Ikbal abounds throughout FO 371 and FO 395 from 1926 to 1950"; he came to the conclusion that Ikbal Ali Shah had been "charming and personable" but an inveterate teller of tall stories, a condition Moore chose to describe as "Munchhausen's syndrome".
The ''
Contemporary Review
''The Contemporary Review'' is a British biannual, formerly quarterly, magazine. It has an uncertain future as of 2013.
History
The magazine was established in 1866 by Alexander Strahan and a group of intellectuals intent on promoting their v ...
'', discussing the 1992 re-issue of ''Alone in Arabian Nights'', observed that it stressed "the eternal attitudes to fate, love and death".
Contemporary Review, May, 1993
/ref>
More recently, ''Afghanistan of the Afghans'' (1927) was included in The Kite Runner
''The Kite Runner'' is the debut novel of Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini. Published in 2003 by Riverhead Books, it tells the story of Amir, a young Afghan boy from Wazir Akbar Khan, Kabul. The story is set against a backdrop of tumul ...
Companion Curriculum, published by Amnesty International USA
Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) is an American non-profit non-governmental organization that is part of the worldwide Amnesty International organization.
Amnesty International is an organization of more than 7 million supporters, activists and ...
, as part of a list of books recommended for further reading by the Afghanistan Relief Organization.
And M. H. Sidky, of Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
in Columbus, Ohio, in ''Asian Folklore Studies'' points to ''Afghanistan of the Afghans'' as one of the few useful resources on the "Shamanic configuration" in Afghanistan. The book is also currently recommended by the Embassy
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...
of Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
in Washington, DC
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...
for information about the history and culture of Afghanistan.
Gallery
File:Amjad_Ali_Shah.jpg, Nawab Amjad Ali Shah (father)
File:Jan Fishan Khan.JPG, Jan-Fishan Khan (great-grandfather)
See also
* Lataif-e-sitta
* 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 ...
(for paternal lineage)
* Qasim Jan
* Sufism
Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism.
Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
Further reading
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shah, Ikbal Ali
1894 births
1969 deaths
Ikbal Ali Shah
Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah (, ; 1894 in Sardhana, India – 4 November 1969 in Tangier, Morocco) was an Indian-Afghan author and diplomat descended from the Sadaat of Paghman. Born and educated in India, he came to Britain as a young man to continue ...
Anthologists
20th-century Indian biographers
Indian travel writers
Indian people of Afghan descent
Indian Muslims
Indian people of Pashtun descent
Indian public relations people
Burials at Brookwood Cemetery
Musawis
Aligarh Muslim University alumni
Asian studies