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MANY people will hardly believe that, although the words of virtually every other major teacher of human ideas are available in popular form, there is no general collection of the Traditions of the Prophet Mohammed in English, nor in any other Western languages, over 1,300 years after his time. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
MANY people will hardly believe that, although the words of virtually every other major teacher of human ideas are available in popular form, there is no general collection of the Traditions of the Prophet Mohammed in English, nor in any other Western languages, over 1,300 years after his time. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book presents teaching stories and narratives (both old and new) from the Sufi tradition. It also presents sayings collected by Idries Shah, as well as history, travel, and aphorisms. By scattering these materials, the book has a certain impact on the mind of the reader, all of the material working in a number of ways- never does a teaching story simply have one meaning. The book is entertaining, but it is clear that entertainment is useful, but only one use of the stories. Here there are ways of thought, ways of living and thinking, ways of seeing both others and ourselves. Some stories are funny, others beautiful, and each one yields new ways of thinking and interpretation as time goes on, constantly unfolding and revealing new patterns.
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Shah inspires superlatives from the good and great, but there is little doubt he has brought an important part of the living tradition of sufi spirituality to the West, through the sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him), to the hilarious aphorisms about modern life written by the pseudonymous 'Mulla Dopiaza'! Shah draws on contemporary western psychology, scholarship and sensibilities to give the sufi tradition a sense of being a living faith in both the west and east, not least by demonstrating that the first step towards spiritual truth is a pragmatic one: to make each of us see outselves as we really are - warts and all. I have met few people who have walked away from Shah's work without thinking they have learned something about themselves, and this warm, humouress, gentle introduction to sufism remains one of the best starting points in the Shah corpus.
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9 reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Our Common Humanity
27 April 1999
Format:Paperback
This book has some interesting cultural information on Mohammend and Mecca that might be of interest to Westerners. There are also some fabulous stories, most of them with an Eastern flavor. The Caravan of Dreams refers to a story from the Arabian Nights where Maruf the Cobbler imagines and then describes a caravan of great riches on its way to him. According to the introduction this led not to his disgrace, but to the caravan materializing and arriving. Shah adds: "May your Caravan of Dreams find its way to you." A sentiment that pervades this charming book. Idries Shah spent much of his life bridging and building bridges for two cultures. The stories and narratives here add to that process. Shah was also a Sufi Teacher, so there is much instructional material here. Teaching Stories and suggestions about how to best utilize them. At a time in our human history where people seem sometimes to be separating themselves into smaller, less tolerant groupings; books like this refer back to our common humanity, the narratives and characteristics that have persevered through both time and changing cultures. Modern people tend to think of themselves as different than those people who came before them; those people whose efforts in many ways bequeathed to us the lives we now enjoy. A book like this gives one a sense of the timelessness of our human heritage.
20 of 21 people found the following review helpful
A book of Extraordinary Tales
28 Aug 2001
Format:Paperback
The first time I encountered this book was one Thursday night nearly thirty years ago when friends read The Story of Mushkil Gusha (one of the many stories it contains). Despite numerous readings (and tellings) of that story, one keeps finding more that is in it. Like the book itself, it gets better and richer in meaning, the better one gets to know it. Other tales in this extraordinary book do, too. The Magic Horse and The Tale of Melon City come immediately to mind. This is a most remarkable book to read oneself and to share with others. Read aloud the Story of Mushkil Gusha with friends some Thursday night and discover, for yourself, what riches it contains!
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
A first book
30 Aug 2005
Format:Paperback
People often ask which of Idries Shah's books they should read first. While you can dive in almost anywhere in his 30 or so books, you can do as I did, by happy accident: read CARAVAN OF DREAMS. Here you'll find excerpts from the Hadith: "Trust in God--but tie your camel first." Shah's pilgrimage to Mecca is included. Jalaludin Rumi is represented with quotes such as "The man of God is not an expert made by books." Omar Khayyam is here: "Religionists do not know Thy mercy as we know it." You'll find a multitude of Sufi "teaching stories": "A father said to his double-seeing son: 'Son you see two instead of one.' 'How can that be?' the boy replied. 'If I were, there would seem to be four moons up there in place of two.' Twelve jokes of the Mulla Nasrudin show wisdom in mirth: "O people!" shouted Nasrudin, running through the streets of his village, "know that I have lost my donkey. Anyone who brings it back will be given the donkey as a reward!" "You must be mad," said some spectators to this strange event." "Not at all," said Nasrudin; "do you not know that the pleasure which you get when you find something lost is greater than the joy of possessing it?" And there is the "table talk" of Idries Shah himself: "Before you learn to meditate, you must unlearn what you think meditation might be." And there is much, much more in this slim volume of just 207 pages. If you are touched by the samples above, you will love this book much more so.
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