Idries Shah Quotes

Laziness - The laziness of adolescence is a rehearsal for the incapacity of old age.

~ Idries Shah

Mediation - Before you learn how to meditate, you must unlearn what you think meditation might be.

~ Idries Shah

Definition of a SufiTo learn, people must give up a great deal, and this includes ritual as something from which they imagine they might learn. It is to emphasise this that Abu-Yaqub al-Susi, quoted in Kalabadhi's Taaruf, states that the Sufi is 'One who does not care when something is taken from him, but who does not cease to seek for what he has not.

~ Idries Shah

The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk. As Prince Dara Shikoh says, in a Persian poem: Do you wish to be included with the Lords of Sight? From speech (then) pass on to experience. By saying 'Unity', you do not become a monotheist; The mouth does not become sweet from the word 'Sugar

~ Idries Shah

Humility cannot be taught by propaganda, though slavery can. Shouting for humility is a form of arrogance. One of my most abiding recollections is of a priest at a religious occasion once roaring, in the most threatening way imaginable: ‘O our Lord God, we most humbly pray…!’Real humility is not always the same as apparent humility. Remember that fighting against self-conceit is still fighting: and that it will tend to suppress it temporarily. It does not cure anything.Remember, too, that humility itself does not bring an automatic reward: it is a means to an end. It enables a person to operate in a certain manner.

~ Idries Shah

… the Sufi attitude is: ‘Let the real truth, whatever it may be, be revealed to me’.

~ Idries Shah

People who have fallacious objectives are like the barren soil. The flowers grow from soil which is composed of the right objectives.

~ Idries Shah

Sometimes a pessimist is only an optimist with extra information.

~ Idries Shah

The more wakeful a man is to the things which surround him, the more asleep is he, and his waking is worse than his sleep.

~ Idries Shah

Materialism, attachment to things of the world, includes pride. Many religious people suffer from pride: taking pleasure or even delight in being good, or religious.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet. The Bequest: I have nothing to leave you except my family.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetAngerYou ask for a piece of advice. I tell you : 'Do not get angry.' He is strong who can withhold anger.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetHelping othersI order you to assist any oppressed person, whether he is a Muslim or not.

~ Idries Shah

Teaching:One hour's teaching is better than a whole night of prayer.Saying of the Prophet

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetMonkishnessNo monkery in Islam.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetObligation to LearnThe pursuit of knowledge is obligatory on every Muslim.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetTruthSpeaking the truth to the unjust is the best of holy wars.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetTHE PEOPLEIt is the people who are God's family.(Muhammad the Prophet)

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetSome behaviourI am like a man who has lighted a fire, and all the creeping things have rushed to burn themselves in it.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetThe BequestI have nothing to leave you except my family.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetFoodNobody has eaten better food than that won by his own labour.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetAccusationsAnyone reviling a brother for a sin will not himself die before committing it.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet.Lies, promises, trustHe is not of mine who lies, breaks a promise or fails in his trust.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetTasksWhoever makes all his tasks one task, God will help him in his other concerns.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetPracticeWho are the learned? Those who put into practice what they know.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetOppressionWhen oppression exists, even the bird dies in its nest.

~ Idries Shah

Helping othersI order you to assist any oppressed person, whether he is a Moslem or not.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetDistributionGod it is who gives: I am only a distributor.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetWomenWomen are the twin-halves of men.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetReflectionThe Faithful are mirrors, one to the other.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetPrivacyWhoever invades people´s privacy corrupts them.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetLoveDo you think you love your Creator? Love your fellow-creature first.

~ Idries Shah

Treat this world as I do, like a wayfarer; like a horseman who stops in the shade of a tree for a time, and then moves on.

~ Idries Shah

Saying of the ProphetObjectsIt is your attachment to objects which make you blind and deaf.

~ Idries Shah

When people have a hard task to do - one which stretches them - they become less concerned with trivial matters.

~ Idries Shah

It is not 'Have I got a chance?' It is more often: 'Have I seen my chance?

~ Idries Shah

Trying to force something is the best way to stop it happening.

~ Idries Shah

If you will not reprove yourself,’ Saadi says, ‘you will not welcome reproof from another.

~ Idries Shah

Whoever is to be wise despises himself. Only the ignorant trust their own judgement.

~ Idries Shah

Great men are great until they know it. Saints are holy until they know it.

~ Idries Shah