Authors

• Morag Murray Abdullah, a Scottish travel writer who journeyed through Central Asia.

• Jack L. Bracelin, a biographer. One of the first Octagon titles was the biographical work, Gerald Gardner: Witch. Attributed to Jack L. Bracelin, it was in fact ghost-written by Shah, who was Gardner's
  Gerald Gardner
  Gerald Brousseau Gardner , who sometimes used the craft name Scire, was an influential English Wiccan, as well as an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, weaponry expert and occultist. He was instrumental in bringing the Neopagan religion of Wicca to public attention in Britain and...
  
   secretary at the time of writing.
  
  • Sir Richard Burton
    Richard Francis Burton
    Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his...
    
    , an English explorer, translator, writer, soldier
    Soldier
    A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
    
    , orientalist
    Oriental studies
    Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...
    
    , ethnologist, linguist
    Linguistics
    Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
    
    , poet, hypnotist, fencer
    Fencing
    Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
    
     and diplomat
    Diplomat
    A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
    
    .
    
    • Edward Campbell, a Fleet Street
      Fleet Street
      Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
      
       journalist and an acknowledged authority on circus
      Circus
      A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
      
      es and the training of wild animals, who had a book The People of the Secret published for a time by Octagon, written under the pseudonym
      Pseudonym
      A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
      
       "Ernest Scott". The book featured an introduction by the philosopher and prolific novelist Colin Wilson
      Colin Wilson
      Colin Henry Wilson is a prolific English writer who first came to prominence as a philosopher and novelist. Wilson has since written widely on true crime, mysticism and other topics. He prefers calling his philosophy new existentialism or phenomenological existentialism.- Early biography:Born and...
      
      .
      
      • Amir Habibullah
        Habibullah Ghazi
        Habībullāh Kalakānī , also known as Habībullāh Ghāzī, was Emir of Afghanistan from January to October 1929 after deposing Amānullāh Khān with the help of various Ghilzai tribes who opposed modernization of Afghanistan...
        
        , born Bacha Saqao, the son of a poor water-carrier, who eventually became King of Afghanistan. A year after being crowned, he was overthrown and executed.Dupree, Louis: "Afghanistan", page 459. Princeton University Press, 1973 His autobiography, My Life - from Brigand to King, is published by Octagon.
      
      
      • Doris Lessing
        Doris Lessing
        Doris May Lessing CH is a British writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos....
        
        , who won the Nobel Prize in Literature
        Nobel Prize in Literature
        Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
        
         in 2007. Memoirs of a Survivor
        Memoirs of a Survivor
        The Memoirs of a Survivor is a dystopian novel by Nobel Prize-winner Doris Lessing. It was first published in 1974 by Octagon Press. It was made into a film in 1981, starring Julie Christie and Nigel Hawthorne, and directed by David Gladwell.-Plot:...
        
        , published in 1974, a novel described by her as 'an attempt at autobiography', is published by Octagon.
      
      
      • Professor Robert Ornstein, a psychologist, writer, professor at Stanford University
        Stanford University
        The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
        
        , and chairman of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge
        Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge
        The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge is a non-profit educational charity and publisher established in 1969 by the noted and award-winning psychologist and writer Robert E. Ornstein and based in Los Altos, California, in the USA...
        
         (ISHK).
      
      
      • Amina Shah
        Amina Shah
        Amina Shah is a prominent anthologiser of Sufi stories and folk tales, and was for many years the Chairperson of the College of Storytellers. She is the sister of the Sufi writers Idries Shah and Omar Ali-Shah, and the daughter of Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah and Saira Elizabeth Luiza Shah...
        
        , a prominent anthologiser of Sufi stories and folk tales, who was for many years the Chairperson of the London-based College of Storytellers. The Tale of the Four Dervishes has an introduction by Doris Lessing.
        
        • Khalilullah Khalili, Afghanistan's foremost 20th-century poet. The Quatrains of Khalilullah Khalili is published with both Dari
          Dari (Eastern Persian)
          Dari or Fārsī-ye Darī in historical terms refers to the Persian court language of the Sassanids. In contemporary usage, the term refers to the dialects of modern Persian language spoken in Afghanistan, and hence known as Afghan Persian in some Western sources. It is the term officially recognized...
          
           and English versions of the text.
          
          • Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah
            Sirdar ikbal ali shah
            Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah was an Indian-Afghan author and diplomat descended from the Sadaat of Paghman. Educated in India, he came to Britain as a young man to continue his education in Edinburgh, where he married a young Scotswoman....
            
            , an Afghan author, poet, diplomat, scholar, and savant.
          
          
          • Idries Shah
            Idries Shah
            Idries Shah , also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi , was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen critically acclaimed books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.Born in India, the descendant of a...
            
            , author of over forty books. His most seminal work was The Sufis
            The Sufis
            The Sufis is one of the best known books on Sufism by the writer Idries Shah. First published in 1964 with an introduction by Robert Graves, it introduced Sufi ideas to the West in a format acceptable to non-specialists at a time when the study of Sufism had largely become the reserve of...
            
            , which appeared in 1964 and was well received internationally.
            
            • Tahir Shah
              Tahir Shah
              Tahir Shah , né Sayyid Tahir al-Hashimi is an Anglo-Afghan Indian author, journalist and documentary maker. He lives in Casablanca, Morocco.-Family origins and life:...
              
              , a writer, reviewer, film-maker and "intrepid traveller". Four of his earlier works, Beyond the Devil's Teeth
              Beyond the Devil's Teeth
              Beyond the Devil's Teeth is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.Forty-five million years ago, Gondwanaland split apart to form India, Africa and South America...
              
              , In Search of King Solomon's Mines
              In Search of King Solomon's Mines
              In Search of King Solomon's Mines is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.It began with a map in Jerusalem. The map showed a trail leading to the fabled mines of King Solomon, who built the first temple of Israel out of gold, mined from the land of Ophir...
              
              , Sorcerer's Apprentice
              Sorcerer's Apprentice (book)
              Sorcerer's Apprentice is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.As a child in rural England, Tahir Shah learned the first secrets of illusion from an Indian magician. More than two decades later he set out in search of this conjurer, the ancestral guardian of his great grandfather’s tomb...
              
              and The Middle East Bedside Book
              The Middle East Bedside Book
              The Middle East Bedside Book is a collection of stories and information about the Middle East, edited by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.The Middle East Bedside Book contains a treasury of proverbs, etiquette, information and ideas to have come out of the Middle East, and Arab culture...
              
              are published or distributed by Octagon.
            
            
            • Denise Winn, a British journalist specializing in psychology and medicine, is a former editor of the UK edition of Psychology Today
              Psychology Today
              Psychology Today is a bi-monthly magazine published in the United States. It is a psychology-based magazine about relationships, health, and related topics written for a mass audience of non-psychologists. Psychology Today was founded in 1967 and features articles on such topics as love,...
              
              , has written for national newspapers and magazines in Britain for over 20 years, and is author of a dozen books on psychological and medical topics. The Manipulated Mind : Brainwashing, Conditioning and Indoctrination was published by Octagon.
              

              Classical translations

              Notable classical Sufi authors in translation include:
              • Al-Ghazali
                Al-Ghazali
                Abu Hāmed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-Ghazzālī , known as Algazel to the western medieval world, born and died in Tus, in the Khorasan province of Persia was a Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic....
                
                : The Alchemy of Happiness
              • Nuruddin Jami
                Jami
                Nur ad-Dīn Abd ar-Rahmān Jāmī also known as DJāmī, Mawlanā Nūr al-Dīn 'Abd al-Rahmān or Abd-Al-Rahmān Nur-Al-Din Muhammad Dashti who is commonly known as Jami , is known for his achievements as a scholar, mystic, writer, composer of numerous lyrics and idylls, historian, and one of the greatest...
                
                : Yusuf and Zulaikha
                Yusuf and Zulaikha
                Yusuf and Zulaikha is the Quranic verse of Yusuf and Zulaikha . It has been told and retold countless times in many languages spoken by Muslims, especially Persian. Its most famous version was written in Persian by Jami , in his Haft Awrang...
                
                
              • Jalal ad-Din Rumi: The Teachings of Rumi from The Masnavi
                Masnavi
                The Masnavi, Masnavi-I Ma'navi or Mesnevi , also written Mathnawi, Ma'navi, or Mathnavi, is an extensive poem written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, the celebrated Persian Sufi saint and poet. It is one of the best known and most influential works of both Sufism and Persian literature...
                
                . Rumi was a 13th-century Persian
                Persian people
                The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
                
                 poet
                Poet
                A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
                
                , Islamic jurist
                Jurist
                A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
                
                , theologian, and mystic
                Mysticism
                Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
                
                . He "is one of the most widely read poets in the United States".
              • Saadi
                Saadi (poet)
                Abū-Muḥammad Muṣliḥ al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī better known by his pen-name as Saʿdī or, simply, Saadi, was one of the major Persian poets of the medieval period. He is not only famous in Persian-speaking countries, but he has also been quoted in western sources...
                
                 of Shiraz: The Bostan and The Gulistan
                Gulistan of Sa'di
                The Gulistan is a landmark literary work in Persian literature, perhaps its single most influential work of prose. Written in 1259 CE, it is one of two major works of the Persian poet Sa'di, considered one of the greatest medieval Persian poets. It is also one of his most popular books, and...
                
                
              • Hakim Sanai
                Sanai
                Hakim Abul-Majd Majdūd ibn Ādam Sanā'ī Ghaznavi was a Afghan Sufi poet who lived in Ghazna, in what is now Afghanistan between the 11th century and the 12th century. Some people spell his name as Sanayee. He died around 1131.-Life:...
                
                : The Walled Garden of Truth
              • Mahmud Shabistari
                Mahmud Shabistari
                Mahmūd Shabistarī is one of the most celebrated Persian Sufi poets of the 14th century.-Life and work:Shabistari was born in the town of Shabestar near Tabriz in 1288 , where he received his education. He became deeply versed in the symbolic terminology of Ibn Arabi...
                
                : The Secret Garden
              • Shah Waliullah
                Shah Waliullah
                Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlvi was an Islamic scholar and reformer. He was born during the reign of Aurangzeb. He worked for the revival of Muslim rule and intellectual learning in South Asia, during a time of waning Muslim power...
                
                 of Delhi: The Sacred Knowledge
              • The Religion of the Sufis translated from The Dabistan
              
              
              The compilation Four Sufi Classics contains:
              • Al-Ghazali: The Niche for Lights
              • Jami: The Abode of Spring
              • Jami: Salaman and Absal
              • Sanai: The Way of the Seeker
              
              

              Reception

              Idries Shah's books on Sufism have achieved wide critical acclaim. He was the subject of a BBC
              BBC
              The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
              
               documentary ("One Pair of Eyes: Dreamwalkers") in 1970, and two of his works (The Way of the Sufi
              The Way of the Sufi
              The Way of the Sufi was the best-selling follow-up introduction to Sufism by the writer Idries Shah after the publication of his first book on the subject, The Sufis...
              
              and Reflections) were chosen as "Outstanding Book of the Year" by the BBC's "The Critics" programme. Among other honours, Shah won six first prizes at the UNESCO
              UNESCO
              The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
              
               World Book Year in 1973, and the Islamic scholar James Kritzeck
              James Kritzeck
              James Kritzeck is a scholar of Islam who specialises in Islamic literature and its translation.He was educated at Saint John's Abbey , the University of Minnesota , Princeton University , and Harvard University ; he was elected to the Society of Fellows at Harvard University in 1952...
              
              , commenting on Shah's Tales of the Dervishes
              Tales of the Dervishes
              Tales of the Dervishes was first published in 1967. Together with The Exploits of Mulla Nasrudin,published the year before, it represented the first of several books of practical Sufi instructional materialsto be released by Idries Shah....
              
              , said that it was "beautifully translated". At the time of his death, Shah's books had sold over 15 million copies in a dozen languages worldwide.
              
              Nobel prize winning author Doris Lessing, who has also had work published by Octagon Press, praised Shah's many books and saw him as a "good friend and teacher".
              
              Octagon Press is a cross-cultural publishing house based in London
              London
              London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
              
              , UK. It was founded in 1960 by Sufi
              Sufism
              Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
              
               teacher, Idries Shah
              Idries Shah
              Idries Shah , also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi , was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen critically acclaimed books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.Born in India, the descendant of a...
              
               to establish the historical and cultural context for his ideas.
              

              Description

              Octagon Press published many of Shah's later works. In addition, the publishing house has produced translations of Sufi classics and titles by other notable authors, focusing on the fields of the humanities
              Humanities
              The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
              
              , cultural geography, literature
              Literature
              Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
              
              , poetry, folklore
              Folklore
              Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
              
              , psychology
              Psychology
              Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
              
              , travel and philosophy
              Philosophy
              Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
              
              .
              
              Shah used Octagon Press to increase the availability of information on Afghanistan
              Afghanistan
              Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
              
              , aware that there would be a need for such information after the country's recent history. Two of his books, Darkest England (1987) and The Natives are Restless (1988), "traced affinities between the English and Afghan peoples".
              
              For many years Octagon Press sold the academic monographs published by the London Institute for Cultural Research, now sold directly by the ICR. A number of the classical works have been published with the aid of the Sufi Trust.
              
              The Octagon Press Limited was registered in the United Kingdom as a limited liability company at Companies House on 10 January 1972.details of Octagon Press Limited (The) at ukdata.com
              

              Authors

              • Morag Murray Abdullah, a Scottish travel writer who journeyed through Central Asia.
              
              
              • Jack L. Bracelin, a biographer. One of the first Octagon titles was the biographical work, Gerald Gardner: Witch. Attributed to Jack L. Bracelin, it was in fact ghost-written by Shah, who was Gardner's
                Gerald Gardner
                Gerald Brousseau Gardner , who sometimes used the craft name Scire, was an influential English Wiccan, as well as an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, weaponry expert and occultist. He was instrumental in bringing the Neopagan religion of Wicca to public attention in Britain and...
                
                 secretary at the time of writing.
                
                • Sir Richard Burton
                  Richard Francis Burton
                  Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton KCMG FRGS was a British geographer, explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, cartographer, ethnologist, spy, linguist, poet, fencer and diplomat. He was known for his travels and explorations within Asia, Africa and the Americas as well as his...
                  
                  , an English explorer, translator, writer, soldier
                  Soldier
                  A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...
                  
                  , orientalist
                  Oriental studies
                  Oriental studies is the academic field of study that embraces Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology; in recent years the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Asian studies and Middle Eastern studies...
                  
                  , ethnologist, linguist
                  Linguistics
                  Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
                  
                  , poet, hypnotist, fencer
                  Fencing
                  Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...
                  
                   and diplomat
                  Diplomat
                  A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
                  
                  .
                  
                  • Edward Campbell, a Fleet Street
                    Fleet Street
                    Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
                    
                     journalist and an acknowledged authority on circus
                    Circus
                    A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...
                    
                    es and the training of wild animals, who had a book The People of the Secret published for a time by Octagon, written under the pseudonym
                    Pseudonym
                    A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
                    
                     "Ernest Scott". The book featured an introduction by the philosopher and prolific novelist Colin Wilson
                    Colin Wilson
                    Colin Henry Wilson is a prolific English writer who first came to prominence as a philosopher and novelist. Wilson has since written widely on true crime, mysticism and other topics. He prefers calling his philosophy new existentialism or phenomenological existentialism.- Early biography:Born and...
                    
                    .
                    
                    • Amir Habibullah
                      Habibullah Ghazi
                      Habībullāh Kalakānī , also known as Habībullāh Ghāzī, was Emir of Afghanistan from January to October 1929 after deposing Amānullāh Khān with the help of various Ghilzai tribes who opposed modernization of Afghanistan...
                      
                      , born Bacha Saqao, the son of a poor water-carrier, who eventually became King of Afghanistan. A year after being crowned, he was overthrown and executed.Dupree, Louis: "Afghanistan", page 459. Princeton University Press, 1973 His autobiography, My Life - from Brigand to King, is published by Octagon.
                    
                    
                    • Doris Lessing
                      Doris Lessing
                      Doris May Lessing CH is a British writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos....
                      
                      , who won the Nobel Prize in Literature
                      Nobel Prize in Literature
                      Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
                      
                       in 2007. Memoirs of a Survivor
                      Memoirs of a Survivor
                      The Memoirs of a Survivor is a dystopian novel by Nobel Prize-winner Doris Lessing. It was first published in 1974 by Octagon Press. It was made into a film in 1981, starring Julie Christie and Nigel Hawthorne, and directed by David Gladwell.-Plot:...
                      
                      , published in 1974, a novel described by her as 'an attempt at autobiography', is published by Octagon.
                    
                    
                    • Professor Robert Ornstein, a psychologist, writer, professor at Stanford University
                      Stanford University
                      The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
                      
                      , and chairman of the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge
                      Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge
                      The Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge is a non-profit educational charity and publisher established in 1969 by the noted and award-winning psychologist and writer Robert E. Ornstein and based in Los Altos, California, in the USA...
                      
                       (ISHK).
                    
                    
                    • Amina Shah
                      Amina Shah
                      Amina Shah is a prominent anthologiser of Sufi stories and folk tales, and was for many years the Chairperson of the College of Storytellers. She is the sister of the Sufi writers Idries Shah and Omar Ali-Shah, and the daughter of Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah and Saira Elizabeth Luiza Shah...
                      
                      , a prominent anthologiser of Sufi stories and folk tales, who was for many years the Chairperson of the London-based College of Storytellers. The Tale of the Four Dervishes has an introduction by Doris Lessing.
                      
                      • Khalilullah Khalili, Afghanistan's foremost 20th-century poet. The Quatrains of Khalilullah Khalili is published with both Dari
                        Dari (Eastern Persian)
                        Dari or Fārsī-ye Darī in historical terms refers to the Persian court language of the Sassanids. In contemporary usage, the term refers to the dialects of modern Persian language spoken in Afghanistan, and hence known as Afghan Persian in some Western sources. It is the term officially recognized...
                        
                         and English versions of the text.
                        
                        • Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah
                          Sirdar ikbal ali shah
                          Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah was an Indian-Afghan author and diplomat descended from the Sadaat of Paghman. Educated in India, he came to Britain as a young man to continue his education in Edinburgh, where he married a young Scotswoman....
                          
                          , an Afghan author, poet, diplomat, scholar, and savant.
                        
                        
                        • Idries Shah
                          Idries Shah
                          Idries Shah , also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi , was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen critically acclaimed books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.Born in India, the descendant of a...
                          
                          , author of over forty books. His most seminal work was The Sufis
                          The Sufis
                          The Sufis is one of the best known books on Sufism by the writer Idries Shah. First published in 1964 with an introduction by Robert Graves, it introduced Sufi ideas to the West in a format acceptable to non-specialists at a time when the study of Sufism had largely become the reserve of...
                          
                          , which appeared in 1964 and was well received internationally.
                          
                          • Tahir Shah
                            Tahir Shah
                            Tahir Shah , né Sayyid Tahir al-Hashimi is an Anglo-Afghan Indian author, journalist and documentary maker. He lives in Casablanca, Morocco.-Family origins and life:...
                            
                            , a writer, reviewer, film-maker and "intrepid traveller". Four of his earlier works, Beyond the Devil's Teeth
                            Beyond the Devil's Teeth
                            Beyond the Devil's Teeth is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.Forty-five million years ago, Gondwanaland split apart to form India, Africa and South America...
                            
                            , In Search of King Solomon's Mines
                            In Search of King Solomon's Mines
                            In Search of King Solomon's Mines is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.It began with a map in Jerusalem. The map showed a trail leading to the fabled mines of King Solomon, who built the first temple of Israel out of gold, mined from the land of Ophir...
                            
                            , Sorcerer's Apprentice
                            Sorcerer's Apprentice (book)
                            Sorcerer's Apprentice is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.As a child in rural England, Tahir Shah learned the first secrets of illusion from an Indian magician. More than two decades later he set out in search of this conjurer, the ancestral guardian of his great grandfather’s tomb...
                            
                            and The Middle East Bedside Book
                            The Middle East Bedside Book
                            The Middle East Bedside Book is a collection of stories and information about the Middle East, edited by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.The Middle East Bedside Book contains a treasury of proverbs, etiquette, information and ideas to have come out of the Middle East, and Arab culture...
                            
                            are published or distributed by Octagon.
                          
                          
                          • Denise Winn, a British journalist specializing in psychology and medicine, is a former editor of the UK edition of Psychology Today
                            Psychology Today
                            Psychology Today is a bi-monthly magazine published in the United States. It is a psychology-based magazine about relationships, health, and related topics written for a mass audience of non-psychologists. Psychology Today was founded in 1967 and features articles on such topics as love,...
                            
                            , has written for national newspapers and magazines in Britain for over 20 years, and is author of a dozen books on psychological and medical topics. The Manipulated Mind : Brainwashing, Conditioning and Indoctrination was published by Octagon.
                            

                            Classical translations

                            Notable classical Sufi authors in translation include:
                            • Al-Ghazali
                              Al-Ghazali
                              Abu Hāmed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-Ghazzālī , known as Algazel to the western medieval world, born and died in Tus, in the Khorasan province of Persia was a Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic....
                              
                              : The Alchemy of Happiness
                            • Nuruddin Jami
                              Jami
                              Nur ad-Dīn Abd ar-Rahmān Jāmī also known as DJāmī, Mawlanā Nūr al-Dīn 'Abd al-Rahmān or Abd-Al-Rahmān Nur-Al-Din Muhammad Dashti who is commonly known as Jami , is known for his achievements as a scholar, mystic, writer, composer of numerous lyrics and idylls, historian, and one of the greatest...
                              
                              : Yusuf and Zulaikha
                              Yusuf and Zulaikha
                              Yusuf and Zulaikha is the Quranic verse of Yusuf and Zulaikha . It has been told and retold countless times in many languages spoken by Muslims, especially Persian. Its most famous version was written in Persian by Jami , in his Haft Awrang...
                              
                              
                            • Jalal ad-Din Rumi: The Teachings of Rumi from The Masnavi
                              Masnavi
                              The Masnavi, Masnavi-I Ma'navi or Mesnevi , also written Mathnawi, Ma'navi, or Mathnavi, is an extensive poem written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, the celebrated Persian Sufi saint and poet. It is one of the best known and most influential works of both Sufism and Persian literature...
                              
                              . Rumi was a 13th-century Persian
                              Persian people
                              The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
                              
                               poet
                              Poet
                              A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
                              
                              , Islamic jurist
                              Jurist
                              A jurist or jurisconsult is a professional who studies, develops, applies, or otherwise deals with the law. The term is widely used in American English, but in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries it has only historical and specialist usage...
                              
                              , theologian, and mystic
                              Mysticism
                              Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
                              
                              . He "is one of the most widely read poets in the United States".
                            • Saadi
                              Saadi (poet)
                              Abū-Muḥammad Muṣliḥ al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī better known by his pen-name as Saʿdī or, simply, Saadi, was one of the major Persian poets of the medieval period. He is not only famous in Persian-speaking countries, but he has also been quoted in western sources...
                              
                               of Shiraz: The Bostan and The Gulistan
                              Gulistan of Sa'di
                              The Gulistan is a landmark literary work in Persian literature, perhaps its single most influential work of prose. Written in 1259 CE, it is one of two major works of the Persian poet Sa'di, considered one of the greatest medieval Persian poets. It is also one of his most popular books, and...
                              
                              
                            • Hakim Sanai
                              Sanai
                              Hakim Abul-Majd Majdūd ibn Ādam Sanā'ī Ghaznavi was a Afghan Sufi poet who lived in Ghazna, in what is now Afghanistan between the 11th century and the 12th century. Some people spell his name as Sanayee. He died around 1131.-Life:...
                              
                              : The Walled Garden of Truth
                            • Mahmud Shabistari
                              Mahmud Shabistari
                              Mahmūd Shabistarī is one of the most celebrated Persian Sufi poets of the 14th century.-Life and work:Shabistari was born in the town of Shabestar near Tabriz in 1288 , where he received his education. He became deeply versed in the symbolic terminology of Ibn Arabi...
                              
                              : The Secret Garden
                            • Shah Waliullah
                              Shah Waliullah
                              Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlvi was an Islamic scholar and reformer. He was born during the reign of Aurangzeb. He worked for the revival of Muslim rule and intellectual learning in South Asia, during a time of waning Muslim power...
                              
                               of Delhi: The Sacred Knowledge
                            • The Religion of the Sufis translated from The Dabistan
                            
                            
                            The compilation Four Sufi Classics contains:
                            • Al-Ghazali: The Niche for Lights
                            • Jami: The Abode of Spring
                            • Jami: Salaman and Absal
                            • Sanai: The Way of the Seeker
                            
                            

                            Reception

                            Idries Shah's books on Sufism have achieved wide critical acclaim. He was the subject of a BBC
                            BBC
                            The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
                            
                             documentary ("One Pair of Eyes: Dreamwalkers") in 1970, and two of his works (The Way of the Sufi
                            The Way of the Sufi
                            The Way of the Sufi was the best-selling follow-up introduction to Sufism by the writer Idries Shah after the publication of his first book on the subject, The Sufis...
                            
                            and Reflections) were chosen as "Outstanding Book of the Year" by the BBC's "The Critics" programme. Among other honours, Shah won six first prizes at the UNESCO
                            UNESCO
                            The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
                            
                             World Book Year in 1973, and the Islamic scholar James Kritzeck
                            James Kritzeck
                            James Kritzeck is a scholar of Islam who specialises in Islamic literature and its translation.He was educated at Saint John's Abbey , the University of Minnesota , Princeton University , and Harvard University ; he was elected to the Society of Fellows at Harvard University in 1952...
                            
                            , commenting on Shah's Tales of the Dervishes
                            Tales of the Dervishes
                            Tales of the Dervishes was first published in 1967. Together with The Exploits of Mulla Nasrudin,published the year before, it represented the first of several books of practical Sufi instructional materialsto be released by Idries Shah....
                            
                            , said that it was "beautifully translated". At the time of his death, Shah's books had sold over 15 million copies in a dozen languages worldwide.
                            
                            Nobel prize winning author Doris Lessing, who has also had work published by Octagon Press, praised Shah's many books and saw him as a "good friend and teacher".
                            

                            Relief efforts

                            Idries Shah set up a charitable agency, Afghan ReliefAfghan Relief was registered with the UK Charity Commission (no. 289910). It was founded 25 July 1984 and ceased to exist and was removed from the registry on 03 October 2002. See Charity Commission record. It used the same Post Office box number in London as the Society for Sufi Studies for its address which operated from 1984 to 2002. Its aim was to provide medical, educational and other aid to refugees and Shah wrote books to assist in the operation, some of which are published by Octagon. The relief effort is also now carried out in association with The Institute for the Study Of Human Knowledge (ISHK) and their children's imprint, Hoopoe Books. Hoopoe provides books and complementary teaching materials to schools and children in Afghanistan, with official permission from Afghanistan's Minister of Education in Kabul. Hoopoe also provides relief for Pakistan.
                            
                            The Kite Runner companion curriculum, published by Amnesty International
                            Amnesty International
                            Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
                            
                             USA contains a list of books recommended for further reading by the Afghanistan Relief Organization
                            Afghanistan Relief Organization
                            Afghanistan Relief Organization is a humanitarian organization which provides direct aid and education to those in need in Afghanistan. It runs a large technology education centre in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and is also involved in the training of midwives.-Description:Afghanistan Relief...
                            
                             (ARO, founded in 1998 and not to be confused with Shah's original Afghan Relief)Afghanistan Relief Organization (ARO) is a non-political, non-religious, nonprofit 501(c)(3) humanitarian organization, registered in the United States and in Afghanistan, founded in the United States in 1998.. These recommended books include several works for children by Idries Shah published by Hoopoe, and Ikbal Ali Shah's Afghanistan of the Afghans and works by Saira
                            Saira Shah
                            Saira Shah is an author, reporter and documentary filmmaker. She produces, writes and narrates current affairs films.- Life and work :...
                            
                             and Safia Shah
                            Safia Shah
                            Safia Shah , now Safia Thomas is a British writer, editor and television news producer, following in the footsteps of her distinguished Anglo-Afghan Indian family....
                            
                             published by Octagon.
                            

                            External links

                            • Octagon Press website
                            • Afghanistan Relief Organization
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