The Way of the Sufi

Intended to illustrate something of the richness and range of Sufi ideas, this remarkable book contains extracts, verses, anecdotes, epigrams, lectures, contemplation-themes, and teaching stories culled from such classical authors as Rumi, El-Ghazali, and Omar Khayyam as well as sources best known to Sufis themselves. The Way of the Sufi offers the reader an introductory course of study, beginning with a review of special problems facing the Western student. Not least of these is the fact that Sufi writings are instrumental in function rather than didactic or just literature. Most are written to meet the needs of a specific community at a particular time, rather than to be universally or perennially read.