Sufism: A Body of Knowledge

'I am interested in making available in the West those aspects of Sufism which shall be of use to the West at this time. I don’t want to turn good Europeans into poor Asiatics. People have asked me why I don’t use traditional methods of spiritual training, for instance, in dealing with people who seek me out or hunt me down; and of course, the answer is, that it’s for the same reason that you came to my house today in a motorcar and not on the back of a camel. Sufism is, in fact, not a mystical system, not a religion, but a body of knowledge.'

Idries Shah, 1971