SHAH WORKS

THE ELEPHANT IN THE DARK
Christianity, Islam and The Sufis

Idries Shah
Octagon Press, London, 1978

As our world continues to shrink, we are being brought headlong into often explosive contact with other cultures and religions. Islam continues to be for many a mysterious and misunderstood force, alien to our own cultural values.

Yet, in more ways than expected, Christianity and Islam share common ground. For centuries, Sufi thinkers have been linked to both religions in certain important ideas.

But, like the elephant in the dark in Jalaludin Rumi's classic fable, these ideas are not grasped in full by seizing parts of the whole and arguing for or against their supposed Christian or Islamic derivation.

>From a series of lectures given by Idries Shah at Geneva University, The Elephant in the Dark shifts focus to more fruitful ground, tracing documented episodes of co-operation and understanding between Christians and Moslems over the past 1,400 years.

'Aims at redressing balances, and to say what we have in common, on what we can build.'
—New Society

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