Khakain

Does there lie in mankind's remote past a single origin for the beliefs and practices of magic found in nearly every culture in the world? Behind the distortions and grotesqueries of magical practices, could there be clues to processes worthy of our objective consideration?

Revealed is an astonishing similarity in magical beliefs, practices and terminology of places as diverse as China, the Near East, Scandinavia and Africa.

Magic is a field where intensive and creative study may show that many so-called supernatural powers are in fact reflections of hitherto little-understood forces, which may very possibly be harnessed to individual and collective advantage. This is a part of the basis of this book.

In his writings, Shah presented Sufism as a universal form of wisdom that predated Islam. Emphasizing that Sufism was not static, but always adapted itself to the current time, place and people, he framed his teaching in Western psychological terms. Shah made extensive use of traditional teaching stories and parables, texts containing multiple layers of meaning designed to trigger insight and self-reflection in the reader. He is perhaps best known for his collections of humorous Mulla Nasrudin stories.