islam

I read this book a few years ago and was throughly amazed. Nasr exposition of Sufism is excellent. He plunges into history and literature to and brings out profound insight into some fo the aspects of Sufism. He essay on the Sufi Shaykh is wonderful. Nevertheless the book has its flaw. The insertation of perrenial thought and propagation of the Universalvalidity of Religions is dogmatic in certain essay. The author simply goes and concludes that Sufi thought stresses the Universal Validity of Religions. Such a statement if false and goes against the Islamic texts and there explanation. In essence the book is wonderful and contains beneficial knowledge, but at the end the perrenial taint leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Overall good read but one should take caution about the above mentioned mistake.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. Having read another excellent book by Corbin " Alone with the Alone", I was curious to see what relation is there, if any, between Shiism and Sufis, this book answered my questions in an honest non-political way.