The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin

Mulla Nasrudin

by Idries Shah

Many countries claim Nasrudin as a native, although few have gone so far as Turkey in exhibiting a ‘grave’ of the wisest fool who ever lived, and holding an annual Nasrudin Festival. He is the greatest, most intriguing, character of folklore found in any Eastern land. Versions of his back-to-front thinking can be found in Morocco, Egypt and Russia, in Turkey, Greece, Albania and Afghanistan. Since Idries Shah made Nasrudin’s genius available to mainstream Western readers three decades ago, people from every walk of life have laughed at and learned from the wise fool’s inimitable escapades.

Genres: Spirituality, Religion, Islam, Short Stories, Humor, Philosophy

118 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 5, 2018

About the author

Idries Shah (Persian: ادریس شاه), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس هاشمي), was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen critically acclaimed books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.

Born in India, the descendant of a family of Afghan nobles, Shah grew up mainly in England. His early writings centred on magic and witchcraft. In 1960 he established a publishing house, Octagon Press, producing translations of Sufi classics as well as titles of his own. His most seminal work was The Sufis, which appeared in 1964 and was well received internationally. In 1965, Shah founded the Institute for Cultural Research, a London-based educational charity devoted to the study of human behaviour and culture. A similar organisation, the Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge (ISHK), exists in the United States, under the directorship of Stanford University psychology professor Robert Ornstein, whom Shah appointed as his deputy in the U.S.

In his writings, Shah presented Sufism as a universal form of wisdom that predated Islam. Emphasising 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 that contained 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.

Shah was at times criticised by orientalists who questioned his credentials and background. His role in the controversy surrounding a new translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, published by his friend Robert Graves and his older brother Omar Ali-Shah, came in for particular scrutiny. However, he also had many notable defenders, chief among them the novelist Doris Lessing. Shah came to be recognised as a spokesman for Sufism in the West and lectured as a visiting professor at a number of Western universities. His works have played a significant part in presenting Sufism as a secular, individualistic form of spiritual wisdom.

Idries Shah's books on Sufism achieved considerable critical acclaim. He was the subject of a BBC documentary ("One Pair of Eyes") in 1969, and two of his works (The Way of the Sufi and Reflections) were chosen as "Outstanding Book of the Year" by the BBC's "The Critics" programme. Among other honours, Shah won six first prizes at the UNESCO World Book Year in 1973, and the Islamic scholar James Kritzeck, commenting on Shah's Tales of the Dervishes, said that it was "beautifully translated".
The reception of Shah's movement was also marked by much controversy. Some orientalists were hostile, in part because Shah presented classical Sufi writings as tools for self-development to be used by contemporary people, rather than as objects of historical study. L. P. Elwell-Sutton from Edinburgh University, Shah's fiercest critic, described his books as "trivial", replete with errors of fact, slovenly and inaccurate translations and even misspellings of Oriental names and words – "a muddle of platitudes, irrelevancies and plain mumbo-jumbo", adding for good measure that Shah had "a remarkable opinion of his own importance". Expressing amusement and amazement at the "sycophantic manner" of Shah's interlocutors in a BBC radio interview, Elwell-Sutton concluded that some Western intellectuals were "so desperate to find answers to the questions that baffle them, that, confronted with wisdom from 'the mysterious East,' they abandon their critical faculties and submit to brainwashing of the crudest kind". To Elwell-Sutton, Shah's Sufism belonged to the realm of "Pseudo-Sufism", "centred not on God but on man."

Doris Lessing, one of Shah's greatest defenders,stated in a 1981 interview: "I found Sufism as taught by Idries Shah, which claim

Reviews

[Aubrey Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The rib-tickling bottomless jokes in Idries Shah's third Nasrudin book beg to be retold and reread. I continue to discover more in them and in myself each time I do. Perhaps the secret to their longevity and ubiquity lies here:

HOW TO KEEP IT GOING Mulla Nasrudin used to stand in the street on market-days, to be pointed out as an idiot. No matter how often people offered him a large and a small coin, he always chose the smaller piece. One day a kindly man said to him: ‘Mulla, you should take the bigger coin. Then you will have more money and people will no longer be able to make a laughing-stock of you.’ ‘That might be true,’ said Nasrudin, ‘but if I always take the larger, people will stop offering me money to prove that I am more idiotic than they are. Then I would have no money at all.’

“If you cannot laugh often and deeply you have no soul” goes the saying.

[Ita · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Subtleties finds Mulla Nasrudin arriving in the West. He immerses himself with enthusiasm in English life, and many of the stories in this book show the wise fool in a contemporary setting. Well, almost contemporary – it’s the second half of the twentieth century. His donkey is never far away, but he also travels by train, car and even plane. He works in a factory, becomes a forester, and even a union official. in his spare time he attends football matches, visits the British Museum and goes to philosophy lectures. He even manages to get an invitation to a country house at a weekend. All these experiences, and many more, provide him with opportunities to give his uniquely humorous slant on life.

Nasrudin may be cashing cheques in a bank, but he is still a voice of sanity in today’s troubled and polarised world. One story is entitled ‘Tyranny of the Majority’:

‘At one point in his life, the entire population of his village had had enough of the pleasantries and confusions of Mulla Nasrudin.
They all went to the magistrate and he gave a ruling:
“Nasrudin, by the will of the people I have to declare that you must leave the village.”
“Are they unanimous?” asked the Mulla.
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
“Then I refuse to go. There are plenty of them – and only one of me. If they don’t like the village as it is, they can leave and build another one. But I, a single individual, how can I start to build one small house for myself elsewhere?” ‘

I love to mull over these stories.

‘Mulla Nasrudin had been in England for several years. After settling in Liverpool, he had started to write poetry. He had composed thousands of verses and he and his friends had done everything to promote him.
His friend Wali found him sitting with his head in his hands, sobbing bitterly.
“Cheer up, Nasrudin,’ he said, ‘it can’t be as bad as all that!”
“But it is,” said Nasrudin, “for I have discovered that I am no poet.”
“All you have to do,” said Wali, “is to give up poetry – then you’ll feel better.”
“But I can’t do that. I’ve been elected Poet of the Century by the Academy of Culture. I’ve been famous since yesterday.” ‘

‘Nasrudin wanted to know more about art, so a friend took him to a gallery.
“Who painted that picture?” asked the Mulla, stopping in front of a huge and colourful canvas.
“Picasso – you can see by the signature.”
“The devil! How dare he copy my calendar?” ‘

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The original Nasrudin is said to have lived in the 13th century. Stories about him have been told across the Muslim world. Most of the stories depict him in an ancient small village, but some stories transplant him to the modern world. This collection is one of several edited by Idries Shah, an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition. Some of the stories have a moral while others are just silly.

I have picked a few of them. I will let these speak for themselves:

Problems of Loneliness

Something frightened Mulla Nasrudin as he was walking down a road. He threw himself into a ditch and then began to think that he had been frightened to death.

After a time he became very cold and hungry. He walked home and told his wife the sad news, and went back to the ditch.

"His wife, sobbing bitterly, went to the neighbors for comfort. My husband is dead, lying in a ditch.

"How do you know?"

"There was nobody to see him, so he had to come and tell me himself, poor dear."

Tried to Fool Him

Nasruddin was at a football game. He had been shouting until half-time, and felt thirsty.

"I'm going to get a drink of water," he told his friend.

"And one for me," said the friend.

In a few minutes Nasruddin came back.

"I tried to have a drink of water for you," but I found, after I had had my own drink, that you were not thirsty after all.

Moral: If you really want a drink of water, drink it yourself.

Myself

A monk said to Nasruddin:

"I am so detached that I never think of myself, only of others."

Nasruddin answered:

"I am so objective that I can look at myself as if I were another person; so I can afford to think of myself."

[John Zada · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lewis F. Courtland once wrote of the author and the stories contained within this book: “Shah has shown, in respect to the Mulla Nasrudin corpus of jokes and anecdotes, that what appears on the surface as jests are in fact structures formulated to bring into cognition patterns which the mind finds it difficult or impossible to render and receive in any other way.”

[John Bell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tale after tale, these often funny anecdotes build up like vitamins of the spirit to help us see life in new and productive ways.

[Stuart Bathgate · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of several collections of Mulla Nasrudin tales published by Idries Shah in his lifetime, this book offers more insight into the way our minds work in everyday life - sometimes self-defeating and confused, sometimes just daft.
As some of the tales are very short it can be tempting to view them as little more than jokes - especially the ones in which the Mulla gets to supply the punchline. But in others he is the butt of the joke, or acts in a clearly stupid manner, so he's far more complex as a character.
At times, too, the stories can seem irritating or inconsequential. Perhaps that happens when, lacking the patience to think about them calmly or let them sink in, we try to impose a simplistic meaning or moral onto them. In reality there's a lot more to them - if, that is, we allow their subtleties time to take effect.

[Robs · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met a lunatic the other day and he claimed that the stories were alive independently as well as collectively, that they contradicted and confirmed each other, that they expanded and contracted each other, that they clashed against and escorted each other, that they had a pulse, a life of their own, and that he could hear them living. But he, as I've already said, was a madman.

[Jack Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The backwards thinking of this Sufi foolish wise man are both amusing and full of morals. While Nasrudin is foolish, he conveys many of our common mistakes. While Nasrudin is full of wisdom he applies it in the wrong places, such as smashing a clock that is behind, so the clock can be right twice a day, rather than behind and wrong all of the time. Nasrudin speaks at the podium after election candidates. Nasrudin tells everyone the recipe to a stew, including an absurd mix of vegetables. People try his recipe, and come to Nasrudin angry after great failure. Nasrudin says that he did not know what the stew was going to taste like, he only wanted to try out the recipe to see if it worked. Just like candidates in the election, who have ideas that they want to try.

[Suhrob · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've enjoyed "The Pleasantries..." quite a bit, but by the third book it seems Shah run out of material. Many of these anecdotes sound like old, unfunny jokes, with Nasrudin's name only pasted into them. The more "authentic" ones barely reach the level of the weakest ones from "The Pleasantries...".

Short, but not worth it...
Sunk-cost-fallacy won once again and that's the only reason I've finished it.

[Greg M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spiritual enlightenment doesn't have to be dry and somber! The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin is great pathway via humor and entertaining stories to enlightenment for the modern world! Idries Shah has a way with words!

[mavromou · Rating 4 out of 5]

No dejan de sorprenderme las historias de Nasrudin, algunas historias las conocía de antes (contadas por mi abuelo) pero sin saber que eran de Nasrudin...

Es interesante comprender que mas allá de que algunas narraciones dejen una enseñanza mas directa que otras, siempre Nasrudin sorprende con sus respuestas ocurrentes, que siempre te dejan pensando...

[Carol Furpahs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes I just need a little Nasrudin. These miniature stories can be puzzling. But sometimes when I just need a little Nasrudin a tiny tale will pop crystal clear. Of course if Nasrudin were standing beside me he would say, "I told you so." and vanish. These truly remarkable spirited human creations arrive when most useful.

[Aigul · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a compendium of stories of the wise/foolish/trickster/philosopher figure known as Mulla Nasrudin as well as by many other appellations, depending on where in the world you come across him. Though nominally of Turkish provenance – his tomb can be found in Aksehir (even the 'tomb' is confounding – have a look at it on Google images) – stories of this remarkable character can be found from Greece all the way across to China. He was even made a Hero of the Soviet Union apparently!
These are stories that can be appreciated as jokes (though not all are funny), sometimes for their moral but, most of all, for their ability gradually to bypass our conditioning and open up new ways of thinking.
This particular collection was put together with the assistance of a fine body of Nasrudin aficionados who are credited at the beginning of the book.
The stories range from the very traditional to more contemporary versions - the Mulla is nothing if not adaptable. In a number of the tales he has even come over to the good old UK - in one as a poet in Liverpool.
All in all, this is another great selection from the Mulla Nasrudin tradition. Just remember, if you tell one of these tales, it is traditional to follow it with another six!

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Too late.
'Mulla Nasrudin had been in England for several years. After settling in Liverpool, he had started to write poerty. He had composed thousands of verses and he and his friends had done everything they could to promote him.
His friend Wali found him sitting with his head in his hands, sobbing bitterly.
'Cheer up Nasrudin' he said, ' it can't be as bad as all that!'
'But it is,' said Nasrudin, 'for I have just discovered that I am no poet.'
'All you have to do,' said Wali, ' is to give up poetry - then you 'll feel better.'
'But I can't do that. I've been elected Poet of the Century by the Academy of Culture. I 've been famous since yesterday.'
Things that come to one in the night.
This one too, near the beginning of the book.
'Saying of Mulla Nasrudin.
'If I knew what two and two were - I would say Four!'
The acknowlegements are interesting. A wonderful book, hidden and not so hidden wisdom, hidden in jokes that are jokes and not jokes.
New edition available on Amazon.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though Mulla may have lived many hundreds of years ago (or there again may not have) he is absolutely topical. Nasrudin was asked to address the election meeting along with all the candidates. He went on to offer the crowd a very special recipe. Many tried it. It was repulsive so they stormed Nasrudin's house. "Well", he said "I didn't know what it would be like. It just sounded a good idea. That's what election candidates do isn't?"
This slim volume is filled with short stories which have been tried and do work, each a gem that comes to mind in appropriate circumstances. Do yourself a favour. Read it.

[Kevan Bowkett · Rating 4 out of 5]

This third volume of Mulla Nasrudin tales, retold by Idries Shah, is a worthy companion to its two predecessors. In this book we encounter many more of the jokes of this 'wise fool' teaching-figure, whose adventures have been enjoyed for centuries in Asia and parts of Africa and Europe.

[Leonard Robichaud]

Like the other books in the Nasrudin series, this is a compilation of "jokes" featuring the enigmatic figure of Mulla Nasrudin. Some of the stories make quite amusing jokes in the familiar sense, others are bemusing anecdotes that take your mind in unexpected directions and have no obvious punch line - but don't bother trying to "puzzle out" the meaning of the enigmatic ones! This is the kind of book you'll want to dip into again and again over the years.