Travels with Nasrudin

by Tahir Shah

The wise fool of Oriental folklore, Nasrudin is known across a vast swathe of the globe – from Morocco in the west, to Indonesia in the east. Appearing under different names and in all manner of guises, he’s universally admired for his back-to-front brand of genius – so much so that at least a dozen countries insist he was one of them. In reality, he is of course found everywhere – even in regions where he has no name. Tales of Nasrudin’s wise-foolery have been told in caravanserais and teahouses since ancient times, just as they are recounted in cafés, office buildings, and homes the world over today. In the Land of Nasrudin, the wise are foolish and the foolish are wise. Leading us through a keyhole into a realm that’s back-to-front and inside-out, the stories turn what we think we know and understand on its head. At the same time, Nasrudin tales form a cornerstone in an ancient and advanced psychology. As you laugh at the off-beat humour, the subconscious turns the puzzle-joke around, working away at it like a terrier worrying a rag doll. Tahir Shah was first introduced to Nasrudin by his father – the writer and thinker – Idries Shah. In his childhood, and in his travels, the wise fool has provided a lens through which Tahir has perceived the world. As he says, ‘By training my attention to the methods of the wise fool, I have found new dimensions reveal themselves to me – both in lands I thought I knew, and in fresh dominions.’ A remarkable work of exploration through human culture, and an observant self-examination, Travels With Nasrudin is unlike any other work of the travel genre published in recent times.

440 pages, Paperback

Published November 28, 2019

About the author

Tahir Shah was born in London, and raised primarily at the family’s home, Langton House, in the English countryside – where founder of the Boy Scouts, Lord Baden Powell was also brought up.

Along with his twin and elder sisters, Tahir was continually coaxed to regard the world around him through Oriental eyes. This included being exposed from early childhood to Eastern stories, and to the back-to-front humour of the wise fool, Nasrudin.

Having studied at a leading public school, Bryanston, Tahir took a degree in International Relations, his particular interest being in African dictatorships of the mid-1980s. His research in this area led him to travel alone through a wide number of failing African states, including Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Zaire.

After university, Tahir embarked on a plethora of widespread travels through the Indian subcontinent, Latin America, and Africa, drawing them together in his first travelogue, Beyond the Devil’s Teeth. In the years that followed, he published more than a dozen works of travel. These quests – for lost cities, treasure, Indian magic, and for the secrets of the so-called Birdmen of Peru – led to what is surely one of the most extraordinary bodies of travel work ever published.

In the early 2000s, with two small children, Tahir moved his young family from an apartment in London’s East End to a supposedly haunted mansion in the middle of a Casablanca shantytown. The tale of the adventure was published in his bestselling book, The Caliph’s House.

In recent years, Tahir Shah has released a cornucopia of work, embracing travel, fiction, and literary criticism. He has also made documentaries for National Geographic TV and the History Channel, and published hundreds of articles in leading magazines, newspapers, and journals. His oeuvre is regarded as exceptionally original and, as an author, he is considered as a champion of the new face of publishing.

www.tahirshah.com
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Reviews

[Jorge Centofanti · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating journey with stories within stories...

In ‘Travels with Nasrudin’, Tahir Shah has woven an enlightening series of stories from the ‘wise fool’, interspersed with his own collection of stories from life experiences as indomitable explorer and restless searcher for hidden treasures of all kinds - including those that have forged his optimistic spirit and humanity - into a patchwork carpet with over one hundred different designs masterly integrated as parts of a harmonious whole. A real feat of conception and inspired realization.
Travelling with Tahir Shah and the ‘wise fool’ Nasrudin provides non-stop reading enjoyment, meaningful surprises, revelations, amazing humor, richness of thought and perception, as well as precious insights about the life and work of his father, the author, and thinker Idries Shah, including also stories about other members of his illustrious, noble Afghan family.
This book is itself a Treasure.

[Ita Marquess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book -twice- and loved it. In it I also found answers to questions I had. What is more the question-generating machine which is in me knows where to find answers:

'Much of the time we bluster through life searching for answers to questions. In assuming the answers can only be hunted down on a journey through a distant realm, we forget that often the answers we require are ready and waiting within arm's reach beside us.
'Information we have known our entire lives is invisible to us because we are not sufficiently prepared to recognise it as the key we're searching for'

[Toni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meagre Mind.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 8, 2019
SPEND time with Nasrudin and he knocks you off your feet. Just as you hope or expect that he will support your crummy ideas he bowls a googly. And, after the initial shock it is the googly that lays the matter to rest... until the next time. He really does help one sort through ones thoughts. Besides, who knows what Nasrudin is up to. It is is about fifty years since The Book of The Book was published. Forty four....IN the dead of night, Nasrudin heard a group of thieves break into his house and start rummaging through his meagre possessions. In fear he hid under the bed.
On seeing the bed empty, the thieves assumed no one was home. One of them lit a candle, opened the cupboards and checked under the bed. 'Hello'! exclaimed Nasrudin awkwardly, on being discovered.'What are you doing under the bed?' asked one of the thieves. 'Hiding from shame at not having better possessions to steal!' he said. Edition with coloured cover: Page 70, How to buy Chocolate. Love it.

[Robs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tahir's travels trials and tribulations tickle the marrow and his re-telling of Nasrudin tales refreshes, yet there is also a whisper of melancholy in this work. Highly recommended.

[Ulrika Eriksson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't thought about it before but Tahir's unique author's voice has actually a resemblance with the ambiance that surrounds the wise fool Nasrudin, it´s often hilarious as well as serious. In his autobiographic Travels with Nasrudin, Tahir tells about his several decades long and worldwide search after Nasrudin and between the episodes from his far from boring life, you read the artful stories of the wise fool, a little bit updated.
To take part of the fantastic rollercoaster life of Tahir and the swarm of people around him is very entertaining and inspiring, indeed.
I love to read about: his special contact with Doris Lessing, his aunt Amina, how Dr. Grimes learned him to think big, his many, many unbelievably extraordinary experiences.
Quote: A journey at speed is a sure-fire way to ensure it's made blind

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was fortunate to have been introduced to Idries Shah’s books in the late 90s. Over the last 20 or so years, I’ve reread them, especially the Nasrudin stories, hoping to “catch” some of the stories’ layers. Mr. Tahir Shah’s “Travels with Nasrudin” is not only an enjoyable read for the obvious reasons - so many tales of adventure and so many interesting people and places he’s encountered! - but having each of Mr. Tahir Shah’s adventures preceded by a Nasrudin tale has allowed me to see the familiar Nasrudin stories in new ways. I highly recommend this book.

[Chris Petrakos · Rating 5 out of 5]

Given his prodigious output, there are many paths into Tahir Shah’s sublime work. My current favorite is “Travels with Nasrudin”. Of course, readers who are familiar with Tahir’s father, Idries Shah, will be familiar with Nasrudin through his series of books in the 1970’s. If you don’t know those books, don’t worry: Tahir does a fine job of introducing the wise fool, along with an array of entertaining stories of some of his own journeys, friendships and conversations with the unusual characters that he comes across in his many travels. The book’s structure is simplicity itself: each chapter begins with a Narsrudin story. From there Tahir jumps around in time, sometimes relating a story about his own far-flung travels, sometimes a tale of his father’s or his grandfather’s. Among my many favorite chapters is one in which Tahir fondly talks about the “English gentlemen” whom he came into contact with through his family. Through it all is a theme. The Nasrudin tales are for learning a different way to see yourself and the world around you in a new way. Just a delightful book.

[Toni]

SPEND time with Nasrudin and he knocks you off your feet. Just as one hopes or expects that he will support your crummy ideas he bowls a googly. And, after the initial shock it is the googly that lays the matter to rest... until the next time. He helps one sort through one's thoughts. Besides,who knows what Nasrudin is up to. It is is about fifty years since the Book of The Book was published. Forty four....IN the dead of night, Nasrudin heard a group of thieves break into his house and start rummaging through his meagre possessions
In fear he hid under the bed.
On seeing the bed empty, the thieves assumed no one was home. One of them lit a candle, opened the cupboards and checked under the bed.
‘Hello!’ exclaimed Nasrudin awkwardly, on being discovered.
'What are you doing under the bed?' asked one of the thieves.
‘Hiding from shame at not having better possessions to steal!' he said.
Review of NEW Edition of Travels with Nasrudin. Cover is not completely white... new design on the top half.

[Andrew Boden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't recall who said that the world is composed not of atoms, but stories. If true, then there must be the less visible stories that we don't ordinarily notice. The subtler stories waiting for us to pay the right kind of attention to their hidden-in-plain-sight wisdom so important for our troubled times. Tahir Shah's book reminds us of one such group of stories. The comic tales of that wise fool, that jester-sage, Nasrudin. In brilliantly comic and always moving episodes, Shah traces Nasrudin across the globe: from India to the depths of the Amazon, he reveals to us the hidden work of the wise fool, well — everywhere. For those already familiar with Nasrudin tales, Shah's new book not only includes better known tales, but I think some revised (or possibly new!) ones as well.

A great read and one of my favourites from Shah.

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a remarkable book consolidating the many surreal travelling experiences of a true explorer and the magical world created by Nasrudin stories. Those who are familiar with Nasrudin or his other incarnations will find further inspiration here and perhaps revisit the corpus of tales and jokes available as well looking to develop the mindset which Tahir Shah describes within the book. Just an excellent book.

[Kamila Jast · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great set of stories from Tahir. I particularly liked the story about “rats’ keeper” and business idea they led to, and the one about Sidi Mustapha the Yorkshireman who himself became Nasrudin or Joha.

[Ugne Mikalauskaite · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was difficult to stop reading this book! It seems like an endless container of different aspects of life intertwined with the golden thread of Eastern thought of wisdom. It's super engaging, thoughtful, sincere and touching. I will definitely read it again.

[Leonard Robichaud · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read many of Tahir Shah's books and I can say that this one is my absolute favourite. It seems like something one would write as the culmination of a life's work, and it provides fascinating insight into the mind of this singular individual.

[Christiane Gutbrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

A king of a book. And as at the court of kings you find many levels - and most of all jewels.
Wonderful-special. And how could it be different with Tahir Shah - 'Travels with Nasrudin' is also a book of wisdom. It depends on us what treasure we find.

[Dan Sperling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tahir Shah’s TRAVELS WITH NASRUDIN is not just an immensely enjoyable read; it’s also a wonderful introduction to an unlikely hero who has real potential to help us get through these troubled times. That hero is Mulla Nasrudin, an age-old folk figure who goes by various names the world over as he plays the “wise fool” in jokes and stories told from Rabat to Rawalpindi. Shah grew up hearing these jokes and stories from his father, the celebrated Sufi author Idries Shah, who published them in a series of books that have been translated into multiple languages and are still in print. The Sufis hold that Nasrudin jokes can be understood on multiple levels and can help to broaden one’s perception and understanding. Tahir Shah took Nasrudin as his guiding principle as he set out on a life of travel and adventure that produced a slew of previous highly acclaimed books. Laced with memories of growing up as well as encounters with colorful and unforgettable characters – some of them well-known – TRAVELS WITH NASRUDIN draws on these adventures, but always in the context of Nasrudin’s “inside-out, back-to-front” perspective. In so doing, Tahir Shah not only entertains and edifies the reader, but does his father – and Mulla Nasrudin – proud.

[Carol Furpahs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining and optimistic. Laugh out loud funny. Compelling. Overflowing with events and personalities. I couldn't put it down. This is a book on method. How the author became who he is by searching relentlessly, as only Tahir can, and through a jungle of chaos, as his many books record or invent. His guide- a mythic character, Nasrudin which he finds every day and everywhere. Tahir addresses the urgent questions we all ask of our lives in his life and in a way we can see our life and our world. Today, you may only find this as elaborately and clearly investigated in Tahir's autobiographies.

[Gerry Cullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time that i read one of Tahir Shahs' books I think that is the best of all his great books.
So now after reading "Travels with Nasrudin" I think this is his best ever!
The various Nasrudin books that Idris Shah and Tahir Shah have been written have all been my favorites.
These stories have a great power that cuts thru all the nonsensical thinking and actions that exists in humanity.
In Travels with Nasrudin, Tahir Shahs' mixes in Nasruden tales with his own travel tales.
It makes for a new flavor of soup and shines a new light of understanding on both sets of tales in a unique way.

[Kevan Bowkett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book concerning author Tahir Shah’s travels in search of the rarely-encountered yet ubiquitous “wise fool” Nasrudin. Mulla Nasrudin is a trickster figure in Middle Eastern tradition and current usage (the same figure is called Joha in Arab lands like Morocco). Shah is not especially interested in historical or academic aspects of Nasrudin but rather in finding and extracting in real life the “pith” of what this figure represents.

This review just contains a few of my impressions, and isn’t intended to be comprehensive.

Shah—a renowned world traveler— certainly covers an enormous amount of ground, and over a long period (the book spans five decades, and seems to visit almost every land under the sun). He gives us strange and compelling glimpses into many of his adventures (some of them recounted at length in his previous books like ‘The House of the Tiger King’). This is interspersed with Nasrudin tales, usually at the beginnings of the chapters. Some of these seem obviously linked to the experiences he recounts in the chapter, others less so.

Shah’s prose is spare but vivid; he is good at evoking the places and scenes he visits while following the trail of Nasrudin. And there are some lovely little stylistic gems, such as “the rumpus of delight that was her life” or “a dose of frenzy.” The glimpse of Shah and his sisters as children coming to their father (the well-known writer on Sufism and practical psychology Idries Shah) with a request, is just delightful. This interchange ensues:

“ ‘Baba, we need chocolate, and we need it badly.’
‘How badly?’
My sisters and I would exchange pained glances.
‘Desperately!’ ”

At one point the elder Shah, faced with this request, instructs them in a method of obtaining the funds they need, one of whose almost-immediate results is a pram filled with packets of seeds, carrying the sign, “Finest Seeds For Sale At Discount Prices By Children In Need Of Chocolate.” A further result is that, as their father says, the children have “learned how to think in an original way.”

Indeed this book itself works as a kind of primer of how to learn from life – yet it doesn’t present this material in a schematic straitjacket, but in its overall (very-non-conditioning) arrangement, and in packets here and there throughout the short storyscapes that make up the book. A few pieces, which are often expressed by the remarkable people the author meets on his travels:

'...thinking you are wise is more dangerous than any minefield....'
'the secret to anything is respect'
That any technique has limits to its usefulness
That the ultimate secret to life is ‘to keep going at any cost’

A takeaway from reading this work is that Shah himself is a sort-of Nasrudin figure, approaching things in an unexpected manner in order to try to get at the “hidden underbelly” of a society, situation, or experience. His specialty is what he calls “Zigzag Think.” He appears to be one of those people who are (thankfully) not caught in our present limited categories. Partly this is due to his sheer exuberance, the degree of which is seldom found these days.

A further takeaway, of course, is that Nasrudin and his exploits are sure d**n interesting, and must be one of the most curious, as well as one of the most vibrant, products of human thought.

Shah writes that before progress in understanding can be made, “"the dimensions provided by Nasrudin must be visited." Those wishing to spend more time with the wise fool will be happy to learn that Shah has himself composed a number of Nasrudin stories, some of which may be among those recounted in this book. His tales are found in ‘The Voyages and Vicissitudes of Nasrudin,’ ‘The Peregrinations of the Perplexing Nasrudin,’ and ‘The Misadventures of the Mystifying Nasrudin.’

[Austin Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

95/100

5 stars - 90/100
4 stars - 80/100
3 stars - 70/100
2 stars - 60/100
1 star - 50/100

[Carl Grove · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another wonderful book by Tahir Shah, every page packed with humour, candid self observation, and numerous anecdotes of his interactions with friends, family, and an endless stream of strangers, mostly weird and wonderful. Nasrudin's stories, some new, some the author's own versions, begin every chapter, and seem to flow into the more personal narrative that follows. Unlikely coincidences play a significant part. The key to Nasrudin is the basis of Sufism as well, the need to start thinking in a sharper and more efficient way. For readers of his father's books, the background information about life with Idries Shah and his own aims and writing methods alone, is essential reading. The downside is the author's descriptions of his treatment at school, at the hands of sadistic, insensitive and downright evil teachers. It is probably hard for younger readers to grasp just how bad things were in British schools in previous decades, and how much the treatment of schoolchildren has improved over the last 40 years.
One of the most fascinating sidelights is the role of Shah's grandfather, Ikbal Ali Shah, in teaching Sufism to James Coburn at the same time as the actor was being educated in Kung Fu by Bruce Lee.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like to read or read a pile of books at anyone time, and what better to add to the spread of subjects than the most eclectic of all, Tahir Shah emerging as Nasrudin. A novel kind of biography. Love it.