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A ‘veiled gazelle’, as the great mystic Ibn Arabi explains in his Interpreter of Desires, is a subtle perception, or higher experience, obfuscated by our lower natures.
A Veiled Gazelle is a compilation of stories, parables and anecdotes designed to help alleviate the mental obstructions that prevent us from seeing what there is to be seen.
Idries Shah, in his introduction, tells us that the term ‘veiling’ in Sufi parlance refers to the action of the subjective or ‘commanding’ self, which partly through indoctrination and partly through base aspirations prevents higher vision.
The Sufi tales, legends and fables presented in this compact book – most of them from the Middle East and Central Asia – work towards the removal of these veils.
A Veiled Gazelle is also a demonstration of Sufi literature in action: regarded in many cultures as some of the world’s greatest and most important writing.
Idries Shah was born in India in 1924 into an aristocratic Afghan family. He was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition and is considered one of the leading thinkers of the 20th century.
