The purpose of these demonstrations was to create an event that people could think about and learn a lesson from. In 1969, Idries Shah, author of over thirty books on Sufi teaching and learning, used modern methods of mass communication to create a teaching-event for the modern world. "The Book of the Book", first published in that year and now in its seventh printing, transmits a 700-year-old narrative on the theme of "do not mistake the container for the content". But it projects this lesson in a highly unconventional way. Reactions to "The Book of the Book" ran the gamut. Some people were infuriated. One "expert" at the British Museum said it was "not a book at all". Others either thought the cover price was too high for a "book that was not a book", or simply bought it for novelty value and kept it on hand to mystify their friends. In time, the pendulum began to swing in the other direction. Readers and reviewers now understand that unlike any other literary product ever published, "The Book of the Book" offers the opportunity to participate in a major Sufi teaching-event ... for the price of a book. Expect the impact of "The Book of the Book" to continue to ripple through the literary marketplace for decades to come.

    

    Whenever their religions are not so contrasted they are usually treated in isolation from each other: the religion of Israel, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. Dr Ling, however, stresses that there is considerable overlap and interpenetration between the two types and areas, and that it is important to see the historical inter-relation between these religions and to observe how, during given periods of history, there are parallel developments or significant divergences. He covers the period 1500 B.C. to the present time, providing an outline of the development of Asian and European religious traditions and institutions, and discussing the social and economic factors involved in the development of religous traditions, although he shows that such factors alone do not account for the religious life of man. Dr Ling goes on to interpret the contemporary significance of these religions and their potential for the future life of humanity. He suggests that the present stage of religious advance is characterised by open-endedness towards the future; not all religions exhibit this character, but none has yet exhausted the possibilities of development. This book is intended for use an an introduction to the study of religion. Although reference is made in the text to sources of further information, the book can be used without reference to them.

    

    . . . al-Azm sought to strip Arab thought of its belief in fate and folk tales and superstition. . . . He told his people the sort of truths that outsiders are too embarrassed to tell, even when they were themselves able to see these truths."—Fouad AjamiThe 1967 War—which led to the defeat of Syria, Jordan, and Egypt by Israel—felt like an unprecedented and unimaginable disaster for the Arab world at the time. For many, the easiest solution was to shift the blame and to ignore some of the glaring defects of Arab society.Hailed as one of the foremost Arab intellectuals of recent decades, Sadik al-Azm was one of the few to challenge such a view in his seminal Self-Criticism After the Defeat. In it, he offered a penetrating analysis that probed deep into Arab society, and reasoned that Arabs had to embrace democracy, gender equality, and science to achieve progress.Self-Criticism After the Defeat represents a milestone in modern Arab intellectual history. It marked a turning point in Arab discourse about society and politics on publication in 1968, and spawned other intellectual ventures into Arab self-criticism. This is the first translation of the work into English.Born in Damascus in 1934, Sadik al-Azm is professor emeritus of modern European philosophy at the University of Damascus, Syria. He earned his PhD (1961) from Yale University, and was visiting professor in the department of near Eastern studies at Princeton University until 2008.