Unable To explain their perceptions to others, they can only indicate them to whoever has started to feel something similar. . . ." --Muhiyuddin Ibn El-Arabi, The Interpreter of Desires The title, A Veiled Gazelle, is taken from this beautiful poem by 12th-century mystic, Ibn Arabi. The "gazelles" are extraordinary experiences and perceptions latent in ordinary man. "Veiling" refers to the action of the subjective or "commanding" self, which partly through indoctrination and partly through base aspirations, prevents higher vision. Says Shah in the introduction: "Sufi poetry, literature, tales and activities are the instruments which, when employed with insight and prescription rather than automatically or obsessively, help in the relationship between Sufi and pupil, toward the removal of the veils." This book is a remarkable working example of these instruments.

    Shah deals here with aspects of Sufi material, and the psychology of his readership, which underline the unique way in which Sufi studies should be approached.

    Shah weaves contemporary jokes, humorous anecdotes, and stories with skillful commentary. The result is an entertaining journey that mixes laughter, introspection, and surprise.

    It begins with a consideration of how secular societies attempt to possess their citizens, body and soul and how, as a consequence, the necessity of redefining human responsibility becomes an ever more urgent imperative. The book continues with a presentation of the traditional view of man as 'God's Viceroy on Earth', with an eye to its practical implications in a world that has all but forgotten, under the pressure of mass social persuasion, that man must always be free to choose his own ultimate destiny. The author's thesis is a passionate yet incisive plea for the restoration of the sacred norms of religion, as against the debilitating and falsifying aims of a profane world-view based on no more than recent scientific and technological achievements.

    Now revised by coauthor Ahmad Thomson, the book sketches the dramatic picture of the original followers of Jesus who affirmed Unity, showing how Christianity became the fiction that replaced their truth. A wide-ranging study that covers the Gospel of Barnabas, the Gospel of Hermes, the shepherd, early and later Unitarian Christians, and Jesus in the gospels and in the Qur'an and hadith, Jesus: Prophet of Islam argues persuasively that the idea of Jesus as part of a trinity was a Greek pagan concept adopted by early Christian missionaries to gain converts among the Greeks, and did not become a widely accepted Christian doctrine until after the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D.

    

    He hears the Prophet begin his teaching and when told to beat a fellow slave for repeating Mohammad's assertion that slaves are the equal of their masters, he refuses and is himself almost beaten to death. Bilal is saved by the prayers of the Prophet and takes his place as one of Mohammad's earliest followers.H. A. L. Craig's book gives Bilal a voice to tell his own story. As an old man in Damascus he recalls the early struggles of the faithful and their work to spread Islam. The great battles and successes of those early years are brought vividly to life, including Bilal's finest moment. When Mohammad and his followers take Mecca, it is Bilal who gives the first call to prayer in what became Islam's holiest city.Bilal, an Abyssinian, was the first black convert to Islam and both Sunni and Shi'a revere him. The need to understand Islam has never been more essential. H. A. L. Craig's book provides an accessible and informative account of the beginnings of the faith.

    

    On publication it was welcomed as a work useful both for reference and reading, for the general reader, student and specialist alike. It has now been reprinted, with corrections, and for ease of handling the original two hardcover volumes have each been divided into two separate paperbacks.

    Harvey's focus is especially important as it relates to the country's political development as a whole since these movements, in opposition to influence of Sukarno, the PKI, and the central army, led to the authoritative strengthening of all three. Based on research and fieldwork (e.g. interviews with participants in Permesta) conducted in 1971 and 1972, this monograph traces the course of the Permesta movement and rebellion in Sulawesi and casts light on central-regional relations in Indonesia. Various chapters survey the national context, the regional context, and the struggle itself. 1977. 174 pages.