Martin Lings knows his subject thoroughly and intimately and it has always been a characteristic of his writings that he goes straight to the heart of his subject. In his careful explanation of what Sufism is and, just as important, what it is not, he brings to bear both a profundity of understanding rare among modern writers, and also an uncompromising insistence on many aspects of Sufism which are usually brushed aside.
The book plays a double role: it is both an excellent "introductory" work and a direct reflection of certain states from which a real answer might be given to the question, What is Sufism? Concise, illuminating and authoritative, it has the taste of tasawwuf to such an extent that to read it is like an anticipatory participation in the very subject matter itself. |
