Sufism in Central Asia

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Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004373071
Total Pages : 358 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (43 download)

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Book Synopsis Sufism in Central Asia by :

Download or read book Sufism in Central Asia written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-08-13 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The studies in this volume mark a new phase in the development of scholarship on Sufi traditions of Central Asia, expanding and deepening the source base, reconceptualizing basic frameworks for understanding Sufi history, and challenging received assumptions and narratives.

Manifestations of a Sufi Woman in Central Asia

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Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004441352
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

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Book Synopsis Manifestations of a Sufi Woman in Central Asia by : Ḥāfiẓ Baṣīr

Download or read book Manifestations of a Sufi Woman in Central Asia written by Ḥāfiẓ Baṣīr and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-11-16 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Maẓhar al-ʿajāʾib is the devotional work written to expound upon the teachings of Aghā-yi Buzurg, a female religious master active in the early 16th century in the vicinity of Bukhara.

Masters of Wisdom of Central Asia

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1620553627
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (25 download)

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Book Synopsis Masters of Wisdom of Central Asia by : Hasan Lutfi Shushud

Download or read book Masters of Wisdom of Central Asia written by Hasan Lutfi Shushud and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-08-22 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reveals the secret teachings of the Khwajagan, the Masters of Wisdom of Turkish Sufism • Provides biographies for the entire lineage of teachers in the Naqshbandi order, such as Yusuf Hamdani, the first recognized Khwajagan, and Baha’ al-Din Naqshband, from whom the Naqshbandi order of Sufis took its name • Shows that this spiritual path focuses on expanding awareness of the heart to reach God-consciousness • An essential guide for understanding Itlak Yolu, the Sufi path of Absolute Liberation, and fana’, Annihilation in God Almost one thousand years ago a new and powerful nexus of spiritual transmission emerged in Central Asia and lasted for five centuries, reaching its culmination in the work of the Khwajagan, or “Masters of Wisdom.” Like the much earlier Rishi Pantha of India, these masters of Turkish Sufism were not renunciates but advocated maintaining an active connection with the world, including raising a family or running a business. They exerted a remarkable influence on the destiny of Central Asia, yet their chief significance lies in their almost unparalleled depth of spiritual perfection. Based on primary Persian and Turkish sources, the same texts used by the Sufi authority Idries Shah in his many books, Masters of Wisdom of Central Asia explores the entire lineage of teachers from this golden age of Islamic Sufism. Author Hasan Shushud provides brief biographies of each teacher, such as Yusuf Hamdani, the first recognized Khwajagan; Ahmad al-Yasavi, the father of Turkish Sufism; and Baha’ al-Din Naqshband, from whom the Naqshbandi order of Sufis took its name. He examines their spiritual journeys, their writings and teachings, and their most famous sayings, incorporating occasional parables to illustrate their wisdom. Shushud reveals how this spiritual path focuses on expanding awareness of the heart and how heart awareness is a prerequisite for divine contemplation and God-consciousness, for the heart is the manuscript within the body on which the infinite mysteries of the Godhead are recorded. An essential guide for understanding Itlak Yolu, the Sufi path of Absolute Liberation, and fana’ fi-llah, Annihilation in God, this book is an indispensable work for anyone interested in Sufism or the spiritual history of Central Asia.

Thus Spake the Dervish

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Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004402020
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

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Book Synopsis Thus Spake the Dervish by : Alexandre Papas

Download or read book Thus Spake the Dervish written by Alexandre Papas and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-06-24 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Thus Spake the Dervish Alexandre Papas traces the unfamiliar history of marginal Sufis, known as dervishes, in early modern and modern Central Asia over a period of 500 years.

Studies on Sufism in Central Asia

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Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1000950158
Total Pages : 226 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Studies on Sufism in Central Asia by : Devin DeWeese

Download or read book Studies on Sufism in Central Asia written by Devin DeWeese and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2023-05-31 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Studies on Sufism in Central Asia reproduces 12 studies which explore previously unstudied sources with an eye to identifying prominent developments in the social and organizational history of the major Sufi groupings of the region; The chronological range reflected in the studies included here runs from the 13th century to the 17th, with a somewhat uneven distribution between the earlier half of the period (13th-15th centuries, with six articles, Nos. II, IV, V, VII, VIII, and XI) and the later half (16th-17th centuries, with four pieces, Nos. III, IX, X, XII), and two studies (Nos. I and VI) spanning the entire period. In terms of specific Sufi traditions, the studies included here reflect DeWeese’s attention to groups and individuals that might be identified (despite the focus of some of his more recent work on questioning the use and meaning of such labels) as Kubravī, Yasavī, and KhwÄjagÄnī/Naqshbandī, with four studies focused entirely on ’Kubravī’ circles (Nos. I, II, V, XI), five on ’Yasavī’ subjects (Nos. III, VII, IX, X, XII), and one on the KhwÄjagÄn (No. VIII), as well as one dealing with Yasavī-Naqshbandī relations (No. VI) and another exploring a group that falls outside these labels (No. IV). KhwÄjagÄnī and Naqshbandī history has a strong ’background’ presence, nevertheless, in five other articles (Nos. I, III, IV, VII, and IX), reflecting the steady rise of the Naqshbandīya to predominance among Central Asian Sufi traditions.

Everyday Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134125194
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (341 download)

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Book Synopsis Everyday Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia by : Maria Elisabeth Louw

Download or read book Everyday Islam in Post-Soviet Central Asia written by Maria Elisabeth Louw and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-05-09 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Providing a wealth of empirical research on the everyday practise of Islam in post-Soviet Central Asia, this book gives a detailed account of how Islam is understood and practised among ordinary Muslims in the region, focusing in particular on Uzbekistan. It shows how individuals negotiate understandings of Islam as an important marker for identity, grounding for morality and as a tool for everyday problem-solving in the economically harsh, socially insecure and politically tense atmosphere of present-day Uzbekistan. Presenting a detailed case-study of the city of Bukhara that focuses upon the local forms of Sufism and saint veneration, the book shows how Islam facilitates the pursuit of more modest goals of agency and belonging, as opposed to the utopian illusions of fundamentalist Muslim doctrines.

Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis

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Author :
Publisher : Sarup & Sons
ISBN 13 : 9788176252669
Total Pages : 526 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (526 download)

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Book Synopsis Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis by : N. Hanif

Download or read book Biographical Encyclopaedia of Sufis written by N. Hanif and published by Sarup & Sons. This book was released on 2002 with total page 526 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Imaginary Muslims

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780755612475
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (124 download)

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Book Synopsis Imaginary Muslims by : Julian Baldick

Download or read book Imaginary Muslims written by Julian Baldick and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Uwaysis--who take their name from Uways, a contemporary of the prophet Mohammad who is reputed to have communicated with him telepathically--are Muslim mystics who look for instruction to the spirit of the dead or physically absent person. Julian Baldick here surveys the legend of Uways and the Uwaysi phenomenon within Sufism, Islam's main mystical tradition. Baldick examines the Uwaysi movement in 16th-century East Turkistan (now Xinjiang in northwest China) and then discusses the book the central text in the development of the sect, History of the Uwaysis, written by Ahmad of Uzgen around 1600. Analyzing the intricate combination of Biblical motifs, shamanistic initiation rites, and Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist legends, Baldick argues that an understanding of the Uwaysi sect reveals many of the paradoxes which lie at the heart of Islam. The first definitive study of this important sect, IMAGINARY MUSLIMS will be of central interest to all those concerned with Islamic studies, the Middle East, and the history of religion."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

From Shamanism to Sufism

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 0857731823
Total Pages : 286 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (577 download)

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Book Synopsis From Shamanism to Sufism by : Razia Sultanova

Download or read book From Shamanism to Sufism written by Razia Sultanova and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-01-30 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women have traditionally played a vital part in Islam throughout Central Asia - the vast area from the Caspian Sea to Siberia. With this ground-breaking and original study, Razia Sultanova examines the experiences of Muslim women in the region and the ways in which religion has shaped their daily lives and continues to do so today. 'From Shamanism to Sufism' explores the fundamental interplay between religious belief and the cultural heritage of music and dance and is the first book to focus particularly on the role of women. Based on evidence derived from over fifteen years of field work, 'From Shamanism to Sufism' shows how women kept alive traditional Islamic religious culture in Central Asia, especially through Shamanism and Sufism, even under Soviet rule when all religion was banned. Nowhere was the role of women more important than in the Ferghana Valley in Uzbekistan, the cradle of female Islamic culture and a centre for women's poetry and music. This area is home to the 'Otin-Oy', a sisterhood of religiously educated women and members of Sufi orders, who take a leading part in rituals, marking the pivotal moments in the Islamic calendar and maintaining religious practices through music and ritual dances. Sultanova shows how the practice of Islam in Uzbekistan has evolved over time: long underground, there was a religious resurgence at independence in 1991, boosting national Uzbek identity and nationalism - 500 new mosques were built - only to be followed by a return to persecution by a repressive state under the banner of the 'war against terror'. Now events have come full circle, and once again covert worship by women remains crucial to the survival of traditional Muslim culture. Ritual and music are at the heart of Central Asian and Islamic culture, not only at weddings and funerals but in all aspects of everyday life. Through her in-depth analysis of these facets of cultural life within Central Asian society, 'From Shamanism to Sufism' offers important insights into the lives of the societies in the region. The role of women has often been neglected in studies of religious culture and this book fills an enormous gap, restoring women to their rightful historical and cultural context. It will be essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in the History or Religion of Central Asia or in Global Islam..

Islam, Society, and Politics in Central Asia

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Publisher : University of Pittsburgh Press
ISBN 13 : 0822981963
Total Pages : 392 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (229 download)

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Book Synopsis Islam, Society, and Politics in Central Asia by : Pauline Jones

Download or read book Islam, Society, and Politics in Central Asia written by Pauline Jones and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2017-06-23 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the 1990s, there was a general consensus that Central Asia was witnessing an Islamic revival after independence, and that this occurrence would follow similar events throughout the Islamic world in the prior two decades, which had negative effects on both social and political development. Twenty years later, we are still struggling to fully understand the transformation of Islam in a region that’s evolved through a complex and dynamic process, involving diversity in belief and practice, religious authority, and political intervention. This volume seeks to shed light on these crucial questions by bringing together an international group of scholars to offer a new perspective on Central Asian states and societies. The chapters provide analysis through four distinct categories: the everyday practice of Islam across local communities; state policies toward Islam, focusing on attempts to regulate public and private practice through cultural, legal, and political institutions and how these differ from Soviet policies; how religious actors influence communities in the practice of Islam, state policies towards the religion, and subsequent communal responses to state regulations; and how knowledge of and interaction with the larger Islamic world is shaping Central Asia’s current Islamic revival and state responses. The contributors, a multidisciplinary and international group of leading scholars, develop fresh insights that both corroborate and contradict findings from previous research, while also highlighting the problem of making any generalizations about Islam in individual states or the region. As such, this volume provides new and impactful analysis for scholars, students, and policy makers concerned with Central Asia.

Hidden Caliphate

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Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674248813
Total Pages : 367 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (742 download)

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Book Synopsis Hidden Caliphate by : Waleed Ziad

Download or read book Hidden Caliphate written by Waleed Ziad and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2021-11-16 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sufis created the most extensive Muslim revivalist network in Asia before the twentieth century, generating a vibrant Persianate literary, intellectual, and spiritual culture while tying together a politically fractured world. In a pathbreaking work combining social history, religious studies, and anthropology, Waleed Ziad examines the development across Asia of Muslim revivalist networks from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. At the center of the story are the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufis, who inspired major reformist movements and articulated effective social responses to the fracturing of Muslim political power amid European colonialism. In a time of political upheaval, the Mujaddidis fused Persian, Arabic, Turkic, and Indic literary traditions, mystical virtuosity, popular religious practices, and urban scholasticism in a unified yet flexible expression of Islam. The Mujaddidi ÒHidden Caliphate,Ó as it was known, brought cohesion to diverse Muslim communities from Delhi through Peshawar to the steppes of Central Asia. And the legacy of Mujaddidi Sufis continues to shape the Muslim world, as their institutional structures, pedagogies, and critiques have worked their way into leading social movements from Turkey to Indonesia, and among the Muslims of China. By shifting attention away from court politics, colonial actors, and the standard narrative of the ÒGreat Game,Ó Ziad offers a new vision of Islamic sovereignty. At the same time, he demonstrates the pivotal place of the Afghan Empire in sustaining this vast inter-Asian web of scholastic and economic exchange. Based on extensive fieldwork across Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan at madrasas, Sufi monasteries, private libraries, and archives, Hidden Caliphate reveals the long-term influence of Mujaddidi reform and revival in the eastern Muslim world, bringing together seemingly disparate social, political, and intellectual currents from the Indian Ocean to Siberia.

Jihad

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Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0142002607
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis Jihad by : Ahmed Rashid

Download or read book Jihad written by Ahmed Rashid and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2002-12-31 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential examination of the roots of fundamentalist rage in Central Asia, from the acclaimed author of Taliban and Descent into Chaos. Ahmed Rashid, whose masterful account of Afghanistan's Taliban regime became required reading after September 11, turns his legendary skills as an investigative journalist to five adjacent Central Asian Republics—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—where religious repression, political corruption, and extreme poverty have created a fertile climate for militant Islam. Based on groundbreaking research and numerous interviews, Rashid explains the roots of fundamentalist rage in Central Asia, describes the goals and activities of its militant organizations, including Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda, and suggests ways of neutralizing the threat and bringing stability to the troubled region. A timely and pertinent work, Jihad is essential reading for anyone who seeks to gain a better understanding of a region we overlook at our peril.

The Lost Fragrance of Infinity

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Author :
Publisher : Roli Books Private Limited
ISBN 13 : 8186939903
Total Pages : 326 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (869 download)

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Book Synopsis The Lost Fragrance of Infinity by : Moin Mir

Download or read book The Lost Fragrance of Infinity written by Moin Mir and published by Roli Books Private Limited. This book was released on 2021-06-07 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Moin Mir is a London based writer of Indian origin. He began writing under the influence of his grandfather, a scholar of Sufism, Omar Khayyam and Mirza Ghalib. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book Surat: Fall of a Port, Rise of a Prince. The Lost Fragrance of Infinity is his second book. Mir speaks frequently at leading international literature festivals on topics ranging from Sufism, history and travel writing.

A Culture of Sufism

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Author :
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 0791484254
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (914 download)

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Book Synopsis A Culture of Sufism by : Dina Le Gall

Download or read book A Culture of Sufism written by Dina Le Gall and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2013-01-03 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Culture of Sufism opens a window to a new understanding of one of the most prolific and enduring of all the Sufi brotherhoods, the Naqshbandiyya, as it spread from its birthplace in central Asia to Iran, Anatolia, Arabia, and the Balkans between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. Drawing on original sources and carefully aware of the power of modern paradigms to obscure, Le Gall portrays a Naqshbandiyya that was devotionally sober yet not demysticized and rigorously orthodox without being politically activist. She argues that the establishment of this brotherhood in Ottoman society was not the product of political instrumentality. Instead the Naqshbandī dissemination is best explained in reference to a series of little-appreciated organizational and cultural modes such as proclivity to long-distance travel, independence from specialized Sufi institutions, linguistic adaptability, commitment to writing and copying, and the practice of bequeathing spiritual authority to non-kin.

Polymaths of Islam

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Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501750259
Total Pages : 381 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis Polymaths of Islam by : James Pickett

Download or read book Polymaths of Islam written by James Pickett and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Polymaths of Islam analyzes the social and intellectual power of religious leaders who created a shared culture that integrated Central Asia, Iran, and India from the mid-eighteenth century through the early twentieth. James Pickett demonstrates that Islamic scholars were simultaneously mystics and administrators, judges and occultists, physicians and poets. This integrated understanding of the world of Islamic scholarship unlocks a different way of thinking about transregional exchange networks. Pickett reveals a Persian-language cultural sphere that transcended state boundaries and integrated a spectacularly vibrant Eurasia that is invisible from published sources alone. Through a high cultural complex that he terms the "Persian cosmopolis" or "Persianate sphere," Pickett argues that an intersection of diverse disciplines shaped geographical trajectories across and between political states. In Polymaths of Islam he paints a comprehensive, colorful, and often contradictory portrait of mosque and state in the age of empire.

Sufism in India and Central Asia

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Author :
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 100078519X
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Sufism in India and Central Asia by : Nasir Raza Khan

Download or read book Sufism in India and Central Asia written by Nasir Raza Khan and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-10-06 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sufism in India and Central Asia is an attempt to put into perspective the relevance of Sufism – the concept and teaching, and to provide a realistic assessment of its role in India and Central Asia. The people of these regions with different ethnic backgrounds, cultures and languages have been intermingling for many centuries, as seen in the cross-current exchanges of religious ideas and belief. The word Sufism, popularly known as mysticism is most likely derived from the Arabic word suf (meaning “wool”), more specifically it means “the person wearing ascetic woollen garments.” Sufism is deeply rooted in Islam and its development began in the late 7th and 8th centuries. The present volume is an attempt to look for answers to questions in relation to Sufism in India and Central Asia and to evaluate its relevance in the contemporary period. A group of distinguished scholars from India and Central Asia have contributed papers to this volume. This volume will be useful to students and researchers working on social and cultural aspects of India and Central Asia.

The Masters of Wisdom

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Author :
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781720853787
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (537 download)

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Book Synopsis The Masters of Wisdom by : J. Bennett

Download or read book The Masters of Wisdom written by J. Bennett and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-08-05 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Masters of Wisdom" is the last book to have been published during the John Bennett's lifetime, and is probably the most unusual, having little in common with his previously published works, except in serving a number of discrete objectives. Originally planned to be incorporated into a single volume to be entitled "Gurdjieff and the Masters of Wisdom" this work was separated from what became "Gurdjieff: Making a New World" which eventually was published a year earlier in 1973. In the last years of Bennett's life, he had been deeply affected by his close association with the Turkish mystic, Hasan Lutfi Shushud, and originally a contract was drawn up with a London publishing house for the combined work, in which both men were signed as joint authors. However, before anything was written, Shushud abruptly withdrew his support for the project, ostensibly on the grounds of a disagreement with the publishers. Only after Bennett's death in 1974, Shushud indicated privately that he found Gurdjieff's teaching and methods offensive. There is however some overlap between the two books, and "The Masters of Wisdom" draws on Gurdjieff's resources as well as material provided by Hasan Shushud. "The Masters of Wisdom" is unlike Bennett's other books not only in the way it is constructed, which appears to be somewhat out of balance, but also in the content. The first three chapters provide an overview of material presented 8 years earlier in the fourth volume of "The Dramatic Universe", of the Earth as single intelligent whole, in which humanity plays an increasingly active role and - must accept greater responsibility. These chapters provide an introduction to Chapter 4 which presents an account of the Christ Event not to be found anywhere else, and by Bennett's own account, arising out of insights vouchsafed to him privately by Gurdjieff. The next chapter serves as a bridge to the second major detailed message Bennett shares, which concerns the extraordinary period spanning at least 350 years, when a group of men within a single unbroken tradition played a pivotal and benign role in otherwise catastrophic events. It is not clear why Bennett devotes an entire chapter to Genghis Khan in a book entitled "The Masters of Wisdom" except that he appears to have been an exceptionally gifted individual whom Bennett apparently admired for his great self-control, and his willingness to accept guidance from a spiritual director. The researches Bennett completed in his last years led him to certain conclusions which may not have been fully expressed in this account. Unlike Bennett's other books, "The Masters of Wisdom" contains hidden messages, and also occult elements which are accessible to those able to access them. "Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson" and "The Dramatic Universe" showed the transformative power of books, but like "Meetings with Remarkable Men" this book imparts information which remains hidden except from those readers who find the key. The book is also unlike any of Bennett's other books in containing secret "magic" elements, opening mystical channels. Since the text was left unfinished when Bennett died, it is not possible to know for certain whether the message of the book is complete or would have included other material such as the very detailed accounts that Bennett gave to his student in the last months - the "esoteric phase" - of the Third Basic Course. Overall the message is of the planet we inhabit seen as a single indivisible whole, of which we human beings are an important element, but which is subordinate to the Cosmic forces.