Bijan Omrani

Searching for Sufism

Travels in a Dervish Cloak

By

Eland Press 240pp £19.95 order from our bookshop

Since the American invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the strife emanating from the northwestern tribal areas of Pakistan has ensnared the attention of the international media. Pakistan has been portrayed as nothing more than a dismal arena of never-ending suicide bombings, drone strikes and sectarian attacks. The local population is presented as an abject and undifferentiated backdrop to this parade of violence and cruelty, huddled between the Scylla of terrorist militias and the Charybdis of a corrupt and dysfunctional government, which is itself responsible for manipulating Islam for its own ends, though it has suffered a devastating penalty for doing so. In these circumstances it is difficult, especially for outsiders, to imagine Pakistan as a place of colour and individuality, where culture and religion offer infinite variety. 

Sign Up to our newsletter

Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • 'Seventy years on, the time we have left to gather such first-hand testimony is running out.' John Keay on the sig… ,
    • The author 'seethes with contemptuous indignation at the shiny junk that an unregulated construction industry dumps… ,
    • 'The physical courage he demonstrated as a young man [...] gave way to intellectual power; radical thought, gifted… ,
    • 'While Jane Austen didn’t perhaps achieve the full recognition that she deserved in her lifetime, even then she out… ,
    • 'All I have is a voice To undo the folded lie, The romantic lie in the brain Of the sensual man-in-the-street And t… ,
    • 'You are interested in a particular subject; basic research hardens this interest into an obsession, after which th… ,
    • 'Keynes predicted that future generations would enjoy such an improved standard of living that they might work just… ,
    Follow Us