Ikbal Ali Shah - Writings

Writings

In keeping with his theme of interpreting the East to the West, Ikbal Ali Shah authored travel narratives of his adventures in Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries, such as Alone in Arabian Nights (1933), and set up fiction-writing workshops to disseminate Eastern stories and tales in books like Fifty Enthralling Stories of the Mysterious East (1937). He wrote biographies of major leaders in the Islamic World, such as Kemal: Maker of Modern Turkey (1934) and Controlling Minds of Asia (1937), as well as anthropological, historical and political works like Afghanistan of the Afghans (1928), Pakistan: A Plan for India (1944) and Vietnam (1960).

Many of his works were anthologies of literature from the East, such as The Book of Oriental Literature (1937) and Oriental Caravan (1933), while other works sought to elucidate Eastern religious and mystical traditions, with an emphasis on Sufism, as in Spirit of the East (1939), Lights of Asia (1937), and Islamic Sufism (1933). He also authored books specifically on Islam, like Mohammed: The Prophet (1932) and Selections from the Koran (1933). Octagon Press published compilations of his tales and adventures in the books Escape From Central Asia (1980) and The Golden Caravan (1983).

Altogether, Ikbal Ali Shah was author of more than fifty books, including:

  • Eastern Moonbeams (1918)
  • Afghanistan of the Afghans (1927)
  • Westward to Mecca (1928)
  • Eastward to Persia (1930)
  • The Golden East (1931)
  • Afridi Gold
  • Arabia (1931)
  • Mohamed: The Prophet (1932)
  • Islamic Sufism (1933)
  • Alone in Arabian Nights (1933)
  • Oriental Caravan (1933)
  • The Golden Pilgrimage (1933)
  • The Tragedy of Amanullah (1933)
  • The Prince Aga Khan (1933)
  • Kemal: Maker of Modern Turkey (1934)
  • Lights of Asia (1934)
  • Fuad: King of Egypt (1936)
  • Coronation Book of Oriental Literature (1937)
  • The Controlling Minds of Asia (1937)
  • Modern Afghanistan (1938)
  • Nepal: Home of the Gods (1938)
  • Golden Treasury of Indian Literature (1938)
  • Spirit of the East (1939)
  • Pakistan: A Plan for India (1944)
  • Occultism: Its theory and practice (1952)
  • Viet Nam (1960)
  • Escape from Central Asia (1980)
  • The Golden Caravan (1983)

According to his grandson Tahir Shah, the Sirdar also published Through the Garden of Allah (1938) under the pseudonym of John Grant.

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