Memoirs of a Dervish: Sufis, Mystics and the SixtiesIn the summer of 1964, while a military coup was taking place and tanks were rolling through the streets of Algiers, Robert Irwin set off for Algeria in search of Sufi enlightenment. There he entered a world of marvels and ecstasy, converted to Islam and received an initiation as a faqir. He learnt the rituals of Islam in North Africa and he studied Arabic in London. He also pursued more esoteric topics under a holy fool possessed of telepathic powers. A series of meditations on the nature of mystical experience run through this memoir. But political violence, torture, rock music, drugs, nightmares, Oxbridge intellectuals and first love and its loss are all part of this strange story from the 1960s. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 11 | |
Algeria | 29 |
Sacred and Profane Love | 83 |
the Summer of 1967 | 129 |
Shadows | 146 |
Last things | 229 |
| 237 | |
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Abd al-Qadir Abdullah Faid Abdullah Muslim Aissawa Alawi Alawi tariqa Alawiya Algeria Algiers Allah Arabic became become bentounes british buddhist century chanting dance Darqawi dervish dhikr diary disciples dream drugs ecstasy El Moudjahid Faid told faqir felt film French friends fuqara going Guénon guru hand Harvey Harvey’s head hippy holy imara Islam jinn Juliet Khaled khalwa later learned Lings living London looked majdhub Mamluk medieval meditation melboos Methedrine Mevlevi mosque Mostaganem Muslim mystical never night novel once one’s oxford performed pieds noirs prayer Prophet Qur’an recited religion Road saint Schuon seemed Selima shahada Shaikh Shaikh al-‘Alawi Shaikh Hadj Adda shema Sidi sixties sleep slept sort spiritual strange street Sufi Sufism summer talk tariqa things thought tijdit tion took turned Velvet Underground walked wall wanted women wrote young youth Zaehner Zawiya