Ask the Author: Tahir Shah
Answered Questions (20)
Tahir Shah
Thanks for your message. Your mom was in Casa in the glory times. She would have shopped at Galleries Lafayette. And taken coffee perhaps at Le Petit Poucet. There are still traces of that time in the architecture and small details. I love to close my eyes and imagine it!
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Tahir Shah
From an overheard whisper.
Tahir Shah
I look around me and suck up inspiration from almost everything I see.
Tahir Shah
I've just finished a huge epic novel about Jinn.
Tahir Shah
Write. Write. Write! And never ever ever listen to anyone who holds you back.
Tahir Shah
Simple: Creativity and freedom.
Tahir Shah
The answer for me is to pretend I am writing a letter to a friend. That seems to take the pressure off... because the block is due to pressure you put on yourself.
Tahir Shah
Apologies for the delay... the answer is YES, I'd say that Morocco is very safe. It's always a question of being savvy though wherever you are travelling. In Moroccan culture a traveller is regarded as someone very important and you are likely to be taken into peoples' homes and treated with great respect. Good luck!
Tahir Shah
The easiest way to get out of your comfort zone is to do so on a micro level... there's little anxiety in making small alterations in your life... and it's the small alterations and changes that lead to larger ones. You can start today: Buy a flavour of soup, juice, or anything else, that you've never tasted but which seems weird to the 'normal you'.
Tahir Shah
I've finished the first novel in the series. It's 1000 pages of manuscript. Editing it now. It's called JINN HUNTER -- BOOK ONE: THE PERPLEXITY. More on it when I've crunched away at it a little more. The fact I have been hunkered down is the reason it's taken me so long to answer your questions :-)
Tahir Shah
In a way that challenges you yourself as the questioner.
Tahir Shah
I learned that the only path to find anything worth finding is a zigzag one... that the twists and turns of adventure lead to encounters and explanations that one would never have imagined existed. The secret is not to ask questions, but to open your mind, and to set out on the adventure... whether it to be to the supermarket to buy a pint of milk, or across the deserts of the Empty Quarter in search of treasure.
Tahir Shah
The best way to hear your heart, your gut, or whatever it is... is to observe the world around you in a way that is less obvious than the way society expects. Like at the micro, rather than the micro... challenge the way you observe, and what you observe. Question what which you are told by society is definite. Look for the underbelly of the next dozen things you observe. Look at them from the inside out. Then, gradually, new patters will emerge.
Tahir Shah
I find myself amazed that the governments of the Western world are combatting the rise of extremism in such an obvious way. It's my belief that that only way to counter forms of extremism -- as we are seeing threatening Occidental society -- is by doing so in what my father would have called by 'Oriental' method. By this, I mean, that one must resort to the kind of inside-out thinking which has itself led to the rise of such fanatical groups. Think as they do, see the world as they do, and one may have a chance at defeating them.
Tahir Shah
Answer: I have found that when one is entertained or touched in a way that enthuses the senses, a message -- or thing of value -- may be passed on. The delicious exterior flesh of a peach is tantalising to the tastebuds, but is of little other value than to encourage us to farm these fruits, and ensure they are planted in great quantity.
Tahir Shah
Answer: One of the great elements that always allures me with Nasrudin stories is the way that you, as the reader, can take what you need to receive from a Nasrudin story, even without realising why you need it, or how it is working. By this, I mean, that Nasrudin works on deeper levels, and the tales effect our thinking as if in a dream state... sometimes the best thing is not to try and work them out, but to allow them to have their effect in an almost subliminal way. The halwa in the story is, to me, different than the halwa is to you. And, for me, that's the magic.
Tahir Shah
Answer: Thank you very much for your message, and for reading my books!
Tahir Shah
Answer: Thanks for your question. Yes, she is the most patient person alive... and, believe me, patience was the one quality that helped us get through the trials and tribulations of renovating Dar Khalifa.
Tahir Shah
Answer: The Occidental World is preoccupied with fast results. It was something that drove my father crazy -- because he had seen the damage that fast track 'straining' could do, and the benefits of gentle 'stretching'. He would say that if you wanted to shape a piece of wood to make a musical instrument, you would do it best by warming it over a fire and bending it over a number of hours -- rather than forcing it... because, when forced, wood splinters and cracks.
Tahir Shah
Answer: The best kind of book in my opinion would be one that changes the way you see the world. I'd suggest getting yourself the first volume of the new translation of THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, and opening it at random whenever you need inspiration. Here's a link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thousand-Nig...
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