In Arabian Nights

by TahirShah (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $3.25

  Steeped in history, Morocco is a kingdom of rich textures, aromatic spices and magical beliefs - a vibrant bridge between the Orient and the Occident. And arriving there can be like stepping into the world of A Thousand and One Nights: a place ruled by ancient codes of honour, duty, chivalry, respect - values that have been handed down from generation to generation through the telling of stories.Long fascinated by this, Tahir Shah explores his adoptive country in a way that has never been done before: observing it from the inside out, through this ancient use of stories as teaching tools. Journeying from Casablanca to the tourist hot spot of Marrakesh and the holy city of Fez, from Tangier in the north to Ouarzazate and on south into the Sahara, he goes in search of Morocco's stories and along the way meets a host of remarkable characters, and is left wondering whether we in the West might yet be able to reconnect with the wisdom this tradition and these tales have to offer. Always entertaining and eloquent, Shah shines fresh and original light on this ancient, vital part of the world.

• New

  paperback
  

  $13.97

  Shortly after the 2005 London bombings, Tahir Shah was thrown into a Pakistani prison on suspicion of spying for Al-Qaeda. What sustained him during his terrifying, weeks-long ordeal were the stories his father told him as a child in Morocco. Inspired by this, on his return to his adopted homeland he embarked on an adventure worthy of the mythical Arabian Nights, going in search of the stories and storytellers that have nourished this most alluring of countries for centuries.Wandering through the medinas of Fez and Marrakech, criss-crossing the Saharan sands and tasting the hospitality of ordinary Moroccans, he collected a treasury of traditional stories recounted by a vivid and eccentric cast of characters: from master masons who work only at night to Sufi wise men who write for soap operas and Tuareg guides addicted to reality TV. Himself a link in the chain of scholars and teachers who have passed such tales down from father to son, mother to daughter, Shah reveals a world and a way of thinking that most visitors to Morocco barely know exist.