Today’s Question by the Reader : Sami

Reading through your novels, one finds a strong influence of Sufism. Is there a particular Sufi that influenced your life, and whose influence was reflected in your works?

Indeed, Sufism has inspired me a lot throughout my life and I refer to this tradition in some of my books such as The Alchemist and more recently The Zahir.

Rumi is of course the first figure that springs to mind. His teachings and visions are incredibly subtle and clear.

Another figure that I am very fond of is Mulla Nasrudin (a