What About My Wood! 101 Sufi Stories

by Taner Ansari, Elizabeth Muzeyyen Brown

What About My Wood: 101 Sufi Stories by Shaykh Taner Ansari distills the wisdom of the centuries-old tradition of Sufi storytelling in a delightful compilation of traditional and modern tales. The stories in What About My Wood can be probed for subtle wisdom or simply enjoyed for lively and often humorous entertainment. Charming illustrations and elegance of design provide the reader with at once a spiritual and pleasurable reading experience. Lovers of the works of the Sufi master Rumi will especially appreciate the elemental truths that spring out of these captivating stories. Many of the stories are the author’s unique renderings of traditional Sufi lore, while others are anecdotes of the often miraculous experiences of modern practitioners of Sufism. Students of philosophy, psychology or more specialized spiritual studies will find their academic regimes enriched by the immediacy of the insights derived from these tales rooted in the oral storytelling tradition. Teachers and professors are encouraged to include this collection in their syllabus as a workbook or reference volume, or as an adjunct to any other textbook. Perhaps the most attractive feature of What About My Wood: 101 Sufi Stories is the fact that it is authored with love by an authentic, living Sufi shaykh.

280 pages, Paperback

First published February 6, 2006

Reviews

[Opinionated Hijabi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the most light-hearted of Shaykh Taner's books, and follows the Sufi genre of humorous storytelling to relate morals and values. It's Mullah Nasruddin or Goha and the Donkey-style stories, while keeping with Shaykh Taner's gift of relating quick and useful stories.

[Ilona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. It contains a pool of short stories with a "point of contemplation" after each. Some of the stories were quite familiar (under the chapter Traditional Stories), and some were new. But in general, it was delightful reading.