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| Tahir Shah | |
|---|---|
| Tahir Shah with a Shaman's skull, Peruvian HighlandsTahir Shah with a Shaman's skull, Peruvian Highlands | |
| Occupation | Writer, documentary maker |
| Subject | Travel, cross-cultural studies |
| Website | |
| http://www.tahirshah.com | |
The Anglo-Afghan bestselling author Tahir Shah (born in London, 16 November 1966) was educated at Bryanston School, Dorset, England and at universities in London, Nairobi and San Diego.
Shah is the son of the legendary Sufi writer Idries Shah, and the grandson of the savant Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah. His elder sister is the television journalist Saira Shah. He also has a twin sister, Safia.
Life
Tahir Shah is a writer, documentary maker, and champion of what he calls "the East-West Bridge". He currently lives in Casablanca, Morocco, in a large home named Dar Khalifa, set 'squarely in the middle of a sprawling shantytown'. His work is regarded as extremely original, and is studied by, among others, students of cross-cultural studies.
Shah was born into a revered family of Saadat (= Arabic plural of Sayyid) who had their ancestral home at Paghman, not far from Kabul. His paternal great grandfather, Sayyid Nawab Amjad Ali Shah, was Nawab of the Jagir of Sardhana, near Meerut, north of Delhi (Uttar Pradesh). The principality was awarded to his ancestor Jan Fishan Khan during the British Raj, and had been ruled formerly by the Kashmiri-born warrior-princess, the Begum Samru.
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Sayed Idries Shah (father)
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Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah Shah (grandfather)
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Nawab Amjad Ali Shah (pictured seated in centre) (great grandfather)
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Jan Fishan Khan (great great great grandfather)
Although born and brought up in Britain, Shah was encouraged from an early age to never follow the pack, and to strive for originality. His father believed strongly that education was about more than school lessons, and was something that continues after childhood throughout one's life. This sense of a quest for knowledge is rooted in all Shah's work, most notably his travel literature.
Shah is a member of the respected academic Athenaeum Club and an honorary member of the Travellers Club, both based on Pall Mall in London. He is a Governor of the Royal Humane Society, and holds various academic and literary memberships.
Works
Tahir Shah is the author of more than a dozen books and several documentary films. He also writes introductions, academic pieces for journals, and reviews books, such as for the Washington Post.
His books have appeared in a dozen languages and published in more than forty editions. His films have been screened on National Geographic Channel, Channel 4, Five and The History Channel, as well as in cinemas worldwide.
His latest book is In Arabian Nights, a book that sheds light on the way Moroccan society is shaped and passed on through oral stories. Previously to that, he authored The Caliph's House: A Year in Casablanca, where he lives with his wife, Rachana, and their two children, Ariane and Timur.
His books include (in order of publication):
- Cultural Research (editor)"
- The Middle East Bedside Book
- Beyond the Devil's Teeth
- Sorcerer's Apprentice
- Trail of Feathers
- In Search of King Solomon's Mines
- House of the Tiger King
- The Caliph's House
- In Arabian Nights
In The Middle East Bedside Book (1991), Shah examines the Arab and Islamic worlds through their literature and folklore.
Beyond the Devil's Teeth, Shah's first traditional travelogue, published in 1995, is the narrative of an epic journey, made through Africa, India and much of Latin America. The book follows the geological concept of an ancient supercontinent known as Gondwanaland, and links this idea to a primitive aboriginal tribe, known as the Gonds, once dominant in central India.
Sorcerer's Apprentice (1998) is an account of Shah's initiation into the world of Indian "Godmen".
Trail of Feathers (2000) is an examination into the idea that man may have been able to glide – albeit in the most rudimentary way – in ancient times. Having read in a Spanish manuscript that "the Incas flew over the jungle like birds," Shah set out to see what truth there could have been for a Conquistador monk to have penned such words. After a journey into the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, to the world of the Shuar tribe, he concluded that the Incas were taking a powerful hallucinogen known as Ayahuasca that induces a sense of imaginary flight.
Shah's next book, In Search of King Solomon's Mines (2002), chronicles a journey to Ethiopia. Obsessed by the location of the source of King Solomon's astonishing wealth since childhood, Shah travelled to Ethiopia, which he equated with the biblical land of Ophir.
House of the Tiger King (2004) was the result of a seventeen-week journey through the Madre de Dios jungle of Peru, in search of the lost city of Paititi. The book considers matters such as the importance of searching for a lost city, and finding it.
Sick of living in a London apartment, Tahir Shah moved to Morocco 'on a whim' along with his wife and two infant children, where he bought a crumbling mansion in Casablanca located in the middle of a huge shantytown. The Caliph's House charts the highs and lows of integrating into the new life, and exorcising the Djinn (Genies) from the house they now call home. The book was rated by Time Magazine as one of the top ten books of the year.
His latest title "In Arabian Nights" sheds light on the way stories are used in the east to pass on values and information, in a way they have done for millennia in all regions of the world.
He is believed to be working on an historical novel based in the year 1816, as well as a second work of fiction.
His main films include:
- The Search For King Solomon's Mines
- House of the Tiger King
- Search For the Lost City of Gold
- Search For the Lost Treasure of Afghanistan
Style and Influences
Shah's popularity as an author stems partly from his racy, sometimes breathless style; (although in more recent books he has developed a more reflective style). His work is characterized by an extraordinary attention to detail and characters, and is regarded as unusually original, a fusion of styles. Shah himself has written about his fascination with the works of Bruce Chatwin, especially his book The Songlines, as well as with a range of the classic nineteenth century explorers, such as Samuel White Baker, Heinrich Barth and Sir Richard Burton. His close friendship with Wilfred Thesiger (the man he considered a mentor, friend, and source of inspiration) certainly comes through in his writing, in terms of his sensitivity to the people he encounters, as well as the theme of people rather than place.
Other projects
In the years before he turned his hand exclusively to book writing, Shah wrote a large number of serious 'reportage' type magazine features, highlighting the lives of the voiceless in society, especially those of women. These included pieces about women on Death Row, and widows who cleared mines in Cambodia, the trapped lives of bonded laborers in India, as well as the women-only police stations in Brazil, known as 'Delegacia'. He continues to write journalistic pieces, especially aimed at drawing attention to causes he believes deserve public attention.
In addition to writing and film making, Shah writes screen material, and does corporate guest lectures on problem-solving and leadership. He also reviews for a selection of other media on both sides of the Atlantic.
Pakistani Torture Prison
In July 2005 (a week after the 7 July London bombings) Shah and two colleagues from Caravan Film in London were arrested in Peshawar in Pakistan's NWFP, and held without charge in solitary confinement in a torture prison. Much of the time they were handcuffed, stripped virtually naked, and blindfolded. After sixteen days of interrogations in a "fully equipped torture room," Shah and his colleagues were released. The Pakistani government agreed that they had done nothing wrong. Tahir Shah gave an interview which was screened on British TV's Channel 4 News, and published an article in the British Sunday Times about the ordeal. Shah has publicly maintained his affection for Pakistan, despite the rough treatment he and his film crew received at the hands of the Pakistani secret services. The illegal custody earned Shah and his film crew a mention in Pakistan's report on Human Rights practices for 2005, by the US Department of State.
East-West Bridge
In the aftermath of 9/11, Tahir Shah began to devote a great deal of time and energy into establishing and promoting a "cultural bridge" made up by those who, like him, are both from the East and from the West. One example of this work is the Qantara Foundation (from "qantara" meaning "bridge" in Arabic). He has spoken and written on the idea that people such as he have a responsibility to "show the East to the West, and the West to the East," highlighting the common cultural heritage of the two, and working towards a common goal. Shah's greatest interest within the East-West theme is probably the subject of the legacy of science in medieval Islam, and its role in creating a foundation for the Renaissance. He has lectured publicly on the subject and believes strongly in the importance of drawing attention to the polymath poet-scientists from the Golden Age of Islam.
References
- See The Caliph's House ISBN 0385608071
- See In Arabian Nights ISBN 9780553805239
- SeeSaira Shah's The Storyteller's Daughter ISBN 0718145623
- See In Arabian Nights ISBN 9780553805239
- http://www.rachanashah.com/
- http://www.trashotron.com/agony/reviews/shah-sorcerers_apprentice.htm
- http://www.spectator.co.uk/the-magazine/books/19373/an-intrepid-travellers-flight-of-fancy.thtml
- http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5327/is_/ai_n21315420
- http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/house-of-the-tiger-king-a-jungle-obsession-by-tahir-shah-554653.html
- http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/19/books/review/19goodheart.html
- http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/in-arabian-nights-by-tahir-shah-832688.html
- See The Caliph's House ISBN 0385608071
- Sunday Times article dated August 7, 2005
- http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61710.htm