Tahir Shah
Encyclopedia
Tahir Shah né Sayyid Tahir al-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد طاهر الهاشمي) (born 16 November 1966 in London
) is an Anglo
-Afghan Indian
author
, journalist
and documentary
maker. He lives in Casablanca
, Morocco
.
) who had their ancestral home at Paghman
, not far from Kabul
. His paternal great-grandfather, Sayyid Amjad Ali Shah, was the nawab
of Sardhana
, in the North-Indian state of 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. His mother is of Indian Parsi
ethnicity.
Tahir Shah is the son of the well-known Sufi teacher and writer Idries Shah
, and the grandson of the writer and diplomat
Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah
. His elder sister is the award-winning documentary filmmaker Saira Shah
. He also has a twin sister, Safia Nafisa Shah
.
Born and brought up in Britain
, Shah says he 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 colours all of Shah's work, most notably his travel literature
.
Tahir Shah was educated at Bryanston School
, Dorset
, England
and at universities in London, Nairobi
and San Diego. He left London for Morocco
in 2003. Today, he lives in Casablanca
with his wife, Rachana, and their two children, Ariane and Timur, in a large home named Dar Khalifa, set in the middle of a "sprawling shantytown".
s. He also writes introductions, academic pieces for journals, and book reviews for newspapers such as the Washington Post.
Shah's books have appeared in a dozen languages and have been 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.
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 (2001) 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. The book was selected to be read on BBC Radio 4
's Book of the Week
.
Sick of living in a London apartment, Tahir Shah moved to Morocco
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 (2006) charts the highs and lows of integrating into the new life, and exorcising the Djinn
from the house they now call home. The book was rated by Time Magazine as one of the top ten books of the year. It was also selected to be read on BBC Radio 4
's Book of the Week
.
In Arabian Nights (2009), examines the role traditional stories play in the transmission of values and information, especially in eastern societies, and continues his account of his life in Morocco.
Shah's latest work, Travels with Myself: Collected Work (2011) is a selection of writing about his travels in such places as Africa, Asia and Latin America, made over a period of twenty years.
, 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. He had a close friendship with Wilfred Thesiger
, whom he considered a mentor and a source of inspiration.
, widows who cleared mines in Cambodia
, the trapped lives of bonded labourers
in India, and the women-only police stations in Brazil
, known as "Delegacia da Mulher" (Woman's Police Station). He continues to write journalistic pieces, especially aimed at drawing attention to causes he believes deserve public attention.
As well as writing and film making, Shah writes screen material and co-wrote Journey to Mecca
, an Imax
film charting the first journey made by Ibn Battuta
to Mecca
for the Hajj, in 1325. He also does corporate guest lectures on problem-solving and leadership, and states on his website that he has worked in this capacity for Shell Petroleum and Procter and Gamble. In addition, he reviews for a selection of other media on both sides of the Atlantic, and writes pieces for the radio, such as The Journey, which was read on BBC Radio 3
.
in Pakistan
's North-West Frontier Province
, 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 the United States Department of State
's 2005 report on Pakistan's human rights practices
. The news story came back into the spotlight in July 2008, when a British MP
claimed that the British government had 'outsourced' the torture of UK citizens to Pakistani security agencies.
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001, 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.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) is an Anglo
Anglo
Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to the Angles, England or the English people, as in the terms Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-American, Anglo-Celtic, Anglo-African and Anglo-Indian. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people of British Isles descent in The Americas, Australia and...
-Afghan Indian
Afghans in India
Afghans in India are a large community numbering up to 10,000. Most are recent Hindu and Sikh refugees who fled the Taliban regime and political instability back in Afghanistan; they are concentrated in and around Delhi...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
maker. He lives in Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
.
Family origins and life
Shah was born into a distinguished family of Saadat (= Arabic plural of SayyidSayyid
Sayyid is an honorific title, it denotes males accepted as descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad through his grandsons, Hasan ibn Ali and Husain ibn Ali, sons of the prophet's daughter Fatima Zahra and his son-in-law Ali ibn Abi Talib.Daughters of sayyids are given the titles Sayyida,...
) who had their ancestral home at Paghman
Paghman
Paghman is a town in the hills near Kabul, Afghanistan. See also Paghman Gardens. It is center of the Paghman District which has a total population of 120,000 people, and another 20,000 returnees are expected , of which 70% are Pashtuns and 30% Tajiks.. Paghman District is situated in the western...
, not far from Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
. His paternal great-grandfather, Sayyid Amjad Ali Shah, was the nawab
Nawab
A Nawab or Nawaab is an honorific title given to Muslim rulers of princely states in South Asia. It is the Muslim equivalent of the term "maharaja" that was granted to Hindu rulers....
of Sardhana
Sardhana
Sardhana is a town and a municipal board in Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located northeast of New Delhi, and 13 mi from Meerut...
, in the North-Indian state of Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...
. The principality was awarded to his ancestor Jan-Fishan Khan during the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
, and had been ruled formerly by the Kashmiri-born warrior-princess, the Begum Samru. His mother is of Indian Parsi
Parsi
Parsi or Parsee refers to a member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in South Asia, the other being the Irani community....
ethnicity.
Tahir Shah is the son of the well-known Sufi teacher and writer Idries Shah
Idries Shah
Idries Shah , also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi , was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen critically acclaimed books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.Born in India, the descendant of a...
, and the grandson of the writer and diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah
Sirdar ikbal ali shah
Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah was an Indian-Afghan author and diplomat descended from the Sadaat of Paghman. Educated in India, he came to Britain as a young man to continue his education in Edinburgh, where he married a young Scotswoman....
. His elder sister is the award-winning documentary filmmaker Saira Shah
Saira Shah
Saira Shah is an author, reporter and documentary filmmaker. She produces, writes and narrates current affairs films.- Life and work :...
. He also has a twin sister, Safia Nafisa Shah
Safia Shah
Safia Shah , now Safia Thomas is a British writer, editor and television news producer, following in the footsteps of her distinguished Anglo-Afghan Indian family....
.
Born and brought up in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Shah says he 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 colours all of Shah's work, most notably his travel literature
Travel literature
Travel literature is travel writing of literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or...
.
Tahir Shah was educated at Bryanston School
Bryanston School
Bryanston School is a co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils in Blandford, north Dorset, England, near the village of Bryanston. It was founded in 1928...
, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and at universities in London, Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
and San Diego. He left London for Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
in 2003. Today, he lives in Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
with his wife, Rachana, and their two children, Ariane and Timur, in a large home named Dar Khalifa, set in the middle of a "sprawling shantytown".
Works
Tahir Shah is the author of more than a dozen books and several documentary filmDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s. He also writes introductions, academic pieces for journals, and book reviews for newspapers such as the Washington Post.
Shah's books have appeared in a dozen languages and have been published in more than forty editions. His films have been screened on National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel
National Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
, Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, Five and The History Channel
The History Channel
History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an American-based international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts a variety of reality shows and documentary programs including those of fictional and non-fictional historical content, together with speculation about the future.-...
, as well as in cinemas worldwide.
Books
Shah's books include (in order of publication):- Cultural ResearchCultural ResearchCultural Research is a work of academic research, edited by the Anglo-Afghan writer Tahir Shah.As the world shrinks in terms of accessibility, cultures are impinging upon one another with increasing force. Much of the time the result is a breakdown of traditions, and an upsurge of homogenized culture...
(editor) for the London-based Institute for Cultural ResearchThe Institute for Cultural ResearchThe Institute for Cultural Research is a London-based, UK-registered educational charity, events organizer and publisher which aims to stimulate study, debate, education and research into all aspects of human thought, behaviour and culture... - The Middle East Bedside BookThe Middle East Bedside BookThe Middle East Bedside Book is a collection of stories and information about the Middle East, edited by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.The Middle East Bedside Book contains a treasury of proverbs, etiquette, information and ideas to have come out of the Middle East, and Arab culture...
- Beyond the Devil's TeethBeyond the Devil's TeethBeyond the Devil's Teeth is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.Forty-five million years ago, Gondwanaland split apart to form India, Africa and South America...
- Sorcerer's ApprenticeSorcerer's Apprentice (book)Sorcerer's Apprentice is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.As a child in rural England, Tahir Shah learned the first secrets of illusion from an Indian magician. More than two decades later he set out in search of this conjurer, the ancestral guardian of his great grandfather’s tomb...
- Trail of FeathersTrail of FeathersTrail of Feathers is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.Enthralled by a line from the chronicle of a sixteenth-century monk, which said that the Incas ‘flew like birds’ over the jungle, and by the recurring theme of flying in Peruvian folklore, Tahir Shah set out to discover whether...
- In Search of King Solomon's MinesIn Search of King Solomon's MinesIn Search of King Solomon's Mines is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.It began with a map in Jerusalem. The map showed a trail leading to the fabled mines of King Solomon, who built the first temple of Israel out of gold, mined from the land of Ophir...
- House of the Tiger KingHouse of the Tiger KingHouse of the Tiger King is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.When the Spanish Conquistadors swept through Peru in the sixteenth century, they were searching for great golden treasure. In 1572 they stormed the Inca stronghold of Vilcabamba, only to find the city deserted, burned, and...
- The Caliph's HouseThe Caliph's HouseThe Caliph's House is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author, Tahir Shah.Unwilling to raise his two infant children in England, Tahir Shah drags them and his Indian-born wife to Morocco, where he traveled as a child...
- In Arabian NightsIn Arabian NightsIn Arabian Nights is a travel book by Anglo-Afghan author Tahir Shah illustrated by Laetitia Bermejo...
- Travels With Myself: Collected Work
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
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and much of Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. 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 (2001) 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
Conquistador
Conquistadors were Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492...
monk to have penned such words. After a journey into the heart of the Peruvian Amazon, to the world of the Shuar
Shuar
The Shuar people are an indigenous people of Ecuador and Peru. They are members of the Jivaroan peoples, who are Amazonian tribes living at the headwaters of the Marañón River.-Name:...
tribe, he concluded that the Incas were taking a powerful hallucinogen known as Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca
Ayahuasca is any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from the Banisteriopsis spp. vine, usually mixed with the leaves of dimethyltryptamine-containing species of shrubs from the Psychotria genus...
that induces a sense of imaginary flight.
Shah's next book, In Search of King Solomon's Mines (2002), chronicles a journey to Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. 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
Ophir
Ophir is a port or region mentioned in the Bible, famous for its wealth. King Solomon is supposed to have received a cargo of gold, silver, sandalwood, precious stones, ivory, apes and peacocks from Ophir, every three years.- Citations :...
.
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
Paititi
Paititi is a legendary Inca lost city or utopian rich land said to lie east of the Andes, hidden somewhere within the remote rain forests of southeast Peru, northern Bolivia or southwest Brazil...
. The book considers matters such as the importance of searching for a lost city, and finding it. The book was selected to be read on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's Book of the Week
Book of the Week
Book of the Week is a BBC Radio 4 series broadcast daily on week days. Each week the selected book, always a non-fiction work, is read in five episodes; each fifteen-minute episode is broadcast in the morning and repeated overnight . The Act of Worship replaces the morning broadcast on...
.
Sick of living in a London apartment, Tahir Shah moved to Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
along with his wife and two infant children, where he bought a crumbling mansion in Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
located in the middle of a huge shantytown. The Caliph's House (2006) charts the highs and lows of integrating into the new life, and exorcising the Djinn
Genie
Jinn or genies are supernatural creatures in Arab folklore and Islamic teachings that occupy a parallel world to that of mankind. Together, jinn, humans and angels make up the three sentient creations of Allah. Religious sources say barely anything about them; however, the Qur'an mentions that...
from the house they now call home. The book was rated by Time Magazine as one of the top ten books of the year. It was also selected to be read on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's Book of the Week
Book of the Week
Book of the Week is a BBC Radio 4 series broadcast daily on week days. Each week the selected book, always a non-fiction work, is read in five episodes; each fifteen-minute episode is broadcast in the morning and repeated overnight . The Act of Worship replaces the morning broadcast on...
.
In Arabian Nights (2009), examines the role traditional stories play in the transmission of values and information, especially in eastern societies, and continues his account of his life in Morocco.
Shah's latest work, Travels with Myself: Collected Work (2011) is a selection of writing about his travels in such places as Africa, Asia and Latin America, made over a period of twenty years.
Films
The main films presented by Shah 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
Influences
Shah himself has written about his fascination with the works of Bruce ChatwinBruce Chatwin
Charles Bruce Chatwin was an English novelist and travel writer. He won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel On the Black Hill...
, especially his book The Songlines
The Songlines
The Songlines is a 1986 book written by Bruce Chatwin, combining fiction and non-fiction. Chatwin describes a trip to Australia which he has taken for the express purpose of researching Aboriginal song and its connections to nomadic travel...
, as well as with a range of the classic nineteenth century explorers, such as Samuel White Baker, Heinrich Barth
Heinrich Barth
Heinrich Barth was a German explorer of Africa and scholar.Barth is one of the greatest of the European explorers of Africa, not necessarily because of the length of his travels or the time he spent alone without European company in Africa, but because of his singular character.-Biography:Barth...
and Sir Richard Burton. He had a close friendship with Wilfred Thesiger
Wilfred Thesiger
Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger, CBE, DSO, FRAS, FRGS was a British explorer and travel writer born in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia.-Family:...
, whom he considered a mentor and a source of inspiration.
Other projects
In the years before he turned his hand primarily 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 RowDeath row
Death row signifies the place, often a section of a prison, that houses individuals awaiting execution. The term is also used figuratively to describe the state of awaiting execution , even in places where no special facility or separate unit for condemned inmates exists.After individuals are found...
, widows who cleared mines in Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
, the trapped lives of bonded labourers
Debt bondage
Debt bondage is when a person pledges him or herself against a loan. In debt bondage, the services required to repay the debt may be undefined, and the services' duration may be undefined...
in India, and the women-only police stations in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, known as "Delegacia da Mulher" (Woman's Police Station). He continues to write journalistic pieces, especially aimed at drawing attention to causes he believes deserve public attention.
As well as writing and film making, Shah writes screen material and co-wrote Journey to Mecca
Journey to Mecca (2009 film)
Journey to Mecca: In the Footsteps of Ibn Battuta is an award-winning IMAX dramatised documentary film charting the first real-life journey made by the Islamic scholar Ibn Battuta from his native Morocco to Mecca for the Hajj , in 1325.-Background:The 20 year old Muslim religious law student Ibn...
, an Imax
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
film charting the first journey made by Ibn Battuta
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta , or simply Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad–Din , was a Muslim Moroccan Berber explorer, known for his extensive travels published in the Rihla...
to Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
for the Hajj, in 1325. He also does corporate guest lectures on problem-solving and leadership, and states on his website that he has worked in this capacity for Shell Petroleum and Procter and Gamble. In addition, he reviews for a selection of other media on both sides of the Atlantic, and writes pieces for the radio, such as The Journey, which was read on BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
.
Imprisonment in Pakistan
In July 2005 (a week after the 7 July London bombings) Shah and two colleagues from Caravan Film in London were arrested in PeshawarPeshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
's North-West Frontier Province
North-West Frontier Province
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa , formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province and various other names, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan, located in the north-west of the country...
, and held without charge in solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
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
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
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 the United States Department of State
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
's 2005 report on Pakistan's human rights practices
Human rights in Pakistan
Pakistan’s human rights record has dramatically improved since the reforms that took place after the tenure of President Zia-ul-Haq in 1988. The situation of human rights in Pakistan is a complex one, as a result of the country's diversity, large population, its status as a developing country and a...
. The news story came back into the spotlight in July 2008, when a British MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
claimed that the British government had 'outsourced' the torture of UK citizens to Pakistani security agencies.
East-West Bridge
Tahir Shah is also a champion of what he calls "the East-West Bridge".In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001, 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
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
. He has lectured publicly on the subject and believes strongly in the importance of drawing attention to the polymath
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
poet-scientists from the Golden Age of Islam.
Interviews with Shah
- Time Magazine
- Wanderlust
- Citadine
- BBC Yorkshire
- Rolf Potts
- BBC Excess Baggage
- Richmond Review
- Laura Lee
Reviews of Shah's books
- Review of Sorcerer's Apprentice
- Review of Trail of Feathers in The SpectatorThe SpectatorThe Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
, by Doris LessingDoris LessingDoris May Lessing CH is a British writer. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebook, and five novels collectively known as Canopus in Argos.... - Review of In Search of King Solomon's Mines
- Review of House of the Tiger King in The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
- Review of The Caliph's House in the New York Times
- Review of In Arabian Nights in The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
External links
- Official website
- Tahir Shah in the Internet Movie Database
- Caravan Film
- The Institute for Cultural Research