''The Teachers of Gurdjieff'' is a book by Rafael Lefort that describes a journey to the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

and

central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former ...

in search of the sources of

G. I. Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (; rus, Гео́ргий Ива́нович Гурджи́ев, r=Geórgy Ivánovich Gurdzhíev, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪd͡ʑ ɡʊrd͡ʐˈʐɨ(j)ɪf; hy, Գեորգի Իվանովիչ Գյուրջիև; c. 1 ...

's teaching, and culminates in the author's own spiritual awakening, by meeting and "opening" to the teachings of the

Naqshbandi The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نه‌قشه‌به‌ندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...

Sufis Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

. The author's search finally leads him to the Sarmoun monastery in Northern Afghanistan where Gurdjieff had been previously taught. The authors of the ''Handbook of Islamic Sects and Movements'', Muhammad Afzal Upal and Carole M. Cusack consider the book to be a product of the Sufi school associated with

Idries Shah Idries Shah (; hi, इदरीस शाह, ps, ادريس شاه, ur, ; 16 June 1924 – 23 November 1996), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس هاشمي) and by the pen name Ark ...

and his brother Omar Ali-Shah, and cast doubt on its authenticity. While Upal and Cusack speculate that the "polemic" writing style could be that of Omar Ali-Shah, British historian

Mark Sedgwick Mark J. Sedgwick (born 20 July 1960) is a British historian specialising in the study of traditionalism, Islam, Sufi mysticism, and terrorism. He is Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at Aarhus University in Denmark and chair of the Nordic ...

believes that Rafael Lefort is "almost certainly a pseudonym for Idries Shah." Speaking at the First International Conference on Theosophical History held in London on 18–20 July 1986, Paul Johnson added to the speculation that ''The Teachers of Gurdjieff'' was the work of Idries Shah, and that it "seems to have been written to attract Gurdjieff's followers to contemporary Sufism." The Gurdjieff biographer James Moore describes the book as a "distasteful fabrication". First published in ''Religion Today'' magazine (1986). The book first appeared in 1966 from the British publishing house

Victor Gollancz Sir Victor Gollancz (; 9 April 1893 – 8 February 1967) was a British publisher and humanitarian. Gollancz was known as a supporter of left-wing causes. His loyalties shifted between liberalism and communism, but he defined himself as a Chris ...

. A second edition was published in 1998 by Malor Books under the editorial directorship of

Robert Ornstein Robert Evan Ornstein (August 21, 1942 – December 20, 2018) The web page gives the birth year as 1942. was an American psychologist, researcher and author. He taught at the Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute, based at the University of ...

, a prominent American associate of

. A

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

version has been published by Alif Publishing Corp., which publishes many of Omar Ali-Shah's works, and a Portuguese one by Edições Dervish. A French version ("Les maîtres de Gurdjieff") has been published by Le Courrier du Livre in 1977.

Notes

Fourth Way Naqshbandi order Philosophy books Books about spirituality 1966 books Victor Gollancz Ltd books {{Sufism-stub