When Madmen Speak: The Observations of a Modern-Day Fool of God

When Shaykh Ahmed, the self-styled 'Fool of God', died in 1994, he left over five thousand pages of hand-written 'table talk' to posterity; scattered through these pages were some seven hundred of the Shaykhs own aphorisms - or what he himself called 'Sufi observations'. Half of these, the shortest and, in some cases, the most controversial, go to make up this fascinating volume.
Elbisani targets everything, and misses nothing. For instance, on the dry and uninspiring style of the average Muslim preacher: "Those who say that the pen is mightier than the sword have obviously never listened to the average Friday prayers sermon"; on the difference between real and nominal belief: "For most Muslims, Islam is a crutch: kick away the crutch and they may learn to walk ... and find God"; and on the idea of seeing God in everything: "If men knew the true nature of idol-worship, they would not criticize so harshly".