Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah

Infobox Writer
name = Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah

---

imagesize = 200px
caption = From 'Afghanistan of the Afghans'
pseudonym =
birthdate = 12th July 1894
birthplace = Sardhana, India
deathdate = 4th November 1969
deathplace = Tangier, Morocco
occupation = Author, diplomat, savant
nationality = Afghan
period =
genre =
subject = Travel, exploration, Arab World, cross-cultural studies
movement =
spouse = Saira Elisabeth Luiza Shah
partner =
children = Amina Shah, Omar Ali-Shah, Idries Shah
relatives = Nawab Amjad Ali Shah, Jan Fishan Khan
influences =

Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah (born 1894 in Sardhana, India, died 4th November 1969 in Tangier, Morocco) was an Afghan author, poet, diplomat, scholar, and savant, descended from the Sadaat of Paghman (Tajiks).

Having settled in Britain before the first World War,cite journal
last = Moore
first = James
authorlink = James Moore (Cornish author)
coauthors =
title = Neo-Sufism: The Case of Idries Shah
journal = Religion Today
volume = 3
issue = 3
pages =
publisher =
location =
date = 1986
url =
doi =
id =
accessdate = ; the [http://www.jamesmoore.org.uk/7.htm author's website] features a link, "Pseudo-Sufism: the case of Idries Shah", to an [http://www.geocities.com/metaco8nitron/moore.html online copy] of the paper] he met his wife Saira Elisabeth Luiza Shah (pseudonym: Morag Murray Abdullah) while studying medicine at Edinburgh Medical School during the war. [ [http://www.clearlight.com/octagon/authors/moragmurrayabdullah.htm Octagon Press Authors - Morag Murray Abdullah ] ] They had three children, the Sufi writers and translators Amina Shah (b. 1918), Omar Ali-Shah (b. 1922) and Idries Shah (b. 1924).

According to James Moore, who described him as charming, personable, and a lifelong sufferer of Munchhausen's syndrome, Ikbal Ali Shah compensated for his failure at Medical School, and his predictably ignominious treatment as a son-in-law, with invented private conversations with King George V. When he tried to compromise P.M. Ramsay Macdonald, investigations by the Foreign Office revealed, according to Moore, that there "was hardly a word of truth in his writings". His conduct over a "halal" meat scandal in Buenos Aires in 1946 caused the British ambassador to describe him as a "swindler".

Ikbal Ali Shah claimed to have been an adviser and confidante to numerous Eastern leaders, such as President Attaturk of Turkey, King Amanullah Shah of Afghanistan, King Zog of Albania, King Fuad I of Egypt, and King Ibn Saud, and published a number of biographies of such statesmen.

Altogether, he authored more than fifty books, including:

* "Westward to Mecca"
* "The Golden East"
* "Black and White Magic: Its theory and practice"
* "The Golden Pilgrimmage"
* "Afghanistan of the Afghans"
* "Modern Afghanistan"
* "The Controlling Minds of Asia"
* "Occultism: Its theory and practice"
* "Eastward to Persia"
* "Escape from Central Asia"
* "Islamic Sufism"
* "Kemal: Maker of Modern Turkey
* "The Tragedy of Amanullah"
* "Lights of Asia"
* "Mohamed: The Prophet"
* "Nepal: Home of the Gods"
* "Viet Nam"
* "Alone in Arabian Nights"
* "Spirit of the East"
* "Afridi Gold"
* "The Prince Aga Khan"
* "Fuad: King of Egypt"

Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah died, aged 75, in a car accident in Tangier, Morocco, in 1969.cite book
last = Graves
first = Richard Perceval
authorlink =
title = Robert Graves And The White Goddess: The White Goddess, 1940-1985
publisher = Weidenfeld & Nicolson
date = 1995
location = London, UK
pages = pp. 468–472
url =
doi =
id =
isbn = 0231109660]

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