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The Spy of the Heart Paperback – April 1, 2007

by Robert Abdul Hayy Darr (Author)

4.6 21 ratings

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Exploring the doctrines and practices of contemporary Islamic spirituality in Afghanistan, this book draws the reader into the complex world of Sufism, the mystical dimension of Islam. Because of its long history of metaphysical and theological inquiry, Sufism has over the centuries developed a religious sophistication that offers an alternative to militant and literalist Islam. The narrative and personal descriptions of the people and cultures of rural Afghanistan allow readers to better understand the positive aspects of Islam and to feel the depths of Afghan yearning and sorrow after decades of war.

Print length

364 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Fons Vitae
Publication date

April 1, 2007
Dimensions

5.75 x 0.93 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-10

1929148623
ISBN-13

978-1929148622
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This fascinating autobiographical travelogue . . . presents a more positive view of Islam than currently represented in the Western press. . . . The Spy of the Heart is a simply told, but an intensely gripping story of study and later initiation into Sufism." —Professor Leonard Lewisohn, PhD, Islamic Studies Department, University of Exeter

"The Spy of the Heart is better than most bestsellers about Afghanistan. It is not only a must-read for researchers and journalists . . . and the students of modern Afghan history and politics, but also the Afghans themselves." —Daily Outlook Afghanistan (March 27, 2011)

About the Author

Robert Abdul Hayy Darr is an American Muslim who has translated and published works of Afghan and Persian literature into English, such as the poetry of Raz Mohammed Zaray and Ustad Khalilullah Khalili, and the book The Garden of Mystery.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fons Vitae (April 1, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 364 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1929148623
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1929148622
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.93 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,763,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #132 in Afghanistan Travel Guides
- #653 in General Middle East Travel Guides
- #1,167 in Sufism (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.6 21 ratings

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Robert Abdul Hayy Darr

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Robert Abdul Hayy Darr has for forty-five years been a student of traditional Islamic culture. In the 1970s he studied North Indian classical music at The Ali Akbar Khan School of Music in California. He studied Persian language and literature in the early 1980s with Persian and Afghan tutors, and later met Afghanistan's poet laureate, Ustad Khalilullah Khalili, whose quatrains he translated in 1989. Darr also studied Persian miniature painting with Ustad Homayon Etemadi, Afghanistan's last court painter and royal librarian. For almost twenty years, he was the student of the late Afghan Sufi poet, Raz Mohammad Zaray.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

21 global ratings

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Shafiq

Heart opening

Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2021

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I loved how well the book is written, exploring one’s struggle to find truth in midst of chaos and struggle.
I recommend anyone to read this book to better understand how extremism was promoted and nurtured in times of absolute misfortune.
And finally the glimpse and smell of the rose garden can be felt through the amazing work of Robert Abdul Hayy Darr.

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William F. Zachmann

An excellent book, unique perspective, and a great read!

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2010

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The Spy of the Heart Robert Darr's book is an essential (and very interesting) read for anyone who wants to understand the background of one of the major conflicts of the 21st Century: The threats posed by radical Islamist movements like al Qaeda and the Taliban not only to the West, but to the existing structure of the Muslim world as well. Darr's experiences in the field in Afghanistan during the late 1980s into the very early 1990s offer a rare insight into the conditions that created the environment that fostered the radical, literalist 'religion' of Osama bin Laden and his associates. This is an excellent book. Buy it and read it!

7 people found this helpful

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Acronym

Written from the heart

Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2014

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An honest, first hand account of a unique time and place. Reads like the raw, unedited journal from which it is based. Most other travel writing is too polished to be this real, too "balanced" to be this honest, too compromising to power to be this accurate.

Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2015

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Nice book, but the publisher put it together cheaply and pages were falling out

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Matt C.

Fascinating book - reads like a novel

Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2015

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Fascinating book - reads like a novel, but it is a true story.
The author provides a rare view of Afghanistan just after the Russians left the country.

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2017

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WonderFull on many levels ❤

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Martin Leon Cabrera

Sufism and Afghanistan : Naqshbandiyya Order

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2007

Review by Leonard Lewisohn
"Do any books on contemporary Sufism in Afghanistan exist? In any European language at least, this is the first one to my knowledge.

Robert Darr's The Spy of the Heart chronicles his years of travels, many adventures, imprisonment among Afghan warlords and tribes-people during the Soviet occupation just before the rise of the Taliban. This fascinating autobiographical travelogue, which presents a more positive view of Islam than currently represented in the Western press or by the more literalist exponents of Islam, details the author's spiritual search that led him ultimately to convert to Islam, but not without asking many questions about the purpose and problems inherent in adopting any religion. Between 1985 and 1990, Darr, an American, was in and out of Afghanistan working with aid organizations delivering medicines and humanitarian aid to those affected by the war with the Soviet Union. He had already been a student of Islamic culture for more than a decade, with a particular interest in Sufism. During these years in Afghanistan Darr became fluent in Persian and immersed himself deeply in the Afghan culture, going completely native in a way that few Westerners ever have--the priceless photos of Darr in Afghan turban and shalvar that illustrate the book recall Edward Browne in A Year among the Persians (1893) decked out in dervish regalia.

Not an historical survey of Sufi orders like Trimingham's The Sufi Orders of Islam (1971), nor monograph on a particular Sufi order like Pourjavady's and Wilson's Kings of Love (1978), nor research anthropological fieldwork like Valerie Hoffman's Sufism, Mystics and Saints in Modern Egypt (1995), Robert Darr's The Spy of the Heart yet represents a unique account of experiential Sufism lived and practiced in war-torn Afghanistan during the 1980s--the kind of living esoteric Islam promised but never delivered in Idries Shah's works or in Gurdjieff's Meetings with Remarkable Men. Darr's account of Sufism offers no extravagant fabula with dramatic effect and novelesque style--certainly no attempt to hoodwink the naïve student with Blavatskyian tall-tales of secret masters in hidden monasteries, or treasure maps of lost civilizations concealed in dilapidated houses, a la Gurdjieff et Shah.

The Spy of the Heart is a simply told, but an intensely gripping story of study and later initiation into Sufism vis-à-vis the author's association with the greatest modern Afghan poet Khalilullah Khalili and the miniaturist painter Homayon Etemadi and encounters with Sufis of the Naqshbandi Order in northern Afghanistan. Although casual and non-academic, Robert Darr's narrative yet manages to explore many themes of interest in the study of Islamic spirituality and history, militant Islam, the role of ethnicity in socio-cultural relations, current affairs, and international relations, making it a good text for undergraduate students seeking an understanding of contemporary Islamic spirituality of the Persianate variety, as well as students of modern Afghan history and politics."

16 people found this helpful

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Mohmashooq D.

beautiful book by great person about outstanding people

Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2021

I am very glad and more grateful of Mr. Abdulhai Dar for studying and introducing the real feature of Afghanistan and its people. may Allah bless you sir.
Love.

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Top reviews from other countries

Generic Nomenclature

Fills an important niche

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2013

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There are a few recent autobiographical accounts of westerners in Afghanistan, such as An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan , The Places In Between and The Storyteller's Daughter: Return to a Lost Homeland . What makes this book different is the author's own very frank reflections on some of the difficulties in their life and their reasons for undertaking the task.

Those people who could travel to the region whilst skirting the conflicts of the late twentieth century there, and who had the eloquence to describe it, have given us some wonderful books, each with their own particular style. Like Jason Elliot and Rory Stewart, Darr was wanting to find out more by immersing himself in a completely different culture. Like Sariah Shah, he is sharing his thoughts on a personal background that draws him to the region. I feel the unique aspect here is the degree to which he is showing us everything about himself as a person and his thoughts. He is not setting himself up as anyone special for, if anything, he comes across as any other regular person trying to learn more and running into the difficulties that that brings. In a way his book is his offering to anyone who tries to get to the roots of something by whatever means. In some aspects it is similar to Adventures in Afghanistan but Darr comes across as more of an independent commentator and I feel that there is more reflexivity in this book. Although this may not be to everyone's liking, I think the way in which it is done is one of the selling points.

Anyone trying to grasp at something abstract in an alien environment will be stretching themselves to the point where things go wrong and lessons get learned the hard way. What I like about Darr is that he doesn't gloss over this. He does not appear to be trying to promote a certain image of himself or anyone else. I feel that this is his honest account of one part of his journey to develop himself and I am grateful that he had the courage to publish it. This book adds an informative extra layer amongst the many other works on Islam, Sufism, Afghanistan etc by academics or writers.

(I have not included Among the Dervishes or The Teachers of Gurdjieff in this review because they are now regarded by many as having been written by Idries Shah under a pseudonym. Some of the background to that controversy can be found in work produced by those who studied under both him and his older brother before they had a disagreement. One book that explains this is Fictions and Factions .)

One person found this helpful

Jamal

The Spy of the Heart

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 13, 2009

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Excellent, remarkable first-hand account of life in Afghanistan, with a reliable introduction to genuine Islamic sufism. Highly recommended for pointing out some of the historical reasons for recent developments in Afghanistan, and the rise of militant Islam.

4 people found this helpful

Favabeans

Vanity publication?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 28, 2007

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Robert Darr's book, Spy of the Heart is an odd and somewhat padded account of one meeting with the master Khalilullah Khalili.

After Robert Darr had given up on the teachings of Idries Shah he seems to have gone to Afghanistan to seek his truth and met Ustad Khalili there. He does not seem to have realised that Ustad Khalili was also a cohort of Idries Shah, and makes a great fuss about discovering a Sufi Master of his own.

The book is a bit like a vanity publication, even the paper is extra thick to make it look more substantial. Although this helps with the book's colour pictures which is perhaps a redeeming feature.

In the first paragraph, the author boasts of having 'years of Persian ' behind him and yet transliterates his captors' name as 'Hesbi Islami'. Any ignorant urchin could have told him, the letters 's' and 'z' are not interchangeable in Persian and even journalists without any knowledge of Persian know how to refer to 'Hizbollah' for instance.
There is a sleeve note from Dr. Leonard Lewisohn (lecturer in Persian at Exeter and disciple of Iranian guru, Javad Nurbakhsh):
"Do any books on contemporary Sufism in Afghanistan exist? In any European language at least, this is the first one to my knowledge."
Well, this must be one of the best examples of the ignorance of scholars. The good Doctor has not heard of 'Among the Dervishes' by O. M. Burke and 'Adventures in Afghanistan' by Louis Palmer. Or he has heard of them and dismissed them.
Lord save us from the scholars!

This work seems to me devoid any other Sufi content and is basically an account of a Westerner's conversion to a strange form of sentimental Islam.

Since I wrote this review half dozen individuals who have never reviewed anything on Amazon before joined the service to give the book 5 star ratings. By chance most of them live in the same city as the author.

Would a real Sufi do a vain and narcissistic thing like getting his friends and members of his cult to write good reviews for his book?

2 people found this helpful

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