<DIV><p>"This is a brilliant, free-ranging, mind-enhancing, life-cautioning book."?<I>The Independent</I></p><p>In the summer of 1964 Robert Irwin set off for Algeria in search of Sufi enlightenment. There he entered a world of marvels and ecstasy, converted to Islam, and received an initiation as a <I>faqir</I>. He learnt the rituals of Islam in North Africa and he studied Arabic in London.</p><p>Political violence, torture, rock music, drugs, Oxbridge intellectuals, first love, and losses are all part of this story from the 1960s.</p><p><B>Robert Irwin</B> is one of the best known writers on the history and culture of the Islamic world.</p></DIV>