Shaikh Zubair, reprise

Just when you thought the Bard had been claimed by pretty much everybody, here’s a bid from the Sufis:

“Shakespeare would have delighted in Sufism,’ said Lings, who is 96 and an adherent of Sufism. ‘We can see he obviously knew a lot about some kind of equivalent sect or order.’

Lings argues that the guiding principles of Sufi thought are evident in Shakespeare’s writing. The plays, he believes, depict a struggle between the dawning modernist world and the traditional, mystical value system. And, like the Sufis, the playwright is firmly on the side of tradition and spiritualism.”

On the other hand, given that he wrote “It is not enough to help the feeble up, but to support him after”, the Babu is confident that Shakespeare knew all about the trials of Bikram Yoga.