The first evidence-based route leads not simply from East to West, but through two different forms of transmission: Idries Shah’s books, recordings and institutions, and Omar Ali-Shah’s international group network.
A route can be documented without pretending that every link is already known
This page records the stations presently supported by published research. The hatching marks countries reached by the documented networks; it does not claim that Mushkil Gusha was practised everywhere within those countries. Buenos Aires, by 1968, remains the earliest Western location for which we currently have an explicit report of group recitation.
Geography of the evidence
Documented fields — and the white spaces between them
Paris threshold Buenos Aires · explicit MG practice Omar group fields Idries text and media fields Reported European extensions
The fields show where evidence has presently been found. They are not national claims or exact boundaries. Unhatched regions remain visible deliberately.
Stations presently established
From a Paris circle to two international paths
Date
Place
What the evidence presently supports
1961–63
Paris
Idries Shah becomes connected with the circle around Russell Page and redirects its attention away from Gurdjieff reading toward exercises, recorded talks and Sufi stories. In 1962 or 1963 he introduces Omar Ali-Shah, who becomes the more continuously present leader in Paris.
By 1968
Buenos Aires
Bernard Lelong’s group has adopted practices derived from the Paris circle: dhikr with recorded music, recordings of Idries Shah speaking and, explicitly, the recitation of Mushkil Gusha. This is the firm MG-specific point on the present map.
1968
Paris and the wider network
Omar renames the work “the Tradition.” The name now identifies the developing group structure rather than a single local circle.
1969
Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Assisi
Lelong publishes a Spanish translation of the Declaration of the People of the Tradition, helps carry the group network into Brazil and Mexico, and accompanies Omar on a pilgrimage to Assisi.
1971/72
Europe and the Americas
The brothers’ partnership ends. Most English-speaking followers align with Idries; most Spanish-speaking and South-American followers remain with Omar. The two transmission paths become institutionally distinct.
From 1976
Argentina to Brazil
Movement of members during Argentina’s military dictatorship contributes to the growth of the Brazilian branch. Brazil eventually becomes the largest Latin-American field of the Tradition.
1978
Arcos de la Frontera
An Easter meeting in Arcos marks a decisive stage in the Tradition’s increasingly Spanish and Latin-American character. Arcos subsequently functions as one of its recurring international meeting places.
Later years
Spain and the Americas
International meetings are held in Arcos and in Mexico, Brazil or Argentina. Groups are also reported in Uruguay; followers or translated talks are reported at points in France, Italy, Germany and Russia.
1969 onward
United States
Robert Ornstein founds ISHK. Its seminars include Idries Shah, and its book service later becomes the sole United States distributor of his works. This establishes an institutional and publishing route, not yet a demonstrated local MG ritual line.
Two forms of transmission
What Idries Shah and Omar Ali-Shah appear to have done
Idries Shah: story, recording and publication
Idries initiated the reorientation of the Paris circle and supplied stories and recorded material. His 1968 publication of Mushkil Gusha in Caravan of Dreams gave the Western telling a stable literary form.
His later path was carried chiefly through books, talks, institutions and educators. In North America, the Ornstein–ISHK connection created a substantial reception and distribution structure. That is a transmission of text and method; a weekly MG observance there still requires separate evidence.
Omar Ali-Shah: group, practice and international network
Omar became the more present leader of the Paris group and subsequently organised the Tradition through local groups, representatives, meetings, exercises and shared practice.
The Latin-American network grew through the Paris–Buenos Aires connection and expanded into Brazil and Mexico. Within this early network, Mushkil Gusha is documented not only as a printed story but as something recited together.
Present conclusion: it would be misleading to draw a single line labelled “Shah transmission.” The evidence shows a shared Paris beginning, followed by an Idries path dominated by text and media and an Omar path dominated by organised groups and collective practice. Mushkil Gusha belongs to both, but not in the same way.
Limits of the map
What remains unproven
When Mushkil Gusha was first used in the Paris circle, and in precisely what form.
Whether the Buenos Aires recitation followed Idries Shah’s published wording, an earlier recording, or another working text.
Which later groups maintained a weekly Mushkil Gusha practice, and on which day.
How the story moved inside the Brazilian, Mexican and Spanish branches after the early expansion.
Whether North-American readers formed an enacted MG practice or principally received the story through publication.
Which movements represent direct transmission and which are independent readings of the published story.
Sources presently in view
The first documentary basis
Mark Sedgwick, “The Tradition of Omar Ali-Shah in Latin America,” in El Esoterismo occidental en Iberoamérica, vol. 2, 2025, pp. 89–121. The chapter is peer reviewed and openly available. University record and full text ↗
Institute for the Study of Human Knowledge, “ISHK History,” documenting its foundation in 1969, seminars involving Idries Shah and its later role as United States distributor of his works. Read the institutional history ↗
Omar Ali-Shah correspondence, 1966–68, held in the Robert Graves papers at St John’s College, Oxford. View the archive catalogue ↗
The Western history of Mushkil Gusha is no longer an empty space. Its first outline is visible: Paris as a shared threshold, Buenos Aires as the earliest explicit practice witness, and two different networks carrying story and practice onward.