Each section contains numerous illustrative anecdotes from contemporary life but is nevertheless rooted in the teaching patterns of Rumi, Hafiz, Jami, and other great Oriental sages who dealt with the need for, and the path to, knowledge and information before real progress can be made.

A Perfumed Scorpion was described by one reviewer as "... an invigorating and abrasive book, like jumping into icy water - hard to do, but you're glad you have done it."

This reviewer also appreciated the way it dissolves in the attentive reader “the maiming effect of unconscious bias.”[3] The influence of the book continues and it has remained in print ever since it was published.

Philosopher of science and physicist Henri Bortoft used teaching tales from Shah's corpus as analogies of the habits of mind which prevented people from grasping the scientific method of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Bortoft's The Wholeness of Nature: Goethe's Way of Science includes stories from Tales of the Dervishes, The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin and A Perfumed Scorpion.