Whereas The Sufis eschewed academic norms such as footnotes and an index, The Way of the Sufi provided a full section of notes and a bibliography at the end of its first chapter, entitled "The Study of Sufism in the West".

Continuing a theme from the previous book, Shah argued that Sufism had greatly influenced Western civilisation over the centuries, but that this had largely gone unrecognised, citing examples such as Chaucer, Shakespeare, the William Tell legend, the former United Nations secretary-general Dag Hammarskjoeld and the works of Sir Richard Burton amongst others.

In the East, he also said that Sufism had influenced certain aspects of Hinduism as well as Zen Buddhism.

[2] The New York Times also applauded the book, saying it was "like a door opening where one least expects it".

[3] Writing in the British newspaper The Observer, Nobel Prize-winning author Doris Lessing described it as "a key book".