Abdullah Dougan was born at Longburn, New Zealand, in 1918, into a family for whom religion was an integral part of life, and Christianity claimed his attention at an early age. Later he realised the urgency of finding a method of channelling energy into inner development and was led first to the Gurdjieff movement and then to Sufism. He was initiated as a Naqshibandi Sufi and in the subsequent twenty years expanded his teaching to include Gnostic ideals.

Abdullah’s main aim was to wake people up so they may find their own potential. His basic teaching is that mankind must work on making the body obedient to the minds; that the minds then become passive to the spirit; and finally the spirit has to destroy the ego to enable it to merge into God. Thus completing the soul’s journey back to its source.

Before his death on 1st September 1987, Abdullah founded the Gnostic Society (Inc), including the Sufi Brotherhood.

Gnostic Press is a publishing company created to make available the works of Shaikh Abdullah Isa Neil Dougan (Abdullah Dougan) of the Naqshibandi order of Sufis. Shaikh Abdullah taught a practical Fourth Way method of self-development for Westerners using the ideas of G.I. Gurdjieff, Hazrat Inayat Khan, and Sri Ramdas of Kerala, augmented by teachings from his own inner experience.