伊德里斯·沙赫将苏菲主义表述为自我完善的方法，多丽丝·莱辛接受了这种思想，先后发表了《天黑前的夏天》和《幸存者回忆录》，在书中赋予了主人公苏菲主义的思维方式。借助回忆与梦境的内心空间，其笔下的中年女性形象实现了自我完善，在内外世界的平衡中进入了理想的生存状态。苏菲思想为女性摆脱社会家庭束缚，实现自我解放指明了道路，通过文学创作，莱辛确认了苏菲主义对主体实现自我超越的现实指导意义。

Idries Shah expressed Sufism as a method of self-improvement. Doris Lessing agreed with him, and then published The Summer before the Dark and The Memoirs of a Survivor. In these novels, the protagonists are equipped with Sufism. With the help of the inner space of memories and dreams, the middle-aged women realize self-improvement. On the basis of the balance between the internal and external world, they enter into an ideal living state. Sufism points out the way for women to get rid of the shackles of society and family. Through the creation of these two novels, Doris Lessing confirmed the practical significance of Sufism to self-improvement.