GLAD TIDINGS TO THE STRANGERS
From the blessed Prophetic tradition we have a very interesting saying by the master of mystics, may the highest blessing and peace rain abundantly upon his soul, is reported to have said in an authentic hadith:
"Islam began as something strange, and it will return to being something strange, so give glad tidings to the strangers."
Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee, may Allah bless him abundantly and accept all his services is conducting a 5 part Sunday Series on the subject matter of Estrangement and the Strangers about which the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon his soul, spoke about. The next event will be on March 30 and will be broadcast live on youtube (see detail below). Past even media and discourses on the series can also be accessed at Green Mountain School website.
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LIFE IS A TERMINAL ILLNESS
It is a common experience by those who are pulled by the Divine Grace, those who start to give precedence to the eternal life, those who have started to taste the love of God, those who have tasted the divine delight and have started to realize the transitory and illusory nature of the present world ~ will inevitably start to feel a sense of strangeness and start to feel strangers even among those who are socially familiar. This feeling of strangeness is such that even among one's own family and friends who are still occupied with the present world, among them such people will feel as a stranger.
Shaykh Nooruddeen often says that "life is a terminal illness and no one is getting out of it alive." Now think about it deeply. Life really is a terminal illness and our actual homeland is somewhere else, it is a Garden, a beauteous Garden beyond our limited imagination and it is prepared for Adam and all of its children from time immemorial. That is our real Homeland and in this world we are all in an exile, living a life of stranger, waiting for the Return call.
We all are indeed strangers and those who have come closer to this truth realize their strangeness more than others and the degree of one's feeling this estrangement in this existence is a sign of it's maturity, its possibility of enlightenment.
The interpretation of the Prophetic saying can be diverse, some say that it indicates the small number of true faithful in the beginning of the mission of the Prophet as well as it shall become in the latter days.
In another point of view, those who really can stand up the test of surrender have always been small and continue to be so in the latter days.
When the Prophet was asked about the identity of the strangers he clarified that strangers are those who continue to do good while others are engaged in evil and mindless acts.
Imam Ali, the gate of the city of knowledge, may Allah bless him abundantly have said, "The knowledgeable ones are strangers due to the great number of the ignorant." This has been the classic case in all age, isn't it?
Imam Muhammad al-Baqir, one of the member of the holy family said, "A faithful is a stranger, and blessed be the strangers."
Hafiz, the great mystic-poet says, "I belong to the Beloved's town, not to the land of strangers; O Lord, join me again to Your friends!"
Spiritual Masters who know the art of human perfection has shared that the human being is a traveler in this world. He has a path to traverse, which in Quranic term is known as "Sirat al-Mustaqim" and a "destination," which is Almighty Allah (The Name of the Essence that possesses all the Perfect Divine Attributes) Himself.
Indicating this journey of this stranger human being the Quran says, "O human being, you are always striving unto Your Lord laboriously and you shall meet Him" (84:6)
Guide us on the Sirat al-Mustaqim, the Vertical Journey towards the Perfection. (1:6)
The Destination, "To Allah is the journey." (35:18)
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FINAL SECRET
When Prophet Yusuf (Joseph), peace be upon him, was taken out of the well, and bought as a slave, a person said to them: "Take care of this stranger." Hearing this, Yusuf said to them, "whosoever is with Almighty Allah, is not a stranger."
So here is the station of the gnostics of Allah, who are ever abiding in the station where Allah is never remote and in that station, even though from the perspective of the world, they are strangers, yet from the Divine perspective they are not stranger, they are at Home.
We are like lutes once held by God.
Being away from His warm body,
By becoming this stranger - fully explains
our constant yearning.
~ Hafiz
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THE EVENT: 3rd Program on Strangers (al-Ghuraba) ~ 30 March 2014, Sunday
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| Click on the Image for Program Schedule and other details |
# Visit Green Mountain School
# 5 Sunday Series on Strangers
# Next Event: 30 March 2014
Related:
* Blessed are the Strangers - Hadith
* O Allah Return all Strangers to their Original Homeland
* Glad tidings for the Strangers
* Ghuraba
* Explanation of the Ghuraba Hadith
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