Islamic eschatology
Gurdjieff believed that the esoteric teachings of Islam were in Bokhara, in Central Asia, which Bennett believes was associated with the Naqshbandi Sufis who had preserved the true teachings of Islam
“In reality, the needs of man, as far as the total nature of man is concerned, remain forever the same, precisely because of man's unchanging nature. "Man is what he is, or he is nothing."The situation of man in the universal hierarchy of being, his standing between the two unknowns which comprise his state before terrestrial life and his state after death, his need for a "shelter" in the vast stretches of cosmic existence and his deep need for certainty (yaqln in the vocabulary of Sufism) remain unchanged. This latter element, the need to gain certainty, is in fact so fundamental that the Sufis have described the stages of gaining spiritual perfection as so many steps in the attainment of certainty. (Islam and the Plight of Modern Man Revised and Enlarged, Seyyed Hossein Nasr). PocketBook Reader
Islamic eschatology: The advent of the Mahdi would be signalled by Black Standards proceeding from Khorasan and that it will be the flag of the army that will fight the Masih ad-Dajjal The Devil.
The black flag is risen on Razavi Shrine in Mashhad, Khorasan province, Iran.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1714410245576073455
http://thesaker.is/two-parallel-developments-in-islamic-history-corrupt-and-ruthless-hypocrites-rulers-and-an-authentic-shia-movement/
As I have mentioned in previous installments, for Shi’a Muslims, the relationship of leadership and direction with the collective (society of people), that is, the relationship of Wilayat and Imamat with Ummat, is not a linear, top-down, leader-follower arrangement but a mutually-supportive interaction based on authentic and sincere submission to Will of God by both the leader and the followers on earth.
Teachings of Quran make our strategy quite clear: the strategy is I-Sirat al-Mustaqim, the Straight Path (attributes of the Straight Path are well defined within Quran). So, too, is the qualifications of leadership or those whom we must choose to guide us strategically and lead us in that Path. Specific Verses of Quran explicitly define and describe them as: Alladhina an’amta alayhim, “those upon whom God has bestowed His Favor.” Many verses throughout Quran describe their characteristics and we are able to identify them with their deeds and behavior. The sort of people we must avoid and reject as our leaders is also spelled out. They are of two types: 1) Al-Maqdhubi ‘alayhim, those who have earned God’s Wrath; and 2) I-Dhallin, those who have gone astray.[1] Again, many verses of Quran and examples describe the sort of people who have earned God’s Wrath and the sort who have gone astray.
Imam Ali (Allayhu-Salaam) had a proven record of someone “upon whom God had bestowed His Favor.” However, a majority among Muslims, dazzled by excesses and worldly fluff and stuff, abandoned him to their own detriment. Immediately after his martyrdom on the 21st of holy month of Ramadan, year 40 HQ [661 AD], that majority turned its back to Imam Hasan (AS), another one of Alladhina an’amta alayhim [those upon whom God had bestowed His Favor] and entrusted their fate and affairs instead to a coalition of 1+1: Al-Maqdhubi ‘alayhim [those who have earned God’s Wrath] + I-Dhallin [those who had gone astray]. Outstanding hypocrites ruled, clueless useful idiots aided, abetted, and cheered; safety-seekers remained silent.
Throughout Islam’s history, hypocrites, no matter in what clothing they have appeared, be they attired in khalifah garbs, or clerics robes, or checkered suits, or black onyx cufflinks, are those who clearly and unambiguously violated God’s commands while claiming to be adherents to His Order. Hypocrites are indeed top contenders on a list of those who earn God’s Wrath.[2]
From the martyrdom of Imam Ali (AS) onward, we observe two chronologically parallel but cardinally divergent developments in Islam. One relates to the establishment of ruthless, corrupt, and transgressing regimes and dynasties decorated with hypocrisy and armed with oppression under the rubric of Islam, the religion that expressly forbids and categorically rejects both hypocrisy and oppression.
The other is the formation of a Shi’a Nihzat or movement guided and successively led by eleven Imams succeeding Imam Ali (AS) and faqihs, as informed and pious surrogates, according to Shi’a Twelve-Imami. The Shi’a Nihzat (movement) has aimed to accomplish two major tasks: 1) Prevent deviance in Islam and teachings of Quran; and 2) To return the leadership of Muslim Ummah to the rightful Wali or Imam, the last of whom is Imam Mahdi (Allayhu-Salaam wa Salawaat). And the latter task is not accomplish until and unless a given condition is fulfilled:
“For sure, God does not change the condition of any people/nation unless and until they change their own conditions.” Quran, Surah (Ra’ad), Verse 11:12-21.
The lessons from the above verse for case examples used in this essay series are twofold: One is that people must change that which is within them related to their Nafs that makes them such dimwits and so vulnerable to manipulation and hypocrisy, and the other is for people themselves to take practical and sound steps (i.e. not wait for others to do things for them) to reform their own condition. Otherwise, even if a thousand wise, pious, and infallible imams are sent by God for every generation, they would all be killed and people would remain none the wiser.
Sending out my SOS as lucky to have one convention temp gig but another is not arising and suddenly I cannot simply write checks, but write for a living.
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