Among Outsiders

The second sermon in the series Estranged: Joining Creation as God's Servant.After learning how companionship changes among those who share the same spiritual path, we now turn toward those who do not. Most of our lives are not spent only among people who share our formation, understand our inward concerns, or recognize the terrain Allah has allowed us to traverse. We return to family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, and communities where others may be standing at very different places along the path. How do we remain among them without becoming harsh, demanding, or estranged?In this sermon, we explore the sacred responsibility of safeguarding the sirr, the secret place between the servant and Allah, while returning to ordinary life. What Allah opens within us is not something to impose upon everyone around us. The servant learns instead to look upon others with tenderness and mercy, leave people to their own states, refrain from burdening them with disciplines they have not entered, patiently bear rough character, and know when distance itself becomes necessary to preserve what Allah has established within the heart.Drawing upon the Qur'an, the Prophetic Sunnah, and the enduring wisdom of the great masters of spiritual wayfaring, this sermon also confronts the more dangerous threat that remains within. The one whom Allah has carried farther along the path cannot lower his standard simply because those around him carry less. Knowledge removes excuses. The one who has never stepped onto the trail may stand in safety. But the one whom Allah has brought across it, even after returning to level ground, still stands in peril.Produced by Hanbali Disciples.Preserve the Tradition. Become a Patron.https://www.hanbalidisciples.com/patrons