lan Dallas – The Book of Strangers

This book begins with the words, “The End” followed by a paragraph ending with the words, “La ilaha il’ Allah,” which I believe translates from the Arabic, “there is no god but God, and it is Allah.” What follows is a clerk in the State University Library undertakes to follow his predecessor as KASUL (Keeper of Archives State University Library) in a search for the book called, “The Book of Strangers” and at the end of the book, when he finally locates it, he opens it and reads the same paragraph that this book opens with.During the course of the story the KASUL talks of holding “Thursdays” in the ancient scholastic tradition. Whenever he has a meeting it’s on a Thursday. I could find no reference to “Thursdays” in the OED.The best story in a book of good Sufi stories was the one about when Lao Tzu took his Westward journey and stopped to visit Kuan Yin, his master. They sat in silence together for days, then waited on each other and finally took their leave of each other after which Lao Tzu began the writing of his famous “Tao Te Ching.” (This is the source book for the popularizations such as the Tao of Management, Tao of Leadership, and even the Tao of Pooh.)At one point a student’s persistent questioning of the Prophet draws the response, “Information, is that all you want?” Another time his attendees asked if they could lay out some food for him and he answered, “What have I to do with the world? In relation to the world, I am just like a rider who shades himself under a tree, then goes off and leaves it.”While we shade ourselves under this tree, may we rejoice in silence that we have “The Book of Strangers” as our constant friend.If none of this Sufi business makes sense to you, remember what the Prophet- blessings and peace be upon him! – said, “Weep, and if you are not able to weep, imitate weeping, that by Allah’s grace, you will be able to weep.”Review :What I remember about this book are its beginning and end. What it means to me is that, I suppose, whatever happens in the world, ‘la-il Allah el il Allah’, which is what one of the characters says in the beginning and the end. It means, ‘there is no God but God’. (Allah is the Arabic name of God.) Profound acceptance.Review :I came across this book entirely by chance, and only picked it up because the back cover claimed that it was the “Sufi Siddhartha.” Being already interested in Sufism, my curiosity was piqued. And once having read it, I felt compelled to read it again and again. This is no mere introduction to either Sufism or Islam in a purely intellectual sense, as is so common in Western books on the subject. Still less is it a “novel” intended to amuse. Rather, it is an allegory of one postmodern, Westernized individual’s journey into the Islamic Tradition. As such, I found it to be just as powerful as some of the classic allegories and poems written by the great Sufi masters of the medieval period. The plot is very simple: the story is narrated by a young man who works in a University library at some point in the near future. He is appointed to head the library after the disappearance of its former keeper. In this time, libraries are no longer merely buildings which house books, but they have been reduced to processing stations in which computers select and digest materials for scholars and students in such a manner that nothing will distract them from their area of specialization. However, the narrator becomes curious, and begins trying to solve the mystery of the previous librarian’s disappearance. He soon comes across the missing man’s journal, which contains the story of his growing dissatisfaction with modern life and his interest in ancient mystical writings as a more genuine form of knowledge. Finally, not content to merely read about the mystics of old, the vanished librarian ends his journal by confessing that he is journeying to the “desert lands” in search of living mystics from whom he can learn. The narrator very soon decides to travel in his footsteps, and departs for an unnamed location (most likely North Africa) to see what he can find out. The rest of the story details his gradual journey, first into Islam, and then into Sufism (Islam’s mystical heart), after which he changes irrevocably. The book is interesting not so much for its plot but, as in any good allegory, for the record of a man’s thoughts as he undergoes an inner transformation.While I have read many books on Islam and Sufism, I have not encountered another work quite like this one. Most books on Islam intended for Westerners pander to modern beliefs and prejudices, treating it either as a relic of the past requiring modernization or as a threatening political force. This book treats Islam not as an intellectual or historical abstraction, but rather details the thoughts of a man, initially utterly submerged in the lies and half-truths upon which modern Western society is based, as he abandons his prejudices and comes into contact with the genuine reality offered by spirituality.A brief, biographical note on the author is warranted. Ian Dallas was a Scotsman who travelled to Morocco during the 1960s and became involved with the Shadhili Sufi Order of the highly respected Shaykh Al-‘Arabi Ad-Darqawi. After reverting to Islam and studying with the Shaykh for several years (the same period during which he wrote “The Book of Strangers”), the Shaykh appointed Ian Dallas as his successor. To this day, Dallas continues to lead his Order as Shaykh Abdalqadir, and has written many books on the subject of Islam under this name (although he has written a few other works under his original name). Thus, Dallas was uniquely qualified to write this book as a record of how a Westerner can come to understand Islam from within, rather than as an outsider. As such, it is a unique bridge between the modern world of deceit and the timeless, Traditional world of the spirit. If you have any interest at all in Islam, Sufism or any spiritual Tradition as something to be experienced rather than as a mere intellectual abstraction, I highly recommend this book for you. Review :This work is a Sufi version of Hesse’s Siddhartha. It’s also a good story, and would hold the reader’s interest even if he or she had no prior knowledge of Sufism. It’s obviously a fictionalized version of the author’s discovery of Sufism and Islam, and Dallas has written in such a way that the reader gets a true feeling of the seeker’s contact with the mystical tradition of Sufism. A well-written, interesting, educational, and transforming book.**Transfer Ratio as you wish i really Want some if you canMTyler