And a Man Came from the Edge of the Town…

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There are two different men mentioned in Surat-Qisas and Surat Yasin as coming from the edge/outskirts of the town who both support the respective messengers of that chapter in the Quran.

I noticed the same wording in Damascus and I asked one of my teachers, being a student of Sheikh Adib Kallas, and at first he said it meant nothing.  Then he pondered.  He told me people who are far from other people do not get sucked up into the same mode of thought and are able to spot truth more easily and do not get caught up in group think that is dangerous.

One example of this might be in the Deep South where racism was rampant because everyone in the Deep South was caught up in it even though all of the outside observers knew this was wrong.

In sufism, I studied that spending too much time with people is problematic because you start to think too much like other people and you open yourself up to dangers such as backbiting and slander or the people you spend too much time with are better than you and you cannot afford them their rights.

Try to step out of society and think about things from a fresh perspective every now and then.  Perhaps you might gain from it.