Guide The Weird Orient; Nine Mystic Tales from Morocco

Called Narconon , the week course, which costs tens of thousands of dollars, is extremely controversial. The course, which involves massive doses of vitamins and intense periods in a sauna, has been linked to deaths.

Hubbard was an enthusiastic user of several drugs, from cannabis to amphetamines to tobacco, all of which he advocated as intellectual aids. Hubbard was rarely seen without a cigarette in his mouth, and his addiction to cigarettes and nicotine continued throughout his life, in full view of his followers to whom he advocated a pure life free of unhealthy vices. As his organization grew in power and wealth, so too did the suspicion with which many governments and bodies regarded L.

Eventually, in an attempt to get away from his pursuers and creditors, he decided to set sail with a fleet of ships and loyal followers.

It was around this time that Hubbard became interested in the concept of past lives as the source of current troubles, and he suddenly remembered his past lives vividly. Hubbard claimed to have been a Roman tax collector as well as an alien race car driver, two items that are sure to give you an edge on your resume. Hubbard also claimed to recall treasure that he had buried in past lives , and his fleet sailed the world hoping to uncover this hidden bounty.

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While there, the Scientologists attempted to ingratiate themselves to the Moroccan king Hassan II pictured above , training government officials in Scientology techniques and using their E-meter devices to read members of government and ensure their spiritual wellness. Fat, sweaty, rich, and full of megalomaniacal desire?

Ron Hubbard attached himself and his teachings to numerous religious traditions at various times, but one of the most bizarre was his claim to be the coming of a foretold Buddhist messiah. The Maitreya is a sort of Buddhist Second Coming, an enlightened one who will come in the future to succeed the present Buddha the fat, laughing Siddhartha and bring about world peace and enlightenment.

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During the turmoil of the Mongol invasion he became a political opponent of Persian Rumi. He was addressed in Masnavi by juha anecdotes for this reason. He became the vazir at the court of Kaykaus II. Having lived in numerous cities in vast area and being steadfastly against the Mongol invasion as well as having his witty character, he was embraced by various nations and cultures from Turkey to Arabia, from Persia to Afghanistan, and from Russia to China, most of which suffered from those invasions.

As generations have gone by, new stories have been added to the Nasreddin corpus, others have been modified, and he and his tales have spread to many regions. The themes in the tales have become part of the folklore of a number of nations and express the national imaginations of a variety of cultures.

Although most of them depict Nasreddin in an early small-village setting, the tales deal with concepts that have a certain timelessness. They purvey a pithy folk wisdom that triumphs over all trials and tribulations. The oldest manuscript of Nasreddin dates to Today, Nasreddin stories are told in a wide variety of regions, especially across the Muslim world and have been translated into many languages.

Some regions independently developed a character similar to Nasreddin, and the stories have become part of a larger whole. In many regions, Nasreddin is a major part of the culture, and is quoted or alluded to frequently in daily life. Since there are thousands of different Nasreddin stories, one can be found to fit almost any occasion. Some people say that, whilst uttering what seemed madness, he was, in reality, divinely inspired, and that it was not madness but wisdom that he uttered.

Victory of the Deen and Nazaruddin.

It is sometime preceded or followed by a title or honorific used in the corresponding cultures: In several cultures he is named by the title alone. Juha was originally a separate folk character found in Arabic literature as early as the 9th century, and was widely popular by the 11th century. In the Swahili and Indonesian culture, many of his stories are being told under the name of "Abunuwasi" or "Abunawas", though this confuses Nasreddin with an entirely different man — the poet Abu Nuwas , known for homoerotic verse.

The Uyghurs believe that he was from Xinjiang , while the Uzbeks believe he was from Bukhara. The musical Nasirdin Apandim features the legend of Nasreddin effendi "sir, lord" , largely sourced from Uighur folklore. In Central Asia, he is commonly known as "Afandi". The Central Asian peoples also claim his local origin, as do Uyghurs. The Nasreddin stories are known throughout the Middle East and have touched cultures around the world.

Superficially, most of the Nasreddin stories may be told as jokes or humorous anecdotes. They are told and retold endlessly in the teahouses and caravanserais of Asia and can be heard in homes and on the radio. But it is inherent in a Nasreddin story that it may be understood at many levels. There is the joke, followed by a moral and usually the little extra which brings the consciousness of the potential mystic a little further on the way to realization.

Nasreddin was the main character in a magazine, called simply Molla Nasraddin , published in Azerbaijan and "read across the Muslim world from Morocco to Iran". Sumptuous jewel-encrusted palaces, all-powerful rulers without scruple or mercy, houri-like princesses of irresistible beauty, Jinns, wizards and dromedaries - all you would hope for and expect from such a collection, and something different besides. Only a sparer, less showy prose could have improved this collection. Steven Gallegos rated it liked it Jul 25, Randolph marked it as to-read Jan 18, Tamara marked it as to-read Feb 19, Charles Schneider marked it as to-read Jan 09, Lynne King marked it as to-read Aug 25, Alanna Clemett marked it as to-read Oct 26, Ves Ivanova marked it as to-read Jan 07, Leonorteixeira marked it as to-read Mar 25, Alia marked it as to-read Apr 04, Kelly Bruck marked it as to-read Apr 10, Zara Riches marked it as to-read Apr 14, Roundwater marked it as to-read May 27, Bethlehem Dejene marked it as to-read Jun 23, Hafsa marked it as to-read May 04, Jessica Brannan marked it as to-read Jun 26, James Cook marked it as to-read Jul 06, Lisa Wilkinson added it Nov 13, Kimberly Perez marked it as to-read Dec 29, Hamid Hamzehnezhad marked it as to-read Feb 20, Olivia Lewis marked it as to-read Mar 09,