Reflections on Exile – Golden Article

Alienation in One’s Homeland

The era when our families feared for us due to alienation has come to an end; now we find ourselves in a state of estrangement, worrying about them from our homeland.
The most intense form of alienation is that which you feel even when you are in your homeland.
Knowledge in a foreign land is a home, while ignorance in one’s homeland is a form of alienation.
Poverty in one’s homeland equates to alienation, whereas wealth in a foreign land can feel like home.
Wealth abroad can feel like home, while poverty at home creates a sense of alienation.
Freedom in foreign lands may feel like home, just as oppression can occur abroad.
My family represents my home, and without them, I experience alienation.
Alienation is not merely physical distance from one’s homeland; it is the feeling you get when you wake up in the morning without anyone to smile at.
Sometimes, alienation does not stem from the pursuit of material wealth, but from the yearning for moral richness.

Reflections on Alienation

Abu Wail Shaqiq bin Salma said: “A family places on their table a loaf of lawful bread for a household of strangers.”
Hazm bin Abi Hazm reported that we once saw Yunus on a donkey, and as we sat at the door, he stopped and said: “The one who recognizes the truth is now a stranger, and even stranger is the one who understands it.”
Farqad al-Sabakhi stated: “A stranger is someone who lacks a beloved.”
Today, I shed tears of regret for my past actions. Alas, my tears have dried due to the tragedies I witness. Yet, my patience in adversity is my strength. I wish to plant sweet words in every heart and let love travel from my heart to every window, much like ships journey to scattered islands, singing a beautiful and light melody filled with profound meanings about alienation.
I came burdened with longing, suffering in love under the tyranny of time. I send forth sincere, melodious verses. Suddenly, after all my years, I find I will not see my dearest place again, and my heart burns like an orphan in suffering. O, lands I will not see again; I lived a day in your embrace, where my soul sang and saw its youth, in gardens we played and soared in the sky. You will forever remain in my imagination like paradise.
I offer you my heart now as I part, for my love and tears will narrate the tale of longing along my path. I swear by my Creator that I will not forget you, for my love resides within, acknowledging you, my honor and my dreams of peace. You are my refuge when life turns harsh, and within my heart, you are the sail that was my lifebuoy, my passion for you enduring until death.
Abu Abbas Muhammad bin Ishaq Al-Siraj said: “What compelled you to leave?” He replied: “My brother Ismail lived here for fifty years. Upon his passing and upon hearing a man say at the burial, ‘Who is this deceased?’ I overheard: ‘A stranger who was here.’ I thought, ‘After my brother’s long stay and his renown in learning and trade, he is referred to as a stranger here.’ This remark urged me to return to my homeland.”
Ibrahim al-Harbi asked who we considered to be a stranger in our times. One said: “A stranger is one who is far from his homeland.” Another replied: “A stranger is one who is away from his loved ones.” Each offered their view until Ibrahim concluded: “A stranger today is a righteous man living among righteous people; they support him in his call for good and aid him in his admonishments. Yet when he needs worldly assistance, they overlook him. Then they pass away and leave him alone.”

The Struggles of Alienation

Alienation feels like a crumbling building, with aged ceilings that may collapse on our heads at any moment.
In alienation, do not claim to possess anything; the only thing you truly own is your dream.
Bread from one’s homeland is better than cake from abroad.
Despite remaining alienated, and even though distance may feel like exile, the soil of one’s homeland is always more valuable than the allure of foreign lands.
Three experiences can alter one’s perspective on life: the loss of a loved one, alienation, and illness.
Do not attempt to take your tree with you into estrangement for its shade, as trees do not migrate.
Alienation is an elderly woman weeping, struggling to recall her name.
Alienation is not merely distance from one’s homeland; it is also the feeling of being in a time out of sync with one’s own.
A homeland remains a homeland, no matter the pain, while alienation feels heavy regardless of the comfort it may provide.
The pains of alienation are known only by those who have lived them.
There are no lands of alienation, only travelers who find themselves as outsiders.
In every letter of alienation, there is a wound, longing, nostalgia, pain, and suffering.
Stability does not erase feelings of alienation.
In the alienation from family, loved ones, and homeland, we endure moments of strength, only to weaken at others; we smile for a moment and weep for days.
Alienation comprises a semblance of a whole; it symbolizes everything in a way.
The alienation of place may fade with time, but what is truly frightening is the alienation of the soul.
In alienation, nostalgia brings forth a pain rooted in the lament of memories.
I know that the ships at the harbor complain of boredom, but the ships at sea lament alienation, bearing witness that the season for returning home has arrived.

Alienation in Love

I admit that the last day of his life is the first day of my alienation.
Alienation renders our hearts delicate, like an ancient fabric, through which pain easily seeps; our feelings lack defenses in alienation, and we are often defeated by illusions.
Alienation is both the distance from one’s homeland and the separation from souls that once felt like home.
In alienation, it seems we find love in lands beyond our homelands.
Alienation is losing the ability to converse with one you love.
Alienation is not limited to leaving one’s homeland; it also encompasses departing from the small homelands embedded within our lives, including the hearts we cherish.
Alienation is a sorrow as searing as the sun, evaporating every cherished memory from the heart.
And what greater alienation exists than that of feelings? For while the alienation of homelands is softened by the hope of return, the separation from loved ones is similarly alleviated by hope.
I spread my alienation out like a blanket and covered myself with your love, finding myself at home, discovering a bird I had forgotten ages ago, its name is joy.
Alienation from those who see you as home is both disbelief and vice.

Lessons from Alienation

Alienation taught me that we possess many things, yet we often fail to recognize their value.
Alienation taught me to conceal my pain within, even if my eyes betray me; perhaps what hurt me in that moment was not what I had known for years.
Alienation has taught me many lessons, among which is understanding who I truly am.
Alienation reveals that it grants you much when you are an individual, yet takes more when you become part of a collective.

Expressions on the Beauty of Alienation

The most beautiful aspect of alienation is that it transforms strangers into friends and friends into brothers.
The greatest act of renewal occurs in the quietest moments of solitude and alienation.
The city that did not know me has become my own, and my alienation, which has given me a portion of itself, now feels like home.
Despite the pains and sorrows of alienation, one cannot help but occasionally venture forth, finding sweetness in suffering for the sake of remaining free and dignified; alienation and its sorrows lessen as long as they are in pursuit of noble standing.

A Poem: Steps in Alienation

This is me

Cast away, two bags

Steps traversing a pavement that does not return to a place

From a thousand ports I’ve arrived

To a thousand ports, I may yet go

And with my gaze, a thousand waits

No, I haven’t finished

No, I haven’t finished; it still remains

Your vineyards are still pregnant with promise

And the goblets remain thirsty

To drink; I fear the nights of silence awaken

The sorrowful ones

Sad Thoughts on Alienation and Longing

My story of alienation from my homeland is a sorrowful tale that I must hear, live, and engage with daily, every hour and every second; I see no end to this narrative.
Perhaps we live in alienation, or perhaps it dwells within us; it all depends on us both. When it intensifies, I yield to it; when the pressure mounts on me, I find it unyielding, as distance is harsh.
Even if it’s for education or marriage, which implies a short duration that will eventually end, that doesn’t diminish the hardship of being away from one’s homeland; a single night away feels like a thousand years.
My longing has betrayed me, as longing is a battle. How can I forget you when you are dearer than my own soul? No matter the distance, I long for you, and even upon returning, the longing remains unchanged.
I cannot claim to forget you; how could I, when you are the cherished one residing within me? My longing for you dwells in my soul, commanding my heart as yours flows through my veins, sending you greetings filled with yearning, love, and nostalgia.
He who has not tasted the bitterness of alienation knows not the meaning of longing, for longing equates to the pain one feels when parting with a piece of oneself—a pain beyond description.
I have never felt weakness as profound as now, due to my alienation and distance. I never imagined I could love my homeland to such an extent, and that absence would create a significant void in my spirit, one that three universes would struggle to fill.
Alienation begins with a strong determination and a heart of iron, which over time rusts, weakening that resolve until it becomes a tattered cloth swept away by the winds, with no strength to resist.
Welcome, my dear, welcome to that which resides in my soul, welcome to longing and the aroma of love and its breaths. Welcome, the day my spirit called for you—a greeting from me to you, as I move from (..) to (..), exceeding all boundaries, asking how you’ve been, my longing, the sweetness of my (..).