THE DRUZES:
DOCTRINES IN BRIEF
When we originally wrote this, all we had were very dated accounts. We have more accounts available to us now, and will eventually add them to what is included below. What follows is a transcription, mainly, from the original hand-written manuscript. Have patience, if some of this material is in need of correction, and feel free to mail us those corrections!
Now we enter into a brief survey of the Druze doctrines. They are quite interesting, from what we have available to us, which is not much. As we proceed, let us see if indeed there are parallels to the Johannite traditions, or the Ophites, or any of the other strands of the Authentic Tradition that had their birth in Mesopotamia. And, too, if there is any connection between the doctrines of the Druzes and the Rose+Croix. The Britannica article gives a fair rundown of the system, and so does Legenda 25 (already quoted in an earlier segment).
Druse religion is a secret faith, and the following account is given with all reserves. There are many indications that a more primitive cult, containing elements of Nature worship, preceded it, and still survives in the popular practices of the more remote Druse districts, e.g. in the eastern Hauran. The Muwahhidin (Unitarians), as the Druses call themselves, believe that there is one and only one God, indefinable, incomprehensible, ineffable, passionless. He has made himself known to men by successive incarnations, of which the last was Hakim, the sixth Fatimit’e caliph. How many these incarnatiOns have been is stated variously; but seventy, one for each period of the world, seems the best-attested number. Jesus appears to be accepted as one such incarnation, but not Mahomet, although it is agreed that, in his time, the “ Universal Intelligence ‘ (see later) was made flesh, in the person of Mikdad al-Aswad. No further incarnation can now take place: in Hakim a final appeal was made to mankind, and after the door of mercy had stood open to all for twenty-six years, it was finally and for ever closed. When the tribulation of the faithful has reached its height, Hakim will reappear to conquer the world and render his religion supreme. Druses, believed to be dispersed in China, will return to Syria. The combined body of the Faithful will take Mecca, and finally Jerusalem, and all the world will accept the Faith. The first of the creatures of God is the Universal Intelligence or Spirit, impersonated in Hamza, Hakim’s vizier. This Spirit was the creator of all subordinate beings, and alone has immediate communion with the Deity. Next in rank, and equally supporting the throne of the Almighty, are four Ministering Spirits, the Soul, the Word, the Right Wing and the Left Wing, who, in Hakim’s time, were embodied respectively in Ismael Darazi, Mahommed ibn Wahab, Selama ibn Abd alWahal and Baha ud-Din; and beneath these again are spiritual agents of various ranks. The material world is an emanation from, and a “ mirror” of, the Divine Intelligence. The number of human beings admits neither of increase nor of decrease, and a regular process of metempsychosis goes on continually. The souls of the virtuous pass after death into ever new incarnations of greater perfection, till at last they reach a point at which they can he re-absorbed into the Deity itself; those of the wicked may be degraded to the level of camels or dogs. All previous religions are mere types of the true, and their sacred books and observances are to be interpreted allegorically. The Gospel and the Koran are both regarded as inspired books, but not as religious guides. The latter function is performed solely by the Druse Scriptures. As the admission of converts is no longer permitted, the faithful are enjoined to keep their doctrine secret from the profane; and in order that their allegiance may not bring them into danger, they are allowed (like Persian mystics) to make outward profession of whatever religion is dominant around them. To this latter indulgence is to be attributed the apparent indifferentism’ which leads to their joining Moslems in prayers and ablutions, or sprinkling themselves with holy water in Maronite churches. Obedience is required to the seven commandments of Hamza,
the first and greatest of which enjoins truth in words (but only those of Druse speaking with Druse);
the second, watchfulness over the safety of the brethren;
the third, absolute renunciation of every other religion;
the fourth, complete separation from all who are in error;
the fifth, recognition of the unity of “ Our Lord “in all ages;
the sixth, complete resignation to his will;
and the seventh, complete obedience to his orders.
Prayer, however, is regarded as an impertinent interference with the Creator; while, at the same time, instead of the fatalistic predestination of Mahommedanism, the freedom of the human will is distinctly maintained.
Not only is the charge of secrecy rigidly obeyed in regard to the alien world, but full initiation into the deeper mysteries of the creed is permitted only to a speciar class designated Akils, (Arabic’Akl, intelligence), in contradistinction from whom all other members of the Druse community, whatever may be their position or attainments, are called Jahel, the Ignorant. About 15 % of the adult population belong to the order of Akils. Admission is granted to any Druse of either sex who expresses willingness to conform to the laws of the society, and during a year of probation gives sufficient proof of sincerity and stability of purpose. There appears to be no formal distinction of rank among the various members; and though the amir, Beshir Shehab, used to appoint a sheikh of the Akils, the person thus distinguished obtained no primacy over his fellows. Exceptional influence depends upon exceptional sanctity or ability. All are required to abstain from tobacco and wine; the women used not to he allowed to wear gold or silver, or silk or brocade, but this rule is commonly broken now; and although neither celibacy nor retirement from the affairs of the world is either imperative or customary, unusual respect is shown to those who voluntarily submit themselves to ascetic discipline. While the Akils mingle frankly with the common people, and are remarkably free from clerical pretension, they’ are none the less careful to maintain’ their privileges.
They are distinguished by the wearing of a white turban, emblematic of the purity of their life. Their food must be purchased with money lawfully acquired; and lest they shotild unwittingly partake of any that is ceremonially unclean, they require those Jahels, whose hospitality they share, to supply their wants from a store set apart for their exclusive use.
The ideal Akil is grave, calm and dignified, with an infinite capacity of keeping a secret, and a devotion that knows no limits to the interests of his creed.
On Thursday evening, the commencement of the weekly day of rest, the members of the order meet together in the various districts, probably for the reading of their sacred books and consultation on matters of ecclesiastical or political importance.
Their meeting-houses, khalivas, are plain, unornamenteci edifices. These have property attached to them, the revenues of which are consecrated to the relief of the poor and the demands of hospitality. In the eastern Hauran, there are hill-top shrines containing each a black stone, on which rugs, &c., are hung, and these seem to perpetuate features of pre-Islamic Arabian cult, including the sacrifice of animals, e.g. goats. They are held in reverence by the Bedouins. The women assemble in the khalwas at the same time as the men, a part of the space being fenced off for them by a semi-transparent black veil. Even while the Akils are assembled, strangers are readily enough admitted to the khalwas; but as long as these are present the ordinary ceremonies are neglected, and the Koran takes the place of the Druse Scriptures. It has been frequently asserted that the image of a calf is kept in a niche, and traces of phallic and gynaecocratic worship have been vaguely suspected; but there is no authentic information in support of ‘either statement. The calf, if calf there be, is probably a symbol of the execrable heresy of Darazi, who is frequently styled the calf by his Orthodox opponents. Ignorance is the mother of suspicion as well as of superstition; and accordingly the Christian inhabitants of the Lebanon have long been persuaded that the Druses in their secret assemblies are guilty of the most nefarious practices. For this allegation, so frequently repeated by European writers, there seems to be little evidence; and it is certain that the sacred books of the religion contain moral teaching of a high order on the whole.
As a formulated creed, the Druse system is not a thousand years old. In the year A.D. 996 (386 AJI.) Hakim Biamrillahi (i.e. he who judges by the command of God), sixth of the Fatimite caliphs (third in Egypt), began to reign; and during the next twenty-five years he indulged in a tyranny at once so terrible and so fantastic that little doubt can be entertained of his insanity. He believed that he held direct intercourse with the deity, or even that he was an incarnation of the divine intelligence; and in A.D. 1016 (407 A.IL) his claims were made known in the mosque at Cairo, and supported by the testimony of Ismael Darazi. The people showed such bitter hostility to the new gospel that Darazi was compelled to seek safety in flight; but even in absence he was faithful to his god, and succeeded inwinning over certain ignorant inhabitants of Lebanon. According to the Druses, this great conversion took place in AD. 1019 (410 A.H.). Meanwhile the endeavours of the caliph to get his divinity acknowledged by the people of Cairo continued. The advocacy of Hasan ibn Haidara Fergani was without acail; but in 1017 (408 A.H.) the new religion found a more successful apostle in the person of Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmed, a Persian mystic, felt-maker by trade, who became Hakim’s vizier, gave form and substance to his creed, and by an ingenious adaptation of its various dogmas to the prejudices of existing sects, finally enlisted an extensive body of adherents. In 1020 (411 Au.) the caliph was assassinated by contrivance of his sister Sitt ul-Mulk; but it was given out by Hamza that he had only’ withdrawn for aseason, and his followers were encouraged to look forward with confidence to his triumphant return. Darazi, who had acted independently in his apostolate, was branded by Hamza as a heretic, and thus, by a curious anomaly, he is actually held in detestation by the very sect which perhaps bears his name. The propagation of the faith in accordance with Hamza’s initiation was undertaken by Ismael ibn Mahommed Tamimi, Mahommed ibn Wahab, Abul-Khair Selama ibn Abd al-Wahal ibn Samurri, and Moktana Baha ud-Din, the last of whom became known by his writings from Constantinople to the borders of India. In two letters addressed to the emperors Constantine VIII. and Michael the Paphlagonian he endeavoured to prove that the Christian Messiah reappeared in the person of Hamza.
It is possible, even probable, that the segregation of the Druses as a people dates only from the adoption of Hamza’s creed. But when it is recalled that other inhabitants of the same mountain. system, e.g. the Maronites, the Ansarieh, the Metawali and the “Isma’ilites,” also profess creeds which, like the Druse system, differ from Sunni Islam in the important feature of admitting incarnations of the Deity, it is impossible not to suspect that Hamza’s emissaries only gave definition and form to beliefs long established in this part of the world. Many of the fundamental ideas of Druse theology belong to a common. West Asiatic stock; but the peculiar history of the Mountain is no doubt responsible for beliefs, held elsewhere by different peoples, being combined there in a single creed. Some allowance, too, must be made for the probability that Hamza’s system owed something to doctrines Christian and other, with which the metropolitan position of Cairo brought Fatimite society into contact.
From the above, it is clear that the Druzes are a form of Gnostic survival. We cannot say that they form the sect which conferred initiation on the Knights Templars. They are not, from what we gather, this sect of Johannites. However, they do seem to be a survival of the religion that HAS ALWAYS EXISTED in the area, the one which we have described in the treatment of El Shaddai, of the Lebanon, and of the traditions pertaining to the Axe. In the Crusades, Saladin employed the Druzes in the same manner as the Crusaders employed the Maronites, as Mercenaries. They were the Sandinistas of their day, as the Maronites were the Contras, and the Knights, the CIA! It is rather funny that Nesta Webster would try to link groups like this to the Jewish Peril she created, since today, perhaps one of the most famous Druzes in history, Yasir Arafat, is one of the Israelis' biggest enemies, like Albert Pike is the biggest enemy still, of all the bigots and fanatics who continue to misrepresent him with their wacked up quotes.
To conclude this survey of the Druze Doctrine, we shall extract from the work of a Druze writer.
i. From Chapter 3: God and the Universe.
Man's Restlessness.
Man, by his very nature, is a being who seeks knowledge. Among living beings, man alone possesses the power to comprehend, infer, and think in a sophisticated manner. It is by means of this power, which we call reason, and because of man's longing for satisfying his intellectual needs, that man is in constant quest for more knowledge. The more he seeks knowledge, the more conscious he gets of his need for further knowledge. The more he progresses, the more he finds himself compelled to inquire about other questions, broader in scope and deeper in meaning.
This is the secret behind what we call existential unrest. Due to this type of existentialism, which agitates in one's own self, man has endeavored to seek happiness and peace of mind. In this endeavor man finds that he is always asking himself questions and attempting to find answers to them.
Conscious of his existence in this world, man strives to discover his relations with the world outside himself. Is he dependent on this world, or does he move freely without any restrictions imposed on him by the world which exists outside him? Whether he moves freely or by an outside factor, what makes him move, live, die or come into existence? And where did he come from, and where is he going to end? And what about the world outside himself? Does it move accidentally, or according to a definite plan? If it moves by accident, why does it do so? And if it moves according to a plan, again why does it do so? This leads man to inquire about cause and effect. What caused the world to exist? What caused man to be as he is? Here man begins to inquire about God.
God in the Druze Faith.
During the course of time, God has been pictured in different ways. Not to mention the many pagan concepts, God has been believed to be the Creator of the Universe. It has been believed that He created the heaven and the earth when He wished to create them, and that He is the Ruler of this universe, yet He is higher and far beyond all Being.
With its intellectual foundation and revolutionary spirit, the Druze doctrine could not be satisfied with this concept of God. It did not believe that God is only above this existence, but that God is Existence itself. For if God were only beyond and only higher than this universe, then He would be limited by the universe, since the universe would be outside Him. This hypothesis obviously leads to a notion of plurality: God and the universe. Plurality is only possible within space and time. How then can God be one when there is something outside Him? And how can He be eternal when He is within time and space? And how can He be unlimited when He is limited? God is not therefore only beyond the universe, nor is He only higher than it; God is Existence as such, and accordingly He is the only Existent; nothing outside Him exists. He is the Whole. No limitation can be attributed to Him. He is unlimited. Hamza ibn 'Ali tells us about God:
He does not occupy a definite place, for He would be limited to it, and other places would be vacant from Him. There is no place where He is not, or else His power would be deficient. He is neither first, for this would imply a notion related to a last, nor is He the end, for this would make Him have a beginning. Neither is He external, for this would necessitate a notion related to something internal, nor is He internal, for He would be irrevocably covered by something external. Such appellations necessarily lead to a notion of correlation with something else. Neither do I say that He has a soul or a spirit, for He would then be like created beings, susceptible to progress and regression. Nor do I say of Him that He has a person or a body or a corporeality [of any sort] or a figure or a substance or any extrinsic qualities, because each of these attributes necessarily implies a position relative to six limitations: above and below, right and left, in front of and behind. Anything which can be given an attribute is in need of that attribute. Furthermore, each of these six limitations requires by necessity six more of the same limitations, and so on, progressively and endlessly. God the Exalted, glory be to Him, is too great to be associated with numbers or with beings whatever they may be, together or individually. Neither do I say of Him that He is a being, for a being is subject to destruction. Nor do I say that He is not a being, for a non-being is merely naught. Nor is He on a thing, because He would then be subject to it. Nor is He in a thing, because He would be limited to it. Nor is He dependent on a thing, because He would be in need of it. He is neither standing nor sitting, neither asleep nor awake, and there is naught which is similar to Him. He is neither going nor coming nor passing through or by. Neither is He non-physical nor corporeal, neither powerful nor weak. Our Lord, glory be to Him, is exalted over names, attributes, genera and expressions, and over all things. However, I must say, for comprehension and not for reality, that He is the Creator of all things, Who brought all things into being and gave them their forms. From His light originated all things, whether absolute or partial, and all things go back to His divine greatness and dominion. [Epistle 13.]
All that we can say of God is that He is Existence in its very reality. All existing things derive their existence from Him. "His being," therefore, as Isma'il ibn Muhammad says, "is more real than any other being." [Epistle 39.] "He is the One," says Hamza ibn 'Ali, "but without being numerical." [Epistles 33 and 35.] The numerical one presupposes another numerical one, and so on; while the One Who is God, the divine Unity, is infinite and unlimited and perfect. He contains all things without being divisible like the numerical one, which can be divided into an endless number of fractions. He is the Whole of existence, inasmuch as He is the One, not in so far as He is the sum total of existing things. Existing things are expressions of God's Unity, they are not parts that constitute a whole; because if one of those existing things ceased to exist, the divine Unity, the One, does not diminish.
This is the belief in God that the Druzes hold. They term it Tawhid, an Arabic word which denotes a belief in unity of being. I prefer to use Tawhid in its untranslated form to emphasize the full meaning of the word. A translation of the word, such as monism, could not convey the meaning of Tawhid in its entirety, since such a translation might also imply other meanings which should not be part of the word. I therefore will continue to use the word Tawhid throughout the text. For the adherents of this belief, I will use the word Muwahhidun, whose singular is Muwahhid.
We must refrain from extracting the entire chapter here. Suffice it to say, there are plenty of parallels with Gnostic ideas, and with ideas current among the Isma'ili Gnostics.
Rasâ’il al-hikma (Epîtres de la sagesse). Syrie, 1822-23.
[Arabe 1422 / f. 2v] Début d’une épître : Al-risâla al-dâmigha li l-fâsiq, al-radd ‘alâ al-Nusayrî (Epître qui extermine le débauché, réfutation d’al-Nusayrî). Just click on the (next) arrow top left, there's 4-5 pages..
http://www.druzenet.org/druzenet/dnenglish.html
In short, we see a group that transcends the Yezidis in its metaphysical speculations and actually has some ties to the ancient Gnosis. From the way in which the outsiders describe them, we would not necessarily get this insight into the Druzes. However, when analyzed by a Druze Shaykh, things are very different indeed. Perhaps not the Johannite Gnosis, but the Gnosis all the same. And, we find, a fitting conclusion to this part of the work.