Even on the day of judgment he promotes and demotes whomsoever he pleases, a sort of proxy or demiurge for the divine Ḥākim. the Karbiyyah doctrine in al-Baghdādi, ed. I, pp. They belonged in the main to the Qarāmiṭah and Ismā‘īliyyah sects, from which Druzism sprang, and to certain Ṣūfi fraternities. Friedlaender, Journal American Oriental Society, XXIX, I 16. Then follows the ceremonial rite of induction. The Druze enjoyed considerable autonomy under the Ottoman Empire and often rebelled against it, protected from direct Ottoman control by the mountainous terrain of their homelands. Druze soldiers have since fought for Israel in every Arab-Israeli war. 7, His argument in defense of deification is clever:—"If ye Christians and Jews believe that God spoke to Moses through a dry tree and, on another occasion, through a mountain . Among Syrians, this revolt is remembered as the nation’s first nationalist uprising. Unitarians:—The Druze conception of the deity is declared by them to be one of strict and uncompromising unity. . Origins of the Druze People and Religion, by Philip K. Hitti, [1924], at sacred-texts.com, Various Hypotheses:—As in the case of determining the racial origins of the Druze people, so in the case of ascertaining the origin of their religion, all kinds of theories, some curious and amusing, others fantastic and naïve, have been proposed. The communities are located along the western edges of the Lebanon Mountains as well as in the southeastern portion of the country, and the total Druze population numbers well over 300,000. Cf. cit., III, 7; Appendix C. 32:1 Cf. This device put at once into the hands of the Shī‘ah schismatic sects a powerful weapon which dealt deadly blows to the core of Islam leaving only its outside shell. 3 The list of substitutes includes Ishmael, Aaron, Simon and ‘Ali, and that of disciples, Enoch, Daniel, Plato and other biblical and Greek characters. According to Druze doctrine the "return" of al-Ḥakīm will result in the triumph of the Unitarian religion and the worldly reward of its adherents, who will thus become high office-holders, to the discomfiture and affliction of all infidels and apostates who are then metamorphosed into menial servants, swine and dogs. By different authors at different times the Druze religion was thought to be related to ancient Judaism, Samaritanism and Mandaeism. 34:3 There was a hierarchy of missionaries graded into Dā‘i, Ma’dhūn, and Mukāsir. Druze, small Middle Eastern religious sect characterized by an eclectic system of doctrines and by a cohesion and loyalty among its members (at times politically significant) that have enabled them to maintain for centuries their close-knit identity and distinctive faith. III, p. 100. 36:4 Sabab al-Asbāb w-al-Kanz, MS., also in Le Monde Oriental (Uppsala, 2909), vol. Ṣūfism began as asceticism, became in succession mystical and theosophical, and finally advanced to extreme pantheism. Prior to the rise of Druzism, different Shī‘ah sects have held different shades of the belief that ‘Ali and his successor Imāms were infallible supernatural beings endowed to some degree with the divine essence. ), III, 24—Sumniyyah is the term applied to the Indian sects which influenced many Moslems. Darazi, one of the founders of the Druze system—if system it could be called—was a Bāṭini missionary, as we are told by many of his biographers. From the 16th to the 19th century, a series of powerful feudal lords dominated Druze political life. The Process of Emanation:—Having accepted the Allah of the Mu‘tazilah and "Brethren of Purity," already reduced to a flimsy abstraction, the Druze mind could not rest until it had personified God's mind, will, word, &c., and made separate beings out of each of them, constituting the five supreme ministers (Ḥudūd, literally, bounds or precepts). Certain Moslem sects, like the Muḥammadiyyah, went so far as to declare the divinity of Adam. The Druze have shrines that they visit frequently, called mazar or maqam, located on the tops or sides of hills and mountains. At that point, proselytism ended, and the Druze ceased to recognize conversions to the faith. one of the most baffling in the history of religious thought. The antecedent of this general idea should be sought in the abrogation by Muḥammad of the Jewish law 4 and is in harmony, though not identical, with the Marcionite Gnostic theories. of a Buddhist book. For all members, friends and fans of the Druze community in South Australia. first enacted by the ‘Abbāsid al-Mutawakkil, which made it incumbent upon all Christians to wear distinctively colored clothes with heavy wooden crosses dangling from their necks, were equally merciless in his condemnation. 2. Essenes is similar to these topics: Sadducees, Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period, Jewish Christian and more. Once admitted to the favored rank, the Sheikh begins to wear a heavy white turban, and abstains from gaudy colors, swearing and obscene language. Seven a Sacred Number:—As in the case of the "periods" between the successive incarnations, so in the case of the prophetic successions, the "periods" or, "cycles" are all nicely arranged and determined by cabalistic figuring in which the numbers seven and seventy, 1 as is to be expected, take a prominent place. Whimsical Character of al-Ḥakīm:—The basic and distinctive dogma of Druze theology is the deification of the young Fāṭimite Caliph (996-1020). The Pythagorean origin of this system of computation is not difficult to detect. 2 Adam heads the list which includes Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus (‘Īsa ibn-Yūsuf), Muḥammad, and Muḥammad ibn-Ismā‘il. 28:7 R. Dussaud, Histoire et Religion des Nosairis (Paris, 1904), p. 53. In fact certain conservative canonists, like the puritan ibn-Taymiyyah (1263-1328 A.D.), whose legal system greatly influenced the rise of the Wahhābi movement in Nejd, went so far as to express a religious opinion (fatwa) favoring "warring against the Druzes as a more meritorious duty than warring against the Armenians, because the former are included in the Moslem territory but are not of it." Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. During the Crusades, Druze soldiers aided the Ayyūbid and later Mamlūk forces by resisting Crusader advances at the Lebanese coast. One of the most famous of them was the 17th-century ruler Fakhr al-Dīn II of the house of Maʿn, who forged a coalition with the Maronite Christians of the Lebanon Mountains and challenged Ottoman authority by allying with Tuscany. De Essenen waren een joodse religieuze stroming die actief was tussen ± 150 v.Chr. After local success, Syrian nationalists outside the Druze community joined the revolt, and the rebellion spread throughout the region and into Damascus before it was suppressed in 1927. 3, To this same sphere of thought should be consigned the recent Bahā’i theory of divine manifestations which is an outgrowth of Bābi and Sheikhite ideas which in turn flourished in the fertile Shī‘ah soil of Persia. en 70 n.Chr., toen de Romeinen de Joodse Opstand neersloegen. In contrast to the Druze ten successive incarnations, the Nuṣayriyyah believe in seven only, corresponding to the seven heavens and the seven planets. So did the Ismā‘īliyyah prophets. 246, 274, 362; E. G. Browne, Persian Literature under Tartar Dominion (Cambridge University Press, 1920), pp. They lie not far from Bāniyās, ancient Caesarea Philippi. Below these inferior ministers stand the rank and file of Druze believers. Competing with the Jumblatts in leadership of the Druze has been the Arslan family, often found on the opposite side of Lebanese politics. 41:3 Al-‘Umari, al-Ta‘rīf bi-al-Muṣṭalaḥ al-Sharīf (Cairo, 1312 A.H.); Cf. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Nonetheless, despite their rivalry, the two families have at times put their differences aside and formed alliances to protect their common interests. John was a very public figure. Moreover, unlike the Jumblatts, the Arslans have enjoyed strong relations with Syria. . Sunni Moslem historians, such as al-Dhahabi, ibn-al-Athīr, abu-al-Fida, ibn-al-Qalānisi, 1 al-Rūdhrāwari 2 and ibn-Khallikān, 3 remembering him as the heretic who abolished the five pillars of Islam and ordered the names of the early Caliphs associated with a curse in the public prayer, have portrayed him in terms of a medieval Nero, tyrannical and unbalanced to the point of mental derangement. The Druze faith originated in Egypt as an offshoot of Ismaʿīlī Shīʿism when, during the reign of the sixth Fāṭimid caliph, the eccentric al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh (ruled 996–1021), some Ismaʿīlī theologians began to organize a movement proclaiming al-Ḥākim a divine figure. First among these was al-Saba’iyyah, so called after a Jew who declared ‘Ali god. The encyclopaedic author of al-Fihrist 4 († 996) quotes at some length from an archaic version. Bedr (Cairo, 1910), partly done into English by Kate Chambers Seelye and entitled Moslem Schisms and Sects (New York, 1920). In 1017 the doctrine was publicly preached for the first time, causing riots in Cairo. 136 seq. 30:4 This science is represented in Islam by the "Ḥurūfi" school and the Bektāshi order of dervishes. 292-329. He is rather the Moslem Jesus patterned after the conception of him by the ancient heretic sect of the Docetae who held that Christ suffered only in appearance. Marriage, Divorce and Succession in the Druze Family. 1982. 5 talking about this. John had a much stricter diet (Luke 7:33) than did the Essenes. The Druze faith is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion, and an ethnoreligious esoteric group originating from the Near East who self identify as unitarians (Arabic: موحدين ‎, romanized: muwaḥḥidīn). 370-375; Browne, "Literature and Doctrine of the Ḥurūfi Sect," Journal Royal Asiatic Society, Jan., 1898. ; p. 185. Explore more on Druze. Adib al-Shishakli in 1954. He is wise, mighty, just, &c., not by wisdom, might, justice, &c., but by his own essence. A tradition (ḥadīth) puts in the mouth of the Prophet himself the following words: "The Qadarites are the Magians of my people." All of this is in connection with a proposed book on the Mandaeans. The Druze faith gradually died out in Egypt but survived in isolated areas of Syria and Lebanon, where missionaries had established significant communities. He identifies Ḥamzah with Christ and finds in the "three days" in which Jesus said he could rebuild the temple direct reference to Ḥamzah. See also Flügel, Mani (Leipzig, 1862), pp. Jumblatt was given several cabinet posts throughout his political career; he was appointed minister of the interior because his pull with various communities put him in a unique position to manage the internal affairs of the country. 31:1 Ḥamzah may have had a hand in the conspiracy. 39:1 "Insān Qadīm" in al-Fihrist, ed. Like his father, he was often placed in the position of kingmaker in the country. 3, 17, 520 and Chap. The population of Jat today numbers some 8,000. The Essenes were a Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE. Its psychological basis should surely be sought in the strong but unfulfilled desires and hopes of a persecuted and depressed people (as the Shī‘ah were under the Umayyads and ‘Abbāsids) with the supreme ambition for a saviour-leader whose coming shall usher in for them a new era of liberty and prosperity. The Historical Setting:—Viewed as a distinct religious phenomenon, as an independent sphere of thought detached from its historical setting and background, Druzism does present somewhat of an enigma; but considered as an outgrowth of the Ismā‘īliyyah sect, which itself belonged to the ultra group of the Shī‘ah heterodoxies of Islam, and properly envisaged in the Moslem milieu out of which it arose and in which it developed, the Druze religion yields to analytical treatment and becomes comparatively easy of explanation. 26:6 Abu-al-Faraj ibn-al-‘Ibri, Mukhtaṣar al-Duwal (Beirūt, 1890), pp. The third minister, the "Word," is presumably an echo of the Christian Alexandrian Logos. 29:1 Abu-al-Fida, op. His opposition to Camille Chamoun, including instigating an uprising against him in 1958, also helped earn him widespread respect among Arab nationalists. 0 0. They live primarily in the Galilee and the Golan Heights, and are classified as a separate religious group, with their own courts and their own jurisdiction in matters such as marriage, divorce, and adoption.. The Essenes And Qumran Term paper. Drusen are yellow deposits that are found under the retina in one or both eyes. 42:2 Kitāb al-Ḥayawān (Cairo, 1323 A.H.), IV, 146-147. What Are Their Beliefs? The Druze … The Essenes did not recognize Jesus as Messiah, but they thought that the Teacher of Righteousness would himself be an Essene. 37:3 Al-Tamīmi, Taqsīm al-‘Ulūm, MS.; Ḥamzah, Mīthāq al-Nisā’, MS. 38:3 Al-Tamīmi, Taqsīm al-‘Ulūm, MS.; ‘Abd-al-Ghaffār, Majra al-Zamān, MS. = Henri Guys, Théogonie des Druses ou Abrégé de leur Système Religieux, traduit de l’Arabe (Paris, 1863), pp. 34:2 Differently translated into "Rival" by de Sacy and Guys, and "Contrast" by Friedlaender. Take advantage of our Presidents' Day bonus! 32:2 See G. van Vloten, "Zur Abbasidengeschidite," ZDMG, LII, 218 seq. The Druze numbered more than 1,000,000 in the early 21st century and live mostly in Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, with smaller communities in other countries. 41:2 These precepts occur in many Druze MSS. After the Sunni leadership in Jerusalem threatened in 1942 to take control of the tomb of Jethro (called Shuʿayb by the Druze) in Tiberias, the Druze sided with Jewish forces in the 1948 war. 24:2 Springett, Secret Sects of Syria, pp. cit., pp. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. 4, Further investigation will probably reveal that the Indo-Iranian influence on the rise and the development of the Shī‘ah sects was greater than we now realize. 44-50, 55-7f. Inferior Ministers:—Below the five superior ministers and standing in a subordinate position to them are three orders of minor ministers which we may term: "Propagator" (Dā‘ī), "Licensed" (Ma’dhūn), and "Pioneer" (Mukāsir or Naqīb). Druze, also spelled Druse, Arabic plural Durūz, singular Darazi, small Middle Eastern religious sect characterized by an eclectic system of doctrines and by a cohesion and loyalty among its members (at times politically significant) that have enabled them to maintain for centuries their close-knit identity and distinctive faith. This makes it necessary for God to create, by emanation from the "Universal Mind," a second minister—the "Universal Soul." 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