The Druze Heritage Foundation (DHF) was established in 1999 in London, UK, on the initiative of Mr. Salim Kheireddine.The Foundation is an independent, apolitical institution whose aims are the study and preservation of Druze culture, history and lore and the dissemination of information on all matters relating to the Druze in their Arab homelands and abroad. Deeply rooted in the varied and multi-religious Arab culture of their Middle Eastern homelands, the Druze are at the same time part of a transnational society, represented by highly adaptable and law-abiding immigrant communities abroad. It is our hope that the activities of the Druze Heritage Foundation will contribute toward constructive dialogue and serve to link the diverse cultures of the world.
Research and publication
Collection and collation of oral traditions
Compilation of literary and documentary material
Sponsorship of academic studies
Organization of conferences and workshops
Mr. Salim Kheireddine (president)
Mr. Walid Abi Mershid
Mr. Faysal al-Khalil
Dr. Raouf al-Ghusayni
H. E. Mr. Marwan Kheireddine
Mr. Wassim Kheireddine
Mr. Nadim Makarem
THE Druze faith, came into being at the beginning of the eleventh century A.D. Although its headquarters were in Cairo,
this faith thrived in Mount Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon range, in Northern and Southwestern Syria, in and around Damascus and in northern Palestine.
Ironically, it was not a leader of the faith but a heretic-Nashtakin adDarazi- whose name became eponymous for the movement.
Since the sixteenth century some of the Druze, especially in Lebanon and northern Syria, have been migrating to Mount Hawran in southern Syria.
Today there is a large Druze community in this area, which is now called Jabal ad-Duruz “the Mountain of the Druzes”. Following this migration,
some Druze, especially from Jabal ad-Duruz, settled in Jordan. The Druze are thus currently centered in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan.
In the nineteenth century some Druze from Lebanon and Syria started to settle in the Americas, Australia and West Africa.
About forty thousand Druze now live in Latin America, especially in Venzuela, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico,
with smaller communities in Chile and Colombia. There are also some Druze in the West Indies and Philippines.
Several thousand others reside in the United States of America and in Canada.
The Druzes have organized associations which are active in strengthening the ties among the Druze and others of Arab origin who live abroad.
Many of them have reached important positions in the political, social, economic and cultural sectors of the countries in which they have
settled.
In the Middle East, the Druzes, although a minority, have filled an important and sometimes a leading role in the political and social life of the area and
in its economic and cultural affairs.
During the second half of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth century the Druze Emir of the Manid dynasty, Fkhruddin II,
was the first to establish in the Lebanon a state practically independent from Ottoman rule. He may be regarded as the founder of modern Lebanon.
At one time this state extended almost as far as Anotalia in the north; in the east it included Palmyra and in the south reached as far as
the Sinai Peninsula. In this state, Druze, Sunnis, Shi’a, Christians and Jews lived in relative harmony with each other.
Mount Lebanon was known at that time as the Mountain of the Druzes. Prior to the Druze dynasty of Ma’n, a considerable part of Lebanon
also enjoyed political, social and spiritual harmony under the Druze Emirs of the house of Tanukh. The Tanukhids were noted for their frequent
victories in struggles against the Crusaders and then the Mongols.
The Druze have always been noted for their resistance to foreign rule. This, together with their minority status, was a cause of their many wars against Turkish and,
later, French domination. These wars in which they showed distinguished military ability, together with their previous wars against
the Crusaders and the Mongols, have given the Druze a collective feeling of pride in and a reputation for courage, valor and chivalry.
Over the last thaousand years ,the druze have played an active role in the political , social and cultural development of the arab east .indeed, wharever
in the world they have lived ,thay made significant contributions and maintained a sense of solidarity as well as an attitude of openness towards oyther communities and cultures.
The Druze originated historically from the Isma’ili faction of Shi’a Islam. Paying allegiance to a spiritual Imam other than the ruling
political Caliph of the Sunni Abbasids, the Isma’ilis were obliged to operate secretly, to go “underground”, as it were. Also, their esoteric
beliefs, which differed greatly from the main body of prevailing Islamic doctrine, forced them not to divulge their beliefs to outsiders.
The Isma’ili movement came into the open when the Isma’ili Imam, Al-Mahdi Billah, assumed power, after escaping Abbasid persecution in Syria and fleeing to North Africa,
where he founded the Fatimid Caliphate in A.H. 297 {A.D. 909}.
After al-Mahdi, the Imamate was assumed by al-Qa’im bi-Amrillah, then by al-Mansur Billah, and then by al-Mu’izz li-Dinillah. Al-Mu’izz conquered Egypt from the Ikhshidids,
the vassals of the Abbasids, in A.H. 358 {A.D. 969}. He founded the city of Cairo and made it the capital of the Fatimid State.
In A.H. 359 {A.D. 970}, one year after the founding of Cairo, he built the mosque of al-Azhar which became one of the greatest centers of teaching.
After al-Mu’izz, the Fatimid Imamate was assumed by al-Aziz Billah, and after al-Aziz by al-Hakim bi-Amrillah. As heads of a Shi’a state,
the Fatimids promoted allegorical interpretation of revelation according to man’s needs and his readiness for esoteric knowledge.
They were noted for their patronage of learning, philosophy, the sciences, literature and the arts. The newly built city of Cairo successfully
competed with the two other centers of civilization in the world at that time, Baghdad and Constantinople.
Besides founding al-Azhar, which became the main university of the Islamic world, the Fatimids also established Dar al-Hikma {The House of Wisdom},
known also as Dar al-Ilm {The House of Knowledge}.  This Dar al-Hikma was established by the Fatimid Caliph
Imam al-Hakim bi-Amrillah in A.H. 395 {A.D.1005}. It was connected with the Royal Palace and contained a huge library and many conference rooms.
Lectures were given in both al-Azhar and Dar al-Hikma, and in many other centers of learning in Cairo and other places in the Fatimid Empire.
Scholarly activities were one of the main interests of the state. Cairo became a center of scientists, philosophers, theologians,
men of letters and scholars.
In such an intellectual atmosphere, the Druze movement started in the year A.H. 408 {A.D. 1017}, during the reign of the sixth Fatimid Caliph and Imam, al-Hakim bi-Amrillah.
It was a result of intellectual ferment within the various philosophical and theosophical schools that had emerged in Islam.
The movement was headed by Hamza ibn Ali, assisted by four functionaries: Isma’il ibn Muhammad at-Tamimi, Muhammad ibn Wahb al-Qurashi, Salama ibn Abd- al-Wahhab as-Samirii
and Ali ibn Ahmad at-Ta’I (better known as al-Muqtana Baha’uddin). Hamza ibn Ali is considered in the Druze Scriptures to be the leader of the
Druze Movement. His teachings and those of his four disciples are thought to be irrevocable and final as far as the Druze faith is concerned.
When the Middle East fell successively under the rule of the Seljukids, the Ayyubids, the Mamluks and then the Ottomans, they were all foreign, in one way or another,
to the intellectual development of Islamic civilization. Being strict Sunni Muslims, these rulers were unsympathetic to any ideas
foreign to traditional Islam. In fact the Druze experienced a revival in the philosophical and theological aspects of their doctrine
only when they were under autonomous rulers, such as the Tanukhid and the Ma’nids who were themselves Druze. Such rulers, though they
were theoretically vassals of other dynasties, ruled internally with a relatively free hand. It was under such circumstances that Druze scholars,
such as al-Amir Jamaluddin Abdallah at-Tanukhi (1417-1479), ash-Shaykh Zaynuddin Abdul-ghaffar Taqiyyuddin (died ca. 1528) and ash-Shaykh al-fadil
Muhammad Abu Hilal (1579-1640), flourished.
(This section is taken from the writings of Dr. Sami Makarem).
It was during the period of Crusader rule in Syria (1099-1291) that the Druze first emerged into the full light of history,
in the Gharb region of the Shuf mountains. As redoubtable warriors serving the Muslim rulers of Damascus against the alien invaders,
the Druze were given the task of keeping watch over the Crusaders in the seaport of Beirut, with the aim of preventing them from making
any encroachments inland. Subsequently, the Druze chiefs of the Gharb placed their not inconsiderable military experience at the disposal
of the Mamluk rulers of Egypt (1250-1516); first, to assist them in putting an end to what remained of Crusader rule in coastal Syria and,
later, to help them safeguard the Syrian coast against Crusader retaliation by sea.
(In 1425, a Druze contingent from Beirut and the Gharb joined in a major Mamluk naval expedition against Cyprus,
where the last remnant of Crusader rule in the Near East was reduced to subservience).
In return for the valuable services rendered by the Druze of the Gharb and other parts of the Shuf mountains,
the Mamluks appear to have allowed them the freedom to manage their internal affairs with minimal interference from the central government in Cairo,
or its Syrian agency in Damascus.
The history of the Gharb Druze during the Crusader and Mamluk periods is known from the work of two remarkable Druze historians,
Salih ibn Yahya (d. ca. 1435) and Ahmad ibn Hamza ibn Sibat (d. 1523), no such documentation being available regarding the Druze
of other Syrian regions. It appears, however, that the Druze of Hauran were among the peasants and tribesmen of that area who fought
and decimated the forces of the Second Crusade, as they advanced from Palestine to attempt the capture of Damascus in 1147.
Notably, the Druze placed their military resources at the disposal of the Sunni Muslim state against the Crusaders at a time when their
community was being singled out for special condemnation by the Sunni religious establishment on account of its beliefs.
Unlike the Mamluks, the Ottomans who succeeded them as the rulers of Syria in 1516 were not prepared to allow the Shuf Druze
the customary local freedoms which they had come to regard as established rights. Consequently, the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
were to witness a succession of armed Druze rebellions against the Ottomans, countered by repeated Ottoman punitive expeditions against
the Shuf in the course of which the Druze population of the area was severely depleted and many villages laid waste. These military measures,
however, severe as they were, did not succeed in reducing the local Druze to the required degree of subordination.
This led the Ottoman government to agree to an arrangement whereby the different nahiyes (districts) of the Shuf would be granted in
iltizam (that is, in fiscal concession) to one of the region’s emirs, or leading chiefs, leaving the maintenance of law and order in the area,
and the collection of its taxes, in the hands of the appointed emir. This arrangement was to provide the cornerstone for the privileged status
which ultimately came to be enjoyed by the whole of Mount Lebanon in Ottoman Syria, Druze and Christian areas alike.
Remarkably, the Shuf Druze had taken up arms against Ottoman rule when the Ottoman Empire was at the peak of its power.
Starting from the middle decades of the nineteenth century, the Hauran Druze of Jabal al-Duruz whose
earlier history remains obscure due to a lack of documentation-put up a similar resistance to determined
efforts on the part of the Ottoman state to tighten its weakened control over Syria. Later, in the mid-1920s,
these same Hauran Druze rose in armed rebellion against the French shortly after France, emerging victorious from the First World War,
was allotted its mandate over Syria and Lebanon. This Druze revolt was to trigger a general Syrian insurrection against the French Mandate,
lasting for nearly three years.
Historically, the close relations between the Druze and Christians of the Lebanon date back to the sixteenth century,
when the Druze of the Shuf, whose livelihood depended on silk production, first opened their country to large-scale Christian-and
principally Maronite-peasant migration from the north, to help produce the silk. To encourage this Christian immigration,
the leading Druze chiefs of the area made generous donations of land to Maronite and other Christian monastic orders for
the building of monasteries and churches; tradition has it that the Druze villages where the Christian newcomers settled came
to be called 'honoured villages' (diya musharrafa). Meanwhile, as the Druze emirs holding the iltizam of the Druze area gained
control over the adjacent Maronite nahiye of Kisrawan, the management of the affairs of Mount Lebanon developed into a close Druze-Maronite partnership.
Having the advantage of numbers and of privileged external connections, the Maronites eventually started to gain the upper hand in this partnership.
This development appears to have elicited little Druze concern in its initial stages but, before long, tensions began to rise.
Incited and openly backed by France, the Maronite clerical and feudal leaderships began, from the 1840s, to seek complete dominance over
the whole of Mount Lebanon, causing the Druze to feel dangerously threatened on their very home ground. When the Druze reaction, in full force,
finally came in 1860, its violence was such that the Christian parties who had provoked it fled the scene,
leaving the defenceless Christians of the Druze regions to their fate.
While the manner in which the Druze fell upon their terrified Christian neighbours in 1860 in the Shuf,
Wadi al-Taym and elsewhere-went beyond the justifiable limits of self-defence,
what it represented at the time was an outburst of pent-up feelings of hostility provoked by decades of equally unjustified Christian provocation.
Over a century later, during the course of the multi-faceted Lebanese civil war of 1975-1991,
Christian provocation was even more pronounced and included indefensible attacks on isolated and unprotected Druze communities
in different parts of Mount Lebanon (notably, in the Matn and Shahhar districts). This was a decisive factor in eliciting the violence with
which the Druze attacked Christians living in their midst in 1983,
devastating their villages and forcing a massive Christian exodus from the Shuf. In both instances,
the Druze recourse to violence represented a departure from the historical Druze norm,
which had emphasized peaceful coexistence on the basis of equitable partnership and mutual goodwill.
However, to maintain this norm, the community had first to attend to its survival, which is why, at various
turning points in their history, the Druze felt compelled to resort to arms when they perceived their community to be in danger.
This compulsion was the same regardless of whether the perceived danger came from a neighbour or an external power,
or whether the odds were with the Druze or overwhelmingly against them.
Proud of their communal identity and solidarity,
the Druze have also been staunchly attached to their native soil;
the same Druze families have lived in the same towns and villages, if not the same houses,
for centuries, with hardly an interruption. Attachment to community and territory, however,
has never been a bar to active Druze involvement in the affairs of the broader societies to which they belonged;
nor has it obstructed the Druze commitment to the wider Arab identity that they share with other Muslim and Christian
communities of the Near East. Moreover, though socially conservative, the Druze have exhibited a remarkable openness to Western cultural
influences in modern times.
During the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, Lebanese Druze chiefs welcomed and offered their protection
to British and American missionaries arriving to establish schools and colleges in the Shuf mountains, as they had in Beirut;
Furthermore, by sending their own sons and daughters to these teaching institutions,
they set the example for others. As a result, the spread of modern education began particularly early among
the Druze, no less than among Lebanese Christians. In due course, Druze educated at home or abroad came to be
counted among those playing leading roles in the social, economic and cultural advancement of Lebanese society,
as of the broader Arab society, thereby placing their community in the vanguard of Arab development.
All of these considerations make the heritage of the Druze community a
subject worthy of serious academic investigation.
(This section is written by Dr. Kamal Salibi).
Friday, November 25, 2016
The Druze Heritage Foundation Research Awards
The Druze Heritage Foundation is pleased to announce a Research Award Program offering a
number of graduate research awards to doctoral students in selected universities who are
writing or planning to write their dissertations on topics relating to the history, culture and
society of the Druze. The awards are
meant to encourage research in these areas by providing financial support (up to $10,000) to
students as they seek to fund their research needs or travel. Awards will be allocated by the
Foundation's Academic Advisory Committee upon the recommendation of the applicant's
dissertation adviser.
Applications may be received at any time and should include the following documents:
1. Cover letter by the applicant
2. Applicant's CV
3. Graduate academic transcript
4. Dissertation outline
5. Letter of recommendation by the dissertation adviser
The Foundation expects to receive a copy of the dissertation subsequent to the granting of
degree. The Foundation may later consider publishing the dissertation.
The Druze Heritage Foundation is a charity registered in the United Kingdom whose
principal function is to promote the scholarly study of the Druze, their history, society and
culture and related topics. The Foundation has thus far published over 25 titles in the last
several years, in both English and Arabic. (The books may be consulted in our website
www.druzeheritage.org). The Foundation has also organized and funded two scholarly
conferences in Oxford, U.K., in collaboration with the Middle East Centre, Saint Anthony's
College, Oxford University.
Award applications should be emailed to druzeheritage@hotmail.com
For additional information please call: 00961 1 739750
(by Dr. Sami Makarem)
The Druze movement sprang from Isma‘ili Shi‘i Islam in the year AH 408/AD 1017, during the time of the sixth Fatimid
caliph-imam, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. Headquartered in Cairo, the movement soon took hold in Mount Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon range, in northern and southern Syria,
in and around Damascus and in northern Palestine.
Most of the adherents to the faith were members of Arabian tribes, such as the Tanukh, Kalb, Kilab and Tayyi’, who had already come under the political and creedal impact
of Isma‘ili Fatimid hegemony. Druze epistles were also sent to the Hijaz, to the eastern part of Arabia and to Yemen. They reached as far as India.
This suggests that adherents to the Druze movement may have existed in those countries.
The name by which the Druze like to be known is Muwahhidun (sing. Muwahhid), which reflects their central belief in a mystical oneness (tawhid) with the One. Ironically,
however, the followers of this movement acquired their popular name, the Druze, from a certain Muhammad ibn Isma‘il al-Darzi (also known as Nashtakin
or Anushtagin al-Darazi). He was a high state functionary enrolled in
ibn ‘Ali, the movement’s head, together with Caliph al-Hakim, to expel him, causing him to rise up against
Hamza and to ally himself with the non-adherents to the faith among the Cairenes. He led an insurrection that ended with his defeat on 29 Dhu l-Hijja AH
409/9 May AD 1019 and his execution on the following day.
In order to understand the Druze faith, we must step back to consider the evolution of Islamic approaches to the Qur’an. As Muslims came into greater contact with Greek philosophy,
Persian thought, Indian mysticism, and Jewish and Christian theology, they began to interpret the literal message of the Qur’an in order to gain insight into
its deeper ramifications.
This new approach to Islam became more distinctive as Muslims increased their acquaintance with Sufism. An interaction between Greek rationalism and Oriental mysticism, which was
intensified by the emergence of Sufi sages, especially in the ninth and tenth centuries AD, prepared the way for the emergence, at the beginning of the eleventh
century (fifth century AH), of the Druze movement as an offshoot of the esoteric Isma’ili approach to Islam. Adherents to the movement believed that a third and
last stage of Islam had begun: namely, al-haqiqa, ‘self-realization,’ as true a feeling of unity with the One as is humanly possible.
The first stage, al-shari‘a (literal or exoteric Islam), had paved the way for the second one, al-tariqa (inner or esoteric Islam), but now it was the time of al-haqiqa. These three
Sufi terms―al-shari‘a, al-tariqa, and al-haqiqa―were used by the Druze synonymously with islam, iman and ihsan (or tawhid), the latter three being common among
other Muslims as well, Sunni and Shi‘i alike. (Islam here refers to the first stage, not to the religion as such.)For the Druze, this last and third stage, variously known as al-haqiqa, ihsan, or tawhid (oneness with the One), is reached by passing through the states of gnostic preparedness
instilled during the preceding two stages. It is the nature of tawhid to lead the adherent to behold his or her divine reality where no relative is mystically
apart from the absolute and no outward existence is independent of divine reality. The Muwahhid is thus led to identifying him or herself and, consequently,
every existing being, with the One. At this stage, the Muwahhid is mystically subsumed into the all-inclusiveness of the One, whose existence is the only real existence.
The Druze doctrine maintains that, four hundred years after the advent of Islam (one thousand years after Christ), esoteric interpretation of the Qur’an
achieved its task and the stage of iman or al-tariqa terminated with the arrival of the caliph-imam, al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. Just as the Prophet Muhammad had
delivered the divine message (literally, islam or shari‘a) and was the last conveyor (natiq) of it, so was al-Hakim the last of the esoteric imams who,
starting with ‘Ali ibn ‘Abi Talib down through the Fatimid caliphs, took upon themselves the task of interpreting God’s message and implementing the second
stage (iman or tariqa) by establishing the Fatimid state, thus transmitting the esoteric meaning of the divine Word to mankind. (Hence, the Fatimid imam was
known as the maqam or ‘station’ of the esoteric divine Word.) With al-Hakim, the third stage started.
Consequently, on 1 Muharram AH 408/30 May AD 1017, al-Hakim, according to the Druze, relinquished the esoteric Imamate and appointed Hamza ibn ‘Ali as the imam of the third stage (tawhid).
He also appointed a distant cousin, ‘Abd al-Rahim ibn Ilias, as heir presumptive of the Muslims (wali ‘ahd al-Muslimin) and another Fatimid personality, Abu Hisham
‘Abbas ibn Shu‘ayb, as heir presumptive of the Mu’mins (wali ‘ahd al-Mu’minin). The Fatimid imam was thus replaced by the holders of three different positions,
the first dealing with the Muslims (in other words, the followers of exoteric Islam), the second dealing with the Mu’mins (the followers of
The doctrine of Tawhid maintains that God is not an entity in Himself (dhatiyya); nor is He merely above this existence. For the Druze, God is absolute existence.
Consequently, He is not a creator in that He created the universe ex nihilo. Rather, physical existence is God’s expression, His manifestation (badw).
Since God is absolute, He has not created the world outside of Him for, as absolute, He has no limit; similarly, the world did not emanate from Him in time.
He is the One: there is none other than God; He is the only Existent. The world is a constant projection from Him, by Him, within Him and to Him.
This is what the Druze doctrine means by ibda‘, not an act that occurred outside of God.
The world is, therefore, in existence due to God’s divine nature (amr). The Qur’anic verse, “His amr, when he wills a shay’, is to say to it,
that is, His will, activity, is transformed into the divine
imperative: “Be!” For the Druze, God is to His amr as a word’s meaning is to the word. As meaning both transcends the word that it expresses and is immanent in it,
the absolute Existent transcends the world while being immanent in it. Hence, God is referred to by the Druze as both transcendent (munazzah) and immanent (mawjud).
Tawhid is defined as tanzihwawujud, that is, transcendence and immanence.
Hamza ibn ‘Ali refers to God’s amr as ‘aql, an Arabic verbal noun that originally meant ‘to bind’. Equivalent to the Greek nous, it should not be misunderstood as ‘mind’ or ‘reason’.
As an intelligent and purposive principle, however, the ‘aql is inclusive of all existing beings. The ‘aql or amr of God binds and encompasses
(‘aqala) the whole world. It is the finite projection, so to speak, of the absolute One (al-mubda‘ al-mahdud min al-mubdi‘ al-ahad).
Just as a word is in constant union with the meaning which it expresses, so God’s amr or ‘aql is, by its very nature, in constant union with God. However, as a finite projection
of the absolute, the ‘aql is also, by its very nature, aware of being projected (mubda‘) by the One. This awareness made it feel that it was an entity in
its own right, although one within the absolute oneness of God: the ‘aql had become aware of its self.
By being aware of its self, the ‘aql was deflected, so to speak, from its original course, for self-awareness impeded it from full awareness of the One. This deflection from
feeling in union with God to ‘focusing upon’ and ‘enjoying’ its self made the aql feel that it was separate from God. This deflection, however,
was nothing more than relative absence from the One, the absolute Existent, an absence of light (nur mahd) that is the same as utter darkness (zulma mahd).
This is a delusion (‘adam). The absence of divine light is what the Druze call adversity (didd). It is a selfish attitude, the origin of discord,
contrariety and division.
However, the ‘aql realized that it had been deflected from the One and developed an imploring passion to return to Him. I say ‘imploring’ because the ‘aql realized that it is,
by its very nature, completely dependent upon the One. It has no power of its own. Hamza
above. Here, shay’ is the verbal noun of the Arabic verb sha’a (‘to desire’). For the Druze, it is the second cosmic principle. The first is the ‘aql; the third, according to the Druze interpretation of the verse, is the ‘saying’ (al-qawl, al-kalima) implied in the phrase, anyaqula; the fourth is the imperative “Be!” (“Kun!”). This imperative precedes its implementation, yakun, which is the fifth cosmic principle. Hence, the amr or irada corresponds to the ‘aql; the shay’ corresponds to the nafs; the qawl (in the phrase an yaqula) corresponds to the kalima; the imperative kun to the sabiq; and the implementation of kun, namely, yakun, corresponds to the tali, in other words, that which follows. These are the five cosmic principles (al-hudud al-khamsa) that are always associated with the Druze. They are derived from the Druze’s esoteric interpretation of the Qur’anic verse (36:82) “Innama amruhu idha arada shay’an an yaqul alahu kun fayakun.” (His amr (nature, activity), when he wills a shay’ (desired thing), is to say to it, ‘Be’, and it is.)
From the fifth cosmic principle, therefore, came forth the world. The world is the expression of the fifth cosmic principle, which is, in turn, the expression of the fourth cosmic principle, and so on, all of the way back to the first cosmic principle, the res divina , the divine will, the ‘aql, the finite projection of the absolute. Now, since man is the quintessence of this world, which originated as a spark from the ‘aql and, since the ‘aql, as the finite projection of the absolute, is eternal, then so is man’s reality—his soul. The human soul is to the human body as its meaning is to a word. Just as a meaning makes sense only when expressed through its word, so must the human soul be expressed in a human body. The human soul realizes itself in the human body. The human body, therefore, serves as the sole medium for the human soul to achieve actualization and to participate in the progress of man toward knowledge and self-realization. The true knowledge of the oneness of God, through which man realizes his purpose of feeling as much in union with the One as is humanly possible, can only be achieved through man’s gradual yet continuous spiritual experience and through his constant preparedness for the gnostic discovery of human union with the One. For the Druze, the span of a single life is not enough for an individual to realize this ultimate purpose.
Since man is the only being who possesses the faculty to comprehend this gnostic reality, he alone can strive to discover it. He is the only being who can check the
egotistic drive that throws him into the delusion of plurality and, consequently, deflects him from his true nature.
Here lies the seed of vice in man: taking joy in his own ego and living in the delusion of plurality. Virtue, on the other hand, lies in living in this plural world, but without taking
it as an aim, that is, in moving away from one’s own ego toward unity with the rest of humanity and, therefore, in union with the One, inasmuch as it is humanly
attainable. Those who succeed in reaching this goal do so through divine love. Hence, love is seen by the Druze as a mystical feeling of endless striving for
such a union with the One, whereas hatred is understood as a product of metaphysical egotism in which one separates one’s own being and interests from the being
and interests of the whole.
Union can be reached if man believes in and spiritually realizes the following: the non-dualism and absoluteness of the One; that God’s amr, the ‘aql, is the finite manifestation
of the absolute; and that the cosmic principles are the source of all being, with the ‘aql as both their origin and their goal. In addition, man should practice,
truly and through the exercise of his free nature, the following virtues:
1- Veracity in the broadest sense of the word, that is, to profess the truth,
to act according to the truth and to live for the truth.
2- Safeguarding, helping and guiding his fellow men or seeking their guidance along the path of
truth and real knowledge.
3- Renouncing all beliefs leading to repudiation of the oneness of God and, consequently, to falsehood.
4- Dissociation from
those who transgress against righteousness and justice, that is, those who hinder man from knowing the truth and     treading upon the path of real knowledge.
5- Striving endlessly to achieve the real purpose of man, namely, to be in union with the One as much as is humanly possible.
6- Contentment (rida) with the divine
law.
7- Submission (taslim) to God’s will and deeds.
In order, these seven tenets are the true meanings of the seven Shi‘i pillars of Islam, namely,
the two testimonies, prayer, almsgiving, fasting, pilgrimage, strife in God’s way (jihad) and allegiance (walaya). It is by means of these pillars that man moves
away from egotism and plurality toward union with the One.
In the Druze faith, the aim of ethics is not merely to acquiesce to a superior will only, but to lead man, rationally and spiritually, to the natural fulfilment of his being through
virtuous behaviour. This approach is what led the Druze to call for complete equality among human beings, including equality of opportunity: it is only thus
that man may realize himself, to the highest possible degree, in the One. This is why the Druze doctrine strictly condemns polygamy. The Druze law of domestic
relations stipulates that, when a man marries a woman, he must put her on the same footing as himself, materially as well as spiritually. Husband and wife must
treat one another with complete equality and justice. In case of divorce, the spouse proven to have been unjust must pay the other half of what he or she owns.
This approach stems from the central position that the Druze doctrine gives to the human being. In order to try to live up to such a standard, men and women
must strive to attain the purpose of their being, which is self-realization in the One and living accordingly, in real love. The individual’s capacity to reach
such oneness with the One depends upon his or her intellectual and spiritual preparedness. True discovery of the self will enable the individual to behold the One,
as if he or she looked into a mirror and saw his or her own image. It was through such manifestations that the presence of God was revealed to man,
just as a word reveals its meaning to the reader in as much as the reader is prepared to receive it. God is infinite and transcendent in His boundless
immanence and omnipresence. The onus is on man, through intellectual and spiritual preparedness, to behold such immanence and omnipresence.
Man can achieve the harmony of these two forces only if he opens his heart to divine love. No one, however, can walk the path of self-realization
without a guide to show him that God, in His oneness, is both inside and outside of him, both transcendent and immanent, both divine and human.
A: The Druze: Realities and Perceptions, a conference held by DHF in collaborations with the Middle East Centre of St. Antony’s College, Oxford in October 2001.
The following papers were presented at the Conference and later published by DHF in a book with the title “The Druze: Realities and Perceptions" The Druze: Realities and Perceptions” edited with an introduction by Professor Kamal Salibi:
B. Druze Perspectives, a conference held by DHF in collaboration with the Middle East Center, St. Anthony’s College, Oxford in October 2004. The following papers were presented at the conference:
DHF has participated regularly in the Beirut International Arab Book Fair which is held annually. The Fair has served as an opportunity to display DHF publications on a wide scale and enhance contacts with publishers, authors and a variety of visitors.
DHF organized a visit to Lebanon for Dr. Maria Kastrinou of Brunel University, U.K. Dr. Kastrinou had lived in the Druze town of Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus, where she prepared her Ph.D dissertation in anthropology and has since maintained a sustained interest in research on Druze life and culture. She made an exploratory visit to Lebanon in December 2015 as part of a research project on Druze institutions in Lebanon. Her visits included the Druze Community Center in Beirut, social welfare organizations, and educational and health institutions in the Shouf (Irfan Schools, Ain Wazein Hospital), and she crowned her visit with a visit to Hasbayya and the Khalwat al-Bayyada, the most sacred of Druze religious locations. Dr. Kastrinou is expected to return to Lebanon to conduct her research.
Abi Mershed, Walid
Board of Trustees, DHFAbi-Shakra, Ziyad
Independent scholarAbou Imad, Atif
Independent historianAbou Salih, Abbas
Lebanese UniversityAbu-Husayn, Abdulrahim
American University of BeirutAbu Shaqra, Eyad
Journalist and researcherAkarli, Engin
Brown UniversityArmburst, Walter
St.Anthony’s College, OxfordAssaad, Sadeq
Independent scholarAzzam, Intisar
American University of BeirutAl-Bakhit, Mohammad Adnan
Independent scholarAl-Beaini, Hasan Amin
Independent historianBitar, Zeinat
Lebanese UniversityBreyer, David
University of CaliforniaChaker, Fadi
Independent scholarClarke, Lynda
Concordia UniversityDaou, Father Anotine
La Sagesse UniversityEshtai, Faris
Lebanese UniversityEshtai, Chawkat
Lebanese UniversityFandi, Talal
Independent scholarFawaz, Leila
Tuft UniversityGhannam, Riad
Independent historianGhusayni, Raouf
Board of Trustees, DHFHajjar, Bassam
TranslatorHaraldsson, Erlendur
University of IcelandHarik, Judith Palmer
American University of BeirutHavemann, Axel
Free University of BerlinHood, Kathleen
Ethnomusicologist, UCLAHoteit, Ahmad
Islamic UniversityJabir, Munther
Lebanese UniversityKaidbey, Nayla
American University of BeirutEl-Khalil, Faysal
Board of Trustees, DHFKheireddine, Marwan
Board of Trustees, DHFKheireddine, Salim
Chair, Board of Trustees, DHFKheireddine, Wassim
Board of Trustees, DHFKhouri, Rana
BibliographerKhuri, Fuad
American University of BeirutMcloughlin, Leslie
Independent writerMakarem, Nadim
Board of Trustees, DHFMakarem, Sami
American University of BeirutMoosa, Matte
Gannon UniversityNasr, Sheikh Mursil
Head of the Druze Higher Court (retired)Naufal, Antoine
Independent scholarPlayfair, GuyLyon
Independent scholarProvence, Michael
University of California, San DiegoQontar, Ahid
Independent scholarRifai, Sami
SculpturerRogan, Eugene
St. Antony’s College, OxfordSalibi, Kamal
American University of BeirutEl-Sawaryah, Nawfan el-Hamoud
Independent scholarSchenk, Bernadette
Free University of BerlinAl-Shahi, Ahmed
St. Antony’s College, OxfordTaheri, Amin
Author and JournalistTakiddin, Suleiman
Writer, historian, journalistTrabulsi, samer
Independent scholarWalker, Paul
University of ChicagoWasfi, Mohammed Rida
Independent scholarZahreddine, Izzat
Independent historianZahreddine, Umayma
Independent historian