Who are the Druze?

The Druze are an ethno-religious group living mainly in the Middle East, especially in areas around northern Israel, Lebanon, southern Syria and the Golan Heights, Syria has the largest population, while Lebanese Jews constitute approximately the largest proportion of the population of any particular country. About five percent of the total population in Lebanon. There are also significant diaspora communities around the world, especially in Venezuela, the United States and Canada. Overall, the Druze number between one and two million people worldwide, Although it is difficult to determine precise population figures as census data in Lebanon and Syria is relatively unreliable.

The Druze faith emerged in the early 11th century, emphasizing the centrality of tauhid or the all-encompassing oneness or unity of God, but it is a little-understood faith with a reputation for being esoteric and secretive. In this video we will examine their settlement in the Middle East, the beliefs and practices of this group and explore how their millennia-old history has shaped their community into the 21st century. The Drew faith emerged in the 11th century and is best understood primarily as a philosophical and social ideology. revolution and secondly as a spiritual revolution within Islam and among the other religions in the Middle East.

I will summarize here what historians call the establishment era that stretched from 996 to 1043 focusing on three important founding figures: the Fatimid caliph al-haqam biamrillah, who opened the call to the new faith the leader hamza ibn ali and the later leader bahá'u'llah muktana who closed the movement to new members in 1043 and this all began here in cairo during the 10th century cairo was recently established as the capital of the caliphate of fatima this was a caliphate ruled by a dynasty that represented to the Ismaili branch of Shia Islam as Ismailis the Fatimids accepted Ismael Evan Jaffer, the eldest son of Shia Imam Jaffar al-Sadiq, as the legitimate successor to the title of Imam as we will See throughout this video that the Druze incorporate elements of a smiling theology, as well as other religious and philosophical traditions.

The sixth ruler of this dynasty was al-haqum. What you are seeing here on the screen is the Alhakam mosque here in Cairo, which he completed during his reign. Historians of his reign have offered different and even contradictory accounts of his rule, as the historical record itself is inconsistent. . Most agree that al-haqam was perceived as an eccentric leader, but accounts will swing drastically between extremes. Some describe him as a mad ruler famous for destroying the country. church of the holy sepulcher in jerusalem, although some historians in recent decades consider him more as a social revolutionary al-haqum issued an edict that banned slavery throughout the fatimid caliphate and established the dar el hikma or house of wisdom in cairo , which is considered one of the oldest institutions of higher education and the entire world, to say the least, is a complicated historical figure, but the Druze believed that he was the arbiter of divine revelations at the center of their faith in 996 after ascending the throne at a young age. al-haqam told his subjects that a divine calling would soon begin to usher in the final revelations of the previous Abrahamic religions.

Al-haqam's message of faith focused largely on the Islamic notion of tauhid tauhid emphasizes the divine unity or singularity of god in stark contrast to the previous ones. In polytheistic religions it has been variously translated as unity, oneness, unism or unitarianism, but suffice it to say that unity is the key concept here, although perhaps not unique to the Druze, as this concept can also be found in Islamic theologies. Tawhid refers to the radical transcendence of God. Islam scholar Dr. Kalilandani describes it as God is beyond ontological categories such as cause effect and substance and therefore all religious descriptions of God must be interpreted symbolically and not literally.

Al-Haqam emphasized the unity of all existence within God, in other words, God as the creator and creator of the universe encompasses all existence and how it represents the best path to recognize our unity with god and approach the knowledge of the true essence of god in 1017, just over 20 years after beginning his rule, al-haqam opened the new tauheed faith to any of his subjects willing to convert, this was known as the calling and was open to new converts for a period of only 26 Years before opening the faith to new adherents, al-haqam recruited religious messengers to spread his tawhid message through proselytism.

As the new faith largely took root in the Levant, these messengers traveled throughout the caliphate and probably beyond. of its limits, the new adherents signed a figurative contract or pact called methoc recognizing their acceptance of the divine call, this contract bound those individuals in life but also in the future. As we will see later, the Druze believe in reincarnation, meaning that accepting al-haqam's message of tauheed would carry over into their afterlives by being reincarnated in many ways. The contract symbolizes the commitment to the so-called tauheed that one would need to continue in The afterlives thus represent the continuity of Drew's lineage through the centuries.

Among al-Haqam's main proselytizers was a young Persian named Hamza ibn Ali, whom Al-Haquam appointed the religious leader or imam of the new faith and soon a prominent fellow proselytizer named Muhammad Adirazi. He became jealous of Hamza's special position as a leader and manipulated his high status to gain his own followers. He instigated a violent but unsuccessful revolt against Hamza. However, Adarazi's actions gained enough attention in Cairo that others began to associate new followers of Drew's faith with him. The name Druze is believed to be derived from his name and is considered a derogatory epithet by some Druze as, as you can imagine, many do not like to have a name linked to someone they consider a heretic, a more appropriate but lesser known name.

Because Druze are Muahadin, that is, followers of the path to Tauhid who survived the Adarazi takeover attempt, Hamza would soon become the main voice of the movement because one night in the year 1021 Alhakum mysteriously disappeared on one of his usual night trips. to the desert in the Historians on the outskirts of Cairo simply do not know what happened to him, some have put forward the idea that he was murdered by Fatimid agents or perhaps bandits, but the Druze believe that concealment is a deep-rooted belief in the Shia Islam which refers to the belief that a messianic figure has gone into hiding but will return one day in the future on judgment day.

Things got worse after Alhakam's disappearance because his successor in the caliphate al-zahir hated the early draw communities and hated hamza in his role as imam, so al-zahir launched a campaign of persecution to eradicate many of them. They as soon as they came to power the call to faith went underground during this time and the Druze were massacred from Alexandria to Aleppo and beyond this it drove many draws to hide their new faith the practice of concealment included Denying the true one's beliefs to outsiders as a matter of survival or mixing with other religious groups when possible, this may have contributed to the modern notion that Drew's faith is secret during this time of persecution, the call to faith continued under land guided by hamza and other prominent proselytizers, most importantly baha'u'ldeen al-muktana, who eventually became the administrator of the so-called tauheed while hamza continued to guide it from an undisclosed region.

The correspondences between hamza and al-muktana comprise the bulk of a series of epistles. which make up the sacred text of Drew called kitab al-hikma or book of wisdom, also called epistles of wisdom. These texts include religious writings, administrative philosophy, and the history of Drew in the late 15th century. The leader of Drew, named Al-sayid al-tanuki, consolidated the 111 epistles into the six volumes that make up the Holy Scriptures of Jesus today, although it is believed that there were many more epistles lost or intentionally hidden in addition to consolidating these epistles , was the author of his own commentary interpreting the texts and expounding on ethical conduct for all the particular believers he created. a structure for the process of becoming a Druze initiate and described the virtuous life they must live out, a topic to which we will return shortly.

The final years of the Establishment era were marked by persecution, although al-muktana played a key role in the survival of the Drew communities that settled in the mountainous regions of the Levant after the death of al-zahir in 1036. -muktana would even gain the trust of the caliph's son and heir al-muktana allowed the call to resurface for a few years during the rule of the eighth caliph before deciding that it should be closed indefinitely in 1043 at which time Drew's faith was closed, no no more proselytizing or marriage outside the community, as remains to this day. We will return to the rest of Drew's story in a future video, but let us now move on to the key concepts that define Drew's faith as visualized in his primary religious symbol, the five-pointed star shown here, symbolizing the eminence of five cosmic principles.

Above all others in his genesis story before creation, there were five. cosmic emanations of god, the first of which is symbolized by the color green representing the universal mind, followed by the universal soul represented by the color red, then the universal word represented by yellow, then the universal precedent or cause represented by the blue and finally the universal. Background or effect represented by white. You can see these colors represented on the Druze flag in Drew communities to this day. There are some interesting points derived from these five cosmic principles which first combined characterize the path to the knowledge of tawheed or the uncompromising unity of god in this understanding god is transcendent and imminent as we discussed above tauhid emphasizes the unity of all existence within god god is imminent therefore because as the creator of the universe god encompasses all of existence nothing can exist outside of god the draws also believe that these The five cosmic principles are represented by corresponding luminaries who have occasionally been incarnated as key historical figures who have delivered the message of tauhid throughout the centuries and even within other religious movements, the draw see their faith as one that is based on the truths revealed through judaism, christianity and islam, so you may recognize some of his prophets from these traditions, such as the first man Adam, but this also includes traditions rooted in Greek philosophy, such as Plato, Pythagoras, Aristotle and the legendary Greco-Egyptian figure Hermes Trismegistus.

These last figures point to Neoplatonic roots. From Drew cosmology and Ismaili theology, too, these five principles of God are described as emanations, a concept developed by important Neoplatonists such as Plutinus, who postulated the existence of a universal mind and conceptualized creation as a process of emanations of a cosmic intellect. which he called what we not only see this emanationist cosmology in late ancient Gnostic texts such as the Sethians and the Valentinians, but we see it today among the Mandaeans and the Yazidis, who also defend that all existence emanated from god, now resorting to the Drew practice.

To enter into this topic, we must first distinguish between initiated and uninitiated Druze because an individual's own knowledge and religious practice will depend on the status of being a shake among the Druze the shakes can be both men and women, known as sheikas, these are Individuals who are committed to religious study adopt a symbolic dress code and live a modest lifestyle. Knowledge of the internal teachings of the religion is relegated to shakes and sheikhs who have undergone a process of initiation by their Peers for the Druze Shakes constitute approximately 15 of the total population in the Middle East, although some simply live a devout life but do not go through the full initiation necessary to understand the deeper doctrine and those Shakes can have much social authority in their own communities, It is not accurate to think of it as a formal ordering. clergy nor have a centralized religious authority, while Drew's main religious authority in Lebanon is Sheikh al-akhal, his position is nothing like the Pope and Catholicism, as a whole, the initiates have been called ukal or the wise, while the uninitiated have been called juhal or ignorant, but this is now considered by many to be a pejorative distinction. many draws today prefer the rohani and gismani distinction or the spiritual and those who deal with matters of the body or the physical world to pray or read theScriptures. place called module a Druze city will usually have at least one module but often more than one another type of religious meeting place is called kalwa some Drew people will use the term kalwa and module interchangeably but in a technical sense kalwa means a secluded place and It therefore refers to a type of hermitage or complex where Shakes can go to study or even live for long periods of time for peaceful reflection, although non-Shakes can also visit Kalwa, among the most notable of which is the Kalwat Albayada. in the southeast of lebanon, which also functions as a religious school.

Drew's Shakes meet on Thursday nights to read and discuss religious scriptures. Non-shakes are also welcome to attend these sessions and time can be reserved for questions, however the second half of the meetings are reserved for initiates only. he shakes himself up to share philosophical discussions and interpret the esoteric meanings of his texts. Other practices worth mentioning include their religious festive idol Adha, although we must distinguish this. From the Islamic observance of this holiday in Islam, the Ital Adha holiday is an important celebration marking the end of the Hajj or pilgrimage to Mecca , although for both Jerus and Muslims the holiday commemorates Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son. in the tombs of important religious figures scattered throughout Lebanon and northern Israel, for example, this includes the tomb of the biblical figure Jethro, who is the father-in-law of Moses in the Hebrew Bible, located west of the Sea of ​​Galilee in northern Israel, this religious complex.

It remains an important destination for Druze throughout the region. The Druze also believe in reincarnation or transmigration of the soul, which is different from most other religions in this region with the exception of the Yazidis, some of whom They also believe in reincarnation. The Draws believe that all humans go through reincarnation regardless of religion and, unlike religions such as Buddhism or Hinduism, which maintain that the human soul can transmigrate through biological species, the Druze in particular. They believe that a Druze will always be reincarnated as a Druze, so this adds an interesting social and kinship aspect to this belief not only are there strong kinship ties between current members of the community and family members, but there are also Strong ties to previous members of your community, as well as people you believe were once part of that community?

The Druze are considered an ethno-religious group because they are defined by their religious identity and marry within their community practicing what is called endogamy. This means that Drew's marriage practices prohibit them from finding marriage partners among other religions, restricting them to marriage within their own community, although such marriage practices may not be as common as some religions once were. Communities in the Middle East still practice endogamy, such as the Mandaeans and Yazidis, which has created a dilemma for many young Druze, especially those in the diaspora who must find partners within their relatively small communities or abroad to be able to continue with your life.

Cultural Heritage Another aspect of continuing Drew's cultural heritage is promoting knowledge of Drew's faith and history among younger generations. In interviews conducted by Druze scholar Chad Radwan Radwan found that many Drews among the younger generations would like to learn more about their history. roots and are asking for the same type of educational resources that are available to Christians, Jews or Muslims. These young people feel that such resources could help strengthen the community and ensure that strength in the future if you want to learn more about dr. radwan, then watch my interview with him on my second channel.

I filmed this with my friend and fellow religious studies scholar, dr. Andrew Agapor. You'll be seeing a lot more of it in the coming months because I'll soon be launching a Religion Breakfast Podcast where we'll be interviewing religion academics and journalists to delve deeper into the same topics I post here on the YouTube channel. Check out the link in the show notes below and I'll see you next time.