The Druze of Lebanon

The Druze are a group of people in Lebanon. Beacuse its a multi-ethnic state, the Constitution requires that the three highest offices of the state must be filled by one member each of the three big ethnic groups, one christian, one muslim, and one druze.

I had thought that the druzes were a sort of christian sect. Then I came across an intersting detail of the society, their whole society, apparently, is a secret society, at least acoording to Mackey's book on the legends of the origins of freemasonry. He relates something like the following.

The Druze maintain a myth of their own origins, that they came from egypt during the islamic period. Others, however, noted that the Druzes are extremely secretive, and that they maintain initiation rites and secret recognition signals amoung themselves so as to maintain their secrecy. But apparently, in spite of that, it has been gleaned that they beleive God is in everything (ie they are pantheists), and that God has had Nine Incarnations in history (not like in llamaism tho, rather God takes on flesh like man takes on cloth), and that there are somethign like five 'Divine Things' in the world. Those five things being esoteric/symbolic religious concepts, like Truth, Wisdom, etc, but each also represented by a 'person', a form, with names and such, but in reality also simply being manifestations of the supreme godhead.

Apparently the author feels that they are in some way allied with the Sufis, another mystic islamic cult.

Is anyone familiar with the Druze then? Anyone know if any of this is even remotely sensible? I suspect that the author, considering the subject of the book, might've been putting things into a 'masonic' interpretation, hence the strongest similiarities between their practices and masonry.

He also notes that the Druze have been accused of having wildly orgiastic and bacchanalic rites, which, apparently, is an accusation made about any secretly meeting group.




[edit on 1-12-2006 by Nygdan]

They believed that one of the Fatimid caliphs and imams al-Hakim bi Amr-e-llah is god in human shape. and that he came on earth during that time.




Name: Druze , they prefer to be called Unitarians "Muwahhidoon" .

Origin from: fatimid/ismaili

Year and Location : 1017 in Egypt and North africa


Holy Books:

Al Hikmat (6 books that the last two are hardly understood by their clerics)
Al Munfared-b-Thateh (exerpts from Quran) .
Risalatut-Ta'neef Wat-tahjeen Written by (Al Dayf) .


Leaders and Founders:

Hamzah ibn Ali az-Zuzhi
First one to creat the idea of druzes as one sect. Status given as for the prophet Muhammad (saw) born 375a.h died 430a.h

Muhammad ibn Ismail Ad-Durzi
Followed the ideas of az-Zuzhi but mentioned that Fatimid khaliph al-Hakim was god in human shape, Hamzah denied that and were against him from then. Durzi moved to Syria where he poisoned peoples minds.

Al-Hakim al-Amrillah
The fatimid caliph who were seen as god by druzes. Was wery cruel and made many genosides.
born in 375 a.h assasinated in 411a.h

Husein ibn al-Haydararah Al-Farghanni (Al-Akram)
Continued the beliefs of Hamzah.

Abu Ibraheem ibn Hamid al Tameemi
Son in low of Hamzah. Next in rank after Hamzah.

Bahaa ed deen Abu al-Hassan Ali ibn Ahmad al Sumooqi (Al Dayf)
Wrote books for druzes and made the agreement not to tell others about their religion.



Occupation Areas:

Small communities in these countries
Libanon
Palestina
Jordan
Syria






Here are some Durzi sites :

www.druzenet.org...

www.druzeinfo.com...

www.druzestudies.org...

www.druze.com...



A Shorter Druze Cathechism

I find the idea that, even amoung themselves, their religious beleifs are kept secret, ie that the uninitiated druze don't get the mystic-religious knowledge that the properly iniated druze get, which is either entirely different from that which the uninitiated get, or a 'deeper' elaboration. I'd be curious as to what unitiated druze perceive their religion as then, or at least if they take it very informally and personally, rather than the 'bookish' religions.

It seems like they go thru great lengths to keep their religious beleifs secret, so I wonder how much of 'what is known', such as the usual information, is what their initiates and higher 'preists' beleive?

The Druze practice Taqiyyah in their daily life .
The word "al-Taqiyya" literally means: "Concealing or disguising one's
beliefs, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions, and/or strategies at a
time of eminent danger, whether now or later in time, to save oneself from
physical and/or mental injury." A one-word translation would be
"Dissimulation."

On that basis , nothing that was written about them can be considered 100% true .

They let some muslims read some of their books , they are written in an islamic manner with an islamic lexical field , but for a muslim , he reads the book and think that they are a muslim sect and he don't know that what is written have different meanings , for example :

True Jesus is Hamzah
Bismillah Al Rahman Al Raheem , is the limits of Hamza .
Paradise is Monotheism
Hell is Polytheism
Truth are the Righteous Prophets
Lie is the Evils [Abalisa plural of Iblis (Satan) ] who are (Noah , Abraham , Moses , Jesus , Muhammad ) .

-The Prayers : Are the Heart ties with their lord Al-Hakim .
-Charity : Is the Monotheism (Unitarianism ) of Al-Hakim , and the purifying of the hearts .
-Fasting : Is the maintaince of the Heart in Loving the Hakim .
-Pilgrimmage : Is the knowing of Al Hakim and the House is the Unitarianism of Al Hakim .
-Wilayat (devotion and allegiance) : Is the prostrating for Al Hakim .

They believe that the true Quran was revieled on Salman al Farisi and that Muhammad stole it so they have a book named Al Munfarid-B-Thateh that contains excerpts from the current Quran .

They have this book "The Hidden Criticism" , written by Hamza and criticised the Islam's tenets .

And there is where they say to a muslim that they believe in his Quran , but surely in a different manner .


This is an example of how they dissimulate their believes between muslims , and they dissimulate their believes between christians for example they pilgrim to a church in a town in Lebanon , nobody knows what this church means to them .


However nothing of this can be proved 100% true , so I am here exposing more than I am assuming .


An uninitiated durze can't know his religion before 40 , and until that he will be lost between his identity , or some young people in conservative druze families may be taking some primitive teachings .

But I think that they are aware to some extent of their religion because it happened with me that many druzes dissimulated their believes inspite there wasn't any smell of danger on them , but maybe it is just in their blood .

It all seems very confusing, does every Druze community have initiates and above in it? Is the 'true knowledge' passed on orally/symbollical thru initiation and other rituals, or are actual books, outside of the ones mentioned, kept??

Is it common for a druze, upon initiation, to go apostate?? I mean, surely, there must be some misunderstandings no? Or can we assume that the eventually revealed religion is very inclusive and acceptable to a lot of peoples notions before initiation??

Also, what is going thru the mind of an unitiated druze when they pilgrimmage? I suppose everyone doing it must have their own reasons, in the end, whether tradition, hope, general piety, etc, to be doing it no?

It seems to me that there is a huge oppurtunity for this way of worship to result in schisms no? That the Druze in syria might, over generations, have different hidden beleifs than the druze in israel and such no? Perhaps even conflicting beleifs? Are there somethign like "Synods" where the higher officers meet?? Very interesting indeed.

Druze, for some odd reason, sounds like a variation of the Indo European Druse, which eventually became druid to the Celts. I wonder if there is a possible relationship? Druse basically translates into oak. Is there any special symbolism of the oak tree to the Druzes?

Interesting. They don't call themselves that apparently, so its a tenuous connection, but it would certainly be interesting, since the Druze are something of a mystery religion and the Druids, as far as we know from the actual sources on the religion, were also a mystery cult, with initiations, secret knowledge, etc.

Then agian, most groups were secret and had initiations.

I don't think that we know anything about the druid religion tho, too bad, might make an interesting thing to compare to what we at least think we know about these Druze.

Here; I'll add on with what I've found.

Godfrey Higgin's Anacalypsis

I think it seems probable that the followers of Bemrillah were originally adorers of Taurus or the Calf or Calves, which they continued to mix with the other doctrines of Buddha, and that after Hakem's death they returned to the superstition of their ancestors, a very likely effect to follow among an ignorant people, when the disappointment of the expected Millenium happened. I have little doubt that the Templars were followers of this Bemrillah. Much curious matter respecting these people, under the name of Druses, may be found in the 3rd Vol. of the Transactions of the Academy of Inscriptions, An. 1818, and in my Celtic Druids.

Page 700

The reason why we have such a horrible idea of the man of the mountain and of the Assassins is, as I have said before, because our informants, as usual in religious matters, take their accounts from the enemies of the persons of whom they write, from persons blinded by bigotry and hatred to their enemies to such an excess, as to think it meritorious to practise any fraud to injure them.

… It is very certain that the Ishmaelians or society of Assassins is a Mohamedan sect; that it was at once both a military and religious association, like the Templars and Teutonic Knights; and that, like the Jesuits, it had its members scattered over extensive countries. It was a link which connected ancient and modern Free-masonry.

Page 701

… Now all this, and the circumstances relating to the Chaldees, often called Mathematici, to the Assassins, the Templars, Manichæans, &c., being considered, the name of the Assassins or Hassessins or Assanites or Chasiens* or Alchaschischin will not be thought unlikely to be a corruption of Chasdim, and to mean Chaldees or Culdees—Culdees at York, a certain class noticed in my Celtic Druids—and that they were connected with the Templars. When the Arabic emphatic article AL is taken from this hard word Al-chaschischin it is Chas-chis-chin. The Assassins were also called Druses or Druideans : in my Celtic Druids I have proved these Druses to be both Druids and Culdees. In all accounts of the Assassins they are said also to have existed in the East in considerable numbers...

(Man, I really ought to get that book^^^)

Theosophy article "Lamas and Druses" by Blavatsky

If more were known than really is of the religions of Tibet and the Druses, then would scholars see that there is more affinity, between Turanian Lamaists and the Semitic, "El-Hammites," or Druses, than was ever suspected. But all is darkness, conjecture, and mere guesswork whenever the writers speak of either the one or the other. The little that has transpired of their beliefs is genially so disfigured by prejudice and ignorance that no learned Lama or Druse would ever recognise a glimpse of likeness to his faith in these speculative fantasies. Even the profoundly suggestive conclusion to which came Godfrey Higgins (Celtic Druids Part I, 101) however true, is but half so. "It is evident" he writes "that there was a secret science possessed somewhere (by the ancients) which must have been guarded by the most solemn oaths . . . and I cannot help suspecting that there is still a secret doctrine known only in the deep recesses of the crypts of Tibet." . . .

Mackey Encyclopedia


DRUSES

A sect of mystic religionists who inhabit Mounts Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, in Syrian 294. They settled there about the tenth century, and are said to be a mixture of Cuthites or Kurds, Mardi Arabs, and possibly of Crusaders; all of whom were added, by subsequent immigrations, to the original stock to constitute the present or modern race of Druses.

Their religion is a heretical compound of Judaism, Christianity, and Mohammedism; the last of which, greatly modified, predominates in their faith. They have a regular order of priesthood, the office being filled by persons consecrated for the purpose, comprising principally the emirs and sheiks, who form a secret organization divided into several Degrees, keep the sacred books, and hold secret religious assemblies. Their sacred books are written in antiquated Arabic. The Druses are divided into three classes or Degrees, according to religious distinctions. To enable one Druse to recognize another, a system of passwords is adopted, without an interchange of which no communication is made that may give an idea of their religious tenets (see Tien's Druse Religion Unveiled). Doctor Clarke tells us in his Travels that "one class of the Druses are to the rest what the initiated are to the profane, and are called Okkals, which means spiritualists; and they consider themselves superior to their countrymen. They have various degrees of initiation."

Colonel Churchill in his Ten Years' Residence on Mount Lebanon, tells us that among this singular people there is an order having many similar customs to the Freemasons. It requires a twelve months' probation previous to the admission of a member. Both sexes are admissible. In the second year the novice assumes the distinguishing mark of the white turban, and afterward, by Degrees, is allowed to participate ;,n the whole of the mysteries. Simplicity of attire, self-denial, temperance, and irreproachable moral conduct are essential to admission to the order. All of these facts have led to the theory that the Druses are an offshoot from the early Freemasons, and that their connection with the latter is derived from the Crusaders, who, according to the same theory, are supposed to have acquired their Freemasonry during their residence in Palestine. Some writers go so far as to say that the Degree of Prince of Libanus, the Twenty-second in the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, refers to the ancestors of these mystical mountaineers in Syria.

Several chapters deal with the Dresses in the Secret Sects of Syria and the Lebanon, by Brother Bernard H. Springett, London.

There are probably better sources, but this what I found while doing a search on what Godfrey Higgins had to write about them.

The Blavatsky one looks interesting though...

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
Druze, for some odd reason, sounds like a variation of the Indo European Druse, which eventually became druid to the Celts. I wonder if there is a possible relationship? Druse basically translates into oak. Is there any special symbolism of the oak tree to the Druzes?

Their name Druse return to Mhammad bin Ismael Al Darazi , known as Nashtakin , he was with Hamzat in the initiation od the druse doctrine , but he get hurry to announce that Al Hakim is a god in 407 H , the thing that made Hamzat angry with him , so Al Darazi ran to Sham (Lebanon , Syria ) where he called for his doctrine and it appeared the Durze sect until Hamzat killed him in 411 H .

Druze don't like to be called with that name , they prefer to be called Unitarians , Al Muwahidoon .

Originally posted by Nygdan
It all seems very confusing, does every Druze community have initiates and above in it? Is the 'true knowledge' passed on orally/symbollical thru initiation and other rituals, or are actual books, outside of the ones mentioned, kept??

Is it common for a druze, upon initiation, to go apostate?? I mean, surely, there must be some misunderstandings no? Or can we assume that the eventually revealed religion is very inclusive and acceptable to a lot of peoples notions before initiation??

In these days , an apostate will be prohibited from inheritance , his kids that born after his apostacy will not be durze , he will be rejected by his family and community .
An initiated durze , may be killed after his apostacy .
Even non durze can confront dangerous threats if they tried to explore what is in the durze doctrine by reading their secret books .

Originally posted by Nygdan
Also, what is going thru the mind of an unitiated druze when they pilgrimmage? I suppose everyone doing it must have their own reasons, in the end, whether tradition, hope, general piety, etc, to be doing it no?

They do pilgrimmage to "Khalwet al Bayyada" in Hasbaya Lebanon , and to the Mariamic Church in Ma'lula in Damascus Syria .

It seems to me that there is a huge oppurtunity for this way of worship to result in schisms no? That the Druze in syria might, over generations, have different hidden beleifs than the druze in israel and such no? Perhaps even conflicting beleifs? Are there somethign like "Synods" where the higher officers meet?? Very interesting indeed.

Druze have places to meet called Khalwat , the initiated from them meet there every thursday to discuss their religion .

They have five clerics who are the head of their religion , I think that in every country they will have those 5 clerics .
So if their religion is represented by 5 clerics in every country so it will be easy to control schisms , unlike many other religions as an example twelvers shia who don't have a representative for their sect .

They have internal political conflicts between them , currently in Lebanon divided between Jumblatists and Irslanists .

Some Masonic aspects in Druze Doctrine :

1-

Q. What are the buildings in Egypt called Pyramids, vested with knowledge?
A. They are the Pyramids which our Lord erected through the wisdom of his will.

Q. What is the wisdom in it?
A. It is for the purpose of arguments and the covenant, which our Lord received from the learned (?),
so that he described them there and is preserving them till the day of his second coming.


Q. What is the point of the compass?
A. It is Hamza ibn' Ali.

www.ismaili.net...




2-

They believe in Hermetics ancient indian , and ancient egyptian doctrines .



3-

Druze considers all the prophets as Evils except prophet Moses , they say that he is a good man thet Al Hakim is pleased with him . The question is why prophet Moses only inspite his message is a continuation of the previous prophets' message .

The Dissimulation (Taqiyyah) :

Secret orders was transmitted to the west after the crusades invasion , after the contact between the Assassins and the Templars .
The Assassins learned the secret preaching tactics from the Ismailite , and the Druze originated from the Ismaili doctrine .

Q. Why are all the books disowned except the Qur'ân in the presence of anyone making enquiries?
A. Know that we must rely upon the faith of Islam, so we admit the book of Muhammad; and there is
no unsoundness in us for that accordingly; and funereal prayers for the dead are in accord with this reliance and for nothing else. Indeed the purity of the cult demands it.

Now we read :

appearance until the day of judgment.

Q. What is this day of judgment?
A. It is the day on which he will appear in his humanity and judge the world therein by sword and violence.

Q. When is that to be?
A. That is a matter that is unknown, but the signs will be shown.

Q. What are the signs?
A. When you see kings overthrown and the Christians prevailing over the Muslims; those are the signs.[2]

Q. In what month will this be?
A. It will be in Jumada or Rajab (Hijra reckoning).

Q. How will be his rulings concerning (different) groups and sects?
A. He will get the upper hand over them by sword and by violence, and will destroy them all.

Knowing that this is supposed to be Armagaddon era and many signs are happening according to many sects :

We find this site :

www.druze-for-the-messiah.com...

Designed for druze to fit in european communities .


And this site to attack islam , and whitening the faces with christians :

www.druze-islam.com...


After reading lot of stories or what they call testimonies , I saw a focus on naming the bad guys or the converted with shiite twelvers names (Ali , Fatima , Zahra , Abu Abdullah ) .

Q. What are the letters of the Falsity and what their number?
A. Twenty-six and they are an indication of the Devil and his children and companions-and they Muhammad
and 'Ali, the "Imam" of those who believe in them, the Mutawila and his Twelve Descendants.

But in another Q&A , we see the Shia Mutawila as a sub section of Christianity , the sect that they are whitening their faces with them :

Q. How will be his rulings concerning (different) groups and sects?
A. He will get the upper hand over them by sword and by violence, and will destroy them all.

Q. And after their destruction, what then?
A. They will bring back a second dominion according to the rules of succession; then he will rule among them as he will.

Q. How will they be while he is ruling among them?
A. There will be four divisions-Christians, Jews, perverts and Unitarians.

Q. How are the groups subdivided?
A. With the Christians are the Nusairiyya and the Mutâwila ; and the Jews, and * the Muslims,
and the perverts; and those who have adopted the religion of our Lord al-Hâkim. (praise to him.)

Q. How will he act with the Unitarians?
A. He will give them Government, Royalty, Authority, Wealth; and gold and silver;
and they will remain in the world as princes, pashas and sultans.

* Must be : And with the jews are the muslims (sunni) .


All quotes are from : www.ismaili.net...






[edit on 21-5-2005 by XLEGIONS]

Originally posted by XLEGIONS
where he called for his doctrine and it appeared the Durze sect until Hamzat killed him in 411 H

Why do they take the name of this guy then, if Hamzat (the 'real' jesus you mentioned earlier?) killed him??

where he called for his doctrine and it appeared the Durze sect until Hamzat killed him in 411 H

Is it actually something that they take offense at?

So if their religion is represented by 5 clerics in every country so it will be easy to control schisms

Interesting.

Secret orders was transmitted to the west after the crusades invasion , after the contact between the Assassins and the Templars .

So the druze maintain that there was an exchange of doctrine or methods between the Assasins and Templars?

The Assassins learned the secret preaching tactics from the Ismailite , and the Druze originated from the Ismaili doctrine .

Is there any Unitarian-Sufi connection? I thought it was agreed that the assasins were an offshoot of the sufi? Or is their mysticism merely mistakenly taken to be something from the sufi??

and the Druze originated from the Ismaili doctrine .

I looked up this Ismaili stuff, apparently the Alawites of syria are similarly an offshoot of ismaili thinking, and are similarly an esoteric sect that beleives in incarnations of the true godhead in human like form (apparently 'Ali,' Mo, and a persian leader). Are there connections between the Unitarians and Alawi, or do they tend to work with the Christians, since they have been persecuted by the Muslims?? Since the Alawi are also an esoteric interperative faith, do they tend to identify with the Unitarians moreso than, say, sunni arabs? Tho I'd think no, since the Baath Party in Iraq is Sunni Dominated, but Bashar is Alawite and a Baathist President.

And this site to attack islam , and whitening the faces with christians

By this you mean a reference to how the faithful will have shining faces in the end times, similar to how in christianity the non-beleivers will be darkened by 'the mark'? I don't understand this 'whitening of the faces' in reference to christians I think.


This is all quite fasinating. So the Unitarians (seems strange to use that term, since there is a christian sect caled Unitarians) consider christians and shia to be effectively the same, and jews and sunnis to be effectively the same, and I supose perverts means all sort of others. Interesting connections, I've never heard them before. I wonder why they'd split any muslim group? Mayhaps its because they are in muslim dominated countries, and will thus tend to think in those terms, and find the shia more like the christians (with their trinity and their near god like status of the imams) and the jews and sunnis more 'monotheistic'?

I have worked with a number of Druze in Southern Lebanon. They told me that they were the desendents of Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. From this, they claimed to be monotheists, tho not Jewish. It's true that the OT portrays Jethro as a holy man and priest, even though outside the judeo-Christian stream.

I think the poster is on to something with hidden meanings behind certain words. This is a very simple practice in Semitic languages, and Idries Shah gives many examples of such wordplay in his book "the Sufis." Though I am not saying their is any lineal or theological connection btween Sufi and Druze.

Their attitude, when asked about their religion seems to be similar to many dissedent religions within the Dar-Al-Islam: Deny nothing, and affirm even less. They tend to talk a good bit, without telling you much; i.e. Druze is a family clan, so its realy more of a people than a particular religion, etc. You cannot marry into it. The religious scholars are the only ones who worry much about God's secret name, the rest of us just want to be good and go to heaven, etc.

You might want to read up on these other groups, who struggle to carry on within Islamic states where they are liable to be beaten or killed/evicted for their refusal to submit to Islam:

Druze

Mandeans - said to be followers of John the Baptist as the Messiah

Ismaili - muslims with secret ceremonies, who refuse to speak about their faith.

Yezidi- "Devil worshipers" muslims say they worship satan in the form of a peacock or shining angel. They claim this is untrue, and that the world is an illusion.

Sufi - mystic muslim sect, sometimes persecuted in Islam, recently accused in Iran of being secret Christians.

Copts - Christians in Egypt

Bahai - Islamic unitarians. Considered infidels by most Muslim governments.

Sikh - followers of 15th cent(?) prophet in the border between Islam and Hinduism.

Read up on them yourself. My taglines are only meant to entice. No religious system can be summed up in a single phrase.

Originally posted by Nygdan
Why do they take the name of this guy then, if Hamzat (the 'real' jesus you mentioned earlier?) killed him??

Maybe it is a nomination that passed on them and they get used to it .

Is it actually something that they take offense at?

Many durzes told me that to insult , they call eachothers durze . So it is offensive to them .

Originally posted by Nygdan

Originally posted by XLEGIONS
Secret orders was transmitted to the west after the crusades invasion , after the contact between the Assassins and the Templars .

So the druze maintain that there was an exchange of doctrine or methods between the Assasins and Templars?

Maybe I had to put it before the title , sorry for that error but it was my introduction on how the durze inherited the dissimulation experiance , just like the assassins and the templars from ismailis .

Originally posted by Nygdan
Is there any Unitarian-Sufi connection? I thought it was agreed that the assasins were an offshoot of the sufi? Or is their mysticism merely mistakenly taken to be something from the sufi??

The Unitarians have lot of mixes between many sufis doctrines , mainly indian and persian . Their behaviour is to far extent sufi . The initiated are far from the worldly desires and interests , they forbid alcohol , porc , cigarets , they don't mixes alot with women , they are monogamous.
Their dress is a black "shirwal" with white turbans , they have long beards , and don't wear other uniforms .
They are people with high morality in dealing with others face to face .

I looked up this Ismaili stuff, apparently the Alawites of syria are similarly an offshoot of ismaili thinking, and are similarly an esoteric sect that beleives in incarnations of the true godhead in human like form (apparently 'Ali,' Mo, and a persian leader).

The Alawis is a term for two groups : The Alawites who were in origin twelvers that changed their sect's name because of sunni persecution , and the Nusayris who hide under the nomination of Alawis to cover their identity .
(Same thing with Baktashis , who have similar doctrines with twelvers , and the Hurooris who hide under the name of Baktashis) .

To Nusayris Ali is the Almighty God who takes the place of God of Bible and the Quran. Ali is superior to the Prophet Muhammad, whom Ali created. To them, god manifested himself seven times in this world, as Abel, Seth, Joseph, Joshua, Asaf and Simon Peter, and finally in his own person.

They believe in a trinity consisting of Ali, Muhammad and Salman al-Farisi. Their trinity is symbolized by the letters of the Arabic alphabets which begin their names: Ayn for Ali, Mim for Muhammad, and Syn for Salman al-Farisi. To Nusayris these initial letters represent the secret of the trinity.

Their belief is that Mana (Ali) created Ism (Muhammad) who created Bab (Salman Farisi) who created the higher and lower worlds. [The later two created what they created on the wish/order of Mana i.e Ali]. But in essence they are all one.

As I mentioned above, to Nusayris, Ali appeared seven times in seven cycle. In each of these cycles Ali was accompanied by an Ism, a Bab and adversary, and in each of these cycles the adversary, or Satan consisted of three persons in one, namely, Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman.

"Extremist Shiites - The Ghulat Sects" - Matti Moosa

Are there connections between the Unitarians and Alawi, or do they tend to work with the Christians, since they have been persecuted by the Muslims?? Since the Alawi are also an esoteric interperative faith, do they tend to identify with the Unitarians moreso than, say, sunni arabs? Tho I'd think no, since the Baath Party in Iraq is Sunni Dominated, but Bashar is Alawite and a Baathist President.

The Unitarians and Nusayris have enmity , Nusayris consider Ali as God but Unitarians consider Al Hakim as God .
In Lebanon they were both minorities , and they both killed eachothers .

(Maybe the durze hate the Nusayris and not the Twelvers , but Nusayris and Twelvers have the same Imams ) .


Bashar is a Alawi but Saddam is a Wahhabi . Bashar permitted to Iran to use his military airports to attack Iraq . The Baath party is a cultural political view with communist oriented principles . You can compare Saddam with the Khmer-Rouge in Kambodia who pretended to be communist and killed his people .

The Unitarians are against the two groups . But I have seen that many Unitarians learn islamic philosophy in sunni islamic schools .

By this you mean a reference to how the faithful will have shining faces in the end times, similar to how in christianity the non-beleivers will be darkened by 'the mark'? I don't understand this 'whitening of the faces' in reference to christians I think.

"whitening of the face with somebody" is a term that is used to describe somebody who did something with another so he maked this other person see the light from his face . It isn't necessary that the first love the second , it may be for his own interest . So if somebody whitened his face and did something good for you then he may be really loving you or he may only buying you .
(Sorry I can't find the exact term because of my lack in english proficiency .)


So I meant that maybe these durzes by their sites are approaching christians for their own safety after their calculations on the end-of-time , when the christians will be prevailing on the muslims , so like they said in the first quote that they have to show islam because they lived in the muslims' power era , now they will show christianity because they live in the christians' power era .

This is all quite fasinating. So the Unitarians (seems strange to use that term, since there is a christian sect caled Unitarians) consider christians and shia to be effectively the same, and jews and sunnis to be effectively the same, and I supose perverts means all sort of others. Interesting connections, I've never heard them before.

Shiite have lot of common between christian theology and orthodox judaism jurisprudence and some jewish doctrines . In plus Twelver shiisme and Zoroastrianism have 70% in common .

Islam as a whole have been penetrated by jews . Mainly sunni islam . Their chief Omar , the second caliph , was controled by a jew hakham , Ka'b al Ahbar .
They have six tradition books that are called "Sahih" (Sahih al Bukhari , Sahih Muslim , ... ) , they consider that all hadith (narrations) in them are true .
But these books are filled with false narrations , that shia and sunni call "Israeliyyat" (sunnis consider that these 6 books are free from Israeliyyats , other narration books may contain them ) . These narrations were put by jews to misleading muslims with false quranic explanations . Many were judaism oriented and other were just for the sake of misleading .

I wonder why they'd split any muslim group? Mayhaps its because they are in muslim dominated countries, and will thus tend to think in those terms, and find the shia more like the christians (with their trinity and their near god like status of the imams) and the jews and sunnis more 'monotheistic'?

It seems that they consider the Nusayri (so-called) shias as christians like you said and the sunnis as jews becuase they are monotheistic on the jewish style due to the jewish penetrations in their religion .





[edit on 23-5-2005 by XLEGIONS]

essenes.net...

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www.druzenet.org...


www.mmouka.com...

It is better to hear something from its source.

On a side note which may be of interest:

The original 25° of the Scottish Rite, "Knight of the Brazen Serpent", was about the biblical story of Moses erecting a brazen serpent to heal the Israelites in the wilderness who had been afflicted by the seraphim. When Pike re-wrote the degree, he turned it into a Druze ceremony.

[edit on 29-9-2005 by Masonic Light]

Sorry I didn't get what you mean. How did he turn it into a druze ceremony?
thnx

Originally posted by Wind
Sorry I didn't get what you mean. How did he turn it into a druze ceremony?
thnx

The Pike revision concerns Druze philosophy, symbolism, and ceremony. Details of the ritual of the 25° can be read in "A Bridge To Light" by Dr. Rex Hutchens, 33°, G.C.

Thanks
So you are a freemason. I have read an interesting book about Masonry. They say that originally masonry is very good. It's symbols are highly moral, however, zionism later on took the same symbols of it and used them as to symbolize bad meanings. I really liked the eye of the triangle being explained as God watching them so they shouldn't sin. I also appreciated the symbol of the triangle pointed downwards, symbolizing life on earth which means lust, and when this lust is dead, you go up to the triangle pointed upwards, which means to knowledge and wisdom. Is that right?
thanks