Origins of the Druze People and Religion Book

The first page of Baha' al-Din's al-Juz' al-Awwal     9
The first page of Hamzah's al-Naqd al-Khafi     10
Introduction: The Druze Millenium   Nadim Shehadi     11
No Stranger to the Druze     13
Arabs or Persians?     15
Diversity within Islam     18
Foreword   Richard Gottheil     21
Preface     23
A Unique and Secret Sect     25
Two Historical Fossils     25
Relation to World Events     26
Minor Episodes     27
Other Secret Sects     27
Special Interest of This Study     28
Social and Historical Development     31
Feudal Organization     31
Part Played During the Crusades     32
The Druze Power at its Height     33
Banu-Shihab, the Last Feudal Chiefs     34
Druzes and Christians Grouped in Political Rather than Religious Parties     35
The Civil War of 1860     36
Racial Origins     37
Number and Distribution     37
Religious and Racial Boundaries Coterminous     39
Silence of Historians     40
Travellers' and Scholars' Accounts     41
Criticismof the Arabian Theory     42
Diverse Hypotheses     43
Supposed Relationship with the French and British and with Freemasonry     44
Other Theories     45
The Persian Origin of the Druzes     47
The Persian Nucleus at Wadi al-Taym     47
The Founders of Druzism All Persian     48
The Testimony of Religious Vocabulary     49
Names of Feudal Families     50
Persian Tribes Transplanted into Syria     52
Druze Theology and its Sources     55
The Problem with its Difficulties     55
Various Hypotheses     55
Period of Concealment     56
Manuscripts     56
The Historical Setting     57
The Hakim-God     58
Whimsical Character of al-Hakim     58
His Deification     59
Al-Hakim as the Messiah     61
A Series of Divine Incarnations     62
The Disappearance and Triumphal Return of al-Hakim     63
Indo-Iranian Influences     65
Unitarians     66
Five Divine Ministers and Three Inferior Ones     67
The Process of Emanation     67
The Neo-Platonic Source     68
Inferior Ministers     70
The Prophetic Succession     71
Seven Major Prophets     71
Seven a Sacred Number     72
Excellence of Druze System     73
Adam     73
Jesus     73
The Inner Meaning     74
The Batiniyyah     74
The Muhammadan Law Abrogated     75
The Mystic Element     76
Sheikhs     77
Dogmas and Precepts     79
Transmigration of Souls     79
Method of Operation     80
Earlier Muslim Sects Believing in Transmigration     80
Relation to China     82
Predestination and Dissimulation     83
Shi'ite Contribution     84
The Cult of the Calf     85
The Fact     85
Its Interpretation     86
Seven Precepts of Hamzah     87
Eight Dogmas     87
Hamzah's Precepts     87
Sources and Operation     88
Folklore     89
Animism and Saint Worship     89
Charges of Licentious Practises     90
Hamzites versus Darazites     91
Family Organization     91
Summary and Conclusion     92
Appendices Containing Extracts from the Druze Sacred Writings     93
Covenant of Induction Into the Religion of the Ruler of the Age     95
Al-Hakim's Ordinance Prohibiting the Use of Wine     97
Excerpt from the Charter Found Posted on the Walls of the Mosques on the Occasion of the Disappearance of Our Lord al-Imam al-Hakim     100
Excerpt from the Epistle Entitled al-Qustantiniyyah Addressed by Baha' al-Din to the Byzantine Emperor Constantine     103
Excerpt from Baha' al-Din's Epistle Entitled Christianity     108
Exhortations and Prayers by al-Sayyid Abdullah al-Tanukhi     112
Exhortation to the Aqil     112
Covenant Between Allah and Servant     114
Prayer     114
Prayer to Be Recited Before Sleep     114
Map of Syria and Palestine     116
Index     117