Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/504

484 D II U S E S no light on the question of affinity ; and just as little is to be learned from the various explanations current among themselves those put in possession (of the faith), from the Arabic verb darisa ; those who read the book of Hamze, as if from darasa ; the clever ones, from Durs ; the shields, from Turs, and so on. It is well known, ho vvever, that the district which they now occupy has over and again received extraneous additions to its population ; and, in the absence of more precise information, it seems at least certain that, whatever may have been the original nucleus of his race, the Druse of the present day carries in his veins the mingled blood of a various ancestry, in like manner as his religion combines the products of many different intellec tual moments. The presence of a Kurdish element is un doubted, and its influence may probably be traced in the peculiar position granted to the women. 1 The rise and progress of the religion which gives unity to the race can be stated with considerable pre cision. As a system of thought it may be traced back in some of its leading principles to the Shiite sect of the Batenians, or Batiniya, whose main doctrine was that &quot; every outer has its inner, and every passage in the Koran an allegorical sense,&quot; and to the Karamatians, or Karamita, who pushed this method to its furthest limits ; as a creed it is somewhat more recent. In the year 386 A.H. (996 A.D.) Hakim Biamrillahi (i.e., he who judges by the command of God), the sixth of the Fatimite caliphs, began to reign ; and during the next twenty-five years he indulged in a tyranny at once so terrible and so fantastic that little doubt can be entertained of his insanity. As madmen sometimes do, he believed that he held direct intercourse with the deity, or even that he was an incarnation of the divine intelligence ; and in 407 A.H., or 1016 A. D., his claims were made known in the mosque at Cairo, and sup ported by the testimony of Ismael Darazi. The people showed such bitter hostility to the new gospel that Darazi was compelled to seek safety in flight ; but even in absence he was faithful to his god, and succeeded in winning over the ignorant inhabitants of Lebanon. According to Druse authority this great conversion took place in the year 410 A.H. Meanwhile the endeavours of the caliph to get his divinity acknowledged by the people of Cairo continued. The advocacy of Hasan ben Haidara Fergani was without avail ; but in 408 A.H, the new religion found a more successful apostle in the person of Hamze ben Ali ben Ahmed, a Persian mystic, feltrnaker by trade, who became Hakim s vizier, gave form and substance to his creed, and by his ingenious adaptation of its various dogmas to the prejudices of existing sects finally enlisted an extensive body of adherents. In 411 the caliph was assassinated by con- trivance of his sister Sitt Almulk ; but it was given out by Hamze that he had only withdrawn for a season, and his followers were encouraged to look forward with confidence to his triumphant return. Darazi, who had acted inde pendently in his apostolate, was branded by Hamze as a heretic, and thus, by a curious anomaly, he is actually held in detestation by the very sect wlrch probably bears his name. The propagation of the faith, in accordance with Hamze s initiation, was undertaken by Ismael Ben Maharn- med Temimi, Muhammed ben Wahab, Abulkhair /Selama ben Abdalwahab ben Samurri, and Moktana Bohaeddin, the last of whom was known by his writings from Con stantinople to the borders of India. In two letters ad dressed to the emperor Constantino VIII. and Michael the Paphlagonian he endeavours to prove that the Christian Messiah reappeared in the person of Hamze. The full exposition of the Drusian creed thus brought into existence, even in the somewhat imperfect state of (If. Lord Carnarvon s suggestive account of the Yezidis. European knowledge in regard to many of its details, would require a volume of considerable size : the following is a summary of its main doctrines. The Muahhidin or Unitarians, as the Druses call themselves, believe that there is one and only one God, indefinable, incomprehensible, ineffable, passionless. He has made himself known to men by ten successive incarnations in the persons of Ali, Albar, Alya, Moill, Kaim, Moezz, Ar.iz, Abu Zechariah, Mansur, and Hakim. No further incarnation can take place : in Hakim a final appeal was made to mankind, and after the door of mercy had stood open to all for twenty-six years, it was finally and for ever closed. When the tribulation of the faithful has reached its height, Hakim will reappear to conquer the world and render his religion supreme. The first of the creatures of God is the Universal Intelligence, impersonated in Hamze at the time of the last incarnation ; he is the creator of all subordinate beings, and he alone has immediate communion with the Deity. Next in rank to him, and along with him supporting the throne of the Almighty, are four archangels, the Soul, the Word, the llight Wing, and the Left Wing, who were embodied re spectively in Isrnael Darazi, Mohammed ben Wahab, Selama ben Abdalwahal, and Bohaeddin ; and beneath these again are spiritual agents of various ranks The number of human beings admits neither of increase nor of decrease, and a regular process of metempsychosis is main tained. The souls of the virtuous pass after death into the bodies of Chinese Druses ; those of the wicked may be degraded to the level of camels or dogs. All previous re ligious are mere types of the true, and their sacred books and observances are to be interpreted allegorically. As the admission of converts is no longer permitted, the faithful are enjoined to keep their doctrines secret from the profane ; and in order that their allegiance may not bring them into danger, they are allowed to make outward profession of whatever religion is dominant around them. To this latter indulgence is to be attributed the apparent in- differentism with which they join the Mahometan in his prayers and ablutions, or sprinkle themselves with holy water in the Maronite churches. Obedience is required to the seven great commandments of Hamze, the first and greatest of which enjoins truth in words (but only of Druse towards Druse) ; the second, watchfulness over the safety of the brethren; the third, absolute renunciation of every other religion ; the fourth, complete separation from all who are in error ; the fifth, recognition of the unity of &quot;Our Lord&quot; in all ages; the sixth, complete resignation to his will ; and the seventh, complete obedience to his orders. Prayer, however, is regarded as an impertinent in terference with the Creator; while at the same time, instead of the fatalistic predestination cf Mahometanism, the free dom of the human will is distinctly maintained. Not only is the charge of secrecy rigidly obeyed in regard to ths alien world, but full initiation into the deeper mysteries of the creed is permitted only to a special class desig nated Ockals or Akals probably from the Arabic AM, intelligence in contradistinction from whom all other members of the Druse community, whatever may be their position or attainments, are called Djahel or Ignorant. About 15 per cent, of the adult population belong to this order. Admission is granted to any Druse of cither sex who expresses willingness to conform to the laws of the society, and during a year of probation gives sufficient proof of sincerity and stability of purpose. There appears to be no formal distinction of rank among the various members ; and though the emir Beshir Shehaab used to appoint a sheik of the Ockals, the person thus distin guished obtained no primacy over his fellows. Exceptional influence depends on exceptional sanctity or ability. All are repaired to abstain from tobacco and wine ; the women are