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Origins of the Druze People and Religion, by Philip K. Hitti, [1924], at sacred-texts.com


p. VII

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Page

Two Facsimile Pages from Druze Manuscripts

 

Foreword (by Editor of the Studies)

III

Preface (by Author)

V


CHAPTER I

 

A UNIQUE AND SECRET SECT

 

Two Historical Fossils—Relation to World Events—Minor Episodes—Other Secret Sects—Special Interest of this Study

1-4


CHAPTER II

 

SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT

 

Feudal Organization—Part Played during the Crusades—The Druze Power at its Height—Banu-Shihāb, the Last Feudal Chiefs—Druzes and Christians Grouped in Political Rather than Religious Parties—The Civil War of 1860

5-9


CHAPTER III

 

RACIAL ORIGINS

 

Number and Distribution—Religious and Racial Boundaries Coterminous—Silence of Historians—Travelers’ and Scholars’ Accounts—Criticism of the Arabian Theory—Diverse Hypotheses—Supposed Relationship with the French and British and with Freemasonry—Other Theories

10-17


CHAPTER IV

 

THE PERSIAN ORIGIN OF THE DRUZES

 

The Persian Nucleus at Wādi-al-Taym—The Founders of Druzism All Persian—The Testimony of Religious Vocabulary—Names of Feudal Families—Persian Tribes Transplanted into Syria

18-23


CHAPTER V

 

DRUZE THEOLOGY AND ITS SOURCES

 

I. THE PROBLEM WITH ITS DIFFICULTIES

 

Various Hypotheses—Period of Concealment—Manuscripts—The Historical Setting

24-26

II. THE ḤĀKIM-GOD

 

Whimsical Character of al-Ḥākim—His Deification—Al-Ḥakīm as the Messiah—A Series of Divine Incarnations—The Disappearance and Triumphal Return of al-Ḥākim—Indo-Iranian Influences—Unitarians

16-34

III. FIVE DIVINE MINISTERS AND THREE INFERIOR ONES

 

The Process of Emanation—The Neo-Platonic Source—Inferior Ministers

34-37

p. VIII

 

 

Page

IV. THE PROPHETIC SUCCESSION

 

Seven Major Prophets—Seven a Sacred Number—Excellence of Druze System—Adam—Jesus

37-39

V. THE INNER MEANING

 

The Bāṭiniyyah—The Muḥammadan Law Abrogated—The Mystic Element—Sheikhs

40-43


CHAPTER VI

 

DOGMAS AND PRECEPTS

 

I. TRANSMIGRATION OF SOULS

 

Method of Operation—Earlier Moslem Sects Believing in Transmigration—Relation to China

44-47

II. PREDESTINATION AND DISSIMULATION

 

Shī‘ite Contribution

47-48

III. THE CULT OF THE CALF

 

The Fact—Its Interpretation

49

IV. SEVEN PRECEPTS OF ḤAMZAH

 

Eight Dogmas—Ḥamzah's Precepts—Sources and Operation

50-51


CHAPTER VII

 

FOLKLORE

 

Animism and Saint Worship—Charges of Licentious Practices—Ḥamzites versus Darazites—Family Organization—Summary and Conclusion

52-54


APPENDICES

 

CONTAINING EXTRACTS FROM THE DRUZE SACRED WRITINGS

 

APPENDIX A—COVENANT OF INDUCTION INTO THE RELIGION OF THE RULER OF THE AGE

57

APPENDIX B—AL-ḤAKIM'S ORDINANCE PROHIBITING THE USE OF WINE

59

APPENDIX C—EXCERPT FROM THE CHARTER FOUND POSTED ON THE WALLS OF THE MOSQUES ON THE OCCASION OF THE DISAPPEARANCE OF OUR LORD AL-IMAM AL-ḤAKIM

61

APPENDIX D—EXCERPT FROM THE EPISTLE ENTITLED AL-QUSṬANṬĪNIYYAH ADDRESSED BY BAHĀ’-AL-DĪN TO THE BYZANTINE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE

64

APPENDIX E—EXCERPT FROM BAHĀ’-AL-DĪN'S EPISTLE ENTITLED CHRISTIANITY

68

APPENDIX F—EXHORTATIONS AND PRAYERS BY AL-SAYYID ‘ABDULLĀH AL -TANŪKHI

71

Index

75

Map

81


Next: Chapter I. A Unique and Secret Sect