Second: the writer and the book
The writer, Nassib Asaad al-Asaad, from the Syrian city of As-Suwayda, which has a majority of the Druze monotheistic sect, strives in this book to reveal the veil of the monotheistic sect, which refuses to be called the Druze because they see themselves as ascribed to a person who exaggerates religion and deifies the Fatimid ruler, who is considered the founder of the monotheistic school of thought, and they deny That, and they reject his exaggerations, and they prefer to attribute the origin of their belief in monotheism to God. They acknowledge that the label is dominant over them, and therefore they are forced to circulate it between them. We will go over that in detail in the book. Moreover, the writer tried to present his subject in a comprehensive way, historically, ideologically, philosophically, customs, and social behavior, so that it can be said that the book composed of 450 pages is almost an integrated book in its subject matter. It covered an important topic to know about a component of the Syrian people, which extends to non-Syria as well.
Third: the historical background
The author intends to go back historically to the origin of Bani Marouf, the Almohads, the Druze, their Arab origin from the Tanukhiyun and Lakhmid tribes who were in Yemen since before Islam, and their emigration from Yemen following the collapse of the Marib Dam towards Iraq and Syria and their settlement in different locations, and the writer confirmed that these tribes settled in The mountains of Lebanon and Jabal al-Arab in As-Suwayda in Syria and some neighboring regions and in Palestine and elsewhere. All this information is to focus on the fact that the Druze were of ancient Arab origin. This is on the one hand, as he confirmed that these tribes were among the first to join Islam when the call and the first Islamic conquests reached them, and that they were aligned in the struggle for the caliphate with Ali bin Abi Talib against Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan. He also expanded by talking about the Shiites of Ali ibn Abi Talib, and that they also became multiple sects. There are the Twelver Shiites that believe in Ali’s right to the caliphate, and after him his sons Al-Hassan and Al-Hussein to the eleventh grandson, Al-Hassan Al-Askari and his son Muhammad, who is called the Mahdi, who entered into occultation and believes in the Twelver Shiites. By returning and doing the matter of religion again. And there are the Ismaili Shiites who are separated from the Twelvers at the seventh Imam Ismail and see his entitlement and his children to the caliphate, and they were named after that the Fatimids to distinguish themselves from others, especially since they built the Fatimid state that originated in the Maghreb and extended to Egypt and the Levant after that, in the name of the Fatimid caliphate.
Fourth: the belief depth of the monotheists
An explanatory note must be made that the beliefs of the Druze monotheists grew from their Shiite origin first, and then the Fatimid, which was associated with the Fatimid caliphate extending from the Maghreb to Egypt and the Levant, and expanding in belief, to draw from Greek Gnostic philosophy, Indian beliefs, and ancient Egyptian beliefs, and finally culminated in what the ruler said and did. By the command of the Fatimid God, and the sanctification bestowed on him that reaches divinity, and there is a difference in reading that between the divine embodiment in it, as said by Nashtakin Al-Darzi, who the Almohads deny his saying. And between what the monotheists acknowledge is that God has a presence in some human beings, in addition to the human side in them, a divine aspect, such as Jesus Christ, son of Mary. They see that al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the Fatimid, has the divine side as well as the human side. The Almohads also believe that the soul does not perish after the death of its owner, but rather returns again in a new body, the soul of a man in a man and the soul of a woman in a woman. back to the woman. They also believe that all souls have many reincarnations. They also believed that there were five hudud whom al-Hakim entrusted with the affairs of God with the affairs of the da’wah. They are Hamza bin Ali and his name is the mind, and Sheikh al-Mujtaba Ismail al-Tamimi is called al-Nafs, and Sheikh al-Murtada Wahb al-Qurashi is called al-Kalima, and Sheikh al-Mustafa Salama al-Samiri is his previous name, and Sheikh al-Muqtani is Bahaa al-Din al-Samouqi and his next name. And they were seconded by Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah in succession, starting from Hamzah bin Ali. They are considered codifiers of the wisdom writings that crystallized the beliefs of the Almohads over time, and those who explained and interpreted them came after them. The belief of the Druze monotheists is that the five borders revolve their souls with time in new people for every time. For example, the first term called the mind:
He was in the role of the Most High, whose name is the Universal Mind.
In the role of the bar? His name is Schnell
In the role of Noah, his name is Pythagoras
In the role of Abraham named Suleiman bin Dawood
In the role of Moses named Shoaib
In the role of Muhammad named Salman Al-Farsi.
And so on for the rest of the borders. That is why the Druze monotheists used to glorify the companions after Ali and his children from Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet, who is considered one of the borders. They glorified Salman Al-Farisi and he had a great religious presence with them, as he was aware of the revelation that came to Muhammad the Prophet and his holiness is with them, as well as Al-Miqdad bin Al-Aswad Al-Kindi, and Ammar Bin Yasir and Abu Dhar Al-Ghafari, and they considered these four, along with Ali bin Abi Talib, to be the five borders at the time of the call of the Messenger Muhammad.
Fifth: The Fatimid Caliphate and the establishment of the Almohad doctrine
The writer goes back to spreading the Ismaili call at the beginning of the fourth century AH, and how the preachers were sent to the Maghreb, then the Ismaili imam arrived there, and the tribes joined him, and then they began to expand towards Egypt and then the Levant. The caliphate went through roles of weakness at the beginning, then strength, starting with al-Mu’izz li-Din Allah, then al-Aziz li-Din Allah, then it reached al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, as it had reached Egypt and expanded towards the Levant. Al-Hakim’s period, by God’s command, bore many changes. Sometimes he would be strict with people, sometimes he would have mercy on them, and sometimes he would persecute Christians and Jews, and sometimes he would appear among people and sometimes he would disappear. At that time, Nashtakin al-Darzi appeared, who claimed the divinity of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. He exiled him to the Levant, and it is said that a woman there killed him. Al-Hakim denied his divinity. He formed a network of preachers for his religious call. Hamza bin Ali was the chief of his preachers, who numbered in the hundreds. He sent them to the Levant, Iraq, India and the Arabian Peninsula, and he had followers and supporters, and his call expanded and increased. He clashed with the Abbasids a lot in the Levant and its neighborhood in Iraq. He was on friendly terms with the Qarmatians, who made their emirate for them in Bahrain and its vicinity, as they drew from the same Shiite source. The case of the ruler’s call did not continue smoothly, as the ruler disappeared by God’s command. Some believed that he had entered into occultation and would return, and some said that his sister killed him because he claimed divinity. The important thing is that the ruler disappeared by God’s command and came after him the phenomenon, who apostatized from everything the ruler did, his ideas and beliefs, and returned and adopted The Sunni doctrine of Islam, and its imposition on the people in Egypt and in all regions of its rule, so that the Fatimid call and the beliefs of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah receded, and they remained in a few regions in the Levant, especially Syria and Lebanon.
———–
Arabs Forum
