The Lost Tribe of Plato: The Druze Religion and Isma'ili Neoplatonism
Creators: name: Amir, Salman Elamir
Publisher: name: My University
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Druze religion
subject: Ismā‛īlī studies
subject: Neoplatonic philosophy
subject: Extreme Shī‛ism
subject: Dualistic cosmology
subject: Tawḥīd (oneness of God), the Theory of the Intellect, Metempsychosis
subject: Middle Eastern, Near Eastern and North African Studies
subject: Humanities
subject: FOS: Humanities

description: My dissertation brings a new perspective to Druze studies. It analyzes the history of the Druze movement and three main tenets of the Druze religion: the transcendent God, the theory of the Intellect and the doctrine of metempsychosis. The Druze teachings about these tenets parallel Ismā‛īlī Neoplatonism expounded in the writings of al-Kirmānī and al-Sijistānī. The reader will also find an exposition of the Druze dualistic cosmology. Through textual analysis of the Druze Canon and historical accounts, chapter two chronicles the rise of the Druze in Fāṭimid Egypt under the reign of caliph al-Ḥākim (r. 996 – 1021) who was the key figure in Ḥamzah’s (disappeared 1021) successful creation and dissemination of a new religion. I argue that Ḥamzah exploited al-Ḥākim’s obsession to be deified and his melancholy to create a new religion. Chapter three analyzes the notion of tawḥīd (oneness of God) according to the Druze and the Ismā‛īlīs. God is ineffable, indescribable, and unknowable. An intriguing finding of this chapter is that for both the Druze and al-Kirmānī, God is veiled not only from humans, but also from the Intellect itself. Nevertheless, Ḥamzah introduced the idea of the nāsūt, or the human aspect of the divinity, which he borrowed from extreme Shī‛ism, into his new religion. I posit that the nāsūt was merely an instrument that enabled Ḥamzah to credibly deify al-Ḥākim. I demonstrate that unlike the Nuṣayrīs who worship ‛Alī b. Abī Ṭālib as God, Ḥamzah’s devotion to al-Ḥākim had nothing to do with a belief that al-Ḥākim was God. Rather, it was motivated by al-Ḥākim’s critical role, albeit unwitting, in facilitating Ḥamzah’s larger plan. Chapter four introduces the theory of Intellect expounded in al-Kirmānī’s Rāḥat al-‛Aql and shows how Ḥamzah was directly influenced by it. A key finding in this chapter is that ՚Allāh of the Qur՚ān is the Intellect, not God, according to the Druze and al-Kirmānī. The Qur՚ān ascribes many attributes and 99 names to ՚Allāh. Since God is ineffable, indescribable, and unknowable, according to the Druze and al-Kirmānī, ՚Allāh cannot represent God and is, instead, the Intellect. This chapter also presents the dualistic cosmology of the Druze and demonstrates that Ḥamzah built it to achieve specific goals: 1. to appoint himself as the ՚Imām instead of al-Ḥākim, who was to become God on earth; 2. to abrogate Islam in its entirety; and 3. to eliminate his rivals in the Ismā‛īlī da‛wah. Chapter five explores the doctrine of metempsychosis in the Druze religion. The Druze believe that human souls reincarnate into human bodies only. I argue that this doctrine reached the Druze founders through the Ismā‛īlī philosopher al-Sijistānī and that it can be traced back to Iamblichus (d. 245) who alone among Greek philosophers ruled out the transmigration of human souls into non-humans. In this chapter I also argue that the Druze doctrine of embryology, i.e. how, when and whence the soul enters the body of the embryo, echoes what Plato wrote in the Timaeus and the Republic. In conclusion, my dissertation shows that the deification of al-Ḥākim was the critical first step for Ḥamzah to achieve his larger vision. Ḥamzah succeeded in building a religion that falls outside the confines of Islam, still endures today, and contains numerous components of Neoplatonic philosophy. He is the true leader of the lost tribe of Plato.