The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-08-04
The Druses.

which they are perpetrating among the Chris
tians of Syria. II may he that these massa.
ores are bat the precursors OF an event, which,
when it happens, will change the face of the
civilized world The barbarities of the Druses
may lead to the overthrow of the Ottoman
Empire. ItcannoI then, be unilteresti ng 10
takea brief survey of their history, religion,
and position. with regard TO the Christian anu
Moslem world The sketch OF them "hon
GnnoN has given in "the Decline ana faii, s
very meagre and unsatisfactory, according 10
.he knowledee of them which was possessed
in his dav. by the nations of Europe. Since
that time the Expose" of M. DE SACy and
10, CpuRoHrLL's mount Lebanon" have
thrown more igst upon their history, man
ners, religion, &c, and many missionaries,
both English and American, have published
remarks upon them. For this sketch we are
principally indebted 10 an article in the Ne,o
American Encyclopedia.
The Druses are a race and religious sect
inhabiting the Southern ranges of Lebanon
and Anti-Libanus, and other portions of Sy-
ria. They derive their name from DURsI,
heretical disciple of their Messiah HAMsA.-
The name they regard as stigma, and call
themselves only Unitarians. HAMsA was
wandering fanatic, who about the year 1000
persuaded HAKEM Fatimite Caliph OF Egypt.
TO declare himself an incarnation of God. and
thus to become the founder OF a new religion.
HAKgN an abominable tyrant, a wholesale
murderer and an oppressor, almost without
rival in cruelty, even in the East, was assas-
sinated in the year 1921, and HAMsA, flying
into Syria, took refuge in the mountains
and propagated the new faith among the
fierce tribes that have inhabited them from
the commencement of the Mahometan Era
The God OF the Druses is, therefore, bloody
1yrant and their Messiah renegade Mahom-
stan fanatic. They maintain the unity OF
God, and hold that the Messiah is the
greatest and wisest of his creatures
They hold that there have been ten mani
festations of God upon earth, that HA-
KEN was the tenth and last, and that from this
time forth there is TO be no other NANTES ia
ton until the great day. On that day HA-
KIM will return as God. The care of the
faithful is left to five principal minis
tiers, until the appearance of God. The
chief of them is HAMsA, whose spiritual
title is Universal Intelligence, because this in
teiligence, The first born of The deity, was in
carnated in HAMsA at the same time with the
incarnation Of the deity in Hakem. HAMsA is
what CHRIST is in the Arian theory. In this
system he combined the functions of CHRIST
and MAHoMKT. The second minister is Is
MAIL the Universal Soul" The rebellion
OF the Rival" rendered his existence neces-
sary, and he was born that Intelligence might
have a counsellor. He sanctifes souls and
prepares them to receive the divine doctrine.
The third is MAHoMET, "the Word" born of
the Union of Intelligence and Soul whose office
is that of a bishop, watching over Unitarian
missions and the conduct of the brethren.-
SELAMA, the "Precedipg," the fourth minis
ter and MoKTAED BoHAEDDIN the FOLLOW
ing" have the same missions. one being call
ed the fright wing" and the other the cleft
wing" They came three years after HAMsA,
and were entrusted with the teaching of all
knowledge except that Of the Unitarian reli-
gion which comes from the higher ministers
HAMsA is to Judge the world on the Last Day
The sect was organized by BoHAEDDIN, who
knew the retreat OF HAMsA, and acted under
his instructions. Below these five ministers
are three others, who are styled "the Open
ing" "the Application" and 'the Phantom
Still below these are three other classes, STYLED
Oars, Madhooms, and Mocassers, who are the
connecting links between the earthly society
and the heavenly orders, and hold their posi-
ton by virtue of their piety and talents. They
are all preachers, commissioned 10 extirpate
fa.se doctrine and preach the truth. The
whole number of working ministers is l64
expressed by the cabalistic word sdk
The Druses hold that man was originally
created in myriads, male and female old and
young-that there are not now and never will
be more souls than there We're in the first Gre
ation-that the Rival" answering to the
int eli init ~
world-that ENocH and SETH Were the rebel
lious pair who drove the race from Paradise
that the evils of sin are separation from God,
Ignorance, confusion of religion war, jeal-
ousy falsehood &c.-that sin first broke the
unity of the race which is to be restored by
HAMsA, who will triumph over the "Rival,"
without, however, making any atonement-
that the change which he works is in the spirit
of men, not in the mind of God--and that the
length of every mans life is limited but not
his free will as long as he lives. They be-
lieye in the transmigration of souls, but their
creed differs from that of PYTHAGoRAs and
every other rnetemisychosis. According to
them, the soul does not pass into the bodies
of lower animals, but only into other hu-
man forms as they are born into the world
The souls of the good grow better, and the
souls of the bad worse, at each successive
transmigration, and at the resurrection the
former will be absorbed into the being of God
and become part of his existence while the lat
ter will still continue to go down. the Druses
reverence the holy men of the Jewish and
Christian faith, and have a large calendar of
their own Saints. Their moral teaching is
summed up in seven commandments Ist
The first inculcates "truth in words; the cd
mutual help and protection the Sd, renunica-
tion of all other religions; 4th, separation
from infidels in heart aud association; 5tb
acknowledgment OF Gods unity; 9th, salts
faction with the acts of God; 9TH. resignation
TO Gods will" They also inculcate chastity
honesty, meekness and virtue, and denounce
murder, theft, covetousness and cruelty as
sins. II is TO be presumed, however, that they
denounce all these sins as criminal, only when
practiced among themselves; for, notwith-
standing the praise which certain writers be-
stow upon their morality, it is certain that
they are at this moment practicing towards
their neighbors, on gigantic scale, all the Of
fences enumerated above.
The Druses have no prayers or preaching to
which they admit any but their own sect
hence the idea that they have no worship
They keep no Sabbath, have no priestly caste,
and have no ceremonies but those of initia.
ton. Their ho9o,ess, or places of meeting. and
their oekals. or wise men, are all that connect
them with religious symbols The former are
houses like the common huts, but each with a
larger room the latter hold the same position
with the leaders in Quaker meetings. ~hey
have no salaries, and live by work as Others
do, and they may be either male or female
Their proportion TO the rest of the tribe is
about one TO four. Their form of government
Is half fendai, half patriarchal. They have
but one wife, and her rights are acknow ledged.