284 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2-id S. X. Oct. 13. =60. 



come out extremely like. Has Merril sent you 

 yours ? 



Yours ever, 



W. L. Mansel. 



P.S. I forgot to insert in the middle of my 

 account what foUowe : — 



Steevens. " I am sorry the cause of llowley 

 should cause such words from you, Dr. Glynn." 



Dr. G. " Sir, it is not Rowley. A nutshell or a 

 straw may give one an insight into a man's heart 

 sometimes, sooner than things of consequence." 



RELIGION OF THE DRUSES. 

 Like other works of Eichhorn, his article on 

 this subject {Repertoriumfur Bihlische und Morgen- 

 I'dndische Litteratur, xii. 108.) is little known in 

 this country : at the present time the subject is of 

 peculiar interest. It may be said that, as Maho- 

 met introduced into Islam many misunderstood 

 notions from the Old and New Testament, so the 

 founder of the Druses, after adopting the gospels, 

 has introduced the avatan notion of the Hindoos. 

 They say the God that created heaven and earth 

 has made his presence known bodily ten times : 

 1, as Height ; 2, as Creator ; 3, as Elevated ; 4, 

 as Highest ; 5, as Defender ; 6, as Mighty ; 7, as 

 Excellent ; 8, as Helper ; 9, as Victorious ; 10, as 

 Ruler — the last name only, Uakem in Arabic, 

 being that of a living person ; the other names 

 being designed, I conceive, to represent attributes 

 of Deity. Nevertheless, according to their system, 

 the 1st appeared in India in the city of Djin- 

 Madshin ; the 2nd at Ispahan in Persia ; the 3rd 

 in Yemen; the 4th in Mauritania, as the driver of 

 a thousand camels ; the 5th at Mohadiah in Mau- 

 ritania, who built the pyramids, and constructed 

 the haven of Rosetta; the 6th and 7th [hiatus in 

 MS. to] the 8th at Mangur ; and the 9th in 

 Egypt, dying A Hejra 411 (= a.d. 1020). The 

 head-quarters of the Druses is at Kesroan on 

 Libanon, near the Mediterranean, the southern 

 portion of which is called the Land of the Druses. 

 They are found at Byblus, Sidon, and Baalbeck, 

 and are scattered in other parts of Syria and Pa- 

 lestine. Up to a recent period they were under 

 seven small chiefs or emirs. At Beyrut they pos- 

 sess house property, but the chief emirs reside 

 usually at the city of Deir al Kamer, in the moun- 

 tain, north of Sidon. They are divided into two 

 classes, the Ignorant (dshohal or johal), who know 

 nothing of their religion, and are distinguished by 

 their dress of a short over-coat of goats' hair and 

 wool, reaching to the knee, having stripes of vari- 

 ous colours, beneath which is a long blue under- 

 cloak of linen ; they wear a turban of many colours, 

 and carry weapons ; and the Intelligent (okkal), 

 always clad in white or black, without weapons, 

 and with a white turban; they are particular in 



eating, taking their food with them ; they seldom 

 marry, and then with Druses only ; they swear no 

 (feth, but affirm their statements by the word .yj:^ 



" I have said it." To the religious chief homage is 

 done by kissing the hand. The women also are 

 divided into the same classes of Ignorant and In- 

 telligent. ■ Some of the men of the Intelligent class 

 separate themselves as eremites, dwelling in holy 

 chapels (chalwah) chiefly in the hills. To these 

 the Intelligent Druses come every Friday, to see, 

 as is supposed, an image preserved in a chest of 

 their god, Hakem. The Druses deny all gods but 

 Hakem, and style themselves Unitarians (almut- 

 wahadiri). There is no reason to believe that they 

 are referred to by Herodotus (i. 128.) ; nor that 

 they are named from the Count de Dreux (a.d, 

 1187), for Benjamin of Tudela found and de- 

 scribed them under that name (pN''t1"l"j) in a.d. 

 1173. Their origin is fixed by Elmacin, confirmed 

 by their own Catechism, a.h. 408 (= a.d. 1017), 

 and is ascribed to a false teacher who came into 

 Egypt out of a foreign country, named Moham- 

 med the son of Ismael, with the surname of Al 

 Drusi, who entered the service of Hakem. This 

 incarnation of the deity was flattered by the doc- 

 trines of Drusi, but the people sought to murder 

 Drusl. At length a Turk killed him whilst riding 

 in Hakem's carriage ; his house was plundered ; 

 uproar ensued for three days ; the gates of Cairo 

 were shut, and many Druses were destroyed ; but 

 the Turk was imprisoned. After Drusi a more 

 Important person appeared, — Hamsah, son of 

 Ahmed, surnamed Al Iladl. He dwelt at a place 

 outside of Cairo, called Mesdjed-BIr (well of the 

 house of prayer), and instructed the people In the 

 doctrines of the Druses : he permitted marriage 

 with sons, sisters, and mothers, discountenanced 

 fasts, prayers in the mosque, and the pilgrimage 

 to Mecca, and made many converts. Following 

 the Hindoo notion of transmigration of souls, 

 Hamsah, according to their Catechism, has appeared 

 on the earth seven times : 1 , In the time of Adam, 

 as Shatnil (Seth ?) ; 2, In Noah's, as Pythagoras ; 

 3, in Abraham's, as David ; 4, in the time of 

 Moses, as Shoalb (Jethro ?) ; 5, In the time of 

 Jesus, as the true Messiah, and called Lazarus ; 6, 

 in Mahomet's, as Soliman the Persian ; 7, and in 

 the time of Said, as Zalech. He sought Jesus 

 the son of Mary and Joseph the carpenter, to bring 

 him to the knowledge of Hakem ; he urged the 

 Jews to crucify Jesus ; he stole his body out of 

 the grave, hid it In the garden, so that his disci- 

 ples might believe that he had risen from the 

 dead. He, and not Jesus, appeared to the disci- 

 ples after the crucifixion of Jesus. 



The creed of the Druses may be thus stated : — 

 Hak«m is the god of the Druses. He is called the 

 creator of heaven and earth ; the only god in 

 heaven, and the only lord on earth worthy of 



