BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. ARAMCO WORLD MAGAZINE, Nov.-Dec. 1973
2. ASSAD, Sadik, The reign of Al Hakim Bi Amr Allah, the Arab Institutefor research and publishing, Beirut, 1974
3. Bouron, Capitaine N. Les Druzes. Paris Editions Berger, Levrault, 1930.
4. Churchill, Colonel Charles. The Druze and the Maronites. London, BernardQuatrich, 15 Picadelly, 1862.
5. Mount-Lebanon, A ten years residence from 1842-1852. Vol. II London,Ssaunders and Otely, Conduit Street, 1853
6. De Sacy, Sylvester. Expose de religion des Druzes. Paris, 19
7. Guys, Henri. La nation Druze Paris 1863
8. Head, Joseph & Cranston, S.L. Reincarnation: The phoenix Fire Mystery.New York Julian Press 1986
9. Makarem, Sami Nassib. The Druze faith, New York, Caravan Books, Delmar,1974.
10. Other references in Arabic

The Druze doctrine was very ambitious like every humanitarian movement.But the path to its final end was not paved. The Druze preachers triedhard to unify people under its flag, but all their effort went in vain.Its radical ideas did not appeal to the people at that time, and fanaticismremained the ruling factor.

Today, the Druze community lives peacefully in the Middle East. Its membersare extremely polite with others, and they don't interfere with others'matters. They dont preach anymore, and they don't like others to interferwith their religious matters. It is almost impossible to reveal their secret.When religious matters are presented in front of them, they keep silent.The philosophy of their life is quite simple. It can be summarised in thefollowing epigram: Keep Silent and Wait.

So, the Druze believer waits for the final Judgement which he thinks tobe his last shelter. He despises all the riches of the world because hethinks that every thing on earth is temporary, and Wisdom is to seek forthe eternal.

The highest concern for the Druze sheikh is to await patiently for thearrival of the city of God where Justice, Love, and Grace will reign forever.

Another kind of special relation does exist between the Druze faithand the Greek idealistic philosophy. The Druze consider Socrates, Plato,and Aristotle as prophets. Many inspirations were taken from the Greekthought. The idea of Ultimate reason adopted by the Druze is a neo-platonicidea. The Greek philosophers are currently mentioned in the Druze culture,and there is an extensive use of Aristotle's logic in the argument dedicatedto prove the validity of the new thesis presented to people by the Druzepreachers. It is well known that the Druze's call came in the time whenthe interrelation between Islam and Greek metaphysics has reached its climax.Every Islamic sect was trying to affirm its issues by referring to Aristotle'scategories. Islamic philosophers worked hard to combine Islamic theologywith the Greek philosophy. The Druze's call was one of these attempts.The Druze preachers reached a high level in understanding this philosophyand applied its concepts on their religion.

The relation between the Druze faith and the far eastern thinking is obscure. One of the main evidences is the belief in reincarnation, but there is a main difference between the Druze and the Hindus concerning this issue. Unlike the Hindus, the Druze DO NOT believe in the transmigration of the human soul from the human body to animal, plant or inorganic substances.

The human soul transmigrates only from human body to another human body and maintains the same gender. A male into male, and female into a female.This difference is accompanied also by another difference which is the belief in sanction. The human soul is rewarded or punished eternally on the Judgement Day. There is no Nirvana because the human soul cannot exist without a body. The attachment of the soul to the consecutive bodies is eternal in this world, and in the future world. Such ideas make it difficult to find the clue which relates the Druze faith to Indian religions. What is certain is that there has been no??? relation between the Druze and some Indian personalities and one of them is mentioned in the books of the Druze's Wisdom, and there is a special Epistle which is named the Epistle of India. Moreover, one of the Druze authors claimed to find many epistles sent to India, and he classified them in a book. This book is regarded by the Druze intellectuals as an important reference, but the Druze sheikhs refuse to accept it as one of their books.