Druzenet is a noncommercial website that was launched in 1996
under the sponsorship of the incomparable person of His
Imminence Sheikh Bahjat Ghaith. Sheikh Ghaith valiantly
carried the flame of Mashiakhat El-Aql (The Highest
Spiritual Druze Leadership)for15 years (against all odds and
obstacles), and withdrew in 2006 voluntarily from his position
crowning a life-long journey of trials, tribulations and
sacrifice on all levels for the sake of preserving The
Brotherhood and The Oath.
He finally stepped out willingly in protest against the
governmental unconstitutional intervention in the Druze
Religious Affairs that displayed in the Lebanese Parliament
passing a Law tailored to meet the desires of a Druze political
party - a law that was vetoed by His Excellency the
Former Lebanese President Emile Lahoud for its clear and
evident breach of constitution.
This unprecedented interference that targeted the Druze out of
all other religions, under the deceptive slogan Organizing
the Affairs of the Druze Community, ultimately aimed at
reducing the sacred role of Mashiakhat El-Aql (the symbol of
Druze Religious Independency and the only official Druze
Spiritual Leadership) into a folkloric dummy in the hand of the
political leader. Imagine the same thing happening to the
Christian Patriarch or to the Moslem Mufti!!!! Imagine the
Parliament legislating (on behalf of the Vatican) "Religious
Christian Affairs"...
With the organized dismissal of the Constitutional Council
, whose job is to protect sacred institutions from being subject
to such form of secular aggression (as it did in year 2000 when
a similar attempt was aborted by the council), Sheikh Ghaith had
two choices: the first is to remain in his position within a
preset scenario of more than one Sheikh Aql in compliance to
what he have always fought against which is segmenting El-Mashiakhat
into shares divided and owned by the political leaders - each
claiming his own piece. The second is to refuse to take part in
such demeanor which he considered mortifying to the Religious
Sanctity of the Druze; so he did what very few men in power are
willing to do in this day and age: He stepped out gracefully
after refusing to allow his case to be politicized to his own
benefit or to take any advantage of the political clash between
those leaders that was going on at the time, leaving behind him
a history written with words of power, honor, courage and
dignity and utter rejection to bow down to any secular
intervention in the Spiritual Druze Affairs under any
circumstance or in return for any price.
If there is one reason as to why we as Druze are being easily
targeted on such level - why our deep spiritual affairs became
the joke of the Lebanese Parliament, it would have to be our
unforgivable Silence which has always been used against us on
all levels, starting from our own Druze politicians who have
somehow invested in our special situation, making of our youth's
spiritual ignorance a recipe for blind and unconditional
allegiance to their parties.
For more than a decade now, Druzenet, under Sheikh Ghaith's
close guidance and sponsorship, reflected his spirit of
religious pride and integrity. Druzenet broke the silence at
times when doing so was considered a "felony", enduring all sort
of harsh criticism and organized attempts to nail down the
site's credibility and depress its free spirit.
Across the years, Druzenet has never stopped being a pioneer in
its dedication to reveal the Druze Spiritual Identity to the
Druze communities in the Middle East and worldwide, providing
quality material that aims at simplifying complex Druze
Doctrines (of high philosophical and cognitive value) to the
average discernment. For more than a decade and a budget that
exceeded a million dollars granted by Sheikh Ghaith from his
personal wealth, we printed, translated and published countless
articles, magazines, books and publications, reaching out to a
wide range of readers online and on the ground (in Lebanon and
worldwide) and answering to the needs of those among the Druze
brothers and sisters who wish to know more about their
forsaken identity and the non-Druze from all nationalities,
cultures and religions who are generally curious to demystify
their conceptions or misconceptions on the Druze Religion.
Amidst a jungle of false and often spiteful accounts written on
the Druze in print form and online, we've always felt it is
necessary to break the Millennial Silence that has engulfed us
as a community of brotherhood brought together under The
Sacred Oath &The five Colored Flag and introduce
ourselves by ourselves to a world that is growing increasingly
smaller, harder to hide in and completely intolerant to such
form of blind conservatism. We believe that we as Druze have
nothing to hide that has not been revealed one way or the other,
especially by some people who continue to invest in our silence
to make up their own twisted stories on the Druze.
Our doctrines are timeless and universal, and were taught by
blessed Minds like Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates,
Parmenides, Hermes and Seth thousands of years ago. Our
spiritual identity pauses no threat to any body. This fact is
evident throughout the Druze history in the Levant and the
important role the Druze played to bridge between the east and
the west, the Christian and the Moslem. It is about time
everyone understands once and for all that our silence has never
been a cover up for any malignant intentions against other
religions or faiths; on the contrary, it has protected our
choice to live peacefully with "The Other" and embrace religious
diversity, through minimizing the negativity aroused by preachy
behavior. We simply ask of no one to convert to Druzism, neither
do we expect of anyone from another religion to ask from us a
similar thing, because this kind of behavior expresses deep
religious bias which is far more dangerous than the Druze
peaceful silence however mysterious it may be.
However, we believe that silence has served its purpose, and its
time to move on. Our sacred universal wisdom undoubtedly warrant
more from us in those challenging times. It does not deserve to
be hidden like a shame or a sin anymore or treated with neglect
and indifference. This is no longer a world in which Gnostics
are persecuted or burnt to death for believing in reincarnation.
This is a world where even Satan Worshippers are not afraid or
ashamed to scream out loud for what they believe in. So the
question is: Where is our pride as Sons and Daughters of the
Wholly Mind and the ancient truth? Where is the wisdom in hiding
behind our fingers when everyone could see and could easily
sense that we are different. What are we achieving in being so
pointlessly homogeneous in the eyes of a world that doesn't even
care anymore? What are we achieving except lying to our own
selves? What are we doing beyond forcing ourselves to spiritual
bankruptcy and seriously depriving our youth, generation after
generation, from their right to know why they were born Druze
and what does it mean to be a Druze beyond a set of inherited
customs, traditions and food recipes that could be considered
more Turkish than Druze.
Our Forsaken Identity
While the historical identity of the Druze as a community
brought together by language, land or tradition, may date back
one thousand yrs. to Fatimid Egypt, the Spiritual Identity of
El-Druze as Preservers of the Ancient Brotherhood & The Oath
is as old as the creation of time; and if the Druze Ancient
Wisdom has truly survived the test of time and has successfully
maintained a brotherhood of authentic descendants for 1000 years
in one of the most politically tense areas of the world and
throughout the most critical times of Middle East's religious
history, it has done so, not in virtue of the Druze's historical
background or their moral or traditional values, but through the
ability of the Druze Mind to rise above the facade of man-made
identities and trace all sort of differences among cultures,
religions and races into their ancient origins in the
Behavioral Self of Man which Plato referred to as
Psyche.
Druzenet (for what it stands for) is not a nostalgic effort to
revive the ancient Gnostic spirit or to celebrate the
rediscovery of lost scriptures or revelation of magical
doctrines. It represents the testimony of real people who have
carried the Five-Colored Flag of the Ancient Gnostic
Wisdom on earth for 1000 years, after they had carried it in
their souls for millions of years prior to that, and have
sacrificed their blood, children and all their possessions in
all their lives to preserve The Brotherhood of the
Oath ever since the Atlantean times and even before any
recollect-able history, not through secret orders, mysterious
rites, or hidden organizations, but through conscious
actions in space and time.
Yes, the Spiritual Identity of the Druze has survived the test
of time, not because of the mysterious silence that shielded the
Druze community throughout history, but because of real choices
which the Druze took on the level of Adamic thought and
action - it has survived through their continuous investment
in the Sacred Doctrines of the Ancient Gnostic Wisdom, life
after the other; and, thanks to a Divine Doctrine of Brotherhood
and a Divine Law of Transmigration (Reincarnation), the Unity of
their Spiritual Identity is unchallengeable. No religion or
race, no history or geography, no nation or civilization, no
government or law could ever stand in the way of the hidden path
of the Soul as it shapes its destiny across space & time and
throughout its countless reincarnations
It may shake you to imagine that every human soul is as ancient
as existence and has experienced on earth incalculable lives and
have clothed itself with thousands of man-made identities -
millions of years worth of EVE-ENDS, all in the hope that one
day the soul may recollect its sacred ADAMIC-BEGINNING. It may
shake you to imagine that you may be a Christian fighting a war
against Moslems in one life only to be born to a Moslem family
in another - or a soldier killing your enemy (in the name of
defending a nationality), while your pregnant wife back home is
delivering birth to the very enemy that you have just killed -
all in the service of a much higher identity and a much deeper
Wisdom than what man-made identities are designed to serve.
What such truth may imply on the level of Power & Politics on
earth? Imagining the answer to this question will help you
comprehend why traces of most doctrines of the Ancient Gnostic
Wisdom were repelled and removed from all the sacred texts, not
only by the political powers but also by the religious ones. It
will help you understand why history wrote such rejection with
blood & ash ink. It may also help you to understand why so much
controversy has surrounded the religion of the Druze of the
Levant.
Druzenet
reveals, through a humble effort, the origin of the struggle
that has ruled religions and philosophies, nations and
civilizations, thought patterns and spiritual directions,
oppositeness and contrariety, since the beginning of time,
bringing it back to its Authentic LIMITS (within the boundaries
of the Adamic Soul): its ancient home in where the Logic
that separates between the Realm of Space & Time and the Realm
of Eternity converge to tell the story of the Star, the Cross,
the Sun and the Moon.
A Final Word of Thanks
Special thanks to His Imminence Sheikh Bahjat Ghaith for
dedicating all his Mental and Material assets for
spreading the Message of Truth and Enlightenment - an expedition
that started early in his life (prior to being Sheikh El-Akel),
and throughout the years, it grew to surpass all expectations;
in the hope that one day this message will support itself by
itself and reflect its blessings upon our brothers and sisters
in Spirit & Body in Theory & Practice, everywhere and whichever
country they belong to or language they speak.
Deep gratitude to His Imminence for enduring the weight of such
burden and sponsoring such an effort which enthroned his long
undertaking to spread Authentic Consciousness , despite all the
obstacles and difficulties that stood in his way; and blessed is
the experience that guided such journey, because it revealed the
character of a True Brother in this day and age, and rose in the
language of expressing the Essence of Spirituality and its close
link to what is happening on the Ground of Reality above
religious, spiritual or Sufi appearances and beyond the
Deceptive Modesty which conceals a spirit of egoism hidden
behind a Turkish Costume - rose into the simplicity and
humbleness expressive of the Adamic Truth: the pivot at which
the Greatness of the Heavens converge with the Earthliness of
this World.
