TRANSLATION
What I present here is a provisional translation of the first epistle from the Druze holy book, the Rasa'il al-hikmah (The Epistles of Wisdom) which I began yesterday and completed earlier today.
The translation, unfortunately, is not of the original Arabic but rather from de Sacy's French translation in his wonderful book, Chrestomathie Arabe which starts on page 191. As far as I am aware this is the first complete translation of a Druze epistle—or at least this one in particular—into the English language. Hitti translated some excerpts in his book, The Origins of the Druze People and Religion as did Bryer in his thesis on the Druze, and a while back, there was an anonymous translation of this epistle published on Wikisource, which also seems to be a translation of de Sacy, though the quality is poor and the translation incomplete.
The Wikisource translation lists the author of the epistle as al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, but this is incorrect, as the epistle is certainly from Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad, which I note in the translation.
Despite the creation of the Druze religion often being attributed to Muhammad ad-Darazi, the de facto founder of the Druze religion was Hamza. The Druze consider ad-Darazi a heretic. Hamza was influential in an heterodox Isma'ili Muslim movement which developed around the young Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. Hamza, an official in al-Hakim's government, came to consider al-Hakim as a manifestation of the divine *à la* the burning bush (not God Himself as was alleged by many Muslim polemicists) and ensued the writing of numerous epistles elaborating on his beliefs. Eventually, a follower of Hamza, al-Tamini, and Hamza's successor, Baha al-Din, also contributed epistles. These epistles, in the end numbering 111 in total, were organized into 6 volumes and became the Druze canon. Officially, only the religious leaders of the Druze (the 'Uqqal) are allowed to behold them.
TRANSLATION
What I present here is a provisional translation of the first epistle from the Druze holy book, the Rasa'il al-hikmah (The Epistles of Wisdom) which I began yesterday and completed earlier today.
The translation, unfortunately, is not of the original Arabic but rather from de Sacy's French translation in his wonderful book, Chrestomathie Arabe which starts on page 191. As far as I am aware this is the first complete translation of a Druze epistle—or at least this one in particular—into the English language. Hitti translated some excerpts in his book, The Origins of the Druze People and Religion as did Bryer in his thesis on the Druze, and a while back, there was an anonymous translation of this epistle published on Wikisource, which also seems to be a translation of de Sacy, though the quality is poor and the translation incomplete.
The Wikisource translation lists the author of the epistle as al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, but this is incorrect, as the epistle is certainly from Hamza ibn-'Ali ibn-Ahmad, which I note in the translation.
Despite the creation of the Druze religion often being attributed to Muhammad ad-Darazi, the de facto founder of the Druze religion was Hamza. The Druze consider ad-Darazi a heretic. Hamza was influential in an heterodox Isma'ili Muslim movement which developed around the young Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. Hamza, an official in al-Hakim's government, came to consider al-Hakim as a manifestation of the divine *à la* the burning bush (not God Himself as was alleged by many Muslim polemicists) and ensued the writing of numerous epistles elaborating on his beliefs. Eventually, a follower of Hamza, al-Tamini, and Hamza's successor, Baha al-Din, also contributed epistles. These epistles, in the end numbering 111 in total, were organized into 6 volumes and became the Druze canon. Officially, only the religious leaders of the Druze (the 'Uqqal) are allowed to behold them.
TRANSLATION
Are you Druze yourself?
