Epistles of Wisdom

The Epistles of Wisdom (Arabic: رَسَائِل ٱلْحِكْمَة, romanized: Rasāʾil al-Ḥikma) is a corpus of sacred texts and pastoral letters by teachers of the Druze faith. The Druze are native to the Levant, with currently close to a million practitioners. The text revolves around the acknowledgement and worship of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah as the last and definite incarnation of the One God, a belief which Druze define as "Monotheism" (Arabic: Tawhid). Quotes Izzeddin (1984) Izzeddin Nejla M. Abu The Druzes: A New Study of their History, Faith and Society E. J. Brill Leiden 1984 90-04-06975-5 Know that truthfulness is equivalent to belief (iman) and to the confession of the Unitarian doctrine (tawhid) in ail its perfection. Lying is polytheism, unbelief, and error. Epistle 9 Let no one of you fear anything but her sin, and let her place her hope on none but God. Epistle 18 Tell the truth and fear nothing but your sin, and worship none other than your God. Epistle 21 Happy is he who pursues wisdom to the exclusion of everything else, whose mind and heart the light of wisdom has filled to overflowing, who devotes himself with all his being to meditation in the company of God’s elect.Happy is he who has made wisdom his heart’s abode, to whom its pursuit is the most precious acquisition, who treasures it in himself as in a stronghold inaccessible to those who are not its disciples. Epistle 39 Makarim (1974) Sāmī Nasīb Makārim The Druze faith https://books.google.com/books?id=Ouh4AAAAMAAJ 1974 Caravan Books 978-0-88206-003-3 If human minds would be given the knowledge of God without any familiarization and gradation, those human minds would swoon and fall down. Hamza ibn Ali on the concept of God. Ḥamza ibn ʻAli ibn Aḥmad from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim The Druze faith p. 61 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 35 https://books.google.com/books?id=Ouh4AAAAMAAJ 18 March 2011 1974 Caravan Books 978-0-88206-003-3 ...the originator of the perfect Aql. He virtually bound within it all the created beings, so that nothing might be outside of it. Ḥamza ibn ʻAli ibn Aḥmad from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim The Druze faith p.44 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 30 https://books.google.com/books?id=Ouh4AAAAMAAJ 18 March 2011 1974 Caravan Books 978-0-88206-003-3 O you who are distracted, how can he who is devoid of his corporeal means obtain knowledge?O you who are heedless, how can he who abandoned his sensual faculty reach ignorance?And O you who are perplexed, how can the souls exist by themselves?And how can they settle in their origin, and yet have a life and procure their pleasures? Baha'uddin on the concept of reincarnation and the universal soul. al-Muqtana Baha'uddin from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim The Druze faith pp. 54-55 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 75 https://books.google.com/books?id=Ouh4AAAAMAAJ 18 March 2011 1974 Caravan Books 978-0-88206-003-3 Believing in the non-existence negates existence as such. It is a way that leads to unbelief, atheism, and denial. Baha'uddin on the concept of atheism. al-Muqtana Baha'uddin from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim The Druze faith p. 102 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 61 https://books.google.com/books?id=Ouh4AAAAMAAJ 18 March 2011 1974 Caravan Books 978-0-88206-003-3 Protect divine knowledge from those who do not deserve it and do not withhold it from those who are deserving.He who withholds divine knowledge from those who are worthy of it, will indeed desecrate what he has been entrusted with and will commit sacrilege against his religion;and the conviction of him who divulges it to those who are not deserving will be diverted from following the truth.Scripture must therefore be protected from those who do not deserve it. Hamza ibn Ali regarding the secrecy of the epistles of wisdom. Ḥamza ibn ʻAli ibn Aḥmad from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim The Druze faith p. 100 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 33 https://books.google.com/books?id=Ouh4AAAAMAAJ 18 March 2011 1974 Caravan Books 978-0-88206-003-3 Protect yourselves from ignorance with the help of the knowledge of the unity of our Lord... Ḥamza ibn ʻAli ibn Aḥmad from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim The Druze faith p. 101 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 6 https://books.google.com/books?id=Ouh4AAAAMAAJ 18 March 2011 1974 Caravan Books 978-0-88206-003-3 I enjoin you to safeguard your fellow men. In safeguarding them your faith reaches perfection. Hamza ibn Ali with regards the unity of God and how to remain in a state of peace of mind and contentment (rida (Arabic: رضا)) and find knowledge of true love. Ḥamza ibn ʻAli ibn Aḥmad from Sāmī Nasīb Makārim The Druze faith p. 99 from the Epistles of Wisdom - Epistle 33 https://books.google.com/books?id=Ouh4AAAAMAAJ 18 March 2011 1974 Caravan Books 978-0-88206-003-3 External links Category:Religious texts