The Druze Religion Essays - Druze, Gnosticism, Mysticism

The Druze Religion The Druze Religion In the Middle East are many religions. The most found religions are Muslim, Christianity, and Judaism. One religion you will most likely not hear about is the religion of the Druze. It is a very secretive and small religion. Not many documents and information on this practice are released to people outside the religion. The Druze are known for their belligerence and independence. The Druze religion is a small, old, unique, and mysterious practice. The history of the Druze is old and unlike any other religion. The religion was established around 1017 in Egypt and North Africa, when the sixth Fatimid caliph, al-hakim bi-Amrih Allah, declared himself the incarnation of God (?Druze? Microsoft p.1). However, even before 1017, ideas and increase of the new religion had begun. Hamzah ibn ?Ali converted Muhammad ad-Darazi, a Shi'i missionary from which the religion got its name. (Adams p.1) Muhammed al-Darazi preached the new religion to the people of Lebanon and was reportedly killed for letting people practice wine drinking and sexual excesses. After al-Darazi's death, Hamzah made new fundamentals of the new sect with the help of many others on many sacred works. In 1021, al-Hakim Hamzah was supposedly murdered, but his followers believed that he had gone into hiding and would return again for his first appearance in a thousand years (M.Z.H. p.1061). After the religion had been established, it moved into Syria and Lebanon. In 1860, a war broke out between the Druzes and the Christians. The British supported the Druze and the French supported the Christians. Over 15,000 Christians died. In 1861, a Christian governor general set up an autonomous system of government in Lebanon where the people lived in prosperity and relative tranquility until 1918 (H.Z.H p.1061). After World War I, the Atrash family gained possibilities of seizing control of an area that was controlled by Jabar ad-Duruz. The French were supporting the Druze but could eventually not control the situation. Revolt broke out in Syria and part of Lebanon, but the revolt failed due to lack of support from the Lebanese Druzes. Today, the Druze mainly live in Syria in Jabal ad-Duruz, but have many scattered villages in Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel (H.Z.H. p.1060). The people of the Druze are as particular as their religion. The Druze have many names. They have the names Druze and Druse but they call themselves Mowahhidoon or what they call tawhid, which both mean ?monotheists.?(Druse p.1) They believe in the divinity of al-Hakim be Amr Allah. The Muslim people do not consider the Druze Muslims but the Druze regard themselves as carriers of the core of the Muslim religion (Kjeilen p.1). The Druze people believe in one God and claim that the qualities of God can not be understood or defined by humans. (Miller) In the Druze religion, a calf is considered to be the central symbol that represents the negative forces in the world (Kjeilen p.1). Another symbol is the Druze star. It represents the 5 wise ministers each with his own quality. Green, ?al-?akl, is for the ?the mind? necessary for understanding the truth, red, ?ah-nahts, is for ?the soul?, yellow, ?al-kalima, is for ?the word?, blue, ?as-sahik, is for the mental power of the will, and whit e is for the realization of the blue. (Kjeilen p.2) The Druze flag has the same colors and the same meanings. They are lined up horizontally starting with blue, white, red, yellow, and then green. The moral system of the religion is based upon 7 principles: Love of Truth Take Care of One Another Renounce All Other Religions Avoid the Demon and All Wrongdoers Accept Divine Unity in Humanity Accept all of al-Hakim's acts Act in Total accordance to al-Hakim's will (?Druze? p.1) The Druze people are divided up into two groups, the ?uqqal and the juhhal. The ?uqqal are the sages who initiated the secret teachings of the hikmah, the Druze religious laws. The juhhal are the ?ignorant? ones who do not know the hikmah. The ?uqqal are divided into several grades. Those who achieve the highest degree of perfection in meditation and long hours of meditation, study, seclusion, and ascetic practices are called ajawid, ?the generous?. The ?uqqal can not reveal the teachings of the hikmah

The Dangers of Bombs essays

The Dangers of Bombs essays Today more and more kids believe that bombs are fun to experiment with, but do not realize the dangers associated with even the simplest bombs. Although curiosity can be a great characteristic to have, curiosity when it comes to bombs should simply not be tolerated because all bombs produce an uncontrolled reaction leading to destruction that could harm to, or even kill someone. Even bombs in a controlled experiment by experts can be quite dangerous. Take into account the fact that many died during experiments with the atom bomb. Although the experts said it would be fine to watch and be in a close vicinity to the blast, they didnt know about the radiation caused by the reaction. This caused numerous deaths. Although most kids wont be experimenting with atom bombs, many dangers are associated with smaller types of bombs such as pipe bombs. Pipe bombs are especially lethal because they produce lots of shrapnel. Shrapnel is debris given off by the explosion (metal pieces of the pipe, or maybe even nails, glass, or bolts) that can cause lots of harm due to its velocity. Many kids believe that they are experts, and that nothing will ever happen to them, but it defiantly can. Many incidents have occured of kids being hurt or killed by their own bomb. One case is that of a kid building a pipe bomb in my area. He stuffed a lot of gunpowder into a pipe with nails and he started to screw the cap of the metal pipe on. The grinding of the metal caused sparks and ignited the bomb, and he lost his hand and will not ever be able to have children. All this happened because of a simple bad decision that he will have to remember for the rest of his life. Terroristic acts have plagued the entire world for centuries. These primitive acts of violence have an everlasting effect on communities thoughout the world. What may seem as icolated acts of hatred among cirtain groups can effect many generations dow...

CIPD Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

CIPD - Essay Example letion of this session, participants would know the definition of decision making, its importance in the organization and how bad decisions can devastate an organization overnight. In the end of this session Managers would be asked to share their best and worst decisions after giving it a thought and the consequences they faced in both situations. Trainer should make notes about each participants and his / her ability to define the decisions and consequences. Each relevant example shared would add value to the participants learning. Rate the performance of the participants between 1 to 10 on the basis of their performance in the training. You have recently conducted an employee satisfaction survey on benefits provided by your employer. Based on the data you have to plan and execute certain HR interventions that can result in increased employee engagement and motivation. You have been asked to create a vision for your department. Something that should be aligned with company’s mission and values and can also predict the future and direction of your team and function. You hired an exceptional resource based on his strong credentials. You are absolutely sure that the incumbent would be a great addition to the already high performing team. On the first day of joining you get to know that your new star has had a huge argument with an existing star. You counsel them and realize that the existing differences are much too severe then you initially thought. You cannot afford to let go either of them. You have a resource whose arrival time is not according to the company policy. Even after verbal counselling and written warnings the incumbent fails to follow the rules. It is getting noticed and some team members are getting too casual with their arrival timings as well. You execute certain routine tasks every day. The tasks are all related to coordination and certain approvals are required based on the requests generated by internal customers. All these tasks are