Khalwat is the name of the prayer-houses of the
Druze. The primary
sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...
of the
Druze is at Khalwat al-Bayada.
The Druze school of theology in Lebanon
The ''Khalwat al-Bayada, Khalwet el Biyad, Khalwat al-Biyyada'' or ''White houses of communion'' is the central
sanctuary
A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...
, and
theological
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the s ...
school of the
Druze, located in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
.
Located near
Hasbaya
Hasbeya or Hasbeiya ( ar, حاصبيا) is a town in Lebanon, situated at the foot of Mount Hermon, overlooking a deep amphitheatre from which a brook flows to the Hasbani. In 1911, the population was about 5000.
Hasbaya is the capital of the Wa ...
, the
khalwat is the location where
Ad-Darazi
Muhammad bin Ismail Nashtakin ad-Darazi ( ar, محمد بن اسماعيل نشتاكين الدرازي) was an 11th-century Ismaili preacher and early leader of the Druze faith who was labeled a heretic in 1016 and subsequently executed in 10 ...
is supposed to have settled and taught from during the first
Druze call.
It features a large, stone, circular bench next to an ancient
oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...
tree known as ''Areopagus of the Elders'' that is secluded amongst nature and trees. The Kalwaat provides around forty
hermitages for
Al-ʻuqqāl (the initiated) at various times of the year.
In 1838, copies of the
Epistles of Wisdom
The Epistles of Wisdom or ''Rasa'il al-Hikmah'' ( ar, رَسَائِل ٱلْحِكْمَة) is a corpus of sacred texts and pastoral letters by teachers of the Druze faith native to the Levant, which has currently close to a million practitioner ...
were taken from the site by invading
Egyptians.
Visitors are politely requested to seek permission from the resident
sheikh before entering the site and female visitors are requested to cover their heads as a courtesy.
See also
*
Cemevi
A cemevi or cem evi (pronounced and sometimes written as djemevi; meaning literally "a house of gathering" in Turkish) is a place of fundamental importance for Turkey's Alevi-Bektashiyyah tariqa populations. Certain Alevi organizations describ ...
*
Jama'at Khana
Jamatkhana (from fa, جماعت خانه , literally "congregational place") is an amalgamation derived from the Arabic word ''jama‘a'' (gathering) and the Persian word ''khana'' (house, place). It is a term used by some Muslim communities a ...
*
Majlis
References
External links
Laurence Oliphant. The land of Gilead, with excursions in the LebanonPhotographs of Khalwat al-Bayada and the circular bench on www.panoramio.comKhalwat al-Bayada on www.discoverlebanon.com
{{coord missing, Lebanon
Hasbaya District
Sacred natural sites
Hermitages
Religious buildings and structures in Lebanon
History of the Druze
Druze holy places