Appendix D. Excerpt From the Epistle Entitled Al-Qusṭanṭīniyyah Addressed by Bahā’-al-Dīn to the Byzantine Emperor Constantine
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Origins of the Druze People and Religion, by Philip K. Hitti, [1924], at sacred-texts.com
p. 64
APPENDIX D
EXCERPT FROM THE EPISTLE ENTITLED AL-QUSṬANṬĪNIYYAH ADDRESSED BY BAHĀ’-AL-DĪN TO THE BYZANTINE EMPEROR CONSTANTINE 1
As for what you say in the special canticle for the Eucharist that "He suffered, was crucified in the time of Fayṭus, son of Qīlāṭūs, 2 was buried and arose on the third day," it is all recorded in the Gospel of John, chapter two, where Jesus addressing the Jews said to them: "Destroy the temple and I will raise it up in three days." 3 The Jews refused to believe his word that he would build the temple in three days. But what he meant was the temple of his body. And having mentioned [later] to his disciples what he had said they believed in the book 4 and in the word. Such is the text in the Gospel of John.
You should therefore know, you assembly of saints, that what he meant by the three days of his disappearance is firstly the day in which he declared his mission and called all mankind to the religion of Unity and truth 5 and revealed himself to the nations as a "true God from a true God." By that he meant that the Creator (may his power remain exalted!) is existent in his creatures, and that he manifests himself to them, as he has predetermined, in forms similar to their forms, and that he is
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not a nonentity so that it becomes necessary to use arguments to prove his existence to all his creation. Contemplate the truths of this assertion and beseech the Lord of guidance and might to accord you success.
As for the second day, that is the day of the appearance of the Paraclete. 1 Jesus has announced the Paraclete and predicted his coming, as Jesus has said in the Gospel of John: "Moses has written about me and predicted the mention of my name." 2 As for the Paraclete, he is Muḥammad, who is one of the legislators by whom I mean: Noah, Abraham, and Moses who appeared prior to the lord Messiah. And behold the saying of Jesus in the fifteenth chapter, 3 when he realized the coming of the Paraclete, i.e., Muḥammad: "If you loved me you would rejoice at my departure to my Father, for my Father has a son who is greater than I. And now I have said this to you before it comes to pass, so when it comes to pass you shall believe in me." He did not say "believe in him." Then follows: "I shall not say many things to you, because the chief of this world shall come, and he has nothing in common with me. But this is so that people may know that I love my father."
The world withal never understood the meaning of his sayings. Jesus said that he [the Paraclete = Muḥammad] is the chief of this world only, and not of the next. This position, he—as well as the other legislators—attained, in fulfillment of the wisdom of the Creator, in order to have the case clear against mankind, one generation after another, and to render them subject to blame and condemnation; for they failed to follow what the Creator (may his power remain exalted!) had commanded them regarding the confession of Unity, which they forsook reverting by tradition to the worship of falsehood.
Referring to the Paraclete, Jesus said: "He has nothing in common with me." This is simply to inform you that he shall
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not call mankind to a belief in the adorable Unity, as the Lord [Ḥamzah] shall call you to find the Creator in the Ḥākim-God, worthy of adoration.
As for the third day, it is the rise of al-Mahdi 1 (may Allah's blessing be upon him!) in order to call mankind to the inner interpretation of the four books which show the people of truth the fact of Unity. These four books are: the Psalter, the Torah [Bible], the Evangile and the Koran.
His [al-Mahdi's] epistles and proofs were received in their time by Constantine, the emperor of the Christians, and there is no doubt but that a record thereof is kept by the leading savants of that period, because his message differed from that of the other legislators who are weak; he having called people to the belief in the last day signalized by the appearance of the lord Messiah.
When, then, a man of understanding considers, and when a wise man, wishing to learn, removes the veil from a wide-awake, seeing and knowing heart, he would find out that al-Mahdi (may peace be upon him!) appeared and called to a belief in the inner interpretation of the aforementioned four books in the days of Constantine I, and that the lord Messiah [Ḥamzah] appeared calling to a belief in Unity in the days of Constantine II. People of intelligence would certainly find in this something to restrain them; and anyone possessed with the least notions of the science of truths would find material for reflection.
The third day is the complement of the first, according to the seventh chapter of the Gospel of John. 2 When the brothers of Jesus said to him: "Depart from here, so that your disciples may see the things you are doing, because no one should do a thing in secret, and reveal yourself to the world," the brothers of Jesus had not then believed in him. So Jesus said to them: "As for my time it has not arrived in realization," by which
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he meant that his day was not yet completed. It is completed only when Jesus announces that he is ready to come again [into this world].
By his saying, "As for your time it is always ready," he meant to inform them that the time in which he was going to declare the word of Unity was not yet completed and had not yet come, but that their time—that is the time of those who did not know the word of Unity—was always ready. That is the last day which is the completion of the first. In it he [the lord Messiah] has manifested his glory and his praise and has shown himself to his apostles as he had promised them in chapter sixteen, 1 saying: "I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. The will of him who sent me is that whosoever obeys me him will I resurrect on the last day; for this is the pleasure of my Father. For everyone who sees the son and believes in him is entitled to everlasting life which is fixed to the last day."
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Written seven days before the end of Safar, in the eleventh year of the era of the Ruler of the Age [Ḥamzah] at the end of the seventh year from the "disappearance [of al-Ḥakīm] for our test." 2 This is the end; and praise be to our lord al-Ḥakīm alone, and thanks to the Messiah of the nations [Ḥamzah] and their guide, his servant.
Footnotes
64:1 Constantine VIII (1025-1028 A.D.).
64:4 Arabic kitāb referring to a book containing a revelation.
64:5 Arabic sidq, always spelled in the Druze MSS. with a sīn instead of a ṣād so that the numerical value of the letters composing it may become 164, which is the number of the Druze ministers and missionaries.
65:1 Arabic fāraqlīṭ = Comforter, Holy Ghost.
66:1 Sa‘id al-Mahdi, one of the missionaries preceding al-Ḥakīm.
67:2 Corresponding to March 23, 1028 A.D.
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