Editing Incarnation (section)

===Druze faith===
{{See also|Druze#Beliefs}}
[[Hamza ibn Ali ibn Ahmad]] is considered the founder of the [[Druze faith]] and the primary author of the Druze manuscripts,<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Hendrix |editor1-first=Scott |editor2-last=Okeja |editor2-first=Uchenna |title=The World's Greatest Religious Leaders: How Religious Figures Helped Shape World History [2 volumes] |date=2018 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1440841385 |page=11}}</ref> he proclaimed that God had become human and taken the form of man, [[al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah]].<ref name="Aga">{{cite book|title=The Aga Khans|author=Willi Frischauer|year=1970|publisher=Bodley Head|page=?}} (''Which page?'')</ref><ref name="Poonawala">{{cite journal|title=Review - The Fatimids and Their Traditions of Learning|author=Ismail K. Poonawala|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=119|issue=3|page=542|doi=10.2307/605981|jstor=605981}}</ref><ref>Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-expression - Page 95 by Mordechai Nisan</ref><ref>The Druze in the Middle East: Their Faith, Leadership, Identity and Status - Page 41 by Nissim Dana</ref><ref>Encyclopaedic Survey of Islamic Culture - Page 94 by Mohamed Taher</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Bryer | first = David R. W. | title = The Origins of the Druze Religion | journal = [[Der Islam]] | year = 1975 | volume = 52 | issue = 1 | pages = 52–65 | doi = 10.1515/islm.1975.52.1.47 | s2cid = 201807131 | url = https://doi.org/10.1515/islm.1975.52.1.47 | issn = 1613-0928 | ref = {{harvid|Bryer|1975a}} }}</ref> [[al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah]] is an important figure in the [[Druze]] faith whose eponymous founder [[ad-Darazi]] proclaimed him as the incarnation of God in 1018.<ref name="Aga"/><ref name="Poonawala"/><ref>{{cite book|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought|last1=Zaman|first1=Muhammad Qasim |last2=Stewart|first2=Devin J. |last3=Mirza|first3=Mahan |last4=Kadi|first4=Wadad|last5=Crone|first5=Patricia |last6=Gerhard |first6=Bowering|last7= Hefner|first7=Robert W.|last8= Fahmy|first8=Khaled|last9=Kuran|first9=Timur |year= 2013| isbn=9780691134840| pages =139–140|publisher=Princeton University Press|quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Origins of the Druze Religion: An Edition of Ḥamza's Writings and an Analysis of His Doctrine|first=David |last=R. W. Bryer|year= 1979| isbn= 9780030525964| page =239|publisher=University of Oxford Press|quote=}}</ref>

Historian David R. W. Bryer defines the Druzes as ''[[ghulat]]'' of Isma'ilism, since they exaggerated the cult of the caliph [[al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah]] and considered him divine; he also defines the Druzes as a religion that deviated from Islam.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bryer |first=David R. W. |title=The Origins of the Druze Religion |journal=[[Der Islam]] |year=1975 |volume=52 |issue=1 |pages=52–65 |doi=10.1515/islm.1975.52.1.47 |s2cid=201807131 |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/islm.1975.52.1.47 |issn=1613-0928 |ref={{harvid|Bryer|1975a}} }}</ref> He also added that as a result of this deviation, the Druze faith "seems as different from Islam as Islam is from Christianity or Christianity is from Judaism".<ref>{{cite journal | last = Bryer | first = David R. W. | title = The Origins of the Druze Religion (Fortsetzung) | journal = [[Der Islam]] | year = 1975 | volume = 52 | issue = 2 | pages = 239–262 | doi = 10.1515/islm.1975.52.2.239 | s2cid = 162363556 | url = https://doi.org/10.1515/islm.1975.52.2.239 | issn = 1613-0928 | ref = {{harvid|Bryer|1975b}} }}</ref>

Some scholars believe [[Christianity and Druze|Christian elements]] are deeply embedded in Druze beliefs, introduced through [[Isma'ilism|Isma’ili traditions]]. This is evident in the Druze creed, which deifies al-Hākim bi Amrillāh.<ref name="Mahmut 2023">{{cite journal |last1=Mahmut|first1=R. İbrahim|title=The Christian Influences in Ismaili Thought|journal=The Journal of Iranian Studies|date=2023|volume=7|issue=1|pages=83–99|doi=10.33201/iranian.1199758|doi-access=free}}</ref> The initiation text, "Mīthāq Walī al-Zamān" (Pact of Time Custodian), which begins with, “I rely on our Moula Al-Hakim the lonely God, the individual, the eternal,... Obedience of almighty Moulana Al-Hākim, exalted be him and that obedience is worship and that he does not have any partners ever, present or coming”,<ref>{{cite book|author1=Hanna Batatu|title=Syria's Peasantry, the Descendants of Its Lesser Rural Notables, and Their Politics|date=17 September 2012|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-4584-2|pages=15–16}}</ref> closely resembles Christian beliefs about [[Christology|Jesus' divinity]].<ref name="Mahmut 2023"/> The Druze also view figures like [[Jesus]], al-Hākim bi Amrillāh, and [[Hamza ibn Ali]] as the [[Messiah]] or [[Mahdi]]. They believe al-Hākim will return at the end of times to judge the world and establish his kingdom, while Hamza ibn Ali is considered a [[reincarnation]] of Jesus, the Universal Mind ''[['Aql]]'', closely associated with al-Hākim.<ref name="Mahmut 2023"/>