Editing Druze (section)

== Religious symbol {{anchor|Druze flag|flag|Druze star}} ==
[[File:Druze star.svg|70px|frameless|right]]
The Druze strictly avoid [[iconography]], but use five colors ("Five Limits" {{lang|ar|خمس حدود}} {{Transliteration|ar|khams ḥudūd}}) as a religious symbol:<ref>{{cite book |title=Lebanon: Cultures of the World |first=Elizabeth |last=Schmermund |year=2017 |isbn=9781502626127 |page=87 |publisher=Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC |quote=While the Druze do not permit iconography in their religion, they have a religious symbol known as the Druze Star |edition=3rd}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Middle East Today: Political, Geographical and Cultural Perspectives |first=Dona J. |last=Stewart |year=2008 |isbn=9781135980788 |publisher=Routledge |quote=The Druze symbol is a five colored star, with each color representing cosmic principles believed by the Druze}}</ref> green, red, yellow, blue, and white. The five limits were listed by [[Ismail at-Tamimi]] (d. 1030) in the ''Epistle of the Candle'' (risalat ash-sham'a) as:

* First limit: Hamza Ibn Ali ({{lang|ar|حمزة إبن علي إبن أحمد}}) (or Jesus according to other sources)<ref name="Louis" />
* Second limit: Ismail ibn Muhamed ibn Hamed at-Tamimi (Ismail at-Tamimi) ({{lang|ar|إسماعيل إبن محمد بن حامد التميمي}})
* Third limit: Muhamed ibn Wahb ({{lang|ar|محمد إبن وهب}})
* Fourth limit (''as-Sabiq'' the anterior): Salama ibn abd al-Wahhab ({{lang|ar|سلامة إبن عبد الوهاب}})
* Fifth limit (''al-llahiq'' the posterior): Ali ibn Ahmed as-Samouqi ({{lang|ar|علي إبن أحمد السموقي}})

Each of the colors representing the five limits pertains to a metaphysical power called ''{{Transliteration|ar|ḥadd}}'', literally "a limit", as in the distinctions that separate humans from animals, or the powers that make humans the animalistic body. Each {{Transliteration|ar|ḥadd}} is color-coded in the following manner:
* Green for {{Transliteration|ar|[[ʻAql]]}} "the Universal Mind/Intelligence/[[Nous]]",
* Red for {{Transliteration|ar|[[Nafs]]}} "the Universal Soul/[[Anima mundi]]",
* Yellow for {{Transliteration|ar|[[Logos (Islam)|Kalima]]}} "the Word/[[Logos]]",
* Blue for {{Transliteration|ar|Sābiq}} ({{lang|ar|السابق}}) "the anterior/potentiality/cause/precedent", the first intellect.
* White for {{Transliteration|ar|al-llahiq}} ({{lang|ar|اللاحق}}) "the posterior/future/effect/[[Immanence]]".

The mind generates [[qualia]] and gives consciousness.{{sfn|Swayd|2015|p=8}} The soul embodies the mind and is responsible for transmigration and the character of oneself. The word, which is the atom of language, communicates qualia between humans and represents the platonic forms in the sensible world. The {{Transliteration|ar|Sābiq}} and {{Transliteration|ar|Tālī}} is the ability to perceive and learn from the past and plan for the future and predict it.

[[File:Flag of Druze.svg|70px|frameless|right]]
The colors can be arranged in vertically descending stripes (as a flag), or a [[five-pointed star]].<ref>{{harvnb|Swayd|2015|p=8}}: "The five colors that form the Druze flag and five-pointed star are religious symbols of the luminaries."</ref> The stripes are a diagrammatic cut of the spheres in neoplatonic philosophy, while the five-pointed star embodies the [[golden ratio]], [[phi]], as a symbol of [[temperance (virtue)|temperance]] and a life of moderation.