Khalwat al-Bayada

The Khalwat al-Bayada (خلوات البياضة, 'White Khalwat';^[1] also romanized Khalwet el Biyad, Khalwat al-Biyyada) is the central sanctuary, and theological school of the Druze, located in Lebanon and founded in the 19th century by Sheikh Hamad el-Qais.^[2][3][4] Located near Hasbaya, the khalwat is the location where Ad-Darazi is supposed to have settled and taught from during the first Druze call.^[5]

Khalwat al-Bayada, in the early 1850s, by van de Velde

It features a large, circular, stone bench next to an ancient oak 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.^[6] In 1838, copies of the Epistles of Wisdom were taken from the site by invading Egyptians.^[4]

See also

• Cemevi
• Jama'at Khana
• Majlis