It is not a coincidence that I was born in Bethlehem, the city of David and the birth city of Jesus Christ. I am not saying this to draw comparisons between the great Prophets and myself, but rather to show that things in life happen for reasons and purposes that are far beyond our calculations or comprehension. For an individual to be born and raised in a specific place it is because in this place there are certain spiritual elements (known in Daheshism as Sayyalat or Spiritual Fluids) left there from previous reincarnation(s) that belong to this individual. The house that I grew-up in happened to be the same house that Dahesh lived in back when he lived in Bethlehem in the 1930’s. Furthermore, Dahesh’s cousin who lived in Bethlehem knew our family very well and his wife was the godmother to my sisters.

In Bethlehem, I was exposed from an early age to the Christian teachings and rituals. I even had my early schooling in a Lutheran school where stories from the Bible intrigued me. So it happened that in 1968, my family moved to Beirut, Lebanon within a year of the 1967 Israeli-Arab war. In Beirut, my eldest brother became associated with a Pentecostal Church and being the eldest brother, he had a certain influence on my other brother and I and we followed him. Yes, there was the Sunday Bible school for me at the young age of 9 or 10 where I looked forward to hearing the stories of Joseph, Moses, David, and of course, Jesus and others. I remember vividly that on one Sunday, while getting dressed for Bible school, I asked myself this question: “I wish I was alive at the time of Christ to witness His miracles and hear His teachings!”

One day, Dahesh’s cousin visited us in Beirut and my mother reminded him of his promise to take her to visit Dahesh (see the testimonial of Hadiya Murad at daheshism.com/testhadiyamurad.html) He responded by saying that he will honor his promise and he picked-up the phone and called Dahesh. Dahesh told him to come over and bring my parents and my eldest sister—who had recently been widowed. This sounds like a simple arrangement, doesn’t it? The truth of the matter, Dahesh was expecting our family for a long time—just that it was not time until that day. My mother had seen many “unusual” things in our home in Bethlehem and thought of them as being some sort of magic. The proof that she was not imagining things occurred during her second visit to Dahesh, when the six passport photos that had disappeared without a trace in Bethlehem decades ago were placed for her to see.

My eldest brother rejected Dahesh and Daheshism and viewed the supernatural powers of Dahesh as the work of Satin. He was so brainwashed by the teachings of his church that he could not be rational. Rift occurred within the family where some members were pro Daheshism and some were con. I first met Dahesh when he visited my father in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. I guess I was about 11 or so. We had dinner with him more than once and also traveled to Ta’if with him, where he took many pictures with his camera. To me, he was a very likeable individual, however, I was still under the influence of my eldest brother and it took several months before certain events took place and I found myself free to join the rest of my family. You know what they say about being careful what you wish, for it may come true. In my case, I was face to face with the latest reincarnation of Christ and I have been living this experience ever since (for details on Dahesh and his identity, see the Daheshism website at www.daheshism.com).

We frequented the house of Dahesh for several years and my knowledge of Daheshism grew. In 1975, the Lebanese civil war broke out and I had an opportunity to leave Lebanon to the US as an American Field Service student (cultural exchange student). Dahesh gave me two neckties and a scarf as a gift*. Over the years I have lost a necktie and shrunk the scarf by mistake while washing it. He also wrote me a Holy Ramz (a prayer and an offering), folded it, and asked me not to open it until the second day of my arrival. I can’t remember whether or not he burnt it and put the ashes in another blank paper or just gave me the Ramz without burning it (I was barely 16 years of age then). When I opened the folded Ramz, its contents had changed and I saw the following Spiritual Message:

Mounir,
Be a full and bright moon that shines its lights on those of merit.
Know that you are an instrument for broadcasting the news of the Holy Mission in America.
Be strong and know that difficulties accompanied every Spiritual Message.
Do not be sad, because God is with you if you are with Him.

*Gifts from Dahesh are not just gifts, but rather objects that contain certain Sayyalat (spiritual fluids) that benefit the recipient.

After my arrival to the US, I spent a short period in Minnesota then transferred to Seattle where I spent almost one full year attending high school. My going to Seattle—although came in a natural way—was because I had certain Sayyalat (spiritual fluids) there from previous reincarnations. It is my understanding that for any Soul, reincarnation will continue to take place on Earth as long as this Soul has a single Sayyal (singular of Sayyalat) linked to it. In other words, no Soul can escape Earth until it is able to liberate its Sayyalat either by elevating them to form existences in better place(s) (higher worlds of paradise) or degrading them to form existences in worse place(s) (lower worlds of hell). Yes, Dahesh traveled extensively through out the world purchasing paintings, objects of art, books, and miscellaneous merchandise—not because he was an “art lover and collector” only, but also to gather up many of the Sayyalat that belong to Daheshists that otherwise may take them hundreds or thousands of reincarnations to liberate them. No, the Dahesh museum is not just a museum for the collection of art, but rather a depository of Sayyalat that benefit Daheshists and in turn, Daheshism and possibly the world.

The Daheshists that had the privilege of knowing Dahesh when he was alive do not necessarily represent the best of humanity. They are diverse and each with his/her share of idiosyncrasies—and I am not an exception. Their presence with Dahesh is for a reason that not too many people understand. They have certain Sayyalat that are linked to Dahesh. Many Daheshists were with Moses, David, Solomon, Jesus, Muhammad, and other entities that are associated with Christ. Dahesh helped each Daheshist in more than one way and collecting their Sayyalat from all over the world was only one aspect. Spiritually, it was permitted for some Daheshists to know about their previous reincarnations for specific reasons, however, for the majority, knowledge of past reincarnations is withheld—and I fall in this category.  Many were the Daheshists that were given a certain Sayyal to excel in art, poetry, writing, linguistics, etc. I personally never thought that I would be writing about philosophy, spirituality, and religion. My training was in a scientific field and my writings were technical in nature. How did I find myself writing about such topics? I can only say that I must have been given a certain Sayyal that allowed me to do just that.

Late in 1975, I returned to Beirut to visit Dahesh. He had returned to Lebanon for the last time to publish some of his books. At the conclusion of my visit, I asked him for a Holy Ramz, so he wrote one for me and asked me not to open it until the second day of my arrival. When I did, I saw the following Spiritual Message:

“Be with God and do not care and struggle for the sake of the Holy Mission.”

Both Spiritual Messages alluded to sadness in my state of mind. The reason(s) will become clear as you read further. From late 1976 until April of 1984, my family and I visited Dahesh many times either in New York City or in its suburbs. Likewise, Dahesh visited my family many times. Dahesh traveled with me many times and while he was in town, I was his driver visiting with him museums, bookstores, stores, historical sites…etc. There were many stories to tell about my times with Dahesh, however I will reserve such stories for a different publication—possibly my memoirs. One incident puzzled me over the years was his constant calling me “a hero” during one of his many visits to Virginia. He also said to me that he is going to write me something—usually a prose poem, or a short story. Deep in my heart I kept on wondering what have I done to deserve being called a hero by the latest reincarnation of Christ. I am sure it is not the long trips that we have taken together with me driving. Anyone could have done that! Is he referring to a past reincarnation? Is he telling me something about positions that I may take in the future that can be labeled heroic? I didn’t know and I still don’t know. Nonetheless, I thanked him and never knew whether or not he wrote me something in his diary.


I was 25 years of age when Dahesh departed from us. I had expectations of Daheshists coming together to continue what Dahesh had started and to proclaim Daheshism. My expectations turned into disappointments and within few years, I have disassociated myself from other Daheshists. There were many factors that led to my withdrawal and it is not the purpose of this essay. I attempted to write about Daheshism in order to fill that inner calling to perform my duty towards Dahesh and God. I wrote a book called “Axioms: In search of a comprehensive theory of life.” The book contained many errors, however, it was used as a building block for my next book “Daheshism and the Journey of Life.” I have printed about 20,000 copies of Axioms and were distributed free of charge to all libraries in the US. Some libraries gladly accepted it, while others rejected it based on the unavailability of shelf space or other reasons and placed it on sale with their other unwanted books.

“Daheshism and the Journey of Life” evolved from “Axioms” and I included in it a series of four paintings for Thomas Cole currently part of the permanent collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. During his visits to Washington, Dahesh admired those paintings many times. Through constant encouragements from my mother, I sent a draft copy of the book to Dr. Ghazi Brax for review. He reviewed, corrected, and commented on several items in conjunction with two other Daheshists. I am very much in their debt for their service. The book was printed, yet would not be sold by Dahesh Heritage, again for reasons that are beyond the scope of this essay. I elected to promote it myself and that is not an easy task. I have decided to continue with my writing about Daheshism and found a small newspaper that was being published in Montreal, Canada and was delivered free of charge to the middle-eastern communities. I found in its owner and editor a sympathetic ear and many issues came out talking about Dahesh, his miracles, and his writings. This did not set well with some Daheshists and soon after there were hot debates about my actions.

On the one hand, I am doing what my conscience is telling me to do and following the Spiritual Message that tells me, in a directive, that I am here as an instrument to spread Daheshism. On the other hand, this is causing turmoil between the Daheshists. At about that period, I have taken a few days to visit Paris, France and in one evening, I met with a small group of Daheshists over diner. During that same night, I saw in a dream that I was burning a Holy Ramz and that after it was burnt, a voice speaking to me and hovering around my shoulder as if it is my guardian angel saying: “it is going to turn into a Spiritual Message.” Sure enough, in the dream, the ashes turned again into a folded Holy Ramz and I opened it and read its content. It was a Spiritual Message from Gandhi telling me: “I know what’s in your soul as the soul knows itself.” In another part I read: “I am uniting and not dividing.” It also mentions things pertaining to the persecution of Dahesh by the Lebanese government and his suffering as a result. The voice hovering around my shoulder was very excited and happy and was telling me that we need to tell Ghazi Brax and the other Daheshist who helped edit my book about this. I am not the type that places much emphasis on dreams and their meaning, however, this was not just a typical dream and I have never seen anything like it. To me it was a vision. I was then psychologically assured of the correctness of the path that I have taken and what I must do in the future in helping unite Daheshists.

The issue with the newspaper ended in a meeting with certain Daheshists and myself and it was agreed that we produce a Daheshist publication, issued by the Daheshist Publishing Company and in return, I seize publishing in the other newspaper. I have agreed to this and since that point, “Dahesh Voice,” the magazine, came about. Incidentally, it was Dahesh’s requests that a magazine be issued to address the Arabic community in the United States first before proclaiming Daheshism to the general public. I have supported the magazine, consulted with its editor and provided a lengthy article about Daheshism in its first issue. Since that point, I have written many essays and created the first Daheshist website. The reader may wonder, why certain Daheshists have taken this approach? There are many reasons and I can only guess as to what they are, nonetheless, I will leave this matter up to history.

I have entered the autumn of my life and time is fleeting. If the angel of death visits me today and says: “If I take your life things would be better for Daheshism.” I would answer him saying: “Hurry up, what are you waiting for?” Over the years, I had my share of disappointments and heartache and all I can do is lick my wounds and press on. Why? Because I have a job to do and if my work brings me blessings, then great, otherwise, I have only God to please and all I need to do is remember what I was told: “Be with God and do not care and struggle for the sake of the Holy Mission.”