E- The Daheshist Mission and the Persecution of Dr. Dahesh:

In 1938, he traveled to Baghdad accompanied by his two sisters Antoinette and Wadeaa. Word of his arrival got to those who attempted to defame him in Palestine, and they began an ugly campaign of lies. They would send letters to the ministries and to politicians accusing Dr. Dahesh of vile things. After some investigation, Dr. Dahesh was treated with respect—especially after seeing his supernatural powers and experiencing his virtuous and honorable manners. Many members of the royal family and many ministers invited him to their homes. Newspapers wrote extensively about his supernatural and bewildering capabilities.

In 1940, he began writing his book “Labyrinths”. He used to write a page a day and in a year’s time, the book was finished and was composed of 366 pages.

In the following years, Dr. Dahesh proceeded with his writings and plans for more books including: “The Broken Heart”, “The Six Goddesses”, “Words of Dr. Dahesh”, “The Hell of Memories”, “Paradise” (3 volumes), “Inferno”, “Lightning and Thunder”, “Memoirs of Jesus of Nazareth”, “Song of Songs”, “The Knell of Sorrows or The Lamentations of Jeremiah”, “Astarte and Adnois”, “Arrows and Spears”, “Humble Supplications”, “Memoirs of a Dinar” and others.

Towards the end of 1941, Dr. Dahesh made the acquaintance of Mr. Youssef El-Hajj, who would later become the first official believer in the Daheshist faith. Youssef El-Hajj recounts how Dr. Dahesh once told him: “Brother El-Hajj, me and you will go on to found a great spiritual body, that will instill enlightenment and knowledge in the world and its inhabitants, and this foundation will serve as a second spiritual guidance to mankind ...”.

Five years and three months following Dr. Dahesh’s great oath and on March 23, 1942, the Divine Spirit descended and through Dr. Dahesh, proclaimed the official beginning of the Daheshist Mission and the start of the Daheshist calendar on planet earth.

Consequently, the miracles of Dr. Dahesh increased before crowds of highly educated visitors, such as physicians, lawyers, politicians, and men of letters; those spiritual manifestations comprised prophecies, healing of incurable diseases, breathing life into inanimate objects, transmutation of matter, teleportation of things irrespective of their distance or weight; and many others.

Spiritual sessions and miracles took place in daylight, before the believer as well as the unbeliever, for the conviction of the witness is irrelevant to their occurrence, and they were not accompanied by any of the aspects of charlatanism, such as mumbling, burning of incense, darkening of rooms, staring into the eyes of people, and tricking in general.
These prodigies occurred in an absolutely simple and clear way and with tangible proof. Their purpose was to prove the existence of the immortal Spiritual World, the affirmation of the truthfulness of the Daheshist Mission, and the clarification of its teachings.

In consequence, a great number of well-educated people believed in Dr. Dahesh’s Mission and became devout believers; and the new tide of belief began to invade the Lebanese society in all its confessional groups, uniting them, shaking off their superstitions and outworn traditions, freeing them from the bonds of sectarianism and fanaticism, and triggering off resounding echoes in the Lebanese and Arab press.

Among the new believers was the chairwoman of the Lebanese Syndicate of Fine Arts, the lady of letters, Mary Haddad, and sister of the wife of the ex-President of the Lebanese Republic Beshara el-Khouri. She embraced Daheshism together with her husband and children. Consequently, the Christian Clergy began to fear for their influence to weaken and be swept away in Lebanon, a country ruled and torn apart, on every level, by blind sectarian fanaticism in its ugliest manifestations. They began to weave shameful plots against the founder of Daheshism, in co-operation with the head of State, Beshara el-Khouri, and his myrmidons.

However, after the authorities failed in luring Mary Haddad and the other pillars of Daheshism to relinquish their faith, they attempted to turn Dr. Dahesh over to trial upon falsified despicable allegations; yet, here too, they failed. Thereupon, the head of State resorted to trying to pass a law project in the Chamber of Deputies that would prohibit the acts of the Man of the Spirit - noting that laws are established for the sake of the many and not for the one - but the deputies failed him, despite his colossal pressures.
Then, the authority, in concert with the Christian Clergy, worked together to distorting and defaming the reputation of Dr. Dahesh, by inventing sordid allegations against him and propagating them among the people through newspapers, churches, and schools.

As for the Daheshists, they were forbidden from replying to the campaign of lies against them. And after the authorities had exhausted all their schemes, they arrested the founder of the new Spiritual Mission, on August 28, 1944, and had him thrown with his followers into prison, without any trial. And after thirteen days of flogging, torturing, and degradation, the authorities expelled Dr. Dahesh outside the borders, following his divestiture of his Lebanese nationality in a tyrannical arbitrary way whereby they violated the Constitution.

After a month of his expulsion, Dr. Dahesh succeeded in returning secretly to Beirut, where he waged a terribly punishing public opinion campaign against the despots, during which he wrote and distributed 66 books (that came be to be known as the black books) exposing the men of power and religion who had conspired against him, laying bare their secrets, shameful acts, and plots against the people. These black books, with what they contained of authentic documents, contributed to stirring up the people against the ruling despot; for they brought him down from the presidential seat in September 1952.

In 1953, the new political regime led by president Kamil Chamoun granted Dr. Dahesh back his Lebanese nationality after acknowledging the injustice that he was exposed to from the previous corrupt and criminal regime.