Issuniyah “Essene” Judaism: Survival, Revolution, and Resurgence

By: Moreh Mikhah ben David Naziri, Mikhah ben David, Micah Naziri

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

It has been well over a century since the world has seen any sign of Essenic Judaism in its continuously adapting and evolving form. The statement alone will sound to some enigmatic, to others ignorant, and to other still, preposterous. Certainly, “we all know” that the Essenes perished when the Roman’s overtook Qumran. We have no record to indicate this, of course, but “we all know” it to be true nonetheless, just as “we all know” that the Essenes were a completely celibate order of Jewish ascetics, who never married or reproduced. This, “we all know” is a large part of the reason why they simply died off in the first century. To the individual who believes this to be true, there is little that can be done to sway them. They will likely not read beyond these words. They will disregard literature whose thesis contradicts their very core of their presumptions and bias about what is “the truth” of history. I can assure you, however, that if you take the time to read this book, you will be convinced that it would have been impossible for the Essene sect to have died off in the Second Temple Era. Moreover, you will be convinced that the group was not a completely or exclusively celibate order. Furthermore, the vast majority of you will be convinced that the sect survived in various incarnations for many centuries after their presumed demise. Though this work will not deal with incarnations of the Essenic forms of Judaism, and those movements which it pollinated into the Modern Era, it will make the case for which that study can be pursued in the lengthy article A Case Study in the Chronology of Medieval Judeo-Sufi ”Chassidim” which I have written as part of my doctoral work. This work, instead, will focus on explaining my own personal introduction to the ` Īṣunīyah form of Judaism and its connection to the Essenes of the Second Temple Era, in doctrine, practice and lineage. It will then detail the history of the ` Īṣunīyim of Late Antiquity into the Medieval Era, and follow with a detailed study taking us from the Second Temple Era Essenes, to the related and relevant sects of Arabia and Persia during the period leading up to and influencing the activity of Muḥammad. As in my masters thesis, I will demonstrate that the historical Muḥammad’s activity was influenced by Essene descended sects, but that this reality was buried as Islam later took on a separate identity from the milieu in which it emerged. This later issue, however, is beyond the full scope of this book, and those interested in a dedicated study on this matter should consult my masters thesis. This will, however, go into much more depth discussing those sects which spanned the centuries from the Second Temple Era into Late Antiquity, which it will positively identify as Essenic. Finally, it will conclude with the first level of the Derekh ha’Mushlamut, the Path of Perfection lessons 1-8 from a modern day incarnation of `Īṣunī, “Essene” Judaism.