His life and his teachings inspire mankind to embrace the essence of religions and spiritual messages, and to renounce the shallowness and superficialities that are based only on rituals and customs, that many a time divide more than they unite. His aim was to strengthen and deepen the roots of believing in God and the Spirit, and in the importance of righteousness and morality, especially in our times, where the glare of materialism and technological advancements have shaken the cores of beliefs and planted doubts in the minds of many regarding the afterlife and the consequences of good and bad deeds.

Daheshists consider the Old and the New Testament, Quran, Gita, the sacred books of Buddhism and Confucianism, and the inspired writings of Dr Dahesh as one holy book, and as one source of goodness and light. Dr. Dahesh taught us that all religions are one, and that all prophets and messengers are of the same essence.

Because of his teachings, the founder of the Daheshist Mission had been cruelly persecuted, tortured, and expatriated; yet he defended his rights and fought back his persecutors mightily and, against all odds, overcame the hardships and obstacles that faced him.

All of those who had the opportunity to know him, witness his qualities over the years, and examine his life closely, attest to the following about him:  Infinitely humble despite his supernatural power; chaste throughout his life, and someone who has renounced the earthly pleasures, longing for death in order to return to his paradisiacal world, merciful even to those who hurt him, generous, compassionate towards the poor and the needy, secretly providing assistance to many miserable and needy families.

In addition to these apostolic and spiritual qualities, the Founder of Daheshism accomplished impressive and astounding achievements throughout his life:

• Although he has not attended school, nor been tutored, he acquired by himself an enormously broad education, which is reflected in his books that have exceeded one hundred and fifty in number.

• By his personal efforts, he has established a private library, which is the greatest among the private libraries in the Arab world, for it comprises about two hundred thousand books.

• By his personal efforts, he has established a fine arts museum matching the well-known museums of the world.

If we were to study the details of Dr. Dahesh’s life, we would find it a sequence of continuous painful events, and in reading his books, we would clearly see the suffering he has endured. Those who were associated closely with him, know for sure, that it was for the Daheshists and all mankind, that he suffered. For in a miraculous palpable way, that could not be doubted, he bore in his own person their illnesses. He has taken upon himself our physical pains and afflictions, thus relieving us from them. Therefore, to the Daheshists, who believe in him, and to those who will believe in him, he is the Divine Guide and the Redeemer.

In this light, we believe that Dr. Dahesh is the latest incarnation of “Christ” in the history of the world. We do not believe in him as a God but as a guide sent by God to show us the right way. Of those guides there are some upon which God bestowed a pure soul and an enlightened mind, like Socrates, Gandhi, and Imam Ali. He also provided others with the Holy Spirit and thus they performed miracles by the name of God to confirm their spiritual message. “The Spirit” as Jesus said, “bloweth where it liketh.” (John 3:8). So, it was God’s will for it to reveal itself again through Dr. Dahesh.

• Dahesh’s Birth and Beginnings:

During the last years of the Ottoman Empire and in the small town of Isfis (located in what was known as Mesopotamia and not to be confused with the biblical town of Ephesus), Moussa Elias Aleshi was born into a Syriac Orthodox family. Moussa converted to Protestantism and established a school where he met Shmouneh, the daughter of Hanna Murad Canoon. She was born in year 1887 in a nearby town called Azekh into a Syriac Orthodox family. She was one of his students and he was taken by her intelligence, honesty, and righteousness and they soon got married. According to many historians, the Syriac Orthodox Christians spoke Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ.

In 1906, Moussa wanted to visit the Holy Land, however, the distance was significant and the state of transportation at that time was crude. The most common mode of transportation at the turn of that century was the horse and buggy. Despite the obstacles and the constant discouragement from his mother, he insisted on traveling to Jerusalem, so that he can be in the place where Christ first brought light into a world full of darkness. His wife also shared his desire and accompanied him on his journey.

After tremendous difficulties, they arrived at Jerusalem and went about touring the historical sites. Moussa was very much impressed by the city of Jerusalem and desired to live there. He told his wife that he would like to remain near Jesus’ tomb and the place where the savior of humanity walked and provided hope to the sinners. Shmouneh was startled by his proposal and asked him: “What about our families, land, and properties? Do we abandon our country in order to live in someone else’s?” He said to her: “I will miss my country, but I do not want to return to my birthplace for the time being. I would like to live in the Holy Land for a while. Life suits me fine here and I am closer to the traces of Jesus of Nazareth.” He refused to return to his country and enjoyed living in Palestine. They initially stayed in Bethlehem and then moved to Jerusalem.

Moussa Aleshi and his wife Shmouneh lived happily and gave birth to three daughters.

On June 1^st, 1909, in Damascus Gate district area (Bab-al-Amud) in Jerusalem, they gave birth to a baby boy. To decide on a name, Moussa opened the Bible and pointed at a page without looking, his finger landed on the verse “Sometime later she had a son. He was given the name Solomon. The Lord Loved him.” (2 Samuel 12:24). They revised the chosen name and named him Saleem.

As money became scarce, Moussa felt that he must work to support his family. He was fortunate to find a job in the German Hospital of Jerusalem. He continued to work in the hospital as a nurse until 1911. At the early months of that year, Moussa received a letter from his father requesting his immediate return to his homeland. His father missed him so much and was afraid that he would pass on to the next life without having the opportunity to see him. Moussa desired to honor the wishes of his aging father, packed his belongings, and commenced the travel with his wife and children heading towards his homeland, where they can be united with family and friends. However, as they were passing through Beirut—at the time, a city under ottoman rule—one of Moussa’s daughters became ill. So, they took her to an American Mission physician. As she was recuperating, Moussa received word that his father has died. Moussa realized that it would be better to remain in Beirut for a while. They resided in the Mustaitbeh District in Beirut, and rented a house owned by Mr. Gergy Nasif.

In 1914 World War I broke out. Most people did not think that the war would last more than a few months. Unfortunately, they were wrong, and the war raged on with brutality for years. Money was running out from Moussa and hunger threatened the lives of his young children. To make things worse, Turkish soldiers were looking for men of Turkish citizenship to draft them into the army, so that they can fight alongside the Germans. Moussa looked for a place to hide from the Ottoman authorities and where he can work; he was fortunate to find a job at the American Print Shop of Beirut.

One day, circumstances made him take a walk during the night. As he was walking, he heard a harsh voice ordering him to stop. He was arrested by the Ottoman authorities and was taken to their headquarters, where his identity as a Turkish subject was discovered and he was forced to join the army. He was dressed up in a military uniform and was sent away to the war zone. Shmouneh was devastated and his children wept for him. The husband and father had disappeared from their lives and their future became uncertain. It was their fortune that when Moussa was taken, the war was about to end. When it ended, Moussa returned to his family and to his position at the print shop.

Moussa became ill with tuberculosis and died on December 25^th, 1920. He was buried in the Hemlin Sanitarium, located in the town of Shebaniyeh near one of the mountaintops of Lebanon. He left behind a wife and five children: Saleem, Jamileh, Antoinette, Wadiaa, and Elisabat. Mother Shmouneh was now faced with the sole responsibility of supporting five children and had to make certain short-term decisions. She sent her two daughters Elisabat and Wadiaa to live with their aunt in Jerusalem; she sent Saleem and Antoinette to the American Mission orphanage in Ghazeer (near Beirut) while she accompanied her eldest daughter Jamileh to Tripoli.

Saleem remained in Ghazeer for a few months only, where he excelled in his studies and in sports—even though he was a little sickly. His health was a factor in leaving the school in 1921 and joining his mother and sister in Tripoli.

Soon after in 1922, he was sent to his aunt in Jerusalem and was placed in a school for a brief period and had to drop out because of his deteriorating health.

Most of 1923 was spent going back and forth between the hospital and his aunt’s place and his health worsened to the point that he neared death. However, Divine Providence protected him and cured his ailment.

On March 7^th, 1923 Saleem became a Lebanese citizen, just as his mother had acquired it two years earlier per the Treaty of Lausanne which defined the borders of the modern Turkish Republic.

• Childhood Miracles and Youth:

Since 1920, when he was 11 years of age, Saleem began to have strong tendencies towards spiritual matters, miracles, and the supernatural. He exhibited certain powers that he did not know their source initially. He was able to predict events and inform his friends about them. For example, he would tell a friend that his mother will come to see him on such a date and the prediction would come true. He would recite his lesson to the teacher without reading it. He was fully aware that the predictions he made were accurate, however, he did not know the source, or purpose behind such powers.

In 1924, Saleem wanted very much to enroll back in school. However, his mother’s financial situation did not allow him to do so. This led him to start borrowing books from libraries and spending entire nights reading them with eagerness.

At fourteen, he began to increase his association with the youths of Bethlehem, where he was living with some members of his family. He would narrate to them the miracles of Jesus of Nazareth, preaching his return, and the necessity of preparing and purifying themselves to receive him. He used to perform miracles before them, and rebuke many of the Christian clerics for their hypocrisy, deviation from Christ’s teachings, and for commercializing his religion. He exposed their shameful conduct, and their atrocious hidden acts, warning the youths not to be deceived by their words. His campaign against the clerics reached its peak in Bethlehem in 1927. The clerics raised a hue and cry, inciting the men in power against him. They began to threaten him in the churches of Bethlehem, and to intimidate everyone associating with him, warning people, and counseling parents not to let their children communicate with him, on the pretext that he embodies a demonic power. But Dahesh’s miracles increased among the children, and his influence among the people became even greater, despite his youthful age.

Among the scores of miracles recounted by eyewitnesses of his prodigious acts during his childhood and youth are the following:

1-First Miracle—Speaking in the cradle

The child was still in the cradle when he was inflicted with an incurable illness. His father, who worked in a print shop at the American University of Beirut, became very worried, so he contacted Dr. John Smith, an American doctor that he had knew when Wadee’ah, his third daughter, became sick. Doctor Smith came to see the child and found him to be unconscious, so he used medicines in order to regain his consciousness, but to no avail. As his parents became desperate and as the Doctor was about to leave, the child suddenly rose after being cured in a miraculous way and conversed with doctor Smith in fluent English mentioning to him the name of the medicine that he should have used in treating him. The child was three years of age and didn’t even speak Arabic well, let alone fluent English. The doctor was amazed more than the child’s parents and asked him: “How did you know the disease and the medicine?” The child answered: “I am the cure to every disease.” The doctor became even more amazed and told his acquaintances of what he saw and heard, however, he did not know anything about the truth of who this child is.

2-He spoke Hindi

Some elderly people who lived before World War I in the Musaitbeh neighborhood of Beirut—and Mr. Antoine Barood was one of them— told me [i.e., Dr. Brax] that while they were standing and chatting in the neighborhood, a strange man passed by and asked them a question in a foreign language they did not understand. People crowded around the stranger attempting to communicate with him to no avail. All of a sudden, a child around five years of age passed through the crowd and approached the man wearing the unusual attire and speaking a different language and began talking to him in his same language with fluency. Signs of happiness appeared on the face of the stranger, thanked the child, and passed on his way. The crowd is amazed and asked the child how he was able to communicate with the stranger and in what language? He answered them: “He is an Indian who lost his way, so I gave him directions.” They were puzzled and said to him: “How were you able to give him directions and you are still a young child that doesn’t know the roads and you can’t even speak Arabic with fluency.” He answered them saying: “I am the Way, and I am the Guide.” The puzzled crowd asked each other about the name of the child and they were told it is Saleem El-Ashi (Dahesh).

3-Miraculous Fishing

Mr. Antoine Barood told Dr. Brax that on one morning, long after World War I had ended, he went fishing at the beach in Beirut. He spent ours throwing his fishhook and fishing net without catching anything. As he was about to return home in disappointment, a boy around 11 years of age was hopping and playing on the sandy beach approached him and suggested that he throws his net in a particular location, however, Mr. Barood refused because he had thrown the net and fishhook in that same location several times without scoring a catch. After the boy had insisted, Mr. Barood threw his fishhook and then his net in that location and scored a big catch. He repeated the process several times and in every time his net came out full. He was astonished! The boy was his neighbor in the Musaitbeh neighborhood, however, he seldom saw him. He remembered that it is the same boy that spoke Hindi several years earlier and since that moment, he followed the news about him with interest.

4-   Miraculous Healing

In 1920, at the Musaitby district, in Beirut, where Dahesh was living with his mother, the Christians were celebrating the holiday of the prophet Elijah. A child, riding his bicycle, was crisscrossing the street back and forth amidst the people; suddenly he had an accident: he fell to the ground, was injured, and his bicycle was completely twisted. The child started crying loudly.

People gathered around him in order to help him, but his crying grew louder and louder. The eleven-year-old Dahesh forced his way through the swarming crowds up to the injured child, and laying his hand upon him, said:

Get up and go home in peace. Your injuries have been healed by God’s permission.

And his injuries were healed immediately.

Then, the prodigious child laid his other hand upon the bicycle, and at once the distortions and cracks disappeared.

This miracle was not the first that Dahesh had performed in his childhood; however, it was the first of his miracles performed in public. And for a long time, the inhabitants of that district kept recounting it; they were baffled and perplexed by the miraculous power of the child. Among the many witnesses to this miracle, are some members of the Baroud and el-Ashquar families.

5- The Re-creation of a Book from Ashes

The child, Dahesh, mastered reading on his own, and became passionately fond of knowledge. The economic condition of his family did not allow him to buy books, so he used to borrow them for pay from bookstores and stay late into the night reading them.

In 1925, the fifteen year old Dahesh was the guest of his maternal aunt in Jerusalem. One night, he stayed up late reading one of the Holy Books. It did not take his illiterate aunt long to put out the kerosene lamp in a rush, prodding him to go to bed, to preserve his health and the lighting fuel as well.

The youth obeyed her wish. However, a part of the night had not yet been over, when the aunt woke up, and saw gleam lighting up the corner of the room. There, the youth was sitting reading. She got up angrily to put out the lamp and hide it away, and she awakened her husband so that they may together discipline the disobedient youth.

They suddenly stood riveted to the ground, baffled and terrorized, for the lamp was not lit, but a strange shining beam of light was radiating out of the prodigious child’s eyes!

They did not understand what was happening and reaped nothing but fear. In the morning, they contacted a few clergymen, and explained to them what had occurred. The clergymen ascertained to them that the youth must be afflicted by “demonic madness”, and that the book itself embodied an evil spirit.

The woman and her husband came back home during the absence of the youth; they immediately fetched the book and set it to fi re in one of the house’s corners.

However, no sooner had the youth returned than he requested the book from them. They denied any knowledge of it. He angrily went straight to where the ashes were, and striking upon them with his hand, the ashes became the same book they were before.

This miracle of creation had been witnessed by the adolescent’s neighbors’, the Murad family, who happened to be visiting his aunt at the time of the spiritual manifestation. Its news spread out in the vicinity, sowing fear of the prodigious youth in the souls of ignorant people.

This miracle was the first to draw the attention of the clerics in Palestine to the wondrous youth and aroused their hostile feelings against him.

6 – Dr. Dahesh’s Walking on Water

The following year (1926), Dahesh moved to Bethlehem. One day, the banks of Prophet Solomon’s lakes, situated close to the city that had seen the birth of Jesus, were overcrowded with visitors and strollers among whom were many Assyrians. The prodigious youth was also there. And it was that someone mentioned Christ’s walking on the water, to which the wondrous youth said:

What would you say about me, if I walked back and forth on the waters of the lake?”

They felt the matter too magnificent to believe, and very unlikely to happen.

Nevertheless, he immediately began walking gradually on the surface of the water, as if he were walking on the ground, until he had crossed the entire lake, and then turned back to the starting point.

Many baffled witnesses examined his shoes, and found them unwetted, so their astonishment grew even greater. And one of the witnesses, Mr. Kourieh Melky Abdullah, asked him:

– “How did that happen?” Dahesh answered: “I walk upon waters, as I walk upon solid ground”.

On November 6, 1964, the aforementioned witness gave an interview to the Beirut magazine, “Al-Liwaa,” testifying to what he saw, and mentioning the names of a number of other witnesses, who had seen the miracle with him.

• Dawn of the Daheshist Mission and the Great Oath:

In 1929, when Saleem approached his twentieth year, several educated Palestinian young men, whose hearts were inclined to spiritual matters, began to gather around him and became his disciples even before his proclamation of the Daheshist Mission. Among them was the well-known Palestinian Poet Moutlaq Abdu el-Khaleq, who besides having written a poetry collection entitled “Al-Rahil” (the Departure), also transposed into poetry one of Dr. Dahesh’s first literary works, “Repose of Death”. Another distinguished Palestinian, Tawfiq el-Israwi, had been so much touched by the spirituality of his prodigious Master that he distributed all his possessions to the poor, and then spent the rest of his life as a hermit in one of the caves of Petra in Jordan.

One day in 1929, Saleem was inspired that he should change his name. His disciples proceeded with writing many names on pieces of paper. The draw fell on the name “Dahesh”, an Arabic name that means wonderful or astounding. This is the name that the Divine Providence willed for him to be known by from thereon.

In 1930, and as the fame of Dahesh continued to spread out, news of his prodigies reached the scientific circles in Paris, and he was invited to visit the French psychological research institute. He was asked by the attendees if they could witness a miracle. Dahesh told them that he would show them the miracle of prophet Jonah. He requested to be put in a tightly sealed box and then submerged to the bottom of the Seine River. The observers agreed reluctantly after he signed a waiver assuming responsibility for any possible harm or injury. After being submerged for 7 days, and in front of 150 people, the box was raised and opened, and Dahesh came out alive and smiling. After witnessing this astonishing miracle in addition to other miracles that transgressed the laws of nature, he was granted a certificate from “Societe Psychique Internationale” on May 6^th ,1930, as well as a doctorate degree in psychic research from the “Sage Institute” on May 22, 1930. And that is how this scientific title came to be united with his spiritual name, Dr. Dahesh.

In January of 1931, Dr. Dahesh left Beirut to Jerusalem and from there to Cairo where he spent a few months. His visitors there were in the thousands. The royal family invited him to their palaces, where he performed multiple miracles.

In 1927, Dr. Dahesh began writing and documenting his thoughts and emotions, and by 1933 he wrote his first book titled “Secrets of the Gods”. Before year 1933 ended, he finished his second book under the title “Lyre of the Gods”, followed by his third inspired masterpiece “Repose of Death”. “Repose of Death” was published in year 1936 as 2 volumes, the original prose version written by Dr. Dahesh, and a poetry-transposed version by the well-known poet “Mutlaq Abd-Alkhaleq”. It was enriched by paintings from the Italian painter Morelli who drew them specifically for the book, as envisioned and imagined by Dr. Dahesh. It was hailed as a masterpiece of art and literature, far ahead of its time.

In 1936, Dr. Dahesh finished writing the book “Words of Dr. Dahesh”, which first edition was published in 1939.

Dr. Dahesh was eagerly awaiting the Divine permission for the official start and establishment of the Daheshist Mission. In his book “Words of Dr. Dahesh”, he expressed his marvelous and mysterious feelings:

“I feel, hidden deep within myself, tremendous spiritual powers that’s bursting with eagerness to manifest and fulfill its pivotal role; however, I’m repressing them for the time being. But in due course and before long, they will emerge with radiant splendor crushing all obstacles and hindrances lying before them. “

And on January 1^st, 1937, at age 28, Dr. Dahesh declared “The Great Oath”:

“I swear by thy name, O my Creator,

that even if millions of foolish disbelievers or dishonest traitors were to exist, and were to fill the books of

the earth, nay, carve the stones of the universe, claiming that “This Mission of mine is not true”,

 I would still walk with my head held high, filled with dignity.

And I will keep on preaching and propagating the teachings of this Divine Mission,

until it pervades earth and spreads to the Heavens as well.

No living creature, will ever be able to prevent me from fulfilling this sacred duty, O God,

as long as you are the One who provides me with Divine Strength.

I raise this solemn oath to you, O Lord, from the depths of my heart that praises Your Name with

every beat in utter reverence and awe. “

• 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.

• The Travels of Dr. Dahesh and his Literature and Art Legacy:

In 1953, and soon after Dr. Dahesh rightfully regained his nationality following his long struggle against his oppressors, he proceeded with his enormous efforts in establishing the foundations for his Divine Daheshist Mission. He opened his house again to hundreds and thousands of people from all classes of society, who witnessed his miracles over a span of 15 years and listened to his lofty ideas and guiding teachings of Daheshism that aim to unite humanity in brotherhood and love, and to help them return to the essence of moral ideals. Many of these visitors were journalists and reporters who published numerous articles in newspapers and magazines about Dr. Dahesh’s miracles and teachings, providing tangible proof, including step by step photographs of his miraculous prodigies. On June 22^nd, 1964, the well-known magazine “AL-Osbou’ Al-Arabi (The Arabic Week)” published an article titled “This is Dr. Dahesh Addressing You”, which was the first interview with Dr. Dahesh after his long absence due to the harsh persecution.

Starting in 1969, Dr. Dahesh began a series of travels around the world visiting more than 40 countries. He chronicled these travels in his book series “Dr. Dahesh’s Journeys Around the World”, which includes 22 volumes, registering his observations, impressions and views of mankind’s customs, cultures, and ways of life.

Dr. Dahesh appreciated and glorified the beauty of art. One of the main goals of his travels was to buy and collect art pieces, ranging from drawings and paintings to sculptors, from all around the world. This collection, which mounted up to more than 2000 pieces, formed the foundation of the Dahesh Museum of Art. The ingenious vision of this enormous project was planned decades before, when Dr. Dahesh began sending, what amounted up to half a million letter and correspondent, to various artists and exhibitions around the world commissioning them for paintings and artistic pieces.

Aside from Dr. Dahesh’s immense interest in art, he spent a significant amount of time and effort establishing a massive library that contains more than 200,000 books in different languages and of various topics and genre. He started buying and collecting books since youth, and he personally picked most of them from different countries during his many travels around the world. He wished for his library to be a cultural and an educational site that serves as a Daheshist heritage that would benefit all mankind enriching its wisdom and knowledge.

Year 1975 marked the beginning of the violent Lebanese civil war which eventually caused the loss of around 120,000 lives. This war was prophesied by Dr. Dahesh, and the prophecy was published on January 4^th, 1948 in the Lebanese “Al-Hayat” newspaper. Soon after the war started, Dr. Dahesh and his followers acted quickly and worked on shipping the enormous museum’s art collection to the United States of America, protecting it from the war’s threats and risk of theft. He traveled to the United States in March 1976 to oversee the museum’s art pieces’ transportation and safe storage.

After visiting multiple countries, he returned to Lebanon on December 14^th, 1978. He supervised during his stay the publishing of many of his books, including: “Strange Stories and Wonderful Tales” (4 volumes), “Dr. Dahesh’s Journeys Around the World” (22 volumes), “Gardens of the Gods Adorned with Roses of Paradise” (10 volumes), “Paradises of the Goddesses Set with Sacred Lotus” (10 volumes) and others.

On September 1^st, 1980, Dr. Dahesh left Lebanon permanently, continuing his travels around the world, visiting the United States of America, India, and other European countries.

He died on April 9^th, 1984 in the United States and was buried in the New York Metropolitan area .