Khalwat al-Bayada

The Khalwat al-Bayada is the central sanctuary, and theological school of the Druze, located in Lebanon and founded in the 19th century by Sheikh Hamad el-Qais. Located near Hasbaya, the khalwat is the location where Ad-Darazi is supposed to have settled and taught from during the first Druze call.
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 at various times of the year. In 1838, copies of the Epistles of Wisdom were taken from the site by invading Egyptians.