I wish you also asked your friend for credible sources when he quoted a Bachir Gemayal fan boy french journo.
Liturgy of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry ..., Volume 4 By Albert Pike
View attachment 18543 View attachment 18544 View attachment 18545 The twenty second degree is based on the Druze (who he refers to as Son of Labor, translation for Bani Ma3roof), and how their prince is a workman / carpenter that doesn't stay idle but works with his fellows.
Connected back to the axe which Druze carry (to this day) and the belief that their ancestors (original Tsidians) built the temple of Solomon.
Simply put, no.
There's no mention of Albert Pike describing the rite as the "Druze working man" as you just imagined.
As for the 22nd degree, it has nothing to do with the Druze sect. In fact, Pike never mentions that. It is about labor and the axe refers to the building of civilization as opposed to the sword which is used for killing. Pike made that very clear in Liturgy and Morals and Dogma.
What you pasted are not the full quotes. He was talking about the Phoenicians who helped Noah build his ark with the cedar trees and helped Solomon build his temple as well. That's the full quote:
"The Tsidunai or Phoenicians were ever ready to aid the Israelites in their holy enterprises. The tie between them was the mysteries, into which the principal persons of both nations were initiated; Moses having necessarily received them in Egypt, before he could marry the daughter of a priest of On. These mysteries, modified by Solomon, or perhaps at an earlier day by Joshua or even Moses, to suit the genius and manners of the Jewish people, became Masonry, such as it was practiced at the building of the Temple, and such as it has in part come down to us. Khñrñm, King of Tsñr in Phoenicia, and Khñrñm Abai, also a Phoenician and not a Jew, were likewise initiates; and hence the intimate connection between them and Solomon, as Masons. The people of Tsidñn, a city of Phoenicia, were employed by Noah to cut cedars on Mount Libanus, of which to build the ark, under the superintendence of Japhet. His descendants repeopled Tsidñn and Phoenicia, and at a later day his posterity, under Adon Khñrñm, cut in the same forests cedars for King Solomon: and at a time still later, they felled timber on the same mountain to construct the second Temple.
"Upon the same mountain it is said that they established Colleges or Associations of Artificers, like those of Etruria and afterward of Rome. Of this we can only say that it is possible, because associations of workers have been common in all ages.
"It is supposed that there were Colleges of Artificers in Etruria, as there certainly were at Rome; and Phoenicians, who voyaged far and traded everywhere, and who honored the skill of the Architect and Artisan, no doubt had similar colleges.
"Wherever such associations existed, they necessarily had modes of recognition of each other; and they were honored everywhere. Solomon himself, whose wisdom gave him a true idea of the dignity of labor, built a palace on the mountain, to which he often repaired to inspect the progress of the work. The names of the Patriarchs who were the superintendents of the workmen on the mountain at different periods were preserved in our pass-words. The institution of Colleges upon Mount Libanus was perpetuated by the Druses, from whom the Crusaders obtained a knowledge of this or a similar Degree."
He only says that the Druzes later
perpetuated these, not more. The Druze sect was established long after the Phoenician civilization. Moreover, no one says that the Druzes are the descendants of the Phoenicians.
In fact, here it is plainly the first and last page of Morals and Dogma. Pike is very clear about the purpose of the rite.
