Druze, Druze

Because of such incorporation, many Islamic scholars label the Druze as a non-Muslim religion, even though the Druze are officially classified as Muslims Encyclopedia Britannica , 1982 Edition, Vol. 5, p. 1060 and are considered Muslim by most Ismaili Shi'a Muslims.

The Jordanian Druze can be found in Amman and Zarka, about 50% live in the town of Azraq, and a smaller number in Irbid and Aqaba. The Golan Heights, the mountainous region between Israel and Syria, is home to about 20,000 Druze.

Though he is considered a renegade by the "Unitarians" the name "Druze" is still used for identification and for historical reasons. Ad-Darazi was killed in 1018 because of his extreme ideas concerning Al-Hakim.

Hamza Bin Ali, who was a Persian Ismaili mystic and scholar, came to Egypt in 1014 AD and assembled a group of scholars and leaders from across the Islamic world to form the Unitarian Order. The Order's meetings were held in the Mosque of Raydan, situated near the palace of al-Hakim. http://www.druze.com/education/DruzeLuminariesAlHakim-English-level3.pdf After gaining the support of the Ftimid Caliph al-Hakim, Hamza ibn Al started to work on spreading the faith facing a lot of hostility from many prominent figures of the Caliphate, especially after al-Hakim was accused of undermining the orthodox Islamic law by publishing a decree promoting religious freedom.

Some Druze and non-Druze scholars like Samy Swayd and Sami Makarem state that this confusion is created because of the early heretical preacher Ad-Darazi who claimed that Al-Hakim is the Incarnation of God, so that he can gain his support, and that the modern Druze had been wrongfully attributed, by their rivals, to their early renegade Ad-Darazi.

As redoubtable warriors serving the Muslim rulers of Damascus against the alien invaders, the Druze were given the task of keeping watch over the Crusaders in the seaport of Beirut, with the aim of preventing them from making any encroachments inland. Subsequently, the Druze chiefs of the Gharb placed their considerable military experience at the disposal of the Mamluk rulers of Egypt (1250-1516); first, to assist them in putting an end to what remained of Crusader rule in coastal Syria, and later to help them safeguard the Syrian coast against Crusader retaliation by sea. http://www.druzeheritage.org/dhf/Druze_History.asp In the early period of the Crusader era the Druze feudal power was in the hands of two families, the Tanukhs and the Arslans. From their fortresses in the Gharb district (modern Aley Province) of southern Mount Lebanon, the Tanukhs led their incursions into the Phoenician coast and finally succeeded in holding Beirut and the marine plain against the Franks. Because of their fierce battles with the crusaders the Druzes earned the respect of the Sunni Muslim Caliphs and thus gained important political powers. After the middle of the twelfth century, the Maan family superseded the Tanukhs in Druze leadership. The origin of the family goes back to a prince Maan who made his appearance in the Lebanon in the days of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mustarshid (1118 AD-1135 AD). The Maans chose for their abode the Chouf district in the southern part of Western Lebanon, overlooking the maritime plain between Beirut and Sidon, and made their headquarters in Baaqlin, which is still a leading Druze village. They were invested with feudal authority by Sultan Nur-al-Dn and furnished respectable contingents to the Muslim ranks in their struggle against the Crusaders.

These military measures, severe as they were, did not succeed in reducing the local Druze to the required degree of subordination. This led the Ottoman government to agree to an arrangement whereby the different nahiyes (districts) of the Chouf would be granted in iltizam ("fiscal concession") to one of the regions amirs, or leading chiefs, leaving the maintenance of law and order and the collection of its taxes in the area in the hands of the appointed amir. This arrangement was to provide the cornerstone for the privileged status which ultimately came to be enjoyed by the whole of Mount Lebanon in Ottoman Syria, Druze and Christian areas alike.

Druze villages spread and prospered in that region, which under Maan leadership so flourished that it acquired the generic term of Jabal Bayt-Maan (the mountain of the Maan family) or Jabal al-Druze . The latter title has since been usurped by the Hawran region, which since the middle of the nineteenth century has proven a haven of refuge to Druze emigrants from Lebanon and has become the headquarters of Druze power.

Hermon. They soon made an alliance with the Maans and were acknowledged as the Druze chiefs in Wadi-al-Taym . At the end of the seventeenth century (1697) the Shihabs succeeded the Maans in the feudal leadership of Druze southern Lebanon, although they professed Sunni Islam. Secretly, they showed sympathy with Druzism, the religion of the majority of their subjects.

Though governor of the Druze Mountain Bashir was a crypto-Christian, and it was he whose aid Napoleon solicited in 1799 during his campaign against Syria.

The uprising was encouraged, for political reasons, by the British. The Druzes of Wadi-al-Taym and awran, under the leadership of Shibli al-Aryan, distinguished themselves in their stubborn resistance at their inaccessible headquarters, al-Laja , lying southeast of Damascus.

Druzes and Christians grouped in political rather than religious parties so the party lines in Lebanon obliterated racial and religious lines and the people grouped themselves regardless of their religious affiliations, into one or the other of these two parties. The sanguinary feuds between these two factions depleted, in course of time, the manhood of the Lebanon and ended in the decisive battle of Ain Dara in 1711, which resulted in the utter defeat of the Yemenite party. Many Yemenite Druzes thereupon immigrated to the Hawran region and thus laid the foundation of Druze power there.

He even produced a cache of Israeli weapons allegedly discover in the Jabal. Even more painful for the Druze community was his publication of "falsified Druze religious texts" and false testimonials ascribed to leading Druze sheikhs designed to stir up sectarian hatred. This propaganda was also broadcasted in the Arab world, mainly Egypt. Shishakli was assassinated in Brazil on September 27, 1964 by a Druze seeking revenge for Shishakli's bombardment of the Jebel al-Druze.

Before and during the Lebanese Civil War (19751990), the Druze were in favor of Pan-Arabism and Palestinian resistance represented by the PLO. Most of the community supported the Progressive Socialist Party formed by the Lebanese leader Kamal Jumblatt and they fought alongside other leftist and Palestinian parties against the Lebanese Front that was mainly constituted of Christians. After the assassination of Kamal Jumblatt on March 16, 1977, his son Walid Jumblatt took the leadership of the party and played an important role in preserving his fathers legacy and sustained the existence of the Druze community during the sectarian bloodshed that lasted till 1990.

Other pro-Syrian political parties are supported by some Druzes such as the Lebanese Democratic Party led by Talal Arslan and other minor political figures.

A year after Israel annexed the Golan, on April 14, 1982, the Druze communities around Mt. Hermon launched a six-month non-violent general strike in protest of Israel's annexation of the Golan.

Druze citizens are prominent in the Israel Defense Forces and in politics. A considerable number of Israeli Druze soldiers have fallen in Israel's wars since the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The bond between Jewish and Druze soldiers is commonly known by the term "a covenant of blood" (Hebrew: , brit damim ) , although in recent years the phrase has been criticized as the Israeli government has been accused for failing to open up employment opportunities to Druze youth outside of the army.

Druze does not allow conversion to the religion. Marriage between Druze and non-Druze is discouraged for religious, political and historical reasons.

The main Druze doctrine states that God is both Transcendent and Immanent, in which He is above all attributes but at the same time He is present. The Druze Faith by Sami Nasib Makarem In their desire to maintain a rigid confession of unity they stripped from God all attributes (tanzh) which may savor of, or lead into, polytheism (shirk) . In Allah there are no attributes distinct from his essence. He is wise, mighty, just, not by wisdom, might, justice, but by his own essence. God is "the whole of existence" rather than "above existence," or on His throne which would make Him "limited." There is neither "how," "when" nor "where" about him, he is incomprehensible Druze Spirituality and Asceticism By Dr. Samy Swayd, SDSU (An abridged rough draft) In this dogma, they are similar to the semi-philosophical, semi-religious body which flourished under Al-Ma'mun and was known by the name of Mu'tazila and the equally interesting fraternal order of the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan al-afa).

This is like one's image in the mirror: one is in the mirror but does not become the mirror. The Druze manuscripts are emphatic and warn against the belief that the Nasut is God. Neglecting this warning, individual seekers, scholars, and other spectators have considered al-Hakim and other figures divine.

The concept of God reincarnating in a human, seem to contradict with what the Druze scriptural view has to teach about the Oneness of God, while Tajalli is at the center of the Druze and some other, often mystical, traditions.

The largely secular majority, called al-Juhhl () ("the Ignorant") are not granted access to the Druze holy literature. They are around 80% of the Druze population, and generally distance themselves from religious issues - for this reason they are able to fill governmental positions (sometimes disproportionately to the Druze's share of the general population) in the nations that they inhabit which endorse other religions. They often do not consider themselves to have most of the religious responsibilities that the faith includes, but practice personal prayer.

Many of the Druze feudal families whose genealogies have been preserved to us by the two modern Syrian chroniclers: Haydar al-Shihabi and al-Shidyaq, seem also to point in the direction of the same origin. Arabian tribes which emigrated via the Persian Gulf and stopped in Iraq on the route that was later to lead them to Syria. The first feudal Druze family, the Tanukh family, which made for itself a name in fighting the Crusaders, was according to Haydar al-Shihabi, an Arab tribe from Mesopotamia where it occupied the position of a ruling family and was apparently Christianized.

This battle was fought between two Druze factions: the Yemeni and the Kaysi. Following their dramatic defeat, the Yemeni faction migrated to Syria in the Jebel-Druze region and its capital, Soueida. Though, it had been argued that these two factions were of political nature rather than ethnic and had both Christians and Druze supporters.

Source: Wikipedia > Druze