The Druze,
are an ethnoreligious esoteric group originating from the Near East who
self identify as unitarians (Al-Muwaḥḥidūn / Muwahhideen ...
Druze
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Druze
دروز
|
| Total population |
| 1,500,000 (est.)[1] |
| Founder |
| Hamza and Al Hakim |
| Regions with significant populations |
 Syria |
700,000[1] |
 Lebanon |
215,000[2] |
 Israel |
140,000[3] |
 Jordan |
32,000[4] |
| Diaspora: |
>310,000[citation needed] |
 Venezuela |
125,000[5] |
 United States |
43,000[6] |
 Canada |
23,000[citation needed] |
 Australia |
19,000[7] |
| Religions |
| Unitarian Druze |
| Scriptures |
| Rasa'il al-hikmah (Epistles of Wisdom) |
| Languages |
Arabic
Hebrew (in Israel)
Spanish (in Venezuela)
English (in the US, Canada and Australia) |
The
Druze (
//;
[8] Arabic:
درزي
derzī or
durzī, plural
دروز durūz;
Hebrew:
דרוזי
drūzī plural
דרוזים,
druzim), are an
ethnoreligious[9] esoteric group originating from the
Near East who self identify as
unitarians (
Al-Muwaḥḥidūn/Muwahhideen).
[10]
According to the narrative of the Druze,
Jethro is considered an ancestor of all Druze and revered as the spiritual founder as well as chief prophet, who lived in
Midian.
[11][12][13][14][15] The Druze faith is a
monotheistic and
Abrahamic religion based on the teachings of
Plato,
Aristotle,
Socrates,
Akhenaten,
Hamza, and
Al Hakim.
[16][17] The
Epistles of Wisdom is the foundational text of the Druze faith alongside supplemental texts such as the Epistles of India.
[18] The Druze faith incorporates elements of
Gnosticism,
Neoplatonism,
Pythagoreanism,
Ismailism,
[19] Judaism,
[10] Christianity,
[10] Hinduism,
[20][21] Buddhism[21]
and other philosophies and beliefs, creating a distinct and secretive
theology known to esoterically interpret religious scriptures and to
highlight the role of the mind and truthfulness.
[10][20] The Druze follow
theopany, which is the belief that God manifests himself in a human form and in
reincarnation or the transmigration of the soul.
At the end of the cycle of rebirth, which is achieved through
successive reincarnations, the soul is united with the Cosmic Mind (
Al Aaqal Al Kulli).
[23]
Although dwarfed by other larger communities, the Druze community played an important role in shaping the history of the
Levant,
and continues to play a large political role there. However, as an
ethnic and religious minority in every country in which they live, they
have frequently experienced
persecution. Druze are not considered to be
Muslims[23][24][25][26][27][28] and often labeled as infidels (
Murtadun).
[29] Ali az-Zahir of the
Fatimid Caliphate campaigned to exterminate the faith which resulted in one of the largest
genocides in history with Druze communities in
Antioch,
Aleppo, and throughout northern Syria being ethnically cleansed.
[30] Further attempts were made by the
Mamluks and
Ottomans. Most recently, Druze were targeted by the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in order to cleanse Syria and neighboring countries of non-Islamic influence.
[32]
The Druze faith is one of the
major religious groups in the
Levant, with about 1.5 million adherents and are found primarily in
Syria,
Lebanon and
Israel, with small communities in
Jordan and outside the Middle East. The oldest and most densely populated Druze communities exist in
Mount Lebanon and in the south of Syria around
Jabal al-Druze; literally the "Mountain of the Druzes".
[33]
The Druze's social customs differ markedly from those of Muslims or
Christians, and they are known to form a close-knit, cohesive community
but also integrate fully in their adopted homelands.
Location
The Druze people reside primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.
[34][35]
The Institute of Druze Studies estimates that forty to fifty percent of
Druze live in Syria, thirty to forty percent in Lebanon, six to seven
percent in Israel, and one or two percent in Jordan. About two percent
of the Druze population are also scattered within other countries in the
Middle East.
[34]
Large communities of Druze also live outside the Middle East, in
Australia, Canada, Europe, Latin America, the United States, and West
Africa. They use the
Arabic language and follow a social pattern very similar to those of the other peoples of the
Levant (eastern Mediterranean).
[37]
The number of Druze people worldwide exceeds one million, with the vast majority residing in the Levant.
[38]
History
Origin of the name
The name Druze is derived from the name of
Muhammad bin Ismail Nashtakin ad-Darazī (from
Persian darzi, "seamster") who was an early
preacher. Although the Druze consider ad-Darazī a
heretic,
[39] the name has been used to identify them.
Before becoming public, the movement was secretive and held closed meetings in what was known as
Sessions of Wisdom. During this stage a dispute occurred between ad-Darazi and
Hamza bin Ali mainly concerning ad-Darazi's
ghuluww ("exaggeration"), which refers to the belief that God was
incarnated in human beings (especially
'Ali and his descendants, including
Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who was the
caliph
at the time) and to ad-Darazi naming himself "The Sword of the Faith",
which led Hamza to write an epistle refuting the need for the sword to
spread the faith and several epistles refuting the beliefs of the
ghulat.
In 1016 ad-Darazi and his followers openly proclaimed their beliefs
and called people to join them, causing riots in Cairo against the
Unitarian movement including Hamza bin Ali and his followers. This led
to the suspension of the movement for one year and the expulsion of
ad-Darazi and his supporters.
[40]
Although the Druze religious books describe ad-Darazi as the
"insolent one" and as the "calf" who is narrow-minded and hasty, the
name "Druze" is still used for identification and for historical
reasons. In 1018 ad-Darazi was assassinated for his teachings; some
sources claim that he was executed by Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.
[39][41]
Some authorities see in the name "Druze" a descriptive epithet, derived from Arabic
dāresah ("those who study").
[42] Others have speculated that the word comes from the Persian word
Darazo (
درز "bliss") or from
Shaykh Hussayn ad-Darazī, who was one of the early converts to the faith.
[43]
In the early stages of the movement, the word "Druze" is rarely
mentioned by historians, and in Druze religious texts only the word
Muwaḥḥidūn ("Unitarian") appears. The only early Arab historian who mentions the Druze is the eleventh century Christian scholar
Yahya of Antioch, who clearly refers to the heretical group created by ad-Darazī rather than the followers of Hamza ibn 'Alī.
[43] As for Western sources,
Benjamin of Tudela,
the Jewish traveler who passed through Lebanon in or around 1165, was
one of the first European writers to refer to the Druzes by name. The
word
Dogziyin
("Druzes") occurs in an early Hebrew edition of his travels, but it is
clear that this is a scribal error. Be that as it may, he described the
Druze as "mountain dwellers, monotheists, who believe in 'soul eternity'
and
reincarnation."
[44] He also stated that "they loved the Jews."
[45]
Early history
The Druze faith began as a movement in
Ismailism that was heavily influenced by
Greek philosophy and
Gnosticism and opposed certain religious and philosophical ideologies that were present during that epoch.
The faith was preached by
Hamza ibn 'Alī ibn Ahmad, an
Ismaili
mystic and scholar. He came to Egypt in 1014 and assembled a group of
scholars and leaders from across the world to establish the Unitarian
movement. The order's meetings were held in the Raydan Mosque, near the
Al-Hakim Mosque.
[46]
In 1017, Hamza officially revealed the Druze faith and began to
preach the Unitarian doctrine. Hamza gained the support of the Fātimid
caliph
al-Hakim, who issued a decree promoting religious freedom prior to the declaration of the
divine call.
Remove ye the causes of fear and estrangement from yourselves. Do
away with the corruption of delusion and conformity. Be ye certain that
the Prince of Believers hath given unto you free will, and hath spared
you the trouble of disguising and concealing your true beliefs, so that
when ye work ye may keep your deeds pure for God. He hath done thus so
that when you relinquish your previous beliefs and doctrines ye shall
not indeed lean on such causes of impediments and pretensions. By
conveying to you the reality of his intention, the Prince of Believers
hath spared you any excuse for doing so. He hath urged you to declare
your belief openly. Ye are now safe from any hand which may bring harm
unto you. Ye now may find rest in his assurance ye shall not be wronged.
Let those who are present convey this message unto the absent so that
it may be known by both the distinguished and the common people. It
shall thus become a rule to mankind; and Divine Wisdom shall prevail for
all the days to come.[47]
Al-Hakim became a central figure in the Druze faith even though his own religious position was disputed among scholars.
John Esposito states that al-Hakim believed that "he was not only the divinely appointed religio-political leader but also the
cosmic intellect linking God with creation",
[48] while others like Nissim Dana and
Mordechai Nisan state that he is perceived as the manifestation and the reincarnation of God or presumably the image of God.
[page needed]
Some Druze and non-Druze scholars like Samy Swayd and
Sami Makarem
state that this confusion is due to confusion about the role of the
early preacher ad-Darazi, whose teachings the Druze rejected as
heretical.
[50] These sources assert that al-Hakim rejected ad-Darazi's claims of divinity,
[41][51][page needed] and ordered the elimination of his movement while supporting that of Hamza ibn Ali.
[53]
Al-Hakim disappeared one night while out on his evening ride –
presumably assassinated, perhaps at the behest of his formidable elder
sister
Sitt al-Mulk. The Druze believe he went into
Occultation
with Hamza ibn Ali and three other prominent preachers, leaving the
care of the "Unitarian missionary movement" to a new leader,
Al-Muqtana Baha'uddin (also spelled Baha' ad-Din).
Closing of the faith
Al-Hakim was replaced by his underage son,
'Alī az-Zahir. The Unitarian Druze movement, which existed in the
Fatimid Caliphate, acknowledged az-Zahir as the caliph, but followed Hamzah as its
Imam.
[41] The young caliph's regent,
Sitt al-Mulk, ordered the army to destroy the movement in 1021.
[39] At the same time, Bahā'a ad-Dīn as-Samuki was assigned the leadership of the Unitarian Movement by Hamza Bin Ali.
[41]
For the next seven years, the Druze faced extreme persecution by the new caliph, al-Zahir, who wanted to eradicate the faith.
[30]
This was the result of a power struggle inside of the Fatimid empire in
which the Druze were viewed with suspicion because of their refusal to
recognize the new caliph,
Ali az-Zahir,
as their Imam. Many spies, mainly the followers of Ad-Darazi, joined
the Unitarian movement in order to infiltrate the Druze community. The
spies set about agitating trouble and soiling the reputation of the
Druze. This resulted in friction with the new caliph who clashed
militarily with the Druze community. The clashes ranged from
Antioch to
Alexandria, where tens of thousands of Druze were slaughtered by the Fatimid army.
[39] The largest massacre was at Antioch, where 5,000 Druze religious leaders were killed, followed by that of
Aleppo.
[39]
As a result, the faith went underground in hope of survival, as those
captured were either forced to renounce their faith or be killed. Druze
survivors "were found principally in southern Lebanon and Syria." In
1038, two years after the death of al-Zahir, the Druze movement was able
to resume because the new leadership that replaced him had friendly
political ties with at least one prominent Druze leader.
[30]
In 1043
Baha' ad-Din declared that the sect would no longer accept new pledges, and since that time
proselytization has been prohibited.
[30][41]
During the Crusades
It was during the period of Crusader rule in Syria (1099–1291) that
the Druze first emerged into the full light of history in the Gharb
region of the
Chouf Mountains. As powerful warriors serving the Muslim rulers of Damascus against the
Crusades,
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.
[54]
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 area (now in
Aley District) of southern
Mount Lebanon Governorate,
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
Ma'an
family superseded the Tanukhs in Druze leadership. The origin of the
family goes back to a Prince Ma'an who made his appearance in the
Lebanon in the days of the 'Abbasid caliph
al-Mustarshid (1118–35 AD). The Ma'ans chose for their abode the
Chouf District in south-western Lebanon (southern
Mount Lebanon Governorate), 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 ad-Din and furnished respectable contingents to the Muslim ranks in their struggle against the Crusaders.
[page needed]
Persecution during the Mamluk and Ottoman period
Having cleared Syria of the Franks, the
Mamluk sultans of Egypt turned their attention to the schismatic Muslims of Syria. In 1305, after the issuing of a
fatwa by the scholar
Ibn Taymiyyah calling for
jihad against all non-
Sunni Muslims like the Druze,
Alawites,
Ismaili, and
Twelver Shia Muslims,
al-Malik al-Nasir inflicted a disastrous defeat on the Druze at
Keserwan and forced outward compliance on their part to orthodox Sunni Islam. Later, under the
Ottoman, they were severely attacked at
Saoufar in 1585 after the Ottomans claimed that they assaulted their caravans near
Tripoli.
[page needed] As a result of the Ottoman experience with the rebellious Druze, the word
Durzi in Turkish came, and continues, to mean someone who is the ultimate thug.
[55]
Consequently, the 16th and 17th centuries were to witness a
succession of armed Druze rebellions against the Ottomans, countered by
repeated Ottoman punitive expeditions against the Chouf, in which the
Druze population of the area was severely depleted and many villages
destroyed. 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 region's
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, Druze and Christian areas alike.
[54]
Ma'an dynasty
Main article:
Maan family
Fakhreddin castle in Palmyra
With the advent of the Ottoman Turks and the conquest of Syria by
Sultan Selim I in 1516, the
Ma'ans
were acknowledged by the new rulers as the feudal lords of southern
Lebanon. Druze villages spread and prospered in that region, which under
Ma'an leadership so flourished that it acquired the generic term of
Jabal Bayt-Ma'an (the mountain of the Ma'an family) or
Jabal al-Druze. The latter title has since been usurped by the
Hawran
region, which since the middle of the 19th century has proven a haven
of refuge to Druze emigrants from Lebanon and has become the
headquarters of Druze power.
[page needed]
Under
Fakhr-al-Dīn II
(Fakhreddin II), the Druze dominion increased until it included almost
all Syria, extending from the edge of the Antioch plain in the north to
Safad in the south, with a part of the Syrian desert dominated by
Fakhr-al-Din's castle at Tadmur (
Palmyra), the ancient capital of
Zenobia.
The ruins of this castle still stand on a steep hill overlooking the
town. Fakhr-al-Din became too strong for his Turkish sovereign in
Constantinople. He went so far in 1608 as to sign a commercial treaty with
Duke Ferdinand I of Tuscany
containing secret military clauses. The Sultan then sent a force
against him, and he was compelled to flee the land and seek refuge in
the courts of
Tuscany and
Naples in 1613 and 1615 respectively.
In 1618 political changes in the Ottoman sultanate had resulted in
the removal of many enemies of Fakhr-al-Din from power, signaling the
prince's triumphant return to Lebanon soon afterwards. Through a clever
policy of bribery and warfare, he extended his domains to cover all of
modern Lebanon, some of Syria and northern Galilee.
In 1632 Küçük Ahmet Pasha was named Lord of
Damascus. Küçük Ahmet Pasha was a rival of Fakhr-al-Din and a friend of the sultan
Murad IV, who ordered the pasha and the sultanate's navy to attack Lebanon and depose Fakhr-al-Din.
This time the prince decided to remain in Lebanon and resist the offensive, but the death of his son Ali in
Wadi al-Taym was the beginning of his defeat. He later took refuge in
Jezzine's grotto, closely followed by Küçük Ahmet Pasha who eventually caught up with him and his family.
Fakhr-al-Din was captured, taken to
Istanbul,
and imprisoned with two of his sons in the infamous Yedi Kule prison.
The Sultan had Fakhr-al-Din and his sons killed on 13 April 1635 in
Istanbul,
bringing an end to an era in the history of Lebanon, which would not
regain its current boundaries until it was proclaimed a mandate state
and republic in 1920. One version recounts that the younger son was
spared, raised in the harem and went on to become Ottoman Ambassador to
India.
[56]
Fakhr-al-Din II was the first ruler in modern Lebanon to open the
doors of his country to foreign Western influences. Under his auspices
the French established a khān (hostel) in Sidon, the
Florentines
a consulate, and Christian missionaries were admitted into the country.
Beirut and Sidon, which Fakhr-al-Din II beautified, still bear traces
of his benign rule. See the new biography of this Prince, based on
original sources, by TJ Gorton:
Renaissance Emir: a Druze Warlord at the Court of the Medici (London, Quartet Books, 2013), for an updated view of his life.
Fakhr ad Din II was succeeded in 1635 by his nephew Ahmed
Ma'an,
who ruled through his death in 1658. (Fakhr ad Din's only surviving
son, Husayn, lived the rest of his life as a court official in
Constantinople.) Emir Mulhim exercised
Iltizam
taxation rights in the Shuf, Gharb, Jurd, Matn, and Kisrawan districts
of Lebanon. Mulhim's forces battled and defeated those of Mustafa Pasha,
Beylerbey of Damascus, in 1642, but he is reported by historians to have been otherwise loyal to Ottoman rule.
[57]
Following Mulhim's death, his sons Ahmad and Korkmaz entered into a
power struggle with other Ottoman-backed Druze leaders. In 1660, the Ottoman Empire moved to reorganize the region, placing the
sanjaks (districts) of Sidon-Beirut and Safed in a newly formed
province of Sidon, a move seen by local Druze as an attempt to assert control.
[58]
Contemporary historian Istifan al-Duwayhi reports that Korkmaz was
killed in act of treachery by the Beylerbey of Damascus in 1662.
[58] Ahmad however emerged victorious in the
power struggle among the Druze in 1667, but the Maʿnīs lost control of Safad
[59] and retreated to controlling the iltizam of the Shuf mountains and Kisrawan.
[60] Ahmad continued as local ruler through his death from natural causes, without heir, in 1697.
[59]
During the
Ottoman-Habsburg war of 1683 to 1699, Ahmad Ma'n collaborated in a rebellion against the Ottomans which extended beyond his death.
[59] Iltizam rights in Shuf and Kisrawan passed to the rising
Shihab family through female-line inheritance.
[60]
Shihab Dynasty
Main article:
Shihab family
As early as the days of
Saladin, and while the Ma'ans were still in complete control over southern Lebanon, the Shihab tribe, originally
Hijaz Arabs but later settled in Ḥawran, advanced from Ḥawran, in 1172, and settled in
Wadi al-Taym at the foot of mount
Hermon. They soon made an alliance with the Ma'ans and were acknowledged as the Druze chiefs in
Wadi al-Taym.
At the end of the 17th century (1697) the Shihabs succeeded the Ma'ans
in the feudal leadership of Druze southern Lebanon, although they
reportedly professed Sunni Islam, they showed sympathy with Druzism, the
religion of the majority of their subjects.
The Shihab leadership continued until the middle of the 19th century and culminated in the illustrious governorship of
Amir Bashir Shihab II
(1788–1840) who, after Fakhr-al-Din, was the most powerful feudal lord
Lebanon produced. 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.
Having consolidated his conquests in Syria (1831–1838),
Ibrahim Pasha, son of the viceroy of Egypt,
Muhammad Ali Pasha,
made the fatal mistake of trying to disarm the Christians and Druzes of
the Lebanon and to draft the latter into his army. This was contrary to
the principles of the life of independence which these mountaineers had
always lived, and resulted in a general uprising against Egyptian rule.
The uprising was encouraged, for political reasons, by the British. The
Druzes of Wadi al-Taym and Ḥawran, under the leadership of Shibli
al-Aryan, distinguished themselves in their stubborn resistance at their
inaccessible headquarters,
al-Laja, lying southeast of Damascus.
[page needed]
Qaysites and the Yemenites
Meeting of Druze and Ottoman leaders in
Damascus, about the control of Jebel Druze
The conquest of Syria by the Muslim Arabs in the middle of the
seventh century introduced into the land two political factions later
called the Qaysites and the
Yemenites. The Qaysite party represented the
Bedouin
Arabs who were regarded as inferior by the Yemenites who were earlier
and more cultured emigrants into Syria from southern Arabia. 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.
[page needed]
Civil War of 1860
The Druzes and their Christian
Maronite
neighbors, who had thus far lived as religious communities on friendly
terms, entered a period of social disturbance in the year 1840, which
culminated in the
civil war of 1860.
[page needed]
After the
Shehab dynasty
converted to Christianity, the Druze community and feudal leaders came
under attack from the regime with the collaboration of the Catholic
Church, and the Druze lost most of their political and feudal powers.
Also, the Druze formed an alliance with
Britain
and allowed Protestant missionaries to enter Mount Lebanon, creating
tension between them and the Catholic Maronites, who were supported by
the Croats.
The
Maronite-Druze conflict in 1840–60 was an outgrowth of the Maronite Christian independence movement,
[citation needed] directed against the Druze, Druze feudalism, and the Ottoman-Turks. The civil war was not therefore a religious war,
[citation needed] except in Damascus, where it spread and where the vastly non-Druze population was anti-Christian.
[citation needed]
The movement culminated with the 1859–60 massacre and defeat of the
Christians by the Druzes. The civil war of 1860 cost the Christians some
ten thousand lives in
Damascus,
Zahlé,
Deir al-Qamar,
Hasbaya, and other towns of Lebanon.
The European powers then determined to intervene, and authorized the landing in Beirut of a body of French troops under
General Beaufort d'Hautpoul, whose inscription can still be seen on the historic rock at the mouth of
Nahr al-Kalb.
French intervention on behalf of the Maronites did not help the
Maronite national movement, since France was restricted in 1860 by
Britain, which did not want the
Ottoman Empire dismembered. But European intervention pressured the Turks to treat the Maronites more justly.
[61]
Following the recommendations of the powers, the Ottoman Porte granted
Lebanon local autonomy, guaranteed by the powers, under a Christian
governor. This autonomy was maintained until World War I.
[page needed][62][page needed]
Rebellion in Hauran
The Hauran rebellion was a violent Druze uprising against Ottoman
authority in the Syrian province, which erupted in May 1909. The
rebellion was led by al-Atrash family, originated in local disputes and
Druze unwillingness to pay taxes and conscript into the Ottoman Army.
The rebellion ended in brutal suppression of the Druze by General Sami
Pasha al-Farouqi, significant depopulation of the Hauran region and
execution of the Druze leaders in 1910. In the outcome of the revolt,
2,000 Druze were killed, a similar number wounded and hundreds of Druze
fighters imprisoned. Al-Farouqi also disarmed the population, extracted
significant taxes and launched a census of the region.
Modern history
In Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, the Druze have official recognition as
a separate religious community with its own religious court system.
Druze are known for their loyalty to the countries they reside in,
[63][dubious – discuss][dead link][unreliable source?] though they have a strong community feeling, in which they identify themselves as related even across borders of countries.
[64]
Despite their practice of blending with dominant groups to avoid
persecution, and because the Druze religion does not endorse separatist
sentiments but urges blending with the communities they reside in, the
Druze have had a history of resistance to occupying powers, and they
have at times enjoyed more freedom than most other groups living in the
Levant.
[64]
In Syria
Druze warriors preparing to go to battle with Sultan Pasha al-Atrash in 1925
In Syria, most Druze live in the
Jebel al-Druze,
a rugged and mountainous region in the southwest of the country, which
is more than 90 percent Druze inhabited; some 120 villages are
exclusively so.
[65][page needed] Other notable communities live in the
Harim Mountains, the Damascus suburb of
Jaramana, and on the southeast slopes of
Mount Hermon. A large Syrian Druze community historically lived in the Golan Heights, but following wars with Israel in
1967 and
1973,
many of these Druze fled to other parts of Syria; most of those who
remained live in a handful of villages in the disputed zone, while only a
few live in the narrow remnant of
Quneitra Governorate that is still under effective Syrian control.
Druze celebrating their independence in 1925.
The Druze always played a far more important role in Syrian politics
than its comparatively small population would suggest. With a community
of little more than 100,000 in 1949, or roughly three percent of the
Syrian population, the Druze of Syria's southwestern mountains
constituted a potent force in Syrian politics and played a leading role
in the nationalist struggle against the French. Under the military
leadership of
Sultan Pasha al-Atrash, the Druze provided much of the military force behind the
Syrian Revolution of 1925–27. In 1945, Amir Hasan al-Atrash, the paramount political leader of the
Jebel al-Druze,
led the Druze military units in a successful revolt against the French,
making the Jebel al-Druze the first and only region in Syria to
liberate itself from French rule without British assistance. At
independence the Druze, made confident by their successes, expected that
Damascus would reward them for their many sacrifices on the
battlefield. They demanded to keep their autonomous administration and
many political privileges accorded them by the French and sought
generous economic assistance from the newly independent government.
[65][page needed]
Well-led by the Atrash household and jealous of their reputation as
Arab nationalists and proud warriors, the Druze leaders refused to be
beaten into submission by Damascus or cowed by threats. When a local
paper in 1945 reported that President
Shukri al-Quwatli
(1943–49) had called the Druzes a "dangerous minority", Sultan Pasha
al-Atrash flew into a rage and demanded a public retraction. If it were
not forthcoming, he announced, the Druzes would indeed become
"dangerous" and a force of 4,000 Druze warriors would "occupy the city
of Damascus." Quwwatli could not dismiss Sultan Pasha's threat. The
military balance of power in Syria was tilted in favor of the Druzes, at
least until the military build up during the 1948 War in Palestine. One
advisor to the Syrian Defense Department warned in 1946 that the Syrian
army was "useless", and that the Druzes could "take Damascus and
capture the present leaders in a breeze."
[65][page needed]
During the four years of
Adib Shishakli's rule in Syria (December 1949 to February 1954) (on 25 August 1952:
Adib al-Shishakli created the
Arab Liberation Movement (ALM), a progressive party with
pan-Arabist and socialist views),
[66]
the Druze community was subjected to a heavy attack by the Syrian
government. Shishakli believed that among his many opponents in Syria,
the Druzes were the most potentially dangerous, and he was determined to
crush them. He frequently proclaimed: "My enemies are like a serpent:
the head is the Jebel al-Druze, the stomach
Homs,
and the tail Aleppo. If I crush the head the serpent will die."
Shishakli dispatched 10,000 regular troops to occupy the Jebel al-Druze.
Several towns were bombarded with heavy weapons, killing scores of
civilians and destroying many houses. According to Druze accounts,
Shishakli encouraged neighboring bedouin tribes to plunder the
defenseless population and allowed his own troops to run amok.
[65][page needed]
Shishakli launched a brutal campaign to defame the Druzes for their
religion and politics. He accused the entire community of treason, at
times claiming they were agents of the British and
Hashimites,
at others that they were fighting for Israel against the Arabs. He even
produced a cache of Israeli weapons allegedly discovered 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 also was broadcast in the Arab world, mainly Egypt. Shishakli
was assassinated in Brazil on 27 September 1964 by a Druze seeking
revenge for Shishakli's bombardment of the Jebel al-Druze.
[65][page needed]
He forcibly integrated minorities into the national
Syrian social structure, his "Syrianization" of
Alawite
and Druze territories had to be accomplished in part using violence, he
declared: "My enemies are like serpent. The head is the
Jabal Druze, if I crush the head the serpent will die" (Seale 1963:132).
[65]
To this end, al-Shishakli encouraged the stigmatization of minorities.
He saw minority demands as tantamount to treason. His increasingly
chauvinistic notions of Arab nationalism were predicated on the denial
that "minorities" existed in Syria.
[67][page needed]
After the Shishakli's military campaign, the Druze community lost a
lot of its political influence, but many Druze military officers played
an important role when it comes to the
Ba'ath government currently ruling Syria.
[65][page needed]
In 1967, a community of Druze in the Golan Heights came under Israeli control, today about 20,000 strong.
In Lebanon
The Druze community in Lebanon played an important role in the
formation of the modern state of Lebanon, and even though they are a
minority they play an important role in the Lebanese political scene.
Before and during the
Lebanese Civil War (1975–90), 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 their 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 16 March 1977, his son
Walid Jumblatt took the leadership of the party and played an important role in preserving his father's legacy after winning the
Mountain War and sustained the existence of the Druze community during the sectarian bloodshed that lasted until 1990.
In August 2001,
Maronite Catholic Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir toured the predominantly Druze Chouf region of Mount Lebanon and visited
Mukhtara,
the ancestral stronghold of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. The tumultuous
reception that Sfeir received not only signified a historic
reconciliation between Maronites and Druze, who fought a bloody war in
1983–84, but underscored the fact that the banner of Lebanese
sovereignty had broad multi-confessional appeal
[68] and was a cornerstone for the
Cedar Revolution
in 2005. Jumblatt's post-2005 position diverged sharply from the
tradition of his family. He also accused Damascus of being behind the
1977 assassination of his father, Kamal Jumblatt, expressing for the
first time what many knew he privately suspected. The BBC describes
Jumblatt as "the smartest leader of Lebanon's most powerful Druze clan
and heir to a leftist political dynasty".
[69] The second largest political party supported by Druze is the
Lebanese Democratic Party led by
Prince Talal Arslan, the son of Lebanese independence hero
Emir Majid Arslan.
In Israel
Israeli Druze Scouts march to
Jethro's tomb, one of the holiest sites in the Druze religion.
Main article:
Israeli Druze
The Druze form a religious minority in
Israel of more than 100,000, mostly residing in the north of the country.
[70] In 2004, there were 102,000 Druze living in the country.
[71] In 2010, the population of Israeli Druze citizens grew to over 125,000. At the end of 2014 there were 140,000.
[3]
In 1957, the Israeli government designated the Druze a distinct
ethnic community at the request of its communal leaders. The Druze are
Arabic-speaking citizens of Israel and serve in the
Israel Defense Forces
just as most citizens do in Israel. Members of the community have
attained top positions in Israeli politics and public service.
[72]
The number of Druze parliament members usually exceeds their proportion
in the Israeli population, and they are integrated within several
political parties.
Beliefs
God
The Druze conception of the deity is declared by them to be one of
strict and uncompromising unity. 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.
[73]
In their desire to maintain a rigid confession of unity, they stripped from God all attributes (
tanzīh).
In God, there are no attributes distinct from his essence. He is wise,
mighty, and just, not by wisdom, might and 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.
[74][page needed]
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 fraternal order of the
Brethren of Purity (
Ikhwan al-Ṣafa).
[page needed]
Unlike the
Mu'tazila, however, and similar to some branches of
Sufism, the Druze believe in the concept of
Tajalli (meaning "
theophany").
[74][page needed] Tajalli is often misunderstood by scholars and writers and is usually confused with the concept of
incarnation.
[Incarnation] is the core spiritual beliefs in the Druze and some
other intellectual and spiritual traditions...In a mystical sense, it
refers to the light of God experienced by certain mystics who have
reached a high level of purity in their spiritual journey. Thus, God is
perceived as the Lahut [the divine] who manifests His Light in the Station (Maqaam) of the Nasut
[material realm] without the Nasut becoming Lahut. 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.
[...]In the Druze scriptural view, Tajalli takes a central stage. One
author comments that Tajalli occurs when the seeker's humanity is
annihilated so that divine attributes and light are experienced by the
person.[74][page needed]
Scriptures
Druze Sacred texts include the
Kitab Al Hikma (Epistles of Wisdom).
[75] Other ancient Druze writings include the
Rasa'il al-Hind (Epistles of India) and the previously lost (or hidden) manuscripts such as
al-Munfarid bi-Dhatihi and
al-Sharia al-Ruhaniyya as well as others including
didactic and
polemic treatises.
[76]
Reincarnation
Reincarnation is a paramount principles in the Druze faith.
[77] Reincarnations occur instantly at one's death because there is an eternal
duality
of the body and the soul and it is impossible for the soul to exist
without the body. A human soul will only transfer to a human body in
contrast to the Hindu and Buddhist belief system where souls can
transfer to any living creature. Furthermore, a male Druze can only be
reincarnated as another male Druze and a female Druze can only be
reincarnated as another female Druze. A Druze cannot be reincarnated in
the body of a non-Druze. Additionally, souls cannot be divided and the
number of souls existing in the universe is finite.
[78]
The cycle of rebirth is continuous and the only way to escape is
through successive reincarnations. When this occurs, the soul is united
with the Cosmic Mind and achieves the ultimate happiness.
[23]
Pact of Time Custodian
The Pact of Time Custodian (
Mithaq Walley El-Zaman)
is considered the entrance to the Druze religion, and they believe that
all Druze in their past lives have signed this Charter, and Druze
believe that this Charter embodies with human souls after death.
I rely on our Moula Al-Hakim the lonely God, the individual, the
eternal, who is out of couples and numbers, (someone) the son of
(someone) has approved recognition enjoined on himself and on his soul,
in a healthy of his mind and his body, permissibility aversive is
obedient and not forced, to repudiate from all creeds, articles and all
religions and beliefs on the differences varieties, and he does not know
something except obedience of almighty Moulana Al-Hakim, and obedience
is worship and that it does not engage in worship anyone ever attended
or wait, and that he had handed his soul and his body and his money and
all he owns to almighty Maulana Al-Hakim.[79]
The Druze also use a similar formula, called al-'ahd, when one is initiated into the ʻUqqāl.
[80]
Sanctuaries
The prayer-houses of the Druze are called khalwa or khalwat. The primary
sanctuary of the Druze is at
Khalwat al-Bayada.
[81]
Esotericism
The Druze believe that many teachings given by prophets, religious
leaders and holy books have esoteric meanings preserved for those of
intellect, in which some teachings are
symbolic and
allegorical in nature, and divide the understanding of holy books and teachings into three layers.
These layers, according to the Druze, are as follows:
- The obvious or exoteric (zahir), accessible to anyone who can read or hear;
- The hidden or esoteric (batin), accessible to those who are willing to search and learn through the concept of exegesis;
- And the hidden of the hidden, a concept known as anagoge, inaccessible to all but a few really enlightened individuals who truly understand the nature of the universe.[82]
Druze do not believe that the esoteric meaning abrogates or
necessarily abolishes the exoteric one. Hamza bin Ali refutes such
claims by stating that if the esoteric interpretation of
taharah (purity) is purity of the heart and soul, it doesn't mean that a person can discard his physical purity, as
salat (prayer) is useless if a person is untruthful in his speech and that the esoteric and exoteric meanings complement each other.
[83]
Precepts
The Druze follow seven moral precepts or duties that are considered the core of the faith.
[23] The Seven Druze precepts are:
- Veracity in speech and the truthfulness of the tongue.
- Protection and mutual aid to the brethren in faith.
- Renunciation of all forms of former worship (specifically, invalid creeds) and false belief.
- Repudiation of the devil (Iblis), and all forces of evil (translated from Arabic Toghyan, meaning "despotism").
- Confession of God's unity.
- Acquiescence in God's acts no matter what they be.
- Absolute submission and resignation to God's divine will in both secret and public.
Taqiyya
Complicating their identity is the custom of
taqiyya—concealing
or disguising their beliefs when necessary—that they adopted from
Ismailism and the esoteric nature of the faith, in which many teachings
are kept secretive. Some claim to be Muslim in order to avoid
persecution, some do not. Druze in different states can have radically
different lifestyles.
Other beliefs
The Druze forbid divorce; circumcision is not necessary; those who
purify and perfect their soul ascend to the stars upon death; when
al-Hakim returns, all faithful Druze will join him in his march from
China and on to conquer the world;
[86] apostasy is forbidden;
[87] religious services usually take place on Thursday evenings;
[88] they follow Sunni
Hanafi law on issues which their own faith has no particular ruling;
[89][90] other influential figures of the religion include
Plato,
Aristotle,
Socrates,
Alexander the Great and
Akhenaten.
[16][17]
Religious symbol
The Druze strictly avoid
iconography but use five colors (“Five Limits”
خمس حدود khams ḥudūd) as a religious symbol: green, red, yellow, blue, and white. Each color pertains to a metaphysical power called
ḥaad, literally ‘a limit’, as in the boundaries that separate humans from animals,
[clarification needed] or the powers that makes the animal body human. Each
ḥaad is color-coded in the following manner:
- Green for ʻAql "the Universal Mind/Intelligence/Nous",
- Red for Nafs "the Universal Soul/Anima mundi",
- Yellow for Kalima "the Word/Logos",
- Blue for Sabiq "the Potentiality/Cause/Precedent", and
- White for Tali "the Future/Effect/Immanence".
The mind generates
qualia
and gives consciousness. The soul embodies the mind and is responsible
for transmigration and the character of oneself. The word which is the
atom of language communicates
qualia between humans and represent the platonic forms in the sensible world. The
Sabq and
Tali is the ability to perceive and learn from the past and plan for the future and predict it.
The colors can be arranged in vertically descending stripes (as a flag) or a
five-pointed star. The stripes are a diagrammatic cut of the spheres in neoplatonic philosophy, while the five-pointed star embodies the
golden ratio,
phi, as a symbol of
temperance and a life of moderation.
Prayer houses and holy places
Holy places of the Druze are archaeological sites important to the community and associated with religious holidays
[91] - the most notable example being
Nabi Shu'ayb, dedicated to
Jethro, who is a central figure of the Druze religion. Druze make pilgrimages to this site on the holiday of
Ziyarat al-Nabi Shu'ayb.
One of the most important features of the Druze village having a central role in social life is the
khalwat—a house of prayer, retreat and religious unity. The
khalwat may be known as
majlis in local languages.
[92]
Jethro shrine and temple of Druze in
Hittin, northern
Israel
The second type of religious shrine is one associated with the
anniversary of a historic event or death of a prophet. If it is a
mausoleum the Druze call it
mazar and if it is a
shrine they call it
maqam. The holy places become more important to the community in times of adversity and calamity. The holy places and
shrines of the Druze are scattered in various villages, in places where they are protected and cared for. They are found in
Syria,
Lebanon and
Israel.
[91]
ʻUqqāl and Juhhāl
Druze
sheikh (
ʻuqqāl) wearing religious dress
The Druzes do not recognize any religious hierarchy. As such, there is no "Druze clergy".
Given the strict religious, intellectual and spiritual requirements,
most of the Druzes are not initiated and might be referred to as
al-Juhhāl (
جهال),
literally "the Ignorant", but in practice referring to the
non-initiated Druzes; however, that term is seldom used by the Druzes.
Those are not granted access to the Druze holy literature or allowed to
attend the initiated religious meetings of the
ʻuqqāl.
The cohesiveness and frequent inter-community social interaction
however makes it in sort that that most Druzes have an idea about their
broad ethical requirements and have some sense of what their theology
consists of (albeit often flawed).
The initiated religious group, which includes both men and women (less than 10% of the population), is called
al-ʻUqqāl (
عقال
"the Knowledgeable Initiates"). They might or might not dress
differently, although most wear a costume that was characteristic of
mountain people in previous centuries. Women can opt to wear
al-mandīl, a loose white
veil, especially in the presence of other people. They wear
al-mandīl
on their heads to cover their hair and wrap it around their mouths.
They wear black shirts and long skirts covering their legs to their
ankles. Male
ʻuqqāl often grow mustaches, and wear dark Levantine-Turkish traditional dresses, called the
shirwal, with white turbans that vary according to the seniority of the
ʻuqqāl.
It is important to note that traditionally the Druze women have played
an important role both socially and religiously inside the community.
Al-ʻuqqāl have equal rights to
al-Juhhāl, but establish a hierarchy of respect based on religious service. The most influential of
al-ʻuqqāl become
Ajawīd, recognized religious leaders, and from this group the spiritual leaders of the Druze are assigned. While the
Shaykh al-ʻAql,
which is an official position in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel, is elected
by the local community and serves as the head of the Druze religious
council, judges from the Druze religious courts are usually elected for
this position. Unlike the spiritual leaders, the authority of the
Shaykh al-ʻAql is limited to the country he is elected in, though in some instances spiritual leaders are elected to this position.
The Druze believe in the unity of God, and are often known as the "People of Monotheism" or simply "Monotheists". Their
theology has a
Neo-Platonic view about how God interacts with the world through emanations and is similar to some
gnostic and other
esoteric sects. Druze philosophy also shows
Sufi influences.
Druze principles focus on honesty, loyalty,
filial piety,
altruism, patriotic sacrifice, and
monotheism. They reject
nicotine,
alcohol, and other
drugs, and often the consumption of pork (to those Uqqāl and not necessarily to be required by the Juhhāl). Druze reject
polygamy, believe in
reincarnation,
and are not obliged to observe most of the religious rituals. The Druze
believe that rituals are symbolic and have an individualistic effect on
the person, for which reason Druze are free to perform them, or not.
The community does celebrate
Eid al-Adha, however, considered their most significant holiday.
Origins
Ethnic origins
 |
This section's factual accuracy is disputed. (May 2014) |
Arabian hypothesis
The Druze faith extended to many areas in the Middle East, but most of the modern Druze can trace their origin to the
Wadi al-Taym in
South Lebanon, which is named after an Arab tribe
Taymour-Allah (formerly Taymour-Allat) which, according to Islamic historian,
al-Tabari, first came from Arabia into the valley of the
Euphrates
where they had been Christianized prior to their migration into the
Lebanon. Many of the Druze feudal families whose genealogies have been
preserved by the two modern Syrian chroniclers Haydar al-Shihabi and
al-Shidyaq seem also to point in the direction of this origin. Arabian tribes 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 apparently was Christianized.
[page needed]
Travelers like
Niebuhr,
and scholars like Von Oppenheim, undoubtedly echoing the popular Druze
belief regarding their own origin, have classified them as Arabs. The
prevailing idea among the
Druzes themselves today is that they are of Arab stock.
Druze as a mixture of Middle Eastern tribes
The 1911 edition of
Encyclopædia Britannica
states that the Druzes are "a mixture of refugee stocks, in which the
Arab largely predominates, grafted on to an original mountain population
of Aramaic blood."
[93]
The Tanukhs must have left
Arabia as early as the second or third century CE. The
Ma'an tribe, which superseded the Tanukhs and produced the greatest Druze hero,
Fakhr-al-Din, had the same traditional origin. The
Talhuq family and
'Abd-al-Malik, who supplied the later Druze leadership, have the same record as the Tanukhs. The
Imad family is named for
al-Imadiyyah — the Kurdish town of
Amadiya, northeast of
Mosul inside
Kurdistan, and, like the
Jumblatts, is thought to be of
Kurdish origin.
[citation needed] The Arsalan family claims descent from the
Hirah Arab kings, but the name
Arsalan (Persian and Turkish for lion) suggests Persian influence, if not origin.
[page needed]
During the 18th century, there were two branches of Druze living in Lebanon: the Yemeni Druze, headed by the
Hamdan and
Al-Atrash families; and the Kaysi Druze, headed by the
Jumblatt and
Arslanfamilies. The
Hamdan family was banished from
Mount Lebanon following the
battle of Ain Dara
in 1711. The 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.
However, it has been argued that these two factions were of political
nature rather than ethnic, and had both Christian and Druze supporters.
Iturean hypothesis
According to Jewish contemporary literature, the Druze, who were visited and described in 1165 by
Benjamin of Tudela, were pictured as descendants of the
Itureans,
[94] an
Ismaelite Arab tribe, which used to reside in the northern parts of the
Golan plateau
through Hellenistic and Roman periods. The word Druzes, in an early
Hebrew edition of his travels, occurs as "Dogziyin", but it is clear
that this is a scribal error.
Archaeological assessments of the Druze region have also proposed the possibility of Druze descending from Itureans,
[95] who had inhabited
Mount Lebanon and
Golan Heights in late classic antiquity, but their traces fade in the Middle Ages.
Genetics
In a 2005 study of
ASPM gene variants, Mekel-Bobrov et al. found that the
Israeli Druze people of the
Carmel region have among the highest rate of the newly evolved ASPM-
haplogroup "D", at 52.2% occurrence of the approximately 6,000-year-old allele.
[96]
While it is not yet known exactly what selective advantage is provided
by this gene variant, the haplogroup D allele is thought to be
positively selected in populations and to confer some substantial
advantage that has caused its frequency to rapidly increase.
One small
DNA study has shown that Israeli Druze are remarkable for the high frequency (35%) of males who carry the
Y-chromosomal haplogroup L (though some
Afshar[disambiguation needed] village and the
Ar-Raqqah Syrians have even more), which is otherwise uncommon in the Mideast (Shen et al. 2004).
[97] This haplogroup originates from prehistoric
South Asia and has spread from
Pakistan into southern
Iran. However, studies done on bigger samples showed that L-M20 averages 5% in Israeli Druze,
[Footnote 1] 8% in Lebanese Druze,
[Footnote 2] and it was not found in a sample of 59 Syrian Druze.
Cruciani in 2007 found E1b1b1a2 (E-V13) [a subclade of E1b1b1a1
(E-V12)] in high levels (>10% of the male population) in Turkish
Cypriot and Druze Arab lineages. Recent genetic clustering analyses of
ethnic groups are consistent with the close ancestral relationship
between the Druze and Cypriots, and also identified similarity to the
general Syrian and Lebanese populations, as well as a variety of Jewish
groups (Ashkenazi, Sephardi, Iraqi, and Moroccan) (Behar et al. 2010).
[98]
Also, a new study concluded that the Druze harbor a remarkable diversity of
mitochondrial DNA
lineages that appear to have separated from each other thousands of
years ago. But instead of dispersing throughout the world after their
separation, the full range of lineages can still be found within the
Druze population.
[99]
The researchers noted that the Druze villages contained a striking range of high frequency and high diversity of the
X haplogroup, suggesting that this population provides a glimpse into the past genetic landscape of the
Near East at a time when the X haplogroup was more prevalent.
[99]
These findings are consistent with the Druze
oral tradition, that claims that the adherents of the faith came from diverse ancestral lineages stretching back tens of thousands of years.
[99]
A 2008 study published on the genetic background of Druze communities
in Israel showed highly heterogeneous parental origins. A total of 311
Israeli Druze were sampled: 37 from the
Golan Heights, 183 from the
Galilee, and 35 from
Mount Carmel,
as well as 27 Druze immigrants from Syria and 29 from Lebanon. The
researchers found the following frequencies of Y-chromosomal
haplogroups:
[100]
- Mount Carmel: L 27%, R 27%, J 18%, E 15%, G 12%.
- Galilee: J 31%, R 20%, E 18%, G 14%, K 11%, Q 4%, L 2%.
- Golan Heights: J 54%, E 29%, I 8%, G 4%, C 4%.
- Lebanon: J 58%, K 17%, L 8%, Q 8%, R 8%.
- Syria: J 39%, E 29%, R 14%, G 14%, K 4%.
See also
Notes
Part of a series on Ismāʿīlī Shi'a
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