Druze

“ The Druzes are an interesting, even fascinating people. They live on the Lebanons and inland on the Druze mountains of the Hauran, and are a warlike independent race, of fine physique, and most polished, courteous manners. Some of their women are very beautiful and their peculiar costumes are most becoming and picturesque. They are always veiled, but one eye is uncovered, and it is second nature with them to draw their veils hastily across their faces if a man [Pg 187] appears in sight. ”

“ In simple daring and personal intrepidity in sudden attack, the Beduw excel; but in determined courage, power of united action, and stubborn endurance in the face of a powerful foe, they must yield the palm to the Druzes. While we cannot but admire the wild bravery of the Bedawy, it is clear that the qualities possessed by the Druze are more to be desired in the hour of conflict. There is a strain of true nobility in the character of that people who in the hour of victory have ever chivalrously protected defenceless women and little children from all injury and insult. ”

“ They are chaste, and good wives and mothers. They have clean, comfortable homes, and give a warm welcome, and we rested here for some time. People often say, "What is the real religion of the Druzes?" No one ever knew who was not a Druze; they conform to the national religion, the Moslem. ”

“ We crossed the plain, waded the stream, and climbed the slope towards the city. Leaving the ruins of a fine temple crowning a leafy knoll, to the right, we pushed on through thickets of ground oak and thorn, a strong prickly network of brambles covering all the undergrowth. The lower part of the town presents nothing distinctive. It is only partially inhabited by a colony of Druzes. Many of the empty houses are quite perfect, stone doors and windows in position, and swinging as easily as they did to the hands of their old possessors. ”

“ Birth brings not a new spirit into being, but only begins a new life for one already existing. Death does not slay a spirit, but only introduces the living into a new form of existence. No one born of true Druze parentage can ever become anything else, and no one born of Christian or other parents can ever become a Druze.
It would be a mistake to suppose that all Druzes are acquainted with the whole system of their religion. It would be nearer truth to say that very many know nothing of religion at all. ”

“ M., the ruling sheik of A., came down from the mountains to request Christian instruction and baptism for himself and family. He is very earnest and rational, for a Druze, and thinks that nearly all his villages will unite with him. In a conversation, protracted to more than half a day, I endeavored to place before him, with all possible plainness, our views of what true religion is. He is not so ignorant on this subject as most Druzes, having been acquainted with us for many years, and frequently present at our Arabic worship. ”

“ They do not believe in the transmigration of the soul: for they say the soul is of too divine a nature to take up its habitation in the body of a beast.
A Drûze, who is an âakel, if he make a promise, is bound to perform it, even at the hazard of his life. A Drûze may become an âakel, and wear the turban peculiar to an âakel, at any age, provided his conversation and actions are such as render him worthy of being so. Fornication, adultery, and murder, are insuperable obstacles. ”

“ It was that we should change the whole direction of our journey, turning aside into the mountain of the Druzes. The Druzes were at war with many of the Bedu—probably with this man's tribe; at any rate, a Bedawi, unless disguised, would run grave risk among them while the war was on.
Accordingly, when we at length set out from Mazarib, Suleymân, with many compliments, informed the knight of a dilemma which distressed us greatly. I had been summoned to the bedside of a friend of mine, a great Druze sheykh, now lying very ill, whose one wish was to gaze on me before he died. ”

“ The people, of whom this Emir is the head, as was said above, are called Drûzes, and the territory which he rules obtains the name of Beled el Drûz, or the Drûze country. This territory lies chiefly on Mount Lebanon, and is comprehended between 33° 20 ́ and 30° 10 ́ north latitude, including a breadth of not more than twenty-five or thirty miles.
The religion of the Drûzes is a mystery among historians and travellers, and their tenets are so cautiously concealed from all but certain persons of their own sect that little credit is to be given to the relation of any author on the subject. ”

“ It was inevitable that with such warlike spirits martial subjects should be discussed. We were interested in the sheikh’s narration of some of the recent history of el-Lejâʾ. The Druzes and the main Arab tribes in el-Lejâʾ are hereditary foes. The memory of suffering and loss incurred in old strifes rankles in their bosoms, ever urging them to seek revenge. There is chronic blood feud between them. Some time ago the Druzes held only positions near the south-east borders, but, waxing bolder, they advanced and took Dama, then a town utterly deserted. ”

“ There are now hundreds of Druzes, and we may remark for the first time 'the beauty of Bashan,' the well-wooded and watered country. We then went along the Jebel Kulayb and visited the noble remains of Sí'a, where we met with three Palmyrene inscriptions, showing that the Palmyra of Ptolemy extended to the south-west far beyond the limits assigned to it. We then got to Sahwat el Balát, where lives my influential friend, Shaykh Ali el Hináwí, a Druze Akkál of the highest rank; and here they gathered to meet me and palaver. We crossed the immense rough and rugged lava beds which gloom the land. ”

“ We took a straight line across country for ʿIry, a village crowning a low hill some two hours’ distant from Suweida. The land is open and diversified, hill and valley in pleasant succession relieving the monotony of the plain. The soil is rich, and in this part the Druzes use it well. Their skill in evading the iniquitous exactions of the Government doubtless accounts partly for their industry. No one cares to do his best to raise crops of which he knows he will be systematically robbed; but the Druzes generally display a commendable diligence compared with most other inhabitants of Syria. ”

“ Thus was the sect of the Druzes established in Syria: they take their name from Ed Darazí, but they regard Hamza as the true founder of their religion. And for eight hundred years a hardy and intelligent race have acknowledged for their god one of the maddest monsters that the world has ever produced! ”

“ Shuhba, where we hoped to sleep that night, lies beyond the south-eastern border of el-Lejâʾ, on a spur of Jebel ed-Druze. We rode over a great breadth [51] of waʿr—a dry, rocky region, with hardly a green thing to be seen. Then we entered a more open country, with flocks of sheep and goats in search of pasture, following their scantily-clad shepherds. ”

“ The Druzes number in all perhaps something over a hundred thousand. They do not, however, for a moment believe that all real Druzes are confined to Syria. China, for example, is a land of which they have some dim knowledge; it figures vague and vast in their untutored minds. They have heard that there are beliefs common to them and the Chinese; this is sufficient to create the conviction that the Chinese are really Druzes too, whatever name they may be called, and that, when the proper time comes, that mighty empire will pour forth its millions to do battle in the cause of el-Hâkim. ”

“ The soldier who followed us the previous night would have gone with us in any other direction, but one foot farther into el-Lejâʾ he would not move. We were told that his uniform would act, on Arab and Druze alike, as a red rag acts on a bull. We had great difficulty in finding a guide. Between the Druzes of the interior and the Christians around there is naturally little affection; there is less love, [29] if possible, between the former and their Moslem neighbours. Blood feud’s are common ”

“ In a country where the people excel in clever deceptions, it is often extremely hard for the missionary to distinguish between the true and the spurious convert. There is a well-authenticated case in which a Druze professed conversion to Christianity, was baptized, received into the Church, and, having given proof of his fitness, was at length ordained to the ministry. ”

“ Busr el-Harîry, on the southern border of el-Lejâʾ; and Suweida. There is also a small force in the fortress at Basra Eski Shâm. While fighting has been done, the position was not won by arms in the usual sense. The old policy has been pursued. The various sections of the people have been played off against each other with great adroitness, and, on the whole, with success. The common enemy, ever on the alert for advantage, calmly appropriated the territory of victor and vanquished alike.
The Druzes and the Beduw bear each other no love. Nothing was easier than to breed bad blood between them. ”

“ Not without results have the children of the Druzes been taught in our schools during all these years, and so many conversations been held with adults of that sect. The leaven of the Gospel has penetrated even to the secret inner sanctuaries of their religion; and the white turbans of the initiated Druzes seen in our Sabbath congregations, the inquirers who come to our houses, and the baptized converts from among them, show that not in vain to the Druzes has the light of the Gospel again dawned upon Syria. ”

“ He that has divorced a woman must never see her again; and, if he should chance to enter a room where she is, she must retire immediately.
There is a very prevalent notion among them that there are Drûzes in England, or else that the tenets [339] of some sect (they mean the Quakers) are very much like their own. When familiarity had in some degree emboldened me, I said to Shaykh Kalyb that, as I had so often been told that the Drûzes worshipped a calf as a divinity, I supposed their religion was something like that of the Hindoos, who worshipped the same animal. ”

“ Tribes of this people are met as far southeast as the Hawran volcanic uplift, whither they have steadily emigrated from the Lebanon in the course of the past hundred years and where they have succeeded in dislodging the former Bedouin inhabitants. These Druzes are best known for their warlike disposition. Although numerically inferior to the Christian population of their native districts, their bellicose qualities have won them predominance in central Syria. In religion they are pure monotheists. Their standard of morality is high. ”

“ The industrious peasantry, comparatively safe from Turkish rapacity, have cultivated the ledges among its crags and peaks, and enjoy the fruits of their industry, sitting under their vines and fig trees. The bloodthirsty and turbulent Druzes, restrained by law, and unable to hold their own in a field of fair competition, are being rapidly civilized off the mountain, and betake themselves to remote regions in Bashan where no law is acknowledged but that of the strong arm. ”

“ The Druzes are found chiefly on the mountains of Lebanon, and in the country called the Hauran, south of Damascus, and number sixty or seventy thousand souls. The sect originated with Hakem, a Caliph of Egypt, but derived its name from El Drusi, a zealous disciple of the Caliph. They believe Hakem to be the tenth, last, and most important incarnation of God, and render him divine honors. They have ever taken great pains to conceal their tenets, which seem to be compounded from Mohammedanism and Paganism, and it is only a portion of themselves that know what the tenets are. ”

“ The Druzes, though wrapped up in hypocrisy, and apparently without one spiritual thought, were of the same race with all other men, and the preaching of the word might be expected, in the end, to have the same effect upon them.
There was reason to believe, that this movement among the Druzes grew mainly out of their recent subjugation by the Egyptians, and their apprehension of a military conscription. They had always professed Mohammedanism hypocritically, to escape the oppressions which Christians suffered under Moslem rule ”

“ Máshálláh! there is nobody like him!" I now began to wonder if the Wali had intended a little campaign against the Druzes, and if my husband had spoilt it by counselling submission. If he had intended to reduce the Druzes of the Eastern Mountains, and if a campaign took place in Jebel Durúz Haurán, the inhabitants would have been joined by the fighting men of the Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon, and Hermon. The country is eminently fitted for defence, and the Druzes, though badly armed, are brave, and animated by the memories of past victories. ”

“ As these converts were not molested after their baptism, the Druzes resorted more and more to the mission for instruction. Mr. Thomson was invited to visit their villages, and open among them schools and places of worship. They applied for the admission of their sons to the seminary, and a young sheik was received, his friends paying the expense. Some of them corresponded with Mr. Thomson by letter, and some came to reside at Beirût. The Papists assailed them with promises, flatteries, and threats of vengeance from the Emir Beshir ”

“ Religion.—Druse religion is a secret faith, and the following account is given with all reserves. There are many indications that a more primitive cult, containing elements of Nature worship, preceded it, and still survives in the popular practices of the more remote Druse districts, e.g. in the eastern Hauran. The Muwahhidin (Unitarians) , as the Druses call themselves, believe that there is one and only one God, indefinable, incomprehensible, ineffable, passionless. He has made himself known to men by successive incarnations, of which the last was Hakim, the sixth Fatimite caliph. ”