DRUSES, a remarkable people who inhabit a district in the n. of Syria, comprising the whole of the southern range of Mt. Lebanon and the western slope of Anti-Lebanon. In this district they hold exclusive possession of about 40 towns and villages, and divide the possession of about 200 more with the Maronites (q.v.), while 80 villages in other parts of Anti-Lebanon are peopled by them, The inhabitants of the Lebanon afford a remarkable illustration of the amalgamation of races. After the second cap tivity of Israel, Esarhaddon repeopled the wasted strongholds of Samaria with certain fierce tribes, some of whom, called in the Scriptures Cuthites, and known in subsequent times to the Greeks as Carduchi, and familiar to us as Kurds, settled in Lebanon. From them the present D. are supposed to have originally sprung. More than a thou sand years later, a fresh colonization took place. The Mardi, a warlike tribe who dwelt to the n. of the Caspian, originally of Persian extraction, were transplanted thither by Constantine IV., in 686 A.D., to the number of 12,000, to act as a bulwark against Mohammedan invasion. The Arabs also, in sweeping through mountain fastnesses, left a permanent impression there. Thus, Cuthites, Mardi, and Arabs, or rather Moham medans of various races, have combined to form that strange being—the modern Druse. It has also been supposed by some that there runs in his veins not a little of the blood of the crusaders, but this is doubtful. No immigrations, however, of any importance into the country of the D. took place after the close of the 10th c.; and this period seems naturally to conclude the first great section of Druse history.
The nationality of these mountaineers having now been consolidated, their peculiar and mysterious religion began gradually to be developed. Hakem Biamr Allah, or Bemrillah, caliph of Egypt, and a Nero in cruelty, was the author of this system. He affirmed that he was the representative of God, and, having enlisted his confessor, Darazi, in his cause, he prepared to propound his doctrine. In the 407th year of the hegira (1029 A.D.), the divine nature of Hakem, or rather the incarnation of the spirit of God in biro, was publicly announced at Cairo. This revelation, however, was unfa vorably received by the mob. Hakem's confessor, Darazi, narrowly escaped the fate of a martyr to the impostures of his master. Retiring, however, to the fastnesses of the Lebanon, he there began to inculcate the principal of the new faith; and although lie never acquired any mastery over the sympathies of the mountaineers, he at least left his name to them: for there can be little doubt that the name Druses is derived from that of Darazi. Hamze, a Persian mystic, and successively the disciple and vizier
of Hakem, introduced into the newly promulgated religion all the elements of attraction and strength which it possesses; and him the D. venerate as the actual founder of their faith.
The D. form one of the very few sects among whom proselytism is discouraged. They are remarkable conservatists. For 800 years they have maintained a distinct religious and political independence and nationality. Into their faith the doctrines of the Pentateuch, the Christian gospel, the Koran, and the Sufi allegories, are wonder fully interwoven. They reject, however, the seven points of Islamism, substituting for them the following seven:-1. Veracity (to each other only); 2. Mutual protection and resistance; 3. Renunciation of all other. religions; 4. Profession of the unity of Hakem as God; 5. Contentment with his works; 6. Submission to his will; 7. Separation from those in error, and from demons. They believe in one God in whom there are no parts, to whom they ascribe no attributes, before whom the tongue ceases to utter, the eyes to behold, but who has revealed himself ten times upon the earth under the form and name of mortal men. In Hakem, so Hamze taught, had God revealed himself for the tenth and last time. They also believe that the number of existing souls never varies, and that all the souls in life now, have lived, vested in some human form, from the beginning of the world, and will so continue to exist till the end of it; that when a man dies, his soul puts on a fresh humanity, which occupies a rank in moral dignity corresponding to the purity or impurity of the past, life. But although they believe, in this sense, in the transmigration of souls, they also believe that after the lapse of ages, when the soul will have been purified from every stain, there will come a period of rest. As a religious body, the D. are divided into two classes: the Akals, or those initiated into the Druse mysteries; and the Djahils, the uninitiated. The for mer clo not adorn themselves with gold, or wear silk, embroidered, or fanciful garments; they forbear using wine, spirits, tobacco, and other luxuries, never swear, utter obscene language, or lie. The latter are free from all religious duties. But, however rigid the profession of the Akal or initiated Druse, he is taught that his practice may be con ducted in some cases on the principle of expediency. To be truthful,. he is taught, is desirable; but when concealment is necessary, then equivocation, or even falsehood may be practiced.