DRUSF.S, a people of Syria, scattered over an extensive tract of country lying to the south east of Beirut, and south of the country occu pied by the Maronites; or, more rn particularly, they occupy the southern parts of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon (the slopes of Hermon), while considerable numbers also inhabit the Hauran (south of Damascus), where the mountainous tract occupied by them is now often designated the Druse Mountain. The total Druse ..pula tion is estimated at from 100,000 to 150, t t t. In the northern districts occupied by them they are mingled with the Maronites, but many towns and villages are peopled almost exclusively by the Drnses. There are some circumstances which tend to show that the Druses are not in digenous to the territory they now possess, although they have long since dropped their own language and adopted the Arabic. They were in Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon as early as the 11th century. The peculiar interest attaching to this people belongs, however, more to their political constitution and their religion than to their origin. Politically the Druses are divided into two parties, that called the Jumblatiehs, with the family of Jumblat at their head; and the Yezbe kiehs, with that of Abou-Nakod at their head. These two parties live in almost constant strife, except when they have a common foe to contend against, when they forget their internal dissen sions and unite their strength for offense and defense. Their religion is a curious mixture of Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedanism. They believe in one God, who is the only being to whom worship ought to be paid. According to their religious books he cannot be defined by any of the qualities belonging to created beings. The doctrine of the unity of the Deity does not admit, in their view, even of the consideration of any quality or attribute existing in him. They profess to believe in the unity of God with the abstraction of every quality and mode of exist ence. The Druses also believe that God has at different times appeared to men in a human form, and that his last appearance was under the name of Hakem, of Egypt, who announced himself at Cairo as a divine incarnation about 1030 A.D. They therefore regard Hakem as God, and they believe that he will one day re turn to earth, cause their religion to triumph and punish the unbelieving. They have neither
prayers, fasts, nor festivals and with the ex ception of a privileged class, the Alois, or initiated, they have no worship. When they go among the Turks they behave as Mussulmans, and in the midst of the Christian community of the Maronites they enter the Christian churches and imitate the Christian believers in the use of the holy water. The uninitiated, called Jahils, are exempt from all religious duties whatever.
The Druses have also a distinctive moral code. They have seven commandments, a number taken from the sacred writings of the Moham medans. The following, according to Hamsa, are their seven commandments, or cardinal prin ciples: (1) Truthfulness; (2) mutual defense; (3) renunciation of all other religions; (4) separation from evil spirits and perverse men plunged in error; (5) recognition of the unity of God at all times; (6) contentment in all labors; (7) patience in all circumstances. Polygamy is unown. They are skilful cultivators; the soil .on the terraced hillsides has all been carried, with an infinity of labor, from the valleys beneath. At the end of the 16th century this people began to excite attention in Europe. In 1588 they were made tributary to Turkey by Amurath III; but in the beginning of the 17th century recovered their independence under the renowned Emir Fakreddin and reached the summit of their power; but this leader was in 1635 strangled at Constantinople, and although other princes were placed over them, they never recovered their former reputation. They endeavored, in deed, by the assistance of the Russians in 1773, to regain their freedom; but they were soon obliged to become again dependent on the Turks. Troubles have more than once broken out between the Druses and the Maronites, their neighbors. An outburst of this kind occurred in 1860 and fearful atrocities were perpetrated upon the unhappy Maronites, who, however, seem to have been also aggressive. About 12,000 Maronites were killed and a large number were driven from their homes. A French force was sent out and tranquillity was restored. Disturb ances occured also in 1895-96.
Consult Bell, 'The Desert and the (London 1907) ; Churchill, 'The Druses and Maronites under Turkish Rule> (London 1863) ; Ewing, 'Arab and Druse at Home' (London 1907) ; Oliphant, 'Land of Gilead' (London 1880).