The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought

Druze

The Druze religion is a faith that arose from within Fatimid Isma‘ilism, one of the branches of Shi‘ism. The faith appeared in Egypt during the last years of the reign of the sixth Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (r. 996–1021), whom some extremist Isma‘ili followers—and later all Druze followers—regarded as an incarnation of God. The Druze who survive as a small minority in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan (their estimated number in these countries totaled around one million in the beginning of the 21st century) diverge substantially from Islam, both Sunni and Shi‘i.

A number of Isma‘ili preachers (dā‘īs) who arrived in Cairo from Persia and Central Asia propagated radical doctrines concerning Hakim. Notable among them were Muhammad b. Isma‘il al-Darazi (or Darzi), who gave his name to adherents of the Druze faith (durūz), and Hamza b. ‘Ali al-Labbad (the feltmaker) of Zawzan in eastern Iran, who is viewed as the founder of the Druze religion. By dispatching delegations of individual dā‘īs, Hamza attempted to spread the new religion as an internal preaching (da‘wa) within the already existing Isma‘ili missionary movement. In a series of epistles—a number of which were later incorporated into the Epistles of Wisdom (Rasa’il al-Hikma), constituting the Druze canon—Hamza preached the divinity not only of Hakim but also of the earlier Fatimid caliphs beginning with al-Qa’im (r. 934–46). Relying upon early extremist Isma‘ili doctrine, Hamza also preached the abrogation (naskh) of the Muslim religion and its Isma‘ili inner interpretation (ta’wīl). The old religion, and the existing political rule under which it had flourished, had to be replaced by a new one: that of the Druze. The main pillar of the new faith became the belief in God’s unity as manifested in his incarnation, al-Hakim. Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani (d. ca. 1021), the great Isma‘ili dā‘ī and a witness to the emergence of the Druze religion, stated that according to Druze doctrine, Muslim tenets should be rejected as “superstitions [khurāfāt], husks [qushūr] and mere stuffing [ḥashw]. Salvation does not depend on them.”

Hamza built up his preaching organization to spread the new religion throughout the world. The wide range of the Druze missionary system is reflected in the Epistles of Wisdom, which are addressed to a variety of peoples and include, inter alia, the treatment of doctrinal themes and organization of the new religion as well as polemics against such faiths as Sunni Islam, Isma‘ilism, Nusayrism, Judaism, and Christianity. The active political phase of the Druze faith, however, did not last long. Hamza and the other prominent dā‘īs supporting him in disseminating the new faith—primarily Muhammad b. Wahb al-Qurashi, Salama b. ‘Abd al-Wahhab, and Baha’ al-Din al-Muqtana—began their religiopolitical activity in 1017 (considered the first year of the Druze era) and ended it in 1035, the year of the closing of the da‘wa and the beginning of an era of concealment (dawr al-satr), a period in which the Druze faith had to cease its proselytizing activity. In 1021, Hakim disappeared suddenly under mysterious circumstances. According to Druze doctrine, the era of concealment would come to an end only with the eschatological return of Hakim, which would mark the definitive victory of the Druze faith. Hakim’s successor, Zahir (r. 1021–35), denied his predecessor’s claim of divinity. The entire Druze community was subjected to persecution and forced to retreat to remote mountainous areas, chiefly in Lebanon and Syria. Under such circumstances, the Druze doctrine could not continue to develop. Druze religious writings were accessible to only a small minority of initiated scholars (‘uqqāl, literally “learned”); they were entirely unavailable to the vast majority of the uninitiated (juhhāl, literally “ignorant”). The ‘uqqāl alone participated in weekly religious sessions, traditionally held on Thursday nights; the uninitiated were not committed to the performance of religious commandments, with a few exceptions. The Five Pillars of Islam were not observed, and one of the epistles of the Druze canon—al-naqḍ al-khafī (the hidden destruction)—was even dedicated to their systematic rejection.

In the remote areas of Lebanon and Syria, however, the Druze were able to return to the political arena. Druze leaders (amirs) gradually rose to power, maintaining a de facto autonomous semifeudal rule. Fakhr al-Din II (1585–1653), of the Ma‘n dynasty, ruled—formally under the sovereignty of the Ottomans—over most of Lebanon and parts of Syria and Palestine. In the 18th century, the house of Shihab gained ascendancy over rival feudal lords. The history of the Druze in Syria and Lebanon over the past four centuries has been marked by a continuing struggle for hegemony between themselves and their Christian-Maronite neighbors. The intercommunal rivalry led to periodic violent clashes, culminating in the civil war that broke out in 1860 and turned into a sweeping Druze massacre of Christians. In the 19th century, two Druze clans—the Junbalat and the Arslan—emerged as the chief rivals for leadership. French involvement on behalf of the Maronites ended in the creation of a self-governing Christian hegemony that became the basis of an enlarged Lebanon, first under the French Mandate in 1920 and then as an independent state in 1943 in which the Druze were also represented. The leading Druze political figure since independence, until his assassination in 1976, was Kamal Junbalat, who was succeeded by his son Walid. The political leadership of the Druze in Syria traditionally has been in the hands of the Atrash family. Traditional leadership in Israel has come from the Tarif clan from the village of Julis in Galilee.

Despite the Druze involvement in political activity during certain periods of their modern history, they were predominantly characterized as quiet and nonpolitical. This approach is deeply embedded in the principle of taqiyya (precautionary dissimulation), which in the Druze faith—as among other minority Muslim groups (mainly within Shi‘ism)—is a fundamental doctrine. Relying upon this principle, the Druze were allowed in time of danger outwardly to adopt the faith of the dominant majority. Kais Firro, an Israeli scholar of the Druze community, rejects this explanation of Druze political behavior, however, claiming that it is based on external, non-Druze, and even anti-Druze, sources.