Few can deny the historical importance of the Levant region in rearing the foundations of human civilization. Thousands of years and hundreds of generations transformed the desolate, arid sands of the Fertile Crescent into functioning cities and irrigated farmland. Out of the ziggurats of Ur and the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, long histories and mythologies emerged, nurturing some of the earliest societies known to man. It was along the banks of the River Jordan and the Nile that not only human life arose, but human spirituality as well, with the stories and scriptures of the Semitic tribes coalescing over hundreds of years into Judaism. Millennia later, Christianity would emerge, and centuries after that, Islam. This brief description does little justice to the sheer volumes that could be written on the complexities of these developments; the conflict and strife that forged pious steel from godless iron and the peace and harmony that tended the barren twigs of Gethsemane into olive branches. But it is telling of the arduous history which surrounds the Middle East and the people that live there that the present is not so different from the past. Persecution runs rampant in the modern states of the Arab World, leaving countless communities without basic necessities or the agency to change the course of their lives.
One group for whom this has proven especially true is the Druze: a community for which a single definition, much like the Middle East as a whole, gives little justice. The Druze are an oft-forgotten subsect of the Abrahamic faith, numbering between 800,000 and 2 million. Druze are dotted across the region and the United States, with a great majority of the known Druze population residing in Syria. Traditionally classified as ethno-religious in nature, the beliefs of the Druze are often explained as more monastic philosophy than deistic religion. In this sense, the Druze faith shares much in common with Taoism, meaning that while they still believe in spirituality and an almighty being, more emphasis is put on daily living rather than worship or the afterlife. This is not to say that the Druze snub ritual practices and belief in a god, in fact it is quite the opposite. Polls from Pew Research have shown that an astounding 99% of Druze believe in the Abrahamic God. Like the Five Pillars of Islam, Druze follow the Seven Duties, which include a strict adherence to monotheism and mutual solidarity with fellow Druze. However, the Druze faith is also considered by most to be confusingly esoteric. Druzite clergy maintain a strong chokehold over the “full” scripture, creating a laity which is unaware of the true nature of their religion.
Nevertheless, Druze remain steadfast in their beliefs and customs. Moreover, Druze are unique to Abrahamic faiths having solidarity with denominations, namely Jews. While Christians might consider Jews heathens and vice versa, Druze value their long history of solidarity with the Jewish people, having both been oppressed repeatedly by the caliphates and Muslim states of the area. It is with the Jews that Druze possess the greatest solidarity, having interculturally developed alongside one another and having been treated with greater tolerance and acceptance in Israel. The Druze, much like the Sikhs of India, are also renowned for their militant culture, serving in the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) up until 2015 under the separated Herev Battalion. While the group has since integrated with the IDF at-large, Druze continue to be overwhelmingly loyal to Israel as their home and protector.
Yet while the state of Israel has repeatedly expressed and demonstrated support for this ethnoreligious minority, surrounding Arab Muslim states have not been so kind. Political representation is rare if not entirely non-existent. For example, while Lebanon theoretically guarantees the same rights and privileges to Druze that it does to its other citizens, the reality is usually starkly different. While treated better than in other Arab countries, differences between the Sunni Muslim majority and Druze minority makes integration into daily life difficult. Although the Druze gained political representation in Syria in the Ba’athist takeover in 1963, they were quickly sidelined to prioritize the agenda of other Muslims and Arabs, and have remained a political minority ever since. As is to be expected, leaving the Druze politically ostracized has had considerable ramifications for the treatment of the Druze in all other facets of life.
Druze and Islam: A Complicated History
Mistreatment of Druze and ill-will from the Muslim majority of the region stems from a long history of religious suppression, social isolation, and the killing of Druze by fundamentalist Muslims. Two facts are important to acknowledge at this point: the first being that the term “Druze” is, technically, a misnomer. The term Druze, while disputed by some as possibly deriving from the Arabic word darasah (“those who learn”), is largely accepted to derive from the name of 11th-century adherent Muhammad bin Ismail Nashtakin ad-Darazi. An early follower of the faith, Ad-Darazi himself was soon categorized as a heretic and expunged from the sect entirely. Before this could spread, Benjamin of Tudela—a 12th-century Jewish European chronicler—published a history of the Levant which labeled the people as “Dogziyin”, which over time became bastardized to “Druze”. Druze will often go by many names, but the accepted label used by clergy and when referring to themselves is Al-Muwahhidun (“The People of Monotheism” or “The Unitarians”). For the purpose of this article, and given that the debated etymology has resulted in a lack of care or offense from the community, I will continue to use the term “Druze”.
The second fact which requires some elaboration is that the Druze technically arose from a sect of Islam known as Isma’ilism which is itself a branch of Shi’a Islam. Without delving too deeply into the complex—and disputed—history of the faith, Druze slowly developed into its own religion, eventually becoming persecuted under the Fatimid Caliphate, leading to a closing of the faith in 1043. This means that every Druze individual born past this era has been born directly into the Druze faith, culture, and lifestyle. Additionally, while the Druze emerged from a sect of heretical Islam, it has since abandoned a majority of the guiding principles of Islam. Indeed, the Druze are known as a cosmopolitan people, entertaining philosophy from the Old Testament, New Testament, and Qur’an alike. However, contemporary Druze communities reject the rite of Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca), requirement of zakat (alms to the poor), and other important aspects of Islam. Druze theology is instead directed by the Epistles of Wisdom and other such texts.
It is from this division that deep, long-standing animosity arose between the Islamic and Druze communities in the Middle East. Sunni Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyyah codified this distrust and hatred, labeling their prophet al-Hakim a dajjal (“deceiver” or “devil”) and declaring the Druze “the most evil of people in apostasy.” Islamic theologians like Ibn Taymiyyah came to issue fatwas—legal-religious orders—calling for massacres of the Druze, and that they be fought against until they accepted Shari’a (Islamic rule) as the highest and most important of all laws.
Druze history has been marked by intermittent moments of conflict and cooperation between Muslim communities and Druze minorities. On the one hand, as stated previously, Druze living in Syria and Lebanon have faced discrimination and prejudice throughout their history on behalf of Muslim governments and religious leaders. Lebanon, for instance, has not pursued an actual census of the Druze since 1932 out of fear of inciting pogroms and infighting. On the other hand, as also stated before, the militant nature of the Druze tradition has made them desirable in combat units. Notable examples of this include Druze involvement during the Arab Revolts under the Ottoman Empire in World War I into the 1920s and uprisings against French Syrian rule into the 1940s. Paradoxical as this willingness to fight alongside followers of an enemy faith might initially appear, it makes sense strategically. Small numbers means the Druze are eager to win the trust of their Muslim neighbors, and fighting alongside them is one way of doing that. A similar phenomenon can be seen with the aforementioned Herev Battalion within the IDF.
Culling: The Syrian Civil War and the Druze
While it has been shown that the history of the Druze has been one fraught with conflict and bloodshed between themselves and their Muslim counterparts, instances of organized violence were relatively few and far between throughout the twentieth century. This trend continued up until the early-2010s with the rise of ISIS and the beginning of the Syrian Civil War. Incidents were at first scattered, blending into the wholesale slaughter of Christians, Jews, Syrian Armed Forces (SAF), counter-revolutionary fighters, and foreigners. It was with the creation of the al-Nusra Front (also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant) in late 2011 that the frequency of attacks against the Druze skyrocketed.
It was around this time that an avalanche of reports began to emerge of flagrant prejudice against the Druze in Syria, specifically in territories occupied by ISIS and al-Nusra. Episodes of persecution began with the desecration of graves and houses of worship in Idlib, Syria, with al-Nusra fighters destroying well over 500 burial sites and around 100 Druze temples within the span of six months in 2012. Eventually, al-Nusra and ISIS began to escalate its methods to forced conversion, with several hundred Idlib Druze issuing statements renouncing their faith in November, 2013 and February, 2014. Finally, militant insurgents in Syria began to actively pursue violence against the Druze minority. While these instances of violence became widespread into the mid-2010s, this horror culminated in the Qalb Lawzeh Massacre. In the early hours of June 10, 2015, al-Nusra fighters—who had previously dug-up graves in the village—began to argue with townsfolk and ransack homes for food and blankets. Over the course of the day, this built up from verbal confrontation to physical violence, ending with the death of 20 Druze villagers.
There is no doubt that the fundamentalism of ISIS and al-Nusra fighters played into the reasoning behind these attacks; but just as there are material incentives for misguided youth and listless vagabonds to join jihadist groups, there were and continue to be material causes behind these injustices. According to Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, an Iraqi expert on ISIL and the Syrian Civil War, the events which transpired at Qalb Lawzeh and the rampant destruction of property and displacement of Druze is not solely rooted in religious differences. Instead, evidence suggests that these principally arose out of land disputes, with al-Nusra forces having promised supporters land in the Jabal al-Summaq area. Underlying facts like this are essential to explaining not only the growth of ISIS and al-Nusra in the 2010s but also the ensuing conflicts between Salafists and easy prey minority groups like the Druze.
Conflict between the Druze and militant insurgencies did not stop with the Syrian recapture of Aleppo in 2016. Rather, attacks became rarer but more deadly. Bombings like the Swedia attacks in July, 2018 that killed more than 200 people (with another 24 taken hostage) highlighted the continued risk to Druze communities in Syria.
Druze in the Middle East—Tomorrow and Beyond
The greatest tragedy facing the Druze is not only that these crimes continue into our present time, but continue without much notoriety or coverage. Calls for attention to the plight of the Druze date back to as early as the 1980s when Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt—an important figure in the international Druze community—called for American Druze to lobby against American interference in the Lebanese Civil War. There have been occurrences of Druze involvement in international politics, most recently with the hosting of Sheikh Moafaq Tarif at the UNHCR in 2019, but these have remained scattered and infrequent. Coverage of the horrors at Qalb Lawzeh and Sweida settled down soon after the attacks, and critics have noted the lack of response from the US and international organizations.
The Druze are an ancient and proud people who will not go quietly while injustice faces their communities. They have shown their dedication not only to their fellow Druze but to their countrymen, a unique trait which should garner far more attention than it has received. In assessing proper channels for encouraging democracy and free agency in the Middle East, the US, UN, and all groups concerned with stabilizing the region should look to the Druze as a community to empower and protect.