Druze are represented throughout israels political system. The deadly attack last week on the temple mount pitted israeli druze against muslims, tightening an prophesied alliance with israel that has biblical roots leading back to the druze patriarch jethro. The connection between hakim and the druzes is best substantiated through the religious writings of hamza, the second person associated with the druze faith, who was appointed as a religious leader by hakim. The druze religion differs from classic forms of other monotheistic faiths in several key ways. Druze fur by druze et al and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. The druze, who refer to themselves as almuwahhideen, or believers in one god, are concentrated in the rural, mountainous areas east and south of beirut. It also made them an easier target for french, british, and, later, israeli occupying forces that wanted to undermine arab nationalism after world war i. Few people know about the druze, a mysterious, 1,000 year old religion in lebanon.
He served as an officer under the french mandate and fought valiently in palestine during the 1948 war. The epistles of wisdom is the foundational text of the druze faith. Such mystification makes any enquiry into druze doctrine or history a delicate. The druze numbered more than 1,000,000 in the early 21st century. Some have emigrated to the united states and canada the druze practice a religion related to islam and christianity but more based on philosophy. Several towns were bombarded with heavy weapons, killing scores of civilians and destroying many houses. While preserving many islamic symbols, the druze religion also incorporates gnostic and neoplatonic tenets. Betts, who has spent a great deal of time with the druze, interweaves his firsthand observations with a wealth of primary and secondary sources, describing not only their thousandyear history but also their political. Shishakli created the arab liberation movement alm, a progressive party with panarabist and socialist views, the druze community was subjected to a heavy attack by the syrian government. This second edition of historical dictionary of the druzes covers their history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The druze have preferred taqiyya dissimulation when independence or freedom of belief proved unattainable, which has exacerbated ignorance of their faith. His family name, shishakli, is a common turkish surname derived from turkish word cicek which means flower and cicekli shishakli means someone or some place with flowers in.
Druze history, modern era, immigration and settlement. During the four years of adib shishaklis rule in syria december 1949 to february 1954 on 25 august 1952. Along with the majority of christian migrants, syrian president shishakli would cause a spike in druze emigration with his antidruze and antibourgeois measures. The hopes of the druze were dashed, however, after military strongman adib shishakli, who styed himself an arab caesar, came to power in december 1949. According to druze accounts, shishakli encouraged neighboring bedouin tribes to plunder the defenseless population and allowed his own troops to run amok. Ayoob kara, a druze from daliyat alkarmel, for example, is a member of knesset from the likud party. The official facebook page of the american druze society ads, a 501c3 federally recognized. Druze, small middle eastern religious sect characterized by an eclectic system of doctrines and by a cohesion and loyalty among its members at times politically significant that have enabled them to maintain for centuries their closeknit identity and distinctive faith. While these reforms did not become part of orthodox islam, the druzes, as well as other islamic sectarian movements, adopted them. The syrian armys frenchsupplied sherman tanks and artillery took a heavy toll of life in undefended druze villages.
Druze teachings are kept secret, so libel and slander by their opponents have been generally left uncorrected. Origins of the druze people and religion forgotten books. This is a superb book about the druze faith written by a well known scholar and professor sami nasib makarem. Druzes article about druzes by the free dictionary. Alhakim, a ruler of egypt during the 11th century sponsored the religion which was created by. The joshua project progress scale is an estimate of the progress of church planting among a people group, people cluster, country or language. Druze, also spelled druse, arabic plural duruz, singular darazi, small middle eastern religious sect characterized by an eclectic system of doctrines and by a cohesion and loyalty among its members at times politically significant that have enabled them to maintain for centuries their closeknit identity and distinctive faith. What is a good book to read about druze religion and culture. Adib shishakli was a syrian kurd and also of turkish origin, born in the hama region in 1909. Modern era the druze developed a fierce loyalty to each other because of their isolation. May show signs of minor shelf wear and contain limited notes and highlighting. Druze simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The following wave of migration would be of a different composition, however. Used items may not include supplementary materials such as cds or access codes.
The aspirations of the druze were supported by their military power, as the syrian government believed that the druze could take easily damascus, syrias capital. Obscurity swallowed them up again for four more years. The progress scale is derived from people group values for percent evangelical and percent christian adherent. Genetic testing is thereby able to determine that the druze dna experienced its last major admixture event, where druze mixed with local levantines syrians, between the early ninth century and the early 12th century. Adib ashshishakli was born in h am a h, syria in 1909 and was assassinated in brazil on sept. This book is considered secret and only religious sages. The druze would make up up to one third of the total migrants from syria and lebanon in this time.
Adib ashshishakli was born in hamah, syria in 1909 and was assassinated in brazil on sept. The lebanese druze people are believed to constitute about 5. The druze faith incorporates elements of ismailism, a branch of shia islam, gnosticism, neoplatonism, pythagoreanism, and other philosophies and beliefs, creating a distinct and secretive theology, based on an esoteric interpretation of scripture. Shishakli dispatched 10,000 regular troops to occupy the jebel aldruze. In the 2019 election, gadeer mreeh of the blue and white party became the first woman of druze ethnicity to become an mk. History druze religion has its origins in the second decade of the 11th century, when aldarazi and hamzah ibn ali declared the sixth fatimid caliph to be the incarnation of the godhead. Shishakli believed that among his many opponents in syria, the druzes were the most potentially dangerous, and he was determined to crush them. The fulfillment of their role as brothersinarms with the jews precipitates the endofdays war against amalek. Betts, who has spent a great deal of time with the druze, interweaves his firsthand observations with a wealth of primary and secondary sources, describing not only their thousandyear.
Fortunately, since the druze maintain a closegroup social structure, each group preserved a different aspect of the druze history. In 2019, there were 143,000 druze living in israel, 1. He overthrew the syrian government in december 1949 and dominated syrian politics until his. In the first complete account of the druze, robert brenton betts provides a general survey of the history, traditions, and society of this secretive arab sect. The dictionary section has over crossreferenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. When jews and druze stood side by side shira pasternak.
Even though the faith originally developed out of ismaili islam, druze are generally not. The druzes a strict prohibition on divulging the doctrine, and the practice of dissimulation have always contributed to the constant misunderstanding of this mysterious sect which. Only one book was published in syria about shishakli since his resignation in 1954, and it was a mediocre one that failed to. He writes with style and elegance and shares with the reader what a true druze believer knows. Druze heroes killed on temple mount fulfilled foretold end. The druze religion is monotheistic believing in one god, and it is considered one of the abrahamic faiths, along with judaism, islam, and christianity. Druze in homeland region see nusra front as an enemy that must be fought, while druze in. A deeply informed, brightly written account of the druze that will be read with profit by students of middle east history, politics, religion, and anthropology as well as by everyone with an interest in lebanon, syria, and israel. The book also fails to dismiss various myths that surrounded the druze belief for a long time. The religious leadership prefers the name muwahhidun unitarians. The druze are an arabicspeaking people of the middle east there are more than 500,000 druze.