The Origins of the Druze People and Religion

He controlled a portion of the Syrian desert, which was dominated by Fakhr-al-Dīn’s castle at Tadmur (Palmyra), the ancient capital of Queen Zenobia Zenobia was the 3rd-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire who famously challenged Roman authority.. The ruins of this castle still stand on a steep hill overlooking the town and remain a striking sight for travelers today.

Fakhr-al-Dīn eventually became too powerful for his Turkish overlord in Constantinople The capital of the Ottoman Empire.. In 1608, he went so far as to sign a commercial treaty with Duke Ferdinand I of Tuscany, which included secret military clauses. In response, the Sultan sent an army against him. Consequently, in 1614, Fakhr-al-Dīn was forced to flee the country and seek safety in the royal courts of Tuscany and Naples.¹

Fakhr-al-Dīn was the first leader in modern Lebanon to open his country to Western influence. Under his sponsorship, the French established a khān a hostel or inn for merchants in Sidon, the Florentines opened a consulate, and Christian missionaries were allowed to enter the country. The cities of Beirut and Sidon, which Fakhr-al-Dīn improved and beautified, still show evidence of his beneficial rule.

The Banu-Shihāb: The Last Feudal Chiefs — As early as the era of Saladin, and while the Ma’n family was still in complete control of southern Lebanon, the Shihāb tribe arrived. Originally Arabs from the Hejaz A region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. who later lived in the Hauran region of Syria, they moved from Hauran in 1172 and settled in Wādī al-Taym at the base of Mount Hermon. They soon formed an alliance with the Ma’ns and were recognized as the Druze leaders in Wādī al-Taym. At the end of the 17th century (1697), the Shihābs succeeded the Ma’ns as the feudal leaders of the Druze in southern Lebanon. However, unlike the Ma’ns, the Shihābs were officially Sunnī Muslims. In private, they were sympathetic toward the Druze religion, which was the faith of the majority of their subjects. Because they were related by blood to the Quraysh—the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad—the Shihāb family is considered the most noble in the Arab world after the Quraysh themselves.

The Shihāb family's leadership lasted until the middle of the 19th century. Their rule reached its peak during the famous reign of Prince Bashīr II (1788–1840), who was considered the most significant ruler after Fakhr-al-Dīn.

¹ For a biography of Fakhr-al-Dīn, see H. F. Wüstenfeld, Fakhr-al-Dīn, the Prince of the Druze, and his Contemporaries original German title: "Fachreddin, der Drusenfürst, und seine Zeitgenossen" (Göttingen, 1866).