The Origins of the Druze People and Religion

CHAPTER III

RACIAL ORIGINS

Number and Distribution:—We are more or less familiar with the current population size of the Druzes and their geographical distribution across southern Lebanon, Wadi al-Taym, al-Jabal al-A'la (located between Aleppo and Antioch), Safed, and Mount Carmel in Palestine. We are also familiar with the later migrations that determined where they live today. According to the most recent census, there are approximately 110,000 Druzes in Lebanon and Syria, and 7,000 in Palestine.

The current Druze population of Hauran (44,344) consists of the descendants of emigrants from southern Lebanon. According to well-documented records and local oral traditions,¹ these people left their home in Kafra² in 1711 to seek a new place to live. This move was the result of the defeat of their Yemenite faction by the rival Qaysite faction The Qaysites and Yemenites were two long-standing rival tribal confederations in the Arab world whose conflicts shaped much of Middle Eastern history.. This population was later increased by new arrivals³ following the 1860 civil war in Lebanon. Earlier, the Druzes of Jabal al-A'la had migrated there from the south.⁴ Those living in Palestine are certainly of Lebanese origin, though some may have come directly from the region around Aleppo.⁵ Lebanon, therefore, was the central point from which the Druze people spread, while Wadi al-Taym was the birthplace of their religion.

¹ Sulaymān abu-'Izz-al-Dīn, "The Settlement of the Druzes," original: "Tawaṭṭun al-Durūz" al-Kulliyyah (Beirut), May, 1926.
² The ruins of this small village can still be seen near ‘Aynāb, overlooking Beirut.
³ Richard F. Burton and Charles F. T. Drake, Unexplored Syria (London, 1872), vol. I, 178.
⁴ See Henri Guys, The Druze Nation: Its History, Religion, Customs, and Political State original: "La Nation Druze, son histoire, sa religion, ses mœurs, et son état politique" (Paris, 1863), p. 25; Gertrude L. Bell, Syria: The Desert and the Sown (New York, 1907), p. 306.
⁵ Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement (London, 1889), p. 123.