Daouk family

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The Al Daouk family (Arabic: آل داعوق,originally the family can trace its roots back to al-Andalus or Andalusia, before the Reconquista took place. (دعق Daaqa, meaning "to induce"),^[1] also transliterated as (Daouk, Al Daouk and Daooq) is a prominent Beiruti family that stemmed in Ras Beirut, Lebanon during the 15th century; after fleeing Marrakesh, Morocco, the family escaped Morocco in the late 12th century from Marrakesh to the Levant during the Reconquista inquisition. The immigration came as a consequence of the heavy influx of refugees from the Iberian Peninsula. ^[1] This was due to the heavy influx of Arab refugees coming from the Iberian Peninsula to the Maghreb and the Levant following the fall of Al-Andalus to the Catholic Monarchs.

The family would then become one of Beirut's prominent families after a truce that would bind them to the 'Seven Families of Beirut' agreement of 1350 (disputed with 1351). The agreement was a written one, which engulfed the houses of: Sinno, Kreidiyyeh, Itani, Doughan, Mneimneh and the Houry family alongside the Daouk family. Although the original agreement has been lost in history, the legacy of this agreement survives until the present day. This is given by the fact that most of Beirut's original families descend from, or are related to one of the Seven Families. The families’ names however, were not necessarily written and spelled the same as they are known to be today. The Daouks initially arrived to Beirut as the ‘Dawakites’ or الدواكة and eventually became the house of Daouk or آل الداعوق.

The agreement of 1350 allowed the Seven Families to act as a single body to govern and protect Beirut. The Seven Families subsequently signed an agreement with the ruling Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. The agreement conferred that they would administer Beirut's internal affairs and protect its people, while the Mamluks under Prince Soudoon I, would handle the military aspects within and outside Beirut. The agreement was a mean of protecting Beirut from foreign powers.

It also ensured that all Beirutis would be entrusted with the protection of Beirut and therefore would be able to become one of the seven families that may caretake a gate. However, the Seven Families retained this entitlement mostly if not every time for unknown reasons. It is mostly agreed on the grounds that these families were known as the ‘Omana’, the trustworthy ones. The agreement would stay enacted throughout the era of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt, which spanned between 1250 and 1517, until its downfall at the hands of the Ottoman Empire.