Lebanese Druze

Lebanese Druze
Distribution of Druze in Lebanon by voting district
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Lebanese Arabic
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Druze
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The Lebanese Druze (Arabic: دروز لبنان, romanized: durūz lubnān) are an ethnoreligious group[1] constituting about 5.2 percent[2] of the population of Lebanon. They follow the Druze faith, which is an esoteric Abrahamic religion originating from the Near East, and self identify as unitarians (Arabic: موحدين, romanized: muwaḥḥidīn).[3]

There are estimated to be less than 1 million Druze worldwide.[4] The Druze, who refer to themselves as al-Muwahhideen, or "believers in one God," are concentrated in the rural, mountainous areas east and south of Beirut.[2] Lebanon has the world's second largest Druze population, after Syria.

Under the Lebanese political division (Parliament of Lebanon Seat Allocation) the Druze community is designated as one of the five Lebanese Muslim communities in Lebanon (Sunni, Shia, Druze, Alawi, and Ismaili), even though the Druze are no longer considered Muslim.[5][6][7] Lebanon's constitution was intended to guarantee political representation for each of the nation's ethno-religious groups.[8]

Wadi al-Taym is generally considered the "birthplace of the Druze faith".[9] The Maronite Catholics and the Druze founded modern Lebanon in the early eighteenth century, through the ruling and social system known as the "Maronite-Druze dualism" in Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate.[10] Under the terms of an unwritten agreement known as the National Pact between the various political and religious leaders of Lebanon, the Chief of the General Staff must be a Druze.[11]

  1. ^ Chatty, Dawn (2010-03-15). Displacement and Dispossession in the Modern Middle East. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81792-9.
  2. ^ a b Lebanon 2015 International Religious Freedom Report U.S. Department of State. Retrieved on 2019-04-23.
  3. ^ Doniger, Wendy (1999). Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions. Merriam-Webster, Inc. ISBN 0-87779-044-2.
  4. ^ Sewell, Abby (2017-09-15). "Finding a life partner is hard enough. For those of the Druze faith, their future depends on it". GulfNews. Retrieved 2018-09-16.
  5. ^ James Lewis (2002). The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions. Prometheus Books. Retrieved 13 May 2015.
  6. ^ https://books.google.com/books?id=wXO8AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA97 Lebanon Country Study Guide Volume 1 Strategic Information and Developments
  7. ^ De McLaurin, Ronald (1979). The Political Role of Minority Groups in the Middle East. Michigan University Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-03-052596-4. Theologically, one would have to conclude that the Druze are not Muslims. They do not accept the five pillars of Islam. In place of these principles the Druze have instituted the seven precepts noted above..
  8. ^ Stokes, Jamie (2009). Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East. ISBN 978-1-4381-2676-0.
  9. ^ Khuri Hitti, Philip (1996). The Origins of the Druze People: With Extracts from Their Sacred Writings. University of California Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-5381-2418-5. Lebanon therefore was the distributing center of the Druze people and Wādi - al - Taym was the birthplace of their faith.
  10. ^ Deeb, Marius (2013). Syria, Iran, and Hezbollah: The Unholy Alliance and Its War on Lebanon. Hoover Press. ISBN 978-0-8179-1666-4. the Maronites and the Druze, who founded Lebanon in the early eighteenth century.
  11. ^ United Nations Development Programme : Programme on Governance in the Arab Region : Elections : Lebanon Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 January 2010.