Lebanese Druze (Arabic: دروز لبنان‎) are Lebanese individuals that adhere considering the Druze faith, an ethno religious private group originating from the Near East who self identify as unitarians (Muwahhideen).

The Lebanese Druze people are considered to constitute about 5.2 percent of a given total population of Lebanon and also have around 1.5 million members worldwide. 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.

Under the Lebanese political division (Parliament of Lebanon Seat Allocation), the Druze community is known as one of the many five Lebanese Muslim communities in Lebanon (Sunni, Shia, Druze, Alawi, and Ismaili), even though the Druze are not used considered Muslim. Lebanon’s constitution was intended to guarantee political representation for any of a given nation’s ethnoreligious groups.

Below the regulations of an unwritten agreement known as the National Pact amongst the various political and spiritual leaders of Lebanon, the leading of a given General Staff must be a Druze.

The Druze faith doesn’t follow the Five Pillars of Islam, namely fasting during the month of Ramadan, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca. The Druze beliefs incorporate parts of Ismailism, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism as well as other philosophies. The Druze call themselves Ahl al-Tawhid “People of Unitarianism or Monotheism” or “al-Muwaḥḥidūn.”

The Tanukhids inaugurated the Druze community in Lebanon when the majority of them accepted and a new message that has been preached in the 11th century as a result of their leadership’s close ties with then Fatimid ruler Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.

The Druze community in Lebanon played a significant role in the formation of the modern state of Lebanon. Also, though they are a minority, they play a crucial factor in the Lebanese political scene. Before as well as throughout the Lebanese The civil war conflict (1975–90), the Druze were in favor of Pan-Arabism and Palestinian resistance represented from the PLO. Almost all of the community supported the Progressive Socialist Party formed right by their leader Kamal Jumblatt and then they will fight alongside other leftist and Palestinian parties contrary to the Lebanese Front that was mainly constituted of Christians. Right after the assassination of Kamal Jumblatt on March 16, 1977, his offspring Walid Jumblatt took the leadership of one’s party and played an essential role in preserving his father’s legacy after winning the Mountain War and sustained the occurrence the Druze community through the sectarian bloodshed that lasted until 1990.

In August 2001, Maronite Catholic Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir toured the predominantly Druze Chouf topic of Mount Lebanon and visited Mukhtara, the ancestral stronghold of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. The tumultuous reception that Sfeir received not only signified a historic reconciliation between Maronites and Druze, who fought a bloody war in 1983–84, but underscored the reality that the banner of Lebanese sovereignty had a broad multi-confessional appeal which resulted in being harmed a cornerstone when it comes to the Cedar Revolution in 2005. Jumblatt’s post-2005 position diverged sharply, beginning with the tradition of his family. He also accused Damascus of being behind the 1977 assassination of his father, Kamal Jumblatt, expressing the first time what many knew he privately suspected. The BBC describes Jumblatt as “the best leader of Lebanon’s strongest Druze clan and heir to your leftist political dynasty.” The second-biggest political party supported by Druze happens to be the Lebanese Democratic Party led by Prince Talal Arslan, the son of Lebanese independence hero Emir Majid Arslan.

On May 10, 2008, during the 2008 Conflict, clashes occurred between Hezbollah forces and Druze militias in their mountain, resulting in casualties on the two sides. The disputes were started in Aytat, near Kayfoun, and in a little while expanded to cover many spots in Mount Lebanon, including Baysur, Shuweifat, and Aley. A lot of the fighting was targeting Hill 888. After negotiations, a ceasefire was called in from outside the country before Hezbollah could call in artillery support. Releases from Hezbollah leaders in 2016 stated that bombing the mountain with close-range artillery due to the South and longer-ranged artillery from Syria were both one great option and much considered.

Author’s resource box:

Lebanese Druze – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druze_in_Lebanon