 Distribution of Shi'a Muslims in Lebanon | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| ~1,600,000 (2005 estimate)[1] | |
| Languages | |
| Vernacular: Lebanese Arabic | |
| Religion | |
| Islam (Twelver Shia Islam) |
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Lebanese Shia Muslims (Arabic:المسلمون الشيعة اللبنانيون), communally and historically known asmatāwila (Arabic:متاولة, plural ofمتوالmutawālin;[2] pronounced asمتواليmetouéle inLebanese Arabic[3]), areLebanese people who are adherents ofShia Islam inLebanon, which plays a major role alongside Lebanon's mainSunni,Maronite andDruze sects. The vast majority of Shiite Muslims in Lebanon adhere toTwelver Shi'ism.[4][5][6]
Today, Shiite Muslims constitute around 32% of the Lebanese population.[7] Under the terms of an unwritten agreement known as theNational Pact between the various political and religious leaders of Lebanon, Shiites are the only sect eligible for the post ofSpeaker of Parliament.[8][9][10][11]
The spread ofShia Islam inLebanon was a complex phenomenon over multiple centuries.[12][13] Information regardingJabal Amel's population prior to the Muslim conquest is scant and insufficient. It is traditionally thought to have included a substantial tribal segment prior to the Muslim conquest represented by theBanu Amila.[14] According toIrfan Shahîd, Banu Amilah formed part of theNabataeanfoederati of theRomans.[15][16][17] They would later help disseminate Shia Islam among the rest of the population.[14]Galilee, which included a part of Jabal Amel, was inhabited byChristian and Jewish communities in theByzantine period, divided along west and east respectively.[18][19] Along the coast,Tyre was predominantly Christianized under the Byzantines with a minor survival of the pagan cult ofMelqart up until the early Islamic period.[20]
During the early Islamic period,Jabal Amel and the adjacent areas likely hosted several disgruntled groups or communities that were susceptible to Twelver Shia doctrine, and a positive and invitingdialectical relationship between the theological construct ofImamism and its social milieu gave precedence to the Shiite possibility.[21] Per Lebanese historian al-Muhajir, the beginning of the process can be traced right after theHasan–Muawiya treaty in 661.[12] Per Rula Abisaad and Yaron Friedman, Banu Amilah may have already been Shiites in the seventh century.[14] Per Harris, the842 revolt in Palestine gave rare exposure to a Shia-minded population on the fringes ofMount Lebanon.[22] Harris suggests that it's possible that Shia tribespeople were present in Mount Lebanon in the Umayyad period or after the 759 Munaytra uprising, and would have been well-established in the area by 960.[23] According to Jaafar al-Muhajir, theFall of Tripoli in 1109 and the city's depopulation of its Shia inhabitants may have brought an influx of Shiites into the area too.[12]
In Syria,Aleppo, which figures in the scholastic heritage of Jabal Amel, had become fertile ground for Twelver Shi'ism under the reign of theHamdanids (944–991),[24][25][26] and cultural and material interactions between Aleppo and Jabal Amel may have reinforced nascent local development of Twelver Shi'ism in the area prior toIsma'iliFatimid ascent inEgypt (c. 969).[21][27] Before Fatimid Ismailida'wa took hold in Syria, cultural exchange between scholars in Jabal Amel andIraq contributed to a mutual systematic observation of theJa'fari school, which also continued after Fatimid demise.[21]
According toal-Maqdisi (c. 966-985),[28] Shiites lived inTiberias andQadas belonging toJund al-Urdunn,[29][12][21][30][31] although most ofPalestine was reportedly Sunni.[32] In 1047, Persian travelerNasir Khusraw noted that bothTyre andTripoli had a predominantly Shiite population,[21][14] and remarked that Shiites were also present surrounding Tiberias.[14] According to Ibn al-Arabi ofSeville (1092–1095), the Palestinian littoral cities were home to sizable Shiite communities.[33][14] During his ten-year residence in Tyre,Ibn Asakir (1106–1175), noted strong opposition to his views from some of therafida in the city, a pejorative term denoting Shiites.[21] Innorthern Lebanon, Tripoli was governed on theFatimids' behalf by theBanu Ammar up until thecrusader conquest of 1109, a Twelver Shiite qadi dynasty who invested large sums in turning the city into a famous center for learning.[34] Tripoli became a reputed centre of Twelver scholarship and commanded a large Shiite hinterland, where the district name 'Zanniya' still recalls the Alidesotericism of its medieval population.[35]
Jabal Amel became an important centre of Shiite scholarship during theMamluk period, probably as the result of short-distance immigration from the former Frankish coastal cities which were destroyed by Mamluks, namely Tyre,Sidon andAkka.[14] When the Mamluks established a mamlaka (province) inSafed in 1260s, Shiites in the Safed region either joined neighboring Jabal Amel or converted to Sunni Islam.[14] According to Yaron Friedman, Shiite Muslim communities lived inRamla andTiberias, two Shia centers in predominantly Sunni Palestine, but immigrated north to neighboring Jabal Amel due to perpetual wars and Sunni dominance after the 13th century.[36] By the early 14th century,Jabal Amel was becoming the Twelver Shia center of the entireLevant.[35]The towns ofJezzine andKarak Nuh replaced the former urban centers of Shiite learning in the Levant, and Shiite scholars enjoyed protection under Shia chiefs starting from Husam ad-Din Bishara in 1187.[37][38] One particular scholar from Jezzine,Muhammad ibn Makki, became a widely known Shi'ifaqīh who advocated developing religious law through debate with Sunni scholars,[39][40] and instructed the court ofKhorasan's reigningSarbadar in Twelver Shiism.[39]
Between 1292 and 1305, the Mamluks carried out a series of punitive expeditions against the Shia population ofKisrawan region inMount Lebanon east ofBeirut, headed byAqqush al-Afram.[39] According toMamluk chroniclerBadr al-Din al-Ayni, in 1292, the Sultanal-Ashraf Khalil compelledBaydara to take three thousand cavalry up the coast fromEgypt, entering Kisrawan from the south. According to al-Ayni, the defenders, whom he calledkafaratrawafid, mobilized 10,000 defenders who lured Mamluk contingents intoambushes.[41] The campaign was a failure, and Baydara was only able to extricate his troops after offering gifts and releasing prisoners.[41] In 1299, Kisrawan mountaineers attacked the fleeing Mamluk army, which brought Kisrawan back to Mamluk priority, prompting a swift retribution in 1300.[42]
Following the death of the IlkhanGhazan in 1304, the Mamluks assembled the main Mamluk field army for a third campaign.[42] In July 1305, according toal-Maqrizi, al-Ayni and Druze chronicler Salih ibn Yahya, fifty thousand Mamluk troops marched fromDamascus to meet up with another army under thena'ib of Tripoli coming from the north, also summoning their DruzeBuhturid allies to the south. The Mamluk pincer movement converged on the Kisrawan rebels and broke their forces at'Ayn Sawfar, resulting in battles that eventually crushed the Kisrawani forces.[43][39][44] The Mamluks then devastated villages and cultivation through August 1305 and expelled much of the population, whom settled inSouthern Lebanon and theBeqaa valley.[39][45] Estimates of the expelled population vary, with Muhammad Ali Makki estimating around 20,000 displaced intoJezzine and the Bekaa valley,[46] while al-Muhajir doubles the number at 40,000.[12]
After the Ottoman conquest circa 1516, leading Shiite families inJabal Amil,Beqaa Valley andMount Lebanon, which had been ensconced prior to Ottoman arrival, were co-opted into the Ottoman provincial administration asmukataacıs or as governors of secondarysanjaks with fiscal and police responsibilities over a vast section of the Syrian coastal highlands.[47][35][48][49]
TheHarfushes ofBaalbek received the iltizam concession for the Bekaa as well as a rank in the provincial military hierarchy. In the province ofTripoli, the Hamada family were charged with multiple tax collection assignments in the hinterland ofMount Lebanon. Further south, the Shiites of Jabal Amel retained their tax farms well into the mid-18th century, greatly benefiting from the foreign demand for dyedcotton and good commercial contacts with the French, and by the 1750s the area provided more tax revenues than Mount Lebanon.[50][6]
By the late 18th century, traditional Shiite feudatories had largely become redundant and weak, to which the Ottomans enlisted other families.[35] TheShihab dynasty managed to displace the Shia Hamades from Mount Lebanon by the 1760s, exploited Harfush internal quarrels in the Bekaa and enroached onJabal Amel.[51] The Druze Junblatt lords and Christian peasants bought or pushed out the Shia out ofJezzine and the hills aboveSidon. The significant Shia minority in theTripoli hills largely departed for the Bekaa valley, while Jabal Amel became a war zone between Ottoman authorities and rebels in northern Palestine even before the depredations ofJazzar Pasha in 1780s.[52] By 1781, Jazzar Pasha had managed to subdue much of Jabal Amel, killing Shia chiefNasif al-Nassar in battle.[35][53] The Shia population subsequently slid from around 38% in the 16th century to no more than 20% by 1840.[54]
During this time period, Shiites built particularly close ties with theSafavids ofIran, contributing significantly to the empire's conversion into Shia Islam.[55]Tahmasp I (1524–1576) appointed Muhaqqiq al-Karaki fromKarak Nuh as the deputy of theHidden Imam, and granted him extensive power over thesadrs (Grand viziers) in a prolix edict in 1533.[56] Tahmasp reportedly told him: "You are the real king and I am just one of your agents".[57][55] This brought new political and court power to the Islamic clerics and their networks, intersectingTabriz,Qazvin,Isfahan,Rasht,Astarabad, andAmol.[57] Another prominent cleric wasBaha'uddin al-Amili, who authored mathematical and astronomical treatises, including the possibility of the Earth's movement prior to the spread of theCopernican theory,[58] and is responsible for many architectural feats in the city ofIsfahan.[59][60][38]
With the Ottoman withdrawal in 1918, the French enteredNabatieh and barred the local populace from carrying out political activity. Local chiefs rejected the demand, and instead hoisted theArab flag in several villages.[61] Shiites participated in the Syrian nationalist movement andSyrian National Congress in 1919, and prominent Shiites such asAhmad Rida often stated their support for Syrian unity and independence within theKingdom of Syria, emphasizing their Arab identity, while simultaneously defending Shiite particularism.[62][53]
Following the official declaration of theArab Kingdom of Syria in March 1920, anti-French riots and clashed broke out in the predominantly Shia areas ofJabal Amel and theBeqaa Valley. Rebels attacked French military bases and garrisons in their areas, and sectarian clashes also took place, notably inAin Ebel, due to French arming and their perceived acceptance of French mandatory rule. The French sent an expedition of 4,000–6,000 soldiers led by Colonel Niger to the south in an effort to pacify the Shiite rebels, devastating their villages and crushing Shiite rebels by June 1920.[61] The defeat dispersed thousands of peasants who feared harsh reprisals, and the high fines imposed on the villagers contributed to financial hardship in the region.[53]
The armed effort was paralleled by thenonviolent resistance movement led byAbdul Husayn Sharafeddine since 1919, who demanded US support forSyrian unity during theKing–Crane Commission visit. This angered the French, who encouraged an unsuccessful assassination attempt against him. Sharafeddine strongly denounced sectarian hostility as it only gave purpose for the French military presence. During the famous the conference of Wadi al-Hujayr on 24 April 1920, he called for the protection of Christians.
The Christians (Nasara) are your brethren in the country and in destiny. Show to them the love you show to yourselves. Protect their lives and possessions as you do to your own. Only by this can you face the conspiracy and put an end to the civil strife.[61]
This period of unrest ended in 1921 with apolitical amnesty offered by the French mandate authorities for all Shiite rebels who had taken part in the fighting, with the intention to bind the Shia community in Lebanon to the new Mandate state.[53][61] When theGreat Syrian Revolt broke out in 1925, the calm remained in Jabal Amel. Nevertheless, many Shiites joined the rebels inSyria, and played a central role in the battles of theQalamoun Mountains andAkroum, where Shiites reportedly took a booty of more than 400rifles and fiftyhorses from French forces.[6]Many Christians who fled their villages during the revolt were accommodated by Shia notables fromNabatieh andBint Jbeil, an act that was appreciated by the local Christian clergy.
What the Shi'ites did for the Christians in the south will be cherished in our hearts for as long as Lebanon and the Christians remain. What happened should be written in gold. Long live Lebanon, Long live Lebanese unity and long live the Shiites.[61]
The region experienced a decade of stability following the revolt. Shiites had become largely accepting of Greater Lebanon for sectarian and non-sectarian reasons, and the establishment of the Ja'fari court further strengthened communal ties and validated a sense of particularism otherwise denied under the Ottomans.[53] Consequently, the establishment of Ja'fari shari'a courts during the French Mandate period in Lebanon complicated the understanding of citizenship by intertwining it with sectarian identification, while also reinforcing sectarian divisions within the legal and political framework of the nation-state.[63] Instead of armed rebellion and uprisings, protests and civil strikes in Shia areas became the medium to protest French policies andtobacco prices.[53][61] Shiites were later active in providing ammunition, manpower and assistance to Palestinian rebels during the1936–1939 revolt in Palestine, which was co-administered fromBint Jbeil.[61]
In the 19th century, Lebanon saw dramatic changes when missionaries started establishing schools throughout the country. While theFrench andRussians mainly encouraged Maronite and Orthodox active learning respectively, along withAmerican Protestant missions in Beirut, the British established educational institutions in Druze areas, and Sunnis mainly benefitted from Ottoman state institutions. However, Shiites were the only ones who did not benefit from such activities. This neglectance continued into the early days of the French mandate.[61]
During the 1920s and 1930s, educational institutions became places for different religious communities to constructnationalist andsectarian modes of identification.[64] Shia leaders andreligious clergy supported educational reforms in order to improve the social and political marginalization of the Shia community and increase their involvement in the newly born nation-state of Lebanon.[65] This led to the establishment of several private Shia schools in Lebanon, among them The Charitable Islamic ʿĀmili Society (al-Jamʿiyya al-Khayriyya al-Islāmiyya al-ʿĀmiliyya) inBeirut and The Charitable Jaʿfari Society (al-Jamʿiyya al-Khayriyya al-Jaʿfariyya) inTyre.[65] While several Shia educational institutions were established before and at the beginning of the mandate period, they often ran out of support and funding which resulted in their abolishment.[65]
The primary outlet for discussions concerning educational reforms among Shia scholars was the monthly Shiite journalal-'Irfan, founded in 1909. In order to bring their demands (muṭālabiyya) to the attention of the French authorities, petitions were signed and presented to the French High Commissioner and the Service de l'Instruction Publique.[66] This institution – since 1920 headquartered in Beirut- oversaw every educational policy regarding public and private school in the mandate territories.[62] According to historian Elizabeth Thompson, private schools were part of "constant negotiations" between citizen and the French authorities in Lebanon, specifically regarding the hierarchical distribution ofsocial capital along religious communal lines.[67] During these negotiations, petitions were often used by different sects to demand support for reforms. For example, themiddle-class of predominantly urbanSunni areas expressed their demands for educational reforms throughpetitions directed towards the French High Commissioner and theLeague of Nations.[68]
SayyidAbdul-Husayn Sharafeddine believed that the only way to ward off foreign political influence was to establish modern schools while maintaining Islamic teachings. In 1938, he built two schools, one for girls and another for boys, at his own expense. However, the girls' school did not last long due to financial difficulties and traditional views, prompting Sayyid Sharafeddine to transfer the girls and teach them in his own home. The boys' school was known asal-Ja'fariyya, and was able to continue despite financial difficulties.[61]
In January 1926, the French High Commissioner officially recognized the Shia community as an "independent religious community," which was permitted to judge matters of personal status "according to the principles of the rite known by the name of Ja'fari."[69] This meant that the ShiiteJa'fari jurisprudence ormadhhab was legally recognized as an officialmadhhab, and held judicial and political power on multiple levels.[70] The recognition of Ja‘fari jurisprudence in legal affairs further reinforced Lebanon’s sectarian divisions at the political level, as it provided the Shiite community with a degree of autonomy within the Lebanese nation-state.[71] However, at the individual level, sectarian boundaries became more fluid and subject to interpretation, as people frequently shifted their sectarian affiliation to gain legal benefits from different madhhabs.[72] Though established in Lebanon, Shiite individuals from neighbouring countries also presented their marriage and divorce cases to the Ja'fari courts, as religious identity overrode national identity.[73] Furthermore, the institutionalization of Shia Islam during this period provoked discussions between Shiite scholars and clergy about how Shiite orthodoxy should be defined. For example, discussions about the mourning of the martyrdom ofImam Husain duringAshura, which was a clandestine affair before the 1920s and 1930s, led to its transformation into a public ceremony.[74]
On the other hand, the official recognition of legal and religious Shiite institutions by the French authorities strengthened a sectarian awareness within the Shia community. Historian Max Weiss underlines how "sectarian claims were increasingly bound up with the institutionalization of Shi'i difference."[75] With the Ja'fari shari'a courts in practice, the Shia community was deliberately encouraged to "practice sectarianism" on a daily basis.
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The jurisdiction of theOttoman Empire was nominal in Lebanon. In the 18th century,Baalbek was under the control of the Metawali, the localTwelver Shi'a community.[35] Metawali, Metouali, or Mutawili was a way to distinguish the uniqueness and unity of the local Twelver community and originally referred to a trustee in thewaqf system.
Seven Mutawali villages that were reassigned fromGreater Lebanon to theMandatory Palestine in a 1924 border-redrawing agreement wereforcibly depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and repopulated by Jews.[76] The seven villages areQadas,al-Nabi Yusha',al-Malkiyya,Hunin,Tarbikha,Abil al-Qamh, andSaliha.[77] The inhabitants, in turn, fled to Lebanon.[76]
In addition, the Mutawali have close links to theSyrian Twelver communitee.[78]
There are approximately 100,000 to 120,000[4]Alawites inLebanon,[79] where they have lived since at least the 16th century.[80] They are recognized as one of the 18 official Lebanese sects, and due to the efforts of an Alawite leaderAli Eid, theTaif Agreement of 1989 gave them two reserved seats in the Parliament. Lebanese Alawites live mostly in the Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood ofTripoli, and in ten villages in theAkkar District,[81][82][83] and are mainly represented by theArab Democratic Party. TheBab al-Tabbaneh–Jabal Mohsen conflict between pro-Syrian Alawites and anti-SyrianLebanese Sunni Muslims have haunted Tripoli for decades.[84]
Isma'ilism, or Sevener Shi'ism, is a branch of Shia Islam whichemerged in 765 from a disagreement over thesuccession to Muhammad. Isma'ilis hold thatIsma'il ibn Ja'far was the seventh imam, notMusa al-Kadhim as Twelvers believe. Isma'ilism also differs doctrinally from Twelver Shi'ism, havingbeliefs and practices that are moreesoteric and maintainingseven pillars of faith rather than the Twelveruṣūl al-dīn andAncillaries of the Faith.
Though perhaps somewhat better established in neighbouring Syria, where the faith founded one of its firstda'wah outposts in the city ofSalamiyah (the supposed resting place of Imam Isma'il) in theeighth century, it has been present in what is now Lebanon for centuries. Early Lebanese Isma'ilism showed perhaps an unusual propensity to foster radical movements within it, particularly in the areas ofWadi al-Taym adjoining theBeqaa valley at the foot ofMount Hermon, andJabal Shuf in the highlands ofMount Lebanon.[85]
The syncretic beliefs of theQarmatians, typically classed as an Isma'ili splinter sect withZoroastrian influences, spread into the area of the Beqaa valley and possibly also Jabal Shuf starting in the 9th century. The group soon became widely vilified in the Islamic world for its armed campaigns across throughout the following decades, which included slaughtering Muslim pilgrims and sacking Mecca and Medina—and Salamiyah. Other Muslim rulers soon acted to crush this powerful heretical movement. In the Levant, the Qarmatians were ordered to be stamped out by theFatimid Caliphate, themselves Isma'ilis, and from whom the lineage of theAga Khan, the head ofNizari Isma'ilism, is claimed to descend. The Qarmatian movement in the Levant was largely extinguished by the turn of the millennium.[85]
The semi-divine personality of the Fatimid caliph in Isma'ilism was elevated further in the doctrines of a secretive group which began to venerate the caliphHakim as the embodiment oftawhid (monotheism). Unsuccessful in the imperial capital ofCairo, they began discreetly proselytising around the year 1017 among certain Arab tribes in the Levant. The Isma'ilis of Wadi al-Taym and Jabal Shuf were among those who converted before the movement was permanently closed off a few decades later to guard against outside prying by mainstream Sunni and Shia Muslims, who often viewed their doctrines as heresy. This deeply esoteric group became known as theDruze, who in belief, practice, and history have long since become distinct from Isma'ilis proper. Druze constitute 5.2% of the modern population of Lebanon and still have a strong demographic presence in their traditional regions within the country to this day.[85]
Due to official persecution by the SunniZengid dynasty that stoked escalating sectarian clashes with Sunnis, many Isma'ilis in the regions ofDamascus andAleppo are said to have fled west during the 12th century. Some settled in the mountains of Lebanon, while others settled further north along theSyrian Coastal Mountain Range,[86] where the Alawites had earlier taken refuge—and where their brethren in theAssassins were cultivating a fearsome reputation as they staved off armies ofCrusaders and Sunnis alike for many years.
Once more numerous and widespread in many areas now part of Lebanon, the Isma'ili population has largely vanished over time. It has been suggested that Ottoman-era persecution might have spurred them to leave for elsewhere in the region, though there is no record or evidence of any large exodus.[87]
Isma'ilis were originally included as one of five officially-defined Muslim sects in a 1936 edict issued by the French Mandate governing religious affairs in the territory ofGreater Lebanon, alongsideSunnis, Twelver Shiites, Alawites, andDruzes. However, Muslims collectively rejected being classified as divided, and so were left out of the law in the end. Ignored in a post-independence law passed in 1951 that defined only Judaism and Christian sects as official, Muslims continued under traditional Ottoman law, within the confines of which small communities like Isma'ilis and Alawites found it difficult to establish their own institutions.[88]
TheAga Khan IV made a brief stop in Beirut on 4 August 1957 while on a global tour of Nizari Isma'ili centres, drawing an estimated 600 Syrian and Lebanese followers of the religion to the Beirut Airport in order to welcome him.[89] In the mid-1980s, several hundred Isma'ilis were thought to still live in a few communities scattered across several parts of Lebanon.[90] Though they are nominally counted among the 18 officially-recognised sects under modern Lebanese law,[91] they currently have no representation in state functions[92] and continue to lackpersonal status laws for their sect, which has led to increased conversions to established sects to avoid the perpetual inconveniences this produces.[93]
War in the region has also caused pressures on Lebanese Isma'ilis. In the2006 Lebanon War, Israeli warplanes bombed the factory of the Maliban Glass company in the Beqaa valley on 19 July. The factory was bought in the late 1960s by theMadhvani Group under the direction of Isma'ili entrepreneur Abdel-Hamid al-Fil after the Aga Khan personally brought the two into contact. It had expanded over the next few decades from an ailing relic to the largest glass manufacturer in the Levant, with 300 locally hired workers producing around 220,000 tons of glass per day. Al-Fil closed the plant down on 15 July just after the war broke out to safeguard against the deaths of workers in the event of such an attack, but the damage was estimated at a steep 55 million US dollars, with the reconstruction timeframe indefinite due to instability and government hesitation.[94]
Lebanese Shiite Muslims are concentrated in south Beirut and its southern suburbs, northern and western area of the Beqaa Valley, as well as Southern Lebanon.[95]
Note that the following percentages are estimates only. However, in a country that had last census in 1932, it is difficult to have correct population estimates.
A census in 1921 put the numbers of Shiites at 17.2% (104,947 of 609,069). The last official census in Lebanon in 1932 put the numbers of Shiites at 19.6% of the population (154,208 of 785,543).[97] A study done by theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1985 put the numbers of Shiites at 41% of the population (919,000 of 2,228,000).[97][98][96] More recently, the CIA World Factbook estimated that Shia Muslims constitute 31.2% of Lebanon's population in 2022.[7]
Between 1921 and 1988, Shiites maintained the highest fertility rate of all communities, contributing to a rapid increase from 17% to 32%.[99]
| Year | Shiite Population | Total Lebanese Population | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1921 | 104,947 | 609,069 | 17.2% |
| 1932 | 154,208 | 785,543 | 19.6% |
| 1956 | 250,605 | 1,407,868 | 17.8% |
| 1975 | 668,500 | 2,550,000 | 26.2% |
| 1988 | 1,325,499 | 4,044,784 | 32.8% |
| 2022 | 1,652,600 | 5,296,814 | 31.2% |
A 2020 study published inAmerican Journal of Human Genetics which analyzed ancient human remains from the region, found that there is substantial genetic continuity in theLevant since theBronze Age (3300–1200 BC) interrupted by three significant admixture events during theIron Age,Hellenistic, andOttoman period, each contributing 3%–11% of non-local ancestry to the local population. The admixtures were tied to theSea Peoples,South/Central Asians andOttoman Turks respectively.[103] Genetic studies have shown that there are no significant genetic differences between Lebanese Muslims and non-Muslims.[104]
Genetic studies on Lebanese people have shown that the most commonY-DNAHaplogroups among Lebanese Shiites wereJ2 (26.5%),J1 (23%) andE1b1b (18%).[105][104][106] Although haplogroup J1 is most frequent inArabian peninsula, studies have shown that it has been present in the Levant since the Bronze Age[107][108] and only expanded later intoArabia.[109] Other haplogroups present among Lebanese Shia includeG-M201,R1b, andT-L206 occurring at smaller but significant rates.[106]
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متوال mutawālin successive, consecutive, uninterrupted, incessant; -- (pl. متاولة matāwila) member of the Shiite sect of Metualis in Syria
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)The Alawites have been present in modern-day Lebanon since the 16th century and are estimated to number 100,000 today, mostly in Akkar and Tripoli.
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1 TheLebanese people has the most religious diversity of all peoples in theMiddle East, comprising 18 recognized religious sects recognized by theConstitution of Lebanon. 2 Under the terms of theConstitution of Lebanon, the Druze community is designated as a part of the Lebanese Muslim community. | |||||||
