 Maqam Ain al-Zaman: The headquarters of the Druze community in Syria | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 700,000[1] | |
| Languages | |
| Arabic | |
| Religion | |
| Druze |
TheDruze faith is the third-largest religion inSyria with 2010 results recording that their adherents made up 3.2 percent of the population.[2][3] The Druze are concentrated in the rural, mountainous areas east and south ofDamascus in the area ofMount Druze.[4]
The Druze faith is amonotheistic andAbrahamic religion.[5][6][7][8][9][10] Syria has the largest Druze population in the world.[11] Many Syrian Druze have been living abroad for centuries, particularly inVenezuela.[12]
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(August 2023) |
TheDruze faith is anAbrahamicmonotheistic religion that is agnostic offshoot andNeoplatonist sect ofIsma'ilism, a branch ofShia Islam. The Druze evolved from Islam and now are an independent religion.[7]
Historically, the relationship between theDruze andMuslims has been characterized by intensepersecution of the Druze.[13][14][15] The Druze faith is often classified as a branch ofIsma'ili. Even though the faith originally developed out ofIsmaili Islam, most Druze do not identify asMuslims.[7][8][16] The Druze follow abatini or esoteric interpretation of theFive Pillars of Islam: thus, they do not accept fasting during the month of Ramadan, making apilgrimage toMecca, or acceptingMuhammad as a prophet of God.[17] The Druze have frequently experienced persecution by different Muslim regimes such as theShiaFatimid Caliphate,[18]SunniAyyubid Sultanate,Mamluk Sultanate,Ottoman Empire,[19] andEgypt Eyalet.[20][21] The persecution of the Druze includedmassacres, demolishing Druze prayer houses and holy places andforced conversion toIslam.[22] According to the Druze narrative, those were no ordinary killings, but attempts to eradicate the whole community.[23] Since they do not fast during the month ofRamadan or makepilgrimages to Mecca, they are not regarded by Muslims as Islamic.[24]
The Druze follow a lifestyle of isolation where no conversion is allowed, neither out of nor into, the religion. When Druze live among people of other religions, they try to blend in, in order to protect their religion and their own safety.[citation needed] They can pray as Muslims, or as Christians, depending on where they are. This system is apparently changing in modern times, where more security has allowed Druze to be more open about their religious belonging.[25]
TheTanukhids inaugurated the Druze community in Syria when most of them accepted and adopted the new message that was being preached in the 11th century, due to their leadership's close ties withFatimid caliphal-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.[26]
The Druze community in Syria played an important role in the formation of the modern state of Syria, and even though they are a minority they play an important role in the Syrian political scene.
In Syria, most Druze live in theJabal al-Druze, a rugged and mountainous region in the southwest of the country, which is more than 90 percent Druze inhabited; some 120 villages are exclusively so.[27][page needed] TheYaman were defeated by theQays at theBattle of Ain Dara in Lebanon, which led to the Druze settling in the area.[28] Other notable communities live in theHarim Mountains, the Damascus suburb ofJaramana, and on the southeast slopes ofMount Hermon. A large Syrian Druze community historically lived in theGolan Heights, but following wars with Israel in1967 and1973, many of these Druze fled to other parts of Syria; most of those who remained live in a handful of villages in the disputed zone, while only a few live in the narrow remnant ofQuneitra Governorate that is still under effective Syrian control.
The Druze always played a far more important role in Syrian politics than its comparatively small population would suggest. With a community of little more than 100,000 in 1949 or roughly three percent of the Syrian population, the Druze of Syria's southwestern mountains constituted a potent force in Syrian politics and played a leading role in the nationalist struggle against the French. Under the military leadership ofSultan al-Atrash, the Druze provided much of the military force behind theGreat Syrian Revolt of 1925–27. In 1945, Amir Hasan al-Atrash, the paramount political leader of theJabal Druze State, led the Druze military units in a successful revolt against the French, making the Jebel al-Druze the first and only region in Syria to liberate itself from French rule without British assistance. At independence, the Druze made confident by their successes, expected that Damascus would reward them for their many sacrifices on the battlefield. They demanded to keep their autonomous administration and many political privileges accorded them by the French and sought generous economic assistance from the newly independent government.[27][page needed]
When a local paper in 1945 reported that PresidentShukri al-Quwatli (1943–49) had called the Druzes a "dangerous minority", Sultan Pasha al-Atrash flew into a rage and demanded a public retraction. If it were not forthcoming, he announced, the Druzes would indeed become "dangerous" and a force of 4,000 Druze warriors would "occupy the city of Damascus." Quwatli could not dismiss Sultan Pasha's threat. The military balance of power in Syria was tilted in favor of the Druzes, at least until the military builds up during the 1948 War in Palestine. One advisor to the Syrian Defense Department warned in 1946 that the Syrian army was "useless", and that the Druzes could "take Damascus and capture the present leaders in a breeze."[27][page needed]
During the four years ofAdib Shishakli's rule in Syria (December 1949 to February 1954) (on 25 August 1952: Shishakli created theArab Liberation Movement (ALM), a progressive party withpan-Arabist and socialist views),[29] the Druze community was subjected to a heavy attack by the Syrian government. Shishakli believed that among his many opponents in Syria, the Druzes were the most potentially dangerous, and he was determined to crush them. He frequently proclaimed: "My enemies are like a serpent: the head is the Jebel al-Druze, the stomachHoms, and the tail Aleppo. If I crush the head the serpent will die." Shishakli dispatched 10,000 regular troops to occupy the Jebel al-Druze. Several towns were bombarded with heavy weapons, killing scores of civilians and destroying many houses. According to Druze accounts, Shishakli encouraged neighboringBedouin tribes to plunder the defenseless population and allowed his own troops to run amok.[27][page needed]
Shishakli launched a campaign to defame the Druzes for their religion and politics. He accused the entire community of treason, at times claiming they were agents of the British andHashemites, at others that they were fighting for Israel against the Arabs. He even produced a cache of Israeli weapons allegedly discovered in the Jabal. Even more painful for the Druze community was his publication of "falsified Druze religious texts" and false testimonials ascribed to leading Druze sheikhs designed to stir up sectarian hatred. This propaganda also was broadcast in the Arab world, mainly Egypt. Shishakli was assassinated in Brazil on 27 September 1964 by a Druze seeking revenge for Shishakli's bombardment of the Jebel al-Druze.[27][page needed]
He forcibly integrated minorities into the national Syrian social structure; his "Syrianization" ofAlawi and Druze territories had to be accomplished in part using violence. To this end, al-Shishakli encouraged the stigmatization of minorities. He saw minority demands as tantamount to treason. His increasingly chauvinistic notions ofArab nationalism were predicated on the denial that "minorities" existed in Syria.[30][page needed]
After the Shishakli's military campaign, the Druze community lost a lot of its political influence, but many Druze military officers played an important role when it came to theBa'ath government previously ruling Syria.[27][page needed]
In 1967, a community ofDruze in the Golan Heights came under Israeli control, today about 150,000 strong.[31]
TheQalb Loze massacre was a reported massacre of 20–24 SyrianDruze on 10 June 2015 in the village of Qalb Loze in Syria's northwestern Idlib Governorate.
On 25 July, 2018, a group ofIslamic State-affiliated attackers entered the Druze city ofas-Suwayda and initiated a series of gunfights and suicide bombings on its streets killing at least 258 people, the vast majority of them civilians.
Following thefall of the Assad regime, news were shared on social media to claim that the Druze population living inHader, Quneitra Governorate of wishing to be under Israeli rule. This information, based on a non-verified video showing one individual expressing his opinion in a public gathering, has been repeated by mainstream media.[32] The local leaders recorded a collective announcement on December 13, 2024, to deny these allegations and to denounce the Israeli occupation of their village.[33][unreliable source?] Syrian Druze leader SheikhHikmat al-Hijri denounced theIsraeli invasion of Syria, stressing the need to maintain support for Syria's "social and territorial unity".[34]
In December 2024, the Druze formed theSuwayda Military Council (SMC) in response to growing security concerns after the fall of the Assad regime.[35]
On 14 March, 2025, a hundred Druze sheikhs arrived from Syria toIsrael for a historic visit to a Druze prophet's shrine.[36][37]
In late March, Syrian Druze clericYoussef Jarbou has stated that the Druze community shares a "harmonic" relationship with the Kurdish-ledRojava. This includes a "significant alignment" of "demands and efforts", and that the Druze and Kurdish communities have a "shared political vision, particularly regarding Syria’s future". He also believed that the2025 Interim Constitution drafted by theSyrian caretaker government "does not rise up to the aspirations of the Syrian people", and that he sees the newly-establishedtransitional government as "monopolized by one group" and creates fears for a "non-participatory state".[38]
Between late April and early May 2025, there wereviolent clashes between local Druze communities and Syrian government forces in parts of southern Syria.[39]
On 11 July 2025, newa series of clashes between Bedouin and Druze of armed groups began in the Suwayda governate. According to the UK-basedSyrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 1,120 Druze were killed in the clash, 194 of whom were "executed" by "defence and interior ministry personnel."[40] That same non-governmental monitor reported that 354 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin were killed in the conflict, with three executed by Druze fighters, and an additional 15 government troops killed by Israeli airstrikes. According to theUnited Nations migration agency, 128,000 people were displace by the conflict.[41] Videos shared onsocial media, as well as reports to and documented by theOffice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights andBBC News, showed violence committed against civilian Druze population from the government, as well as from Bedouin forces, including unarmed civilians being shot and houses being torched.[41][42][43] Following these, the Syrian Armed Forces and the General Security Service were dispatched to the region. The Israeli Airforce was also reported in the area during the conflict.[44] On July 15 and 16 agreements on the integration of the Suwayda governate into the Syrian state were announced.[45] Following further clashes between Syrian Government forces and Druze, as well as Israeli Airstrikes in Damascus, a withdrawal of the Syrian Armed Forces from the region was announced.[46][47]
On 23 August 2025, following the conflict with the Syrian transitional government, multiple Druze factions underHikmat al-Hijri formed theNational Guard of Suwayda to coordinate military and security efforts in the governorate.[48]
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According to scholar Colbert C. Held ofUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln, the number of Druze people worldwide is around one million, with about 45% to 50% living in Syria, 35% to 40% living in Lebanon, and less than 10% living in Israel; recently there has been a growing Druze diaspora.[49] The Syrian Druze are Arabic in language andculture, and their mother tongue isArabic. TheDruze Arabic dialect, especially in the rural areas, is often different from the otherregional Syrian Arabic dialects. Druze Arabic dialect is distinguished from others by retention of the phoneme /qāf/.[50] The use of/q/ by Druze is particularly prominent in the mountains and less so in urban areas.
The Druze are concentrated in the rural, mountainous areas east and south ofDamascus in the area known officially as Jabal al-Druze. The Syrian Druze are estimated to constitute 3.2% of Syria's population of approximately 23 million, which means they amount to between 700 and 736 thousand people.[51][3]
Before theSyrian civil war, it's been estimated that around 700,000 Druze were living in Syria in 2010, or around 3% of the Syrian population.[4] Around 337,500 Druze lived inAs-Suwayda Governorate (or 48.2% of total Syrian Druze), the only governorate in Syria that has a Druze majority (around 90%).[52] While 250,000 Druze (or 35.7%) lived inDamascus and its outskirts (such asJaramana,Sahnaya, andJdeidat Artouz), and around 30,000 Druze lived in the east side ofMount Hermon, and around 25,000 Druze lived in 14 villages inJabal al-Summaq inIdlib Governorate.[4]
There are many Syrian Druze also living abroad, particularly inLatin America, who have been living there for over the past hundred years.[12] InVenezuela, there are approximately 60,000 Druze of Syrian origin.[53]
By one estimate made by Elisabet Granli fromUniversity of Oslo, around 1,920 SyrianDruze converted to Christianity;[54] according to the same study, Druze converts toChristianity still regard themselves asDruze,[54] and they claim that there is no contradiction between being Druze and beingChristian.[54]
[Druze] often they are not regarded as being Muslim at all, nor do all the Druze consider themselves as Muslim
Most Druze do not consider themselves Muslim. Historically they faced much persecution and keep their religious beliefs secrets.
While they appear parallel to those of normative Islam, in the Druze religion they are different in meaning and interpretation. The religion is considered distinct from the Ismaili as well as from other Muslims belief and practice... Most Druze consider themselves fully assimilated in American society and do not necessarily identify as Muslims..
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..
Some Muslim rulers and jurists have advocated the persecution of members of the Druze Movement beginning with the seventh Fatimi Caliph Al-Zahir, in 1022. A recurring period of persecutions in subsequent centuries ... failure to elucidate their beliefs and practices, have contributed to the ambiguous relationship between Muslims and Druzes
Historically, Islam classified Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians as protected "People of the Book," a secondary status subject to payment of a poll tax. Nevertheless, Zoroastrians suffered significant persecution. Other religions such as the Alawites, Alevis, and Druze often suffered more.
the Druze religion, though originating from the Isma'lliyya, an extreme branch of the Shia, seceded completely from Islam and has, therefore, experienced periods of persecution by the latter.
While they appear parallel to those of normative Islam, in the Druze religion they are different in meaning and interpretation. The religion is considered distinct from the Ismaili as well as from other Muslim's belief and practice... Most Druze consider themselves fully assimilated in American society and do not necessarily identify as Muslims..
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..
With the succession of al-Zahir to the Fatimid caliphate a mass persecution (known by the Druze as the period of themihna) of the Muwaḥḥidūn was instigated ...
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)Worldwide, they number 1 million or so, with about 45 to 50 percent in Syria, 35 to 40 percent in Lebanon, and less than 10 percent in Israel. Recently there has been a growing Druze diaspora.
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