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- Jewish Virtual Library - The Druze in Israel: History and Overview
- International Fellowship of Christians and Jews - Who Are the Druze?
- Harvard Divinity School - Religion and Public Life - Druze in Syria
- Frontiers - The development of the status of Druze women in the 21st century
- Nature - Scientific Reports - Reconstructing Druze population history
- Joshua Project - Druze
- Minority Rights Group - Druze in Syria
Druze
Where do most Druze live?
MostDruze live in a largely contiguous section ofLebanon,Syria, andIsrael, with smaller communities present in other countries. The Druze have been politically influential in both Lebanon and Syria, while in Israeli society the community has played a unique role as Arabs who are generally very loyal to the state.
What is the origin of the Druze faith?
TheDruze faith originated in 11th-centuryEgypt as an offshoot ofIsmaʿīlī Shiʿism during the reign of the sixthFatimid caliph,al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh. The movement was persecuted under al-Ḥākim’s successor and in Egypt it eventually died out, but the community survived in mountainous areas ofSyria andLebanon.
Who was a prominent Druze leader in Lebanon’s history?
What was the role of Druze soldiers during the Crusades?
How are Druze in Israel unique?
TheDruze inIsrael are unique among theArab communities in Israel because of their loyalty to the state and participation in theIsrael Defense Forces (IDF). Arab Muslim and Christian communities in Israel often identify with the Palestinian national movement and are exempted from participation in the IDF.
Druze, smallMiddle Eastern religious sect characterized by aneclectic system of doctrines and by a cohesion and loyalty among its (at times politically significant) members that have enabled them to maintain for centuries their close-knit identity and distinctivefaith. The Druze numbered more than 1,000,000 in the early 21st century and live mostly inLebanon,Syria, andIsrael, with smallercommunities in other countries. They call themselvesmuwaḥḥidūn (“unitarians”).
Origins and practices
The Druze faith originated inEgyptas an offshoot ofIsmaʿīlī Shiʿism when, during the reign of the sixthFatimid caliph, theeccentrical-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh (ruled 996–1021), some Ismaʿīlī theologians began to organize a movement proclaiming al-Ḥākim a divine figure. Although the idea was probably encouraged by al-Ḥākim himself, it was condemned asheresy by the Fatimid religious establishment, which held that al-Ḥākim and his predecessors were divinely appointed but not themselves divine. In 1017 the doctrine was publicly preached for the first time, causing riots inCairo.
There was also conflict within the emerging movement as the leading proponent of the doctrine of al-Ḥākim’s divinity,Ḥamzah ibn ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al-Zūzanī, found himself competing for authority and followers with a formerdisciple,Muḥammad al-Darāzī. Ḥamzah seems to have been favored by al-Ḥākim, however, and al-Darāzī was declared anapostate within the movement and later disappeared (it is believed that al-Ḥākim ordered him killed). In spite of al-Darāzī’s death, outsiders continued to attach his name to the movement asal-Darāziyyah andal-Durūz.
Al-Ḥākim disappeared mysteriously in 1021, and the movement was persecuted under his successor, al-Zāḥir. Ḥamzah went into hiding, leaving the Druze to be led byal-Muqtanā Bahāʾ al-Dīn (also called al-Samūqī), with whom he seems to have remained in contact for a period of time. The Druze faith gradually died out inEgypt but survived in isolated areas ofSyria andLebanon, where missionaries had established significant communities. Al-Muqtanā withdrew from public life in 1037 but continued to write pastoral letters elaborating Druze doctrine until 1043. At that point, proselytism ended, and the Druze ceased to recognize conversions to the faith.
The Druze still do not permit conversion, either away from or to theirreligion. Marriage outside the Druze faith is rare and is strongly discouraged. Many Druze religious practices are kept secret, even from thecommunity as a whole. Only an elite of initiates, known asʿuqqāl (“knowers”), participate fully in their religious services and have access to the secret teachings of the scriptures,Al-Ḥikmah al-sharīfah.
History and social relations
Despite the small size of their community, the Druze have figured prominently inMiddle Eastern history. During theCrusades, Druze soldiers aided theAyyubid and laterMamluk forces by resisting Crusader advances at the Lebanese coast. The Druze enjoyed considerableautonomy under theOttoman Empire and often rebelled against it, protected from direct Ottoman control by the mountainous terrain of their homelands. From the 16th to the 19th century, a series of powerful feudal lords dominated Druze political life. One of the most famous of them was the 17th-century rulerFakhr al-Dīn II of the house of Maʿn, who forged a coalition with theMaronite Christians of theLebanon Mountains and challenged Ottoman authority by allying withTuscany.
The Druze in Lebanon
The largest concentration of Druze in the present day is inLebanon. The communities are located along the western edges of the Lebanon Mountains as well as in the southeastern portion of the country, and the total Druze population numbers nearly 300,000 in the early 2020s. The Druze have wielded significant political power in the country since its independence.Kamal Jumblatt, a prominent Druze leader, enjoyed broad appeal through hischarisma. His opposition toCamille Chamoun, including instigating an uprising against him in 1958, also helped earn him widespread respect amongArab nationalists. Jumblatt was given several cabinet posts throughout his political career; he was appointed minister of the interior because his pull with various communities put him in a unique position to manage the internal affairs of the country.
After Jumblatt’s assassination in 1977, his sonWalid took over the political leadership of the Druze community in Lebanon. Like his father, he was often placed in the position of kingmaker in the country. His opposition to Syrian interference in Lebanon tended to give him a markedly pro-Western orientation. In 2011, however, he backed the pro-SyrianHezbollah in Lebanon’s political crisis. In so doing, he indicated his dedication for Arabunity over either pro-Western or pro-Syrian orientations.
Competing with the Jumblatts in leadership of the Druze has been the Arslan family, often found on the opposite side of Lebanese politics. Majid Arslan, who served as minister of defense under Camille Chamoun, was the rival of Kamal Jumblatt. Moreover, unlike the Jumblatts, the Arslans have enjoyed strong relations withSyria. Nonetheless, despite their rivalry, the two families have at times put their differences aside and formed alliances to protect their common interests.
The Druze in Syria
WhileLebanon has the largest concentration of Druze, the much larger country ofSyria has the largest total population of Druze—more than 700,000 in the early 2020s. Most of the Druze in Syria arrived from Lebanon in the 18th century and settled aroundSweida (Al-Suwaydāʾ) in the region ofJabal Al-Durūz (the Druze Mountain), where the vast majority of Druze in Syria continue to live today. In 1925 Druze leaderSulṭān al-Aṭrash led arevolt against French rule. After local success, Syrian nationalists outside the Druze community joined the revolt, and the rebellion spread throughout the region and into Damascus before it was suppressed in 1927. Among Syrians, this revolt is remembered as the nation’s first nationalist uprising.
The Druze remained politicallysalient figures for decades to come. AnotherDruze revolt led to a national uprising and the overthrow of Pres.Adib al-Shishakli in 1954. Moreover, the son of Sulṭān al-Aṭrash, Manṣūr al-Aṭrash, became one of the founding members of the SyrianBaʿath Party. He later served briefly as a parliamentary speaker in 1965 until his arrest in 1966.
Dozens of local Druze militias formed amid the turmoil of theSyrian Civil War. AfterAhmed al-Sharaa, a SunniIslamist leader, took control of the country in late 2024 and pushed for local militias to disarm, Druze militias in Sweida and Jaramana (nearDamascus)coalesced into four coalitions: Men of Dignity, Sweida Military Council (SMC), Liwāʾ al-Jabal, and Jaramana Shield Brigade. While some Druze leaders supported coordination between the militias and government forces, the leaders were generally hesitant to disarm the militias without strong guarantees of political participation in and protection by Sharaa’s government, particularly amid the government’s inability to prevent attacks on the community.
- Also spelled:
- Druse
- Arabic plural:
- Durūz
- Singular:
- Darazī
- On the Web:
- Jewish Virtual Library - The Druze in Israel: History and Overview (Feb. 10, 2026)
The Druze in Israel
Israel also has a sizeable community of Druze—about 140,000, located entirely in the northern portions of the country. The Druze are unique among the Arab communities in Israel, known for their loyalty to the state. (That excludes the Druze of the Israeli-occupiedGolan Heights, who are legally entitled to either Syrian or Israeli citizenship and usually consider themselves citizens of Syria.) After theSunni leadership inJerusalem threatened in 1942 to take control of the tomb ofJethro (called Shuʿayb by the Druze) inTiberias, the Druze sided with Jewish forces in the 1948 war. Druze soldiers have since fought for Israel in everyArab-Israeli war. They are the only Arab group conscripted into theIsrael Defense Forces, and they participate in Israel’s border security and diplomatic corps. In July 2018, when the IsraeliKnesset enacted a law withconstitutional weight that enshrinedIsrael as a Jewish state, the Druze led the backlash; they claimed the law made them second-class citizens and was a betrayal to their dedication and service to the country.