Having dwelt at some length upon the several bodies of Christian inhabitants of Syria, I must entreat my readers’ pardon if I endeavour to make my description of the unbelieving portion as brief and condensed as possible. Of course, I need not advert to the Mahommedans, the faithful followers of the Prophet. As I have stated before, they comprise by far the largest proportion of the inhabitants of the towns and lowlands of Syria, and are lords and masters over the rest of the population.
But, besides the orthodox Mahommedans, we have in Syria a very large number of heterodox followers of the Mahommedan faith, who are called Metáwali; and who, though they are certainly less numerous than their orthodox brethren, are an infinitely more interesting people. They are followers of Ali, the other sect adhering to Omar. They may amount, in round numbers, to about 35,000; but as they have selected for their homes some of the most inaccessible parts of the mountainous districts of the country, their numbers cannot be very accurately ascertained. They are said, by many persons, to belong to the same section of the Mahommedan faith as the Persians, who also believe in Ali; but they exhibit some peculiar doctrines and customs, which establish an essential distinction between the two.
Like the former, they expect the advent of the Messiah in the person of the twelfth Imam of his line, whom the Turks allege to have been slain in the battle of Karbela in which he engaged with the Caliph of Bagdad; but whom the Metáwali believe to have been transported to Arabia, by the miraculous interposition of the Divinity, and from whence he is to return in triumph to re-establish the race of the Imams on the throne, and to punish all who opposed him or his followers. When the expected Messiah does appear, they believe that he will assume the government of the whole world—that he will visit with the most dreadful punishments all who shall have denied him—and that he will render unto all true believers eternal happiness.
In expectation of the advent of this Messiah, the Metáwali keep horses, money, and clothing constantly in readiness for his arrival; and whatever is once set apart for this purpose, is held sacred for ever after, and cannot be used by an ordinary mortal. [318]
They believe in the transmigration and gradual purification of the soul, which, according to their belief, eventually becomes a bright star in the heavenly firmament.
The first apostle of Ali, in Syria, was Abou-Abdallah-Mohammed, who was most successful in making converts, but, having excited the envy and hatred of some of the chief people in Damascus, he was imprisoned and burned to death as an infidel and blasphemer. From this circumstance he has been styled the first martyr.
Though the first apostle of the new faith was thus summarily extinguished, the light of his doctrines was not smothered with him, and it may be considered certain that the manner of his death was mainly the cause of the rapidity with which they spread over the country immediately afterwards. As is generally the case, persecution lent strength and vitality to the cause, and many sought the honour of a martyrdom similar to that which had befallen Abou-Abdallah-Mohammed. However, the faster the new religion spread, the greater activity did the Orthodox authorities develop in putting it down. Priest after priest was being drawn and quartered, hundreds of men, women, and children were butchered or buried alive, to gratify the atrocious passions of an ignorant people, and still more barbarous government. Nevertheless, the new faith prospered, and the Metáwali began to assume a position of influence and power in the country; but after numerous vicissitudes, the butcher Djezzar, who had been made governor of Syria, succeeded by cunning and treachery in prostrating their power, and destroying their strongholds. Thousands of them were executed by his orders, and even under his eye, and, like Mehemet Ali, who watched the destruction of the Mamelukes, so did Ahmed Djezzar amuse himself by watching the death struggles of hundreds of the Metáwali who had been hurled from the battlements of Nabatieh into the Kasmich.
Under persecutions like these, the strong arm of the authorities, aided by the passions of a fanatical body combining together against them, the Metáwali gradually lessened in numbers, and consequently lost the influential and powerful position they were beginning to acquire. Politically this sect may now be said to be prostrate, but they cherish the memories of those of their forefathers who fell in the defence of their religious independence, and many an evening’s hour is passed by the people listening in rapt attention to the numerous anecdotes of the firmness, the courage, and the devotedness of the martyrs for their faith.
The localities they live in entails habits and customs which naturally tend to rear a hardy and courageous race. Their method of living is simple in the extreme; but, though the stranger who may visit their mountain-villages is sure of the greatest hospitality, it is nevertheless, of a peculiar character. They never admit within their dwellings any person who does not belong to their own persuasion, nor do they allow any one but a Metáwali to use their furniture or domestic utensils. Should a Frank or a Jew by accident touch a mat or a pot belonging to them, it is instantly cast away as defiled and unclean. To receive the wandering stranger there is erected in every village, a house for the purpose, in which the visitor is ever most bountifully provided for. Strange to say, however, their dislike to contact with others, extends no further than their own dwellings. In the open air, or in a house belonging to a person of a different persuasion, they are alike indifferent to the presence of Christian or Jew, conversing and associating with them as freely as they zealously avoid permitting them to enter their own dwellings. They are an exceedingly clean people, never sitting down to a meal without having performed their ablutions.
It is owing, perhaps to the paucity of their numbers, but still more, I think, to the gradual decline of the power of the Maronite, that the Metáwali exist untroubled in their mountain fastnesses. But should any attempt be made by any government, or by any other religious body in the East, to wrong or subjugate them, I am convinced that they would not submit without a very severe struggle, in which their native ferocity would once more appear on the surface, to their own disadvantage, perhaps, but still more to that of their enemy.