A good deal has been written respecting the Druses, who are the most curious, and least known section of the population of Syria. The cause of the ignorance which prevails concerning them, and which I am unable to dispel will be seen in the following account of this interesting and courageous people.
I have been told that several learned men have, at different times, diligently endeavoured to acquire a thorough insight into the religious theories possessed by the Druses, but I have never yet met with any author who has given an explanation or description of them, satisfactorily to his readers. Where others, whom I have been taught to respect and revere, have failed, I hesitate to make the attempt, knowing that I shall be unsuccessful. In point of fact, the great mystery which surrounds the religion of the Druses is, I fear, a mystery even to themselves, a shadowy outline, which the initiated are told they understand, and which the uninitiated worship in the depth of their ignorance.
The Druses inhabit the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, or rather the southern portions of the mountain, in which they possess a great deal of land and villages;
but they are also mixed up with the Maronite and other Christian populations of more than two hundred other villages. They are divided into two classes; the initiated into the mysteries of their religion are called Akkals, and the uninitiated are called Djahils. Both sexes are alike eligible for initiation among the Akkals; in this respect there is that perfect equality for the female sex, which I so often hear some of my fair friends in England sighing for. But the woman who is a Akkaliah may not marry a Djahil. There is an easy remedy for this, however, since I am told that initiation may be effected on very short notice and without expense or examinations. Every Thursday the Akkals meet in Khalueh, a temple, or building, erected expressly for the purpose, and in which their religious books, their war trophies, and standards are kept. Here they sit talking of politics, or reading religious books, and when the general discussions are concluded, the majority go away, leaving only the highest in social rank to discuss the interests of the tribe with the priests. The chief priest, or as I take the liberty of calling him, their great mystery-man, lives at Bakleen, whence he rules over the whole body. As I have said previously, the nature of their religious belief is a mystery. It is neither Christian nor Jewish, nor Mahommedan nor Pagan. They believe in the unity of God, and in the transmigration of souls, but while they themselves profess to be Mahommedans, they exhibit in their social customs as well as in their features, many points of resemblance with the Jews, and they have no hesitation whatever in denouncing Mahommed as a false prophet, and in disregarding the most sacred festivals of the Moslem faith.
Though so little is known of their present religion,
it has been tolerably well ascertained that it was founded by one Darazi, who about the middle of the eleventh century traversed Syria, preaching the doctrine that the real Caliph Hakeem was the incarnation of God, and the most perfect manifestation of the Deity. Name and strength was, however, first given to the new creed by one Hamza, who denounced Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Mahommed as impostors, and declared himself to be the incarnation of the spirit of universal intelligence. In his creed, he either forgot or wilfully omitted all notice of a future state of existence. Since that period, this peculiar faith has gained many proselytes; and the Druses are now, next to the Maronites, the most numerous religious body in Lebanon who are not Mahommedans.
Leaving their mysterious creed, to deal with the people themselves, I may state, that they are easily distinguished by their features, being, generally speaking, muscular, well-made men, active and middle-sized, and enabled to undergo great fatigue. Their courage is not to be daunted. The women are generally very handsome, with tall, slim figures, black hair, and beautiful blue eyes. The disposition of the men is a strange mixture of open-hearted hospitality and morose vindictiveness; but they are strictly honourable, and have never been known to break a promise. In all their transactions they deal uprightly with one another; but this cannot be said to be the case when they transact business with others: their creed admits of their practising imposition upon infidels to their own faith.
I have already observed, that there exists a great resemblance between the ancient Scottish clans and the mountaineers of the Lebanon. In support of this, I cannot do better than to quote what Volney says,
when speaking of the Druses:—“As soon as the emir and sheikhs had determined on war at Deyr al Kamar, criers went up at night to the summit of the cliffs, and cried aloud, ‘To war, to war! Take your guns, take your pistols! Noble sheikhs, mount your horses; arm yourselves with the lance and the sabre: meet to-morrow at Deyr al Kamar. Zeal of God! zeal of combat!’ This summons, heard in the neighbouring villages,” continues the same author, “was repeated there; and as the whole country is nothing but a chain of lofty mountains and deep valleys, the proclamation passed through its length and breadth in a few hours. These cries, from the stillness of the night, the long-resounding echoes, and the nature of the subject, had something awful and terrible in their effect. Three days after, fifteen thousand men were assembled at Deyr al Kamar, and operations might have been immediately commenced.”
To strengthen their respective clans, is the Druses’ main object through life; and to effect this, they almost invariably marry amongst themselves—preferring their own relations with poverty, to the richest dowry with a foreigner. Their creed admits of but one wife; but they allow of divorces. If a Druse says to his wife, “Go to your father’s house,” and does not say to her, “Come back,” it is considered a divorce. Their jealousy far outstrips the Mussulman’s: any conjugal infidelity is certain of being requited by death: no intercession, however powerful, can avail aught in these cases; even where fathers have made intercession, brothers have become the executioners of their own sisters. Any man can divorce his wife upon paying a certain sum; but divorces are of very rare occurrence.