The Druses are a smaller sect numbering probably not more than 100,000,
possibly less, and occupying the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon in touch with
the Maronites. They are found as far north as Beirut and as far south
as Tyre, extending even to Damascus. Their chief town is Deir-el-Kamor,
about fifteen miles southeast of Beirut. They are decidedly a mixed
race with the blood of the Crusaders mingling with that of native
and invading peoples. They are a people of an unusually high order
of intelligence and outward refinement. They are an offshoot of the
Mohammedans through the fanatical, if not insane, leadership of one of
the caliphs of Egypt who began to reign in 996. One Darazi who made
known the claims of the caliph to divine incarnation led these people
into the mountains of Lebanon and is supposed to have given them his
own name.
They believe in one God and in a fixed number of human souls that can
never be increased or diminished. This resemblance to the religions of
India is probably due to Persian teaching. They recognize the claims
upon them of no other religion, and yet with manifest indifference
they join in the prayers of the Mohammedans in their mosques and
sprinkle the holy water of the Catholic Church with the Maronites,
according as expediency may require. They have seven commandments:
1. Speaking the truth (only between Druses, however).
2. Combination for mutual defense.
3. Renunciation of all other creeds.
4. Social separation from all who are in error.
5. Recognition of the unity of Hakim with God.
6. Complete resignation of the will.
7. Obedience to orders.
They believe in free will and reject the fatalism of the Mohammedans.
When the Mohammedans inaugurated the massacre of the Maronites to check
their growing strength under Christian enlightenment, the Druses joined
with the Turks as the enemies of Christianity. It was this massacre
which led to the intervention of Europe, resulting in the exclusion of
Turkish officials from the Lebanon and the establishment of a special
government for that district with a Roman Catholic governor and a
mixed council under a constitution drawn by the European Powers. This
has made a great change in the Lebanon, affording the people of that
vilayet larger freedom of action and greater exemption from Turkish
persecution than are enjoyed in any other part of the Turkish empire.
The Druses and Maronites live on terms of harmony. They are a brave,
fine-looking and enterprising people, living mostly by agriculture.