The Druze experience … an opportunity for everyone to save Syria

I have been following the rapidly developing events in my beloved Syria over the past four days with a heavy heart, especially concerned by the events unfolding in the south, where my family’s branches stretch across no fewer than 10 villages and towns. In my academic journey, I have studied the dynamics of integration and divergence in the Druze community during the last half-century of the Ottoman era, from the northwestern edge of Syria near the borders of Alexandretta to Mount Carmel in Palestine and the Azraq Oasis in northern Jordan.

This Druze community is more than 1,000 years old. It has survived the massive shifts that have unfolded in the region over this period: the succession of states, the rise of religious and sectarian groups and movements (some moderate, others extremist), several major wars, and various forms of colonization and occupation. Sensible decision-making is a pillar of this small, inward-looking community’s resilience. The Druze have endured because of their realism, contentment, dedication to intra-communal solidarity, and commitment to the truth and safeguarding brotherhood.

Even the major powers that have nothing in common with the Druze (neither sectarian nor ethnic), whose doctrine grew out of Fatimid Ismaili Shiism, eventually understood that they had a vested interest in accommodating and respecting the community’s priorities and concerns.

Following the initial Ismaili schism that ended the sect’s presence in Egypt, the Druze managed to find a place for themselves in the Levant. After the Sunni Ayyubid state replaced Fatimid rule in Egypt in 1250, it saw the utility of allying with the Druze for defending the Levant and Palestine from Crusader campaigns.

This pragmatism that transcended sectarian differences was sustained. The small sect, whose members are known as “Banu Maruf,” maintained its alliance with the non-Arab Sunni empires (the Mamluks and the Ottomans) that ruled the region in the centuries that followed. Indeed, they remained partners of the Ottomans until the First World War, after which the empire was replaced with foreign mandates and then independent states.

The point, here, is that the Druze are not alien to the Arabs, Islam or the Levant. Even when they were offered a state of their own under the French Mandate, they chose to reject it, insisting on remaining an inseparable part of the larger Arab polity that includes all the regions in which Druze communities had a presence.

These facts of geography and national and religious identity must be recognized by anyone who seeks to safeguard Syria’s territorial integrity, unity and future. Otherwise, they will be swept away into the abyss of treason, excommunication and bloodshed.

Watching the protest in Homs a few days ago, in which ignorant and unhinged mobs chanted that they “want to exterminate the Alawites … to exterminate the Druze” was painful.

It hurt because genocide is a criminal act that has no place in an ancient homeland striving to get back on its feet and build bridges, rather than raising walls of separation. Settling scores through collective retribution against innocent civilians is alien to Syria’s culture and the spirit of Islam, which teaches us that “no bearer of burdens shall bear another’s burden.”

Settling scores through collective retribution against innocent civilians is alien to Syria’s culture and the spirit of Islam

Eyad Abu Shakra

This is not the Homs of Hashim Al-Atassi and other great national statesmen: the Droubis, Hassamis and Sebais … nor is it the Homs of Diq Al-Jinn, Nasib Arida, Nadra Haddad, Abd Al-Masih Haddad, Maurice Salibi, Abd Al-Basit Al-Sufi, Abd Al-Basit Al-Sarout … Steve Jobs (who was from the Jandali family) or his cousin Malek Jandali.

No, this is not the Homs we love. It is not the town that we have been following keenly and whose suffering and pain, at the hands of the criminal thugs in Deir Baalbeh, Al-Waer, Al-Khalidiyyeh and Baba Amr, left tears in our eyes.

On the other hand, we continue to hear things that might calm the nerves of those eager to consolidate the new regime: “No areas are off-limits to state legitimacy” and “no special or exceptional cases.”

In principle, there is no reason to disagree. However, consolidating the new regime means prioritizing firm foundations and broad consensus, especially given the ambiguous posture of several international powers and Israel’s ongoing security and military blackmail. Accordingly, there is no harm in giving open wounds time to heal, allowing minds and hearts to recover, trust to be built and state-building to accelerate.

The truth is, no one (first and foremost the state) has an interest in ignoring fears nor in risking the exploitation of these fears by foreign forces to serve their own agendas.

Political experience has taught us that relying on and seeking foreign support is often a losing, and potentially suicidal, bet for minorities. Conversely, pushing minorities into such gambles has always drawn foreign intervention and occupation.

For those who are unfamiliar with the “Eastern Question” — European efforts to “protect” minorities in the Levant, the Balkans and North Africa — the repercussions of these historical episodes continue to influence our world to this day. Just as France made inroads in the Levant in the 19th century through sectarian and religious massacres between Christians and Druze in Mount Lebanon, and between Sunnis and Christians in Damascus, France’s colonial intervention in Algeria came under the pretext of protecting the Jews (specifically the Bakri and Bougna/Bushnaq families).

Accordingly, we must come to terms, across the region, with the frailty of our position, both domestically and internationally.

For international actors, we Arabs are the weakest players in the region. Regrettably, our states are the easiest to violate. Protecting the Druze does not keep the Israeli leadership up at night and the current Syrian regime has not been acquitted by Washington, nor has it received an open-ended mandate from the international community to do as it pleases in Syria.

A little wisdom can prevent immense bloodshed … and give Syria a far, far greater chance of surviving.

• Eyad Abu Shakra is managing editor of Asharq Al-Awsat, where this article was originally published. X: @eyad1949