Druses

Syrian tribe and sect, mostly settled on Southern Lebanon, and in Hauran, numbering ab. 85,000. Their religion is defined by Brockhaus as a mixture of Moslem Gnosticism with Christian ideas and relics of native worship. They appear to be Mohammedans, and do not initiate even the bulk of their own people, but hold to succe ive incarnations, the last in Hakim, caliph 1019-44. Their founder was Is mail Darasi, who settled in the Lebanon 1040.