Arabism, as the title of this chapter indicates, is a general term not easily delineated or defined. It is all encompassing and equally vague; and yet the notion of Arabism as an “identity” connected to the Arabs has existed as far back in distant history as when Arabia and the “Arabs”, as its inhabitants, were identified and described.

Thus, “identification” in this context embodies my terms of reference in regard to the notion of “Arabism” itself, as well as the Druzes’ relationship(s) with it. “Arabism” in this context is a notion of traits, phenomena and facets not a model that embodies exclusivity or activism. It certainly does deal with the relatively recent term “Arab Nationalism”, as a socio-political mass movement. No attempt is made to endorse or refute anything wholesale?. The approach adopted is informative and investigative rather than defensive, apologetic, or justificatory.
One aspect of “Arabism” is ethnographic, including the issue of self-identification, and what may follow in terms of limited or qualified interaction both on behalf of claimants and subscribers.

When using the following criteria recognized by many anthropologists as John
Gulick (1), “Arabism” is certainly central to the Druze ethnographic character.

These criteria are:
1. Geography.
2. Language.
3. Claimed ancestry or self-identity.
4. Common history.

The Levant: The Abode of The Druze
One undoubted element that ties the Druze to Arabism is geography. Both Druzism, (Madhhab al Tawhid) as a movement, and the Druze as a community, were born and have maintained their core in the heart of what we today call the Arab world. The antecedents of the Fatimi Da’wa started in Arab North Africa, and Tunisia to be precise. The Fatimid caliphate was based in Egypt, and until today, the vast majority of the Druze live in the Arab Levant of the Fertile Crescent, namely Syria, the Lebanon, Palestine / Israel and Jordan (2). A few, according to some other sources live in southern Turkey across the present Syrian/Turkish border (3).

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