Lebanese Sunni Muslims (Arabic: المسلمون السنة اللبنانيين) refers to Lebanese people who are adherents of the Sunni branch of Islam in Lebanon, which is one of the largest denomination in Lebanon tied with Shias. Sunni Islam in Lebanon has a history of more than a millennium. According to a CIA 2018 study, Lebanese Sunni Muslims constitute an estimated 30.6% of Lebanon's population.[1]
Under the terms of an unwritten agreement known as the National Pact between the various political and religious leaders of Lebanon, Sunni notables traditionally held power in the Lebanese state together, and they are still the only ones eligible for the post of Prime Minister.[3]
History
An estimate of the distribution of Lebanon's main religious groups, 1991, based on a map by GlobalSecurity.orgLebanon religious groups distributionAn estimate of the area distribution of Lebanon's main religious groups
Ottoman rule
Historically, Sunnis in Lebanon fared better under the rule of the Ottoman Empire than did Lebanon's other religious groups. Although the Ottomans ruled loosely, the Sunnis in coastal cities were given a degree of privileged status. However, this ended with the French mandate.[4]
French mandate
In 1920, France legally extended the borders of Greater Lebanon to include all the territories of what is now Lebanon. This enhanced the position of the Maronites, whose population exceeded that of the Sunni Muslims in the new districts.[5] This changed Lebanon's demographics, as the territories added contained predominantly Muslim areas. This made Lebanese Christians constitute barely over 50% of the population, whereas the Sunni population increased eightfold. The Sunnis resented this, as they were formerly part of the majority within the Ottoman Empire, but now became a minority in a Maronite-dominated French mandate. In the 1932 Lebanon census, 175,925 individuals, constituting 22% of the total population of 785,543, were Sunni Muslims.[6]
The Lebanese Sunni Muslims did not want to be separated from their Sunni Muslim brethren in Syria, whereas the Lebanese Christians wanted a French or European-oriented Lebanon to ensure economic viability that was separate from Syria.[7] The Sunni community saw Greater Lebanon as an artificial entity, and repeatedly insisted on being reunited with Greater Syria and the rest of the Arab homeland.[8]
Lebanese Civil War
In 1975, the Lebanese Civil War broke out between Maronite forces and the Lebanese Army on one side, and Sunni militias of the Lebanese National Movement (LNM) and Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on the other. Pan-Arabism and leftism attracted its largest following among the Sunni community of Lebanon.[4] Following the Sabra and Shatila massacre in 1982, the Mourabitoun launched a series of attacks on the Israel Defense Forces. The Taif Agreement in October 1989 ended the civil war. It provided equal representation for Christians and Muslims in the enlarged chamber of deputies, reduced the powers of the Maronite president, and increased powers for the Sunni prime minister. With Saudi Arabian support, the Sunnis achieved a position of power out of all proportion to their number or influence.[9]
Relations
With Saudi Arabia
The Sunnis of Lebanon have close ties with Saudi Arabia, who supports them financially.[10][11] Moreover, Tripoli, the stronghold of the Lebanese Sunnis, is also the birthplace of Lebanon's Salafi Movement.[12]
With Lebanese Alawites and Syria
The Lebanese Sunni Muslims initially opposed the creation of the Lebanese state separated from Syria, where the majority of the population was also Sunni Muslim, and wanted the territory of present-day Lebanon to be incorporated within the so-called Greater Syria.[13]
Sunni Muslims and Alawites have been in conflict with each other for centuries. The Alawites of the Levant were oppressed by the Sunni Ottoman Empire, but gained power and influence when the French recruited Alawites as soldiers during the French mandate of Syria.[14][15][16] After independence from France, their co-religionists, the Assad family, came to power in Syria in 1970.[17]
Over the years, there have been numerous clashes between the Sunni and Alawi communities in Tripoli, particularly over the past 14 months since Syria's uprising began, as part of the Arab Spring that started in Tunisia. The deadliest exchange took place last June, when seven people were killed and more than 60 wounded, after Sunni Muslims staged a protest against the Syrian government.
At the best of times, the Alawites are regarded by Sunnis as heretics; at times of tension, when thousands of Sunnis in Syria are being killed, they are regarded as the enemy. And when a popular Sunni figure is strangely abducted and arrested by Lebanon's General Security Service – an organization linked to the Hezbollah militia that, in turn, is linked to the Syrian government – the Alawites become the whipping boys.[18]
Geographic distribution within Lebanon
Lebanese Sunni Muslims are concentrated in cities of west Beirut, Tripoli, Sidon and in north Lebanon in the Akkar and Minnieh Dinnieh districts, middle and West Bekaa, Chouf district and Laqlouq in Mount Lebanon, Hasbaya district, and Northeastern Beqaa Valley mainly in and around the city of Arsal.[19]
Note that the following percentages are estimates only. However, in a country that had last census in 1932, it is difficult to have correct population estimates.
The last census in Lebanon in 1932 put the numbers of Sunnis at 22% of the population (178,100 of 791,700).[21] A study done by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1985 put the numbers of Sunnis at 27% of the population (595,000 of 2,228,000).[21] Sunni Muslims constitute 27% of Lebanon's population, according to a 2012 estimate.[20] And more recently, in 2023, the CIA World Factbook estimated that Sunni Muslims constitute 31.9% of Lebanon's population.[22]
Genealogical DNA testing has shown that 27,7% of Lebanese Muslims (non-Druze) belong to the Y-DNAhaplogroup J1. Although there is common ancestral roots, these studies show some difference was found between Muslims and non-Muslims in Lebanon, of whom only 17.1% have this haplotype. As haplogroup J1 finds its putative origins in the Arabian peninsula, this likely means that the lineage was introduced by Arabs beginning at the time of the 7th century Muslim conquest of the Levant and has persisted among the Muslim population ever since. On the other hand, only 4.7% of all Lebanese Muslims belong to haplogroup R1b, compared to 9.6% of Lebanese Christians. Modern Muslims in Lebanon thus do not seem to have a significant genetic influence from the Crusaders, who probably introduced this common Western European marker to the extant Christian populations of the Levant when they were active in the region from 1096 until around the turn of the 14th century. Haplogroup J2 is also a significant marker in throughout Lebanon (27%). This marker is found in many inhabitants of Lebanon, regardless of religion, signals pre-Arab descendants, including the Phoenicians. These genetic studies show us there is no significant differences between the Muslims and non-Muslims of Lebanon.[28]
Notable Lebanese Sunni Muslims
Activists and journalists
Anbara Salam Khalidi, a feminist, translator and author, who significantly contributed to the emancipation of Arab women
Nahla Chahal, writer, journalist, researcher, and activist
Salim Ali Salam, former deputy from Beirut to the Ottoman Parliament, former President of the Municipality of Beirut, and former President of the Muslim Society of Benevolent Intentions (al-Makassed)
Saeb Salam, politician, who served as Prime Minister six times between 1952 and 1973
^Seale, Patrick. Asad Of Syria : The Struggle For The Middle East / Patrick Seale With The Assistance Of Maureen McConville. Seale, Patrick. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1989, c1988.
^Robert Kaplan (February 1993). "Syria: Identity Crisis". The Atlantic. But the coup of 1970, which brought an Alawi air force officer, Hafez Assad, to power, was what finally ended the instability that had reigned in Syria since the advent of independence.
1 The Lebanese people has the most religious diversity of all peoples in the Middle East, comprising 18 recognized religious sects recognized by the Constitution of Lebanon. 2 Under the terms of the Constitution of Lebanon, the Druze community is designated as a part of the Lebanese Muslim community.
