The Atrash family (Arabic: الأطرش‎) is a famous Druze family. It is traditionally considered the source of leadership in Jabal ad-Duruz.

The name has the alternate spellings (with the prefix of al, al-, el or el-) of Atrache, Attrache, Atrach, Attrach and Attrash, and is Arabic for "deaf".

Contents 1 History 2 Notable members 3 References 4 Sources

[edit] History

The family is claimed to be descended from the prince Fakhreddin Al Ma'ani, and migrated in the beginning of the 18th century, from Lebanon to Jabal ad-Duruz in southern Syria.

They grew in importance and in 1869, Ismail al-Atrash led them to overthrow the al-Hamdan family by force. They led their fellow Druze in fight against the Ottomans (until 1918) and the French (1923 and 1925-1927). However, they were weakened by the peasant revolution of 1888. Their influence started to wane after unification and independence of Syria, especially with the death of Sultan Pasha al-Atrash.

Some members of the Atrash family emigrated from Syria to Egypt in the 1920s.^[1] Fleeing the French occupation of Syria, 'Alia al-Mundhir al-Atrash, from the House of Sultan al-Atrash, and her three children, Fuad, Farid, and Amal al-Atrash (later known as Asmahan) were sponsored by Egypt's prime minister Saad Zaghloul and later became naturalized citizens.^[2] After successful musical careers, Asmahan, Fuad and Farid al-Atrash were buried at the Fustat Plain in Cairo.^[3][4]

[edit] Notable members

• Sultan al-Atrash, leader of the Syrian Revolution.
• Zaid al-Atrash, fighter and poet. Brother of Sultan Pasha.
• Mansour al-Atrash, Syrian politician. Son of Sultan Pasha.
• Nayla al-Atrash, actress.
• Farid al-Atrash, singer and virtuoso oud player.
• Asmahan, female singer.
• Salim al-Atrash, first governor of the State of Jabal al-Druze.^[5]
• Tamir gal, Israeli singer.

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Zuhur, Sherifa (2000), Asmahan's Secrets: Woman, War, and Song, University of Texas Press, ISBN 9780292798076 

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