Jumblatt Family of Lebanon

The Jumblatt family (Arabic: جنبلاط‎‎, originally Kurdish Canpolad جان‌پولاد, meaning "steel-bodied" or "soul of steel"), also transliterated as Joumblatt, Junblat and Junblatt) is an influential Druze family who settled in the Lebanon mountains (coming from Syria) around the 15-16th century, fleeing persecution from an Ottoman governor. Tradition holds the Jumblatt family to be the leaders of the Kaysi Arabs, who fought a bitter war with the Yemeni Druze in the Battle of Ain Darra of 1711. Although Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt is the most known and influential figure of the family in modern Lebanon, there are other Jumblatt family members from this lineage who contribute to the cultural, economic and social life in Lebanon, and not restricted to the Chouf and Mount Lebanon, but also having a visible presence in mansions and villas within the distinguished Clemenceau area of Beirut and in the beautiful north-west upscale area of Sidon.

Kamal's own father, Fouad Jumblatt, was himself assassinated on August 6, 1921.

Kamal Jumblatt was a respected political leader. Allegedly, on his bedroom wall he held the pictures of Jesus and Mahatma Gandhi. He was a rebellious figure and despite his descent from an aristocratic family, he supposedly lived a simple life neglecting the wealthy lifestyle that other political figures boasted at the time. Kamal Junblat was well-educated and quite attracted by the arcanes of Far Eastern philosophy; he wrote many books, touching on very diverse subjects from philosophy, spirituality, macrobiotics etc. It is claimed that he embraced meditation and practiced it often.

Jumblatt played a role in Lebanese history. Mrs. Nazira Jumblatt (mother of Kamal) kept the dynasty alive, in a time when it was hard for women to play a political role. Before that, Sheikh Bashir Jumblatt was assassinated, during times of confrontation with the prince Bashir II, where a saying had spread at the time: El Chouf ma betse3 bashirein, which means the Chouf province cannot handle two opposing leaders.. In addition, Khaled Jumblatt, a distant cousin of Walid Jumblatt, held the position of minister of economy and was a prominent politician in Lebanon for many years until his death in 1993.

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