Amin Tarif
Qadi of Druze
Amin Tarif (Arabic: أمين طريف, Hebrew: אמין טריף; born 1898 – October 2, 1993) was the qadi, or spiritual leader, of the Druze in Mandatory Palestine from 1928 and then Israel until his death in 1993. Such was the esteem in which he was held among Druze internationally that Sheikh Amin was regarded by many within the community as the preeminent spiritual authority in the Druze world.
Sheikh Amin was born in 1898 in the village of Julis in Upper Western Galilee. One of four brothers and two sisters, Amin was the youngest son of Sheikh Tarif Tarif, spiritual leader of the Druze in Galilee from 1888 till his death.
In 1911, after graduating from fourth grade, Amin travelled to the Khalwat al-Bayada, near Hasbaya, in Mount Lebanon. There he studied the basics of the Druze religion, graduating in 1918. Returning to Julis, the Sheikh adopted an ascetic lifestyle according to Druze ideals, living modestly from grains grown for his own needs.
In 1928, following the death of his father, it was decided to appoint Amin as spiritual leader of the Druze community. In addition to serving as his community's spiritual leader, Tarif served as Chairman of the Druze Religious Court of Appeals from 1963 and managed the assets of Maqam Nabi Shu'ayb - a religious complex that Druze believe houses the tomb of the Prophet Jethro.
Despite the esteem in which Amin was held, his relationship with Druze in neighbouring states was complicated by the Sheikh's loyalty to the State of Israel.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2776567. VIAF identifies the subject as 244792907. The Library of Congress control number is n93097443. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1898, 1993, 1928 and 1888.
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This entry incorporates text from “Amin Tarif” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.