The Druze Community in Israel

by

Rami Zeedan, Lindsey Pullum

• LAST REVIEWED: 27 November 2023
• LAST MODIFIED: 21 June 2024
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199840731-0182

Introduction

The Druze faith began during the reign of the Muslim Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (ruled 996–1021 CE). Al-daʾwa (the call) people to join the new faith—al-Tawhid (Unitarianism). After the disappearance of al-Hakim in 1021, the Druze were persecuted by the successor Fatimid caliph, and those captured were either forced to renounce their faith or be killed. As a consequence, the Druze went underground in the hope of survival. A few years later, the call to join the new Druze faith was ended. Since then, one cannot convert to become a Druze, as only one who is born to Druze parents can be considered a Druze. Scholars have argued that the Druze beliefs and practices are based on the Qurʾan and Greek, Persian, and Indian philosophies. The religious texts are known collectively as Kitâb al-Hikma (The Book of Wisdom) and include a collection of epistles and correspondence between luminaries. The text is not visible to a Druze Jahil (layperson) as well as to non-Druze. Based on these texts, the Druze believe in an abstract and direct connection to God, and in the free will of human beings. However, the most significant component of the Druze faith is the belief in the reincarnation of the soul after death. At the End of Times, God will send each soul either to Heaven or to Hell, following one’s actions in all of his or her lives. The Druze have similar traditions to other Arabs living in the Middle East and North Africa. They also celebrate the same festivals as other Muslims, such as Eid al-Adha (the sacrifice feast), which honors the sacrifice Ibrahim was willing to make his own son. The total number of Druze worldwide is not known, but estimates range between 1 and 2 million people. Most of the Druze live in the Middle East, with the largest community in Syria. Others live in Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. Nowadays, Druze live in some European countries, in Canada and the United States, and in many Latin American countries. Other diaspora communities exist in other continents. Druze have lived in the Middle East, including Palestine, since the beginning of the faith at the beginning of the past millennium. The settlement of the Druze in Palestine was strengthened during the seventeenth century, but it was weakened by the end of the Ottoman period. During the British Mandate over Palestine, the Druze numbered only about ten thousand, or less than 1 percent of the population in Palestine. Following the 1948 war, the Druze—then numbering roughly fifteen thousand—were allowed to stay in their villages owing to agreements made with the newly established State of Israel. In 2022, the Druze in Israel numbered about 150,000 people, making up around 2 percent of Israel’s population. More than 90 percent of them live in sixteen villages and towns with a Druze majority. Excluding the Druze living in the four Druze villages in the Golan Heights (proclaimed as Syrian territory), the vast majority of the Druze in Israel consider themselves Israelis. Druze men must serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and they are integrated into the Israeli political system. Yet, they suffer from a national identity crisis compared to other Israeli Arab Palestinians, while their socioeconomic situation is the same as other non-Jewish citizens. The 2018 Nation-State Basic Law was a turning point for the Druze, when they protested against what they saw as neglecting them and depriving them for their Israeliness and the dream for equality on the basis of shared citizenship.

General Overviews

Betts 1988 and Firro 1992 provides a comprehensive historical review of the Druze faith and society in the Middle East. In the author’s second book, Firro 1999 offers a historical review of the Druze community within the Israeli polity. Atashe 1995 supplements the information on the Druze community in Israel. This was expanded with Hazran 2018 to discuss the Druze attempts to become an organic part of the regional milieu. The earlier Ben-Dor 1979 compares the Druze of Israel with Lebanon and Syria. One of the major issues regarding the Druze is whether it is a sect of Islam or a separate religion. Firro 2011 claims that the Druze faith was influenced much more by Sufism than by Sunni or Shiʿite beliefs, and, in any case, it is not an Islamic sect. Nisan 2010 continues the same argument by suggesting that the Druze faith is a separate religion from Islam. Obeid 2006, on the contrary, claims that the Druze faith emerged from Islam, however it disconnected from mainstream Islam and it is a dynamic spiritual process based on freedom of choice. In the movie Fog, Halabi 2013 presents stories of reincarnation of the soul after death, which is considered as the most significant aspect in differentiating between the Druze and major Islamic sects and other religions. Alaʾmama provides a closer look at society, religion, and culture in Druze localities as well as biographical entries on Druze religious leaders.

• Alaʾmama.

  Alaʾmama is the website of a magazine with the same name. The website and the magazine are published in Arabic and they focus on religious, cultural, and social issues among the Druze, especially in Israel. It includes stories from Druze localities, biographic entries on Druze religious leaders, as well as news on Druze religious gatherings. The paper version has been published since 1982, however all magazine issues are available online. Alaʾmama is headquartered in Daliyat al-Karmel, Israel. In Arabic.

• Atashe, Zeidan. Druze & Jews in Israel: A Shared Destiny? Brighton, UK: Sussex Academic Press, 1995.

  The book offers a historical review of the Druze in Israel. It offers a description of the Druze faith and their mutual cooperation with the Jews in Palestine.

• Ben-Dor, Gabriel. The Druzes in Israel, a Political Study: Political Innovation and Integration in a Middle Eastern Minority. Jerusalem: Magnes, 1979.

  Studies the Druze society and politics in Israel in comparison to the Druze in Lebanon and Syria.

• Betts, Robert Brenton. The Druze. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988.

  Based on interviews, the book offers a general survey of the history, traditions, and society of the Druze. It also presents their political significance in the Middle East as of the late 1980s.

• Firro, Kais. A History of the Druzes. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1992.

  DOI: 10.1163/9789004661783

  This volume focuses on the religious, political, and social characters of the Druze community as a religious minority in the Middle East. It gives attention to the historical development of the Druze in the modern Middle East, in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan.

• Firro, Kais. The Druzes in the Jewish State: A Brief History. Social, Economic, and Political Studies of the Middle East and Asia 64. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 1999.

  DOI: 10.1163/9789004491915

  The book traces the historical development of the Druze in Israel. It sheds light on the political, social, and economic status of the Druze as part of the inquiry into the Zionist policy to separate the Druze from the other Arabs in Israel that led to the Druze’s crisis of identity.

• Firro, Kais M. “The Druze Faith: Origin, Development and Interpretation.” Arabica 58.1 (2011): 76–99.

  DOI: 10.1163/157005811X550309

  Based on a review of Druze literature, this article examines the basics of the Druze faith and provides insights on its origins and relations to the different Islamic sects. It claims that the Druze faith was influenced much more by Sufism, which argues that God should be reached without intermediaries, than by Sunni or Shiʿite beliefs.

• Halabi, Rafik, dir. Fog. Connect 100 Productions. 2013.

  This documentary traces the mysterious story of a Druze soldier in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who was killed during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. By doing so, it tracks two stories that claim to provide evidence of reincarnation, which is the main belief among the Druze. The movie was directed by Rafik Halabi, who is an Israeli-Druze. 57:00 minutes. In Hebrew and Arabic.

• Hazran, Yusri. “The Druze Communities in the Modern Middle East.” In Routledge Handbook of Minorities in the Middle East. Edited by Paul S. Rowe, 197–211. New York: Routledge, 2018.

  This chapter examines the case of the Druze and their attempts to become an organic part of the regional milieu, in particular during the postcolonial era.

• Nisan, Mordechai. “The Druze in Israel: Questions of Identity, Citizenship, and Patriotism.” The Middle East Journal 64.4 (2010): 575–596.

  DOI: 10.3751/64.4.14

  The article examines the Druze solidarity with the Zionist ethos. It refers to the Druze as a separate religion from Islam.

• Obeid, Anis. The Druze & Their Faith in Tawhid. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2006.

  DOI: 10.1353/book.114265

  The book analyzes the Druze texts and beliefs and provides a survey of the Druze historical development as a society and as a faith. Obeid suggests that the Druze faith has emerged from Islam; however, it is a progressive and dynamic spiritual process based on freedom of choice.