The Druze of Israel
In the lush North of Israel lives a unique population – The Druze.
The Druze are a religious group that descended from Islam in Egypt more than 1000 years ago! The Druze religion is actually a combination of three major religions – Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. We can see evidence of this through the fact that Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed are all recognized as prophets.
In Israel, a majority of the Druze live mainly in villages in the north. There are about 143,000 Druze in Israel, which is about 1.5% of the total population. Worldwide there are only about 1 million Druze people in total!
The Druze have a very cool system of beliefs.
♦ They are monotheistic.
♦ Their religious texts are only available to a select group of individuals deemed worthy to access them. Makes you curious right?!
However, if you aren’t born Druze, you will never get the opportunity to find out what these texts say because their religion does not accept any converts.
They have 7 “Principles of Conduct” that they follow:
Complete honesty (which means avoiding theft, murder, and adultery)
Druze solidarity
Denouncing other religions
Avoiding unbelievers
Belief in one God
Acceptance of God’s acts
Submission to God’s will
The Druze only celebrate one holiday – Eid al-Adha.
This holiday commemorates the prophet Ibrahim being told by God that he must sacrifice his son, and honor Ibrahim’s obedience to God. They spend the holiday praying, feasting, and visiting friends and family.
If you ever have the opportunity to visit a Druze village, see if you can stop to sample some warm and delicious Druze pita, dripping with oil and zaatar!
