Druze people are an ethnic religion, like Judaism. The Druze faith is Abrahamic and monotheistic, dating back about 1000 years. It was initially an offshoot of an offshoot of Islam, but its members are not Muslims. They believe in many prophets, and in reincarnation leading to being united with the Cosmic Mind. They have influences from Christianity. You can’t convert, you can only be born into it. There’s about a million Druze people in the Middle East, including in Israel. They apparently do well in Israeli society. They are educated. They serve in the military.
Druze in Syria are not doing well, though. They are under attack right now, where things are just generally kind of shit. The Syrian government is trying to hold things together, but Syrian government forces are killing people and attacking religious minorities, including the Druze. The Druze, for their part, refuse to give up their weapons and want to maintain territory for themselves.
I’m an Arab and so are they, but it feels so weird to call them that. They are Arabs with their own religion and extended culture. I’ve never met one (but I’d like to)
Kinda odd youre only allowed to be born into it. Not that i really wanna.
They believe in reincarnation, so if you want to join you’re supposed to die and be RE-born into it.
I guess at least you know they can’t evangelise?
Good for them, regarding their willingness to stand strong. No idea if they have a chance, but fuck rolling over.
Interesting, I heard about the conflict while watching a stream earlier. I didn’t get this information while watching the stream. Thanks for the knowledge.
The name made me thing of Zoroastrianism, maybe because of Druj. Well, let’s hope the Druze aren’t druj, lol
Haha crazy I thought of Zoroastrianism immediately too.
Yeah, I heard about them on NPR this morning. I initially thought they were mispronouncing the term “Jews”.
