Druze: Top Secret Religion

Originally posted to ThisManMustBeStopped.com on 11/16/2006:

I came across a reference to the Druze faith when I was reading a Wikipedia article on the demographics of Israel. Don't pretend like you haven't done the exact same thing.

The Druze Wikipedia article starts out well enough: distinct religious community; offshoot of Islam but influenced by Greek philosophy; active part of Israeli society, including the military (they were originally excluded from army service, but at their request Israel started drafting them like everyone else).

Then it gets interesting. The Druze keep the tenets of their faith secret, they don't accept converts, and they really try to keep their own people from converting out. This isn't unheard-of; they wouldn't be the first religion to be pretty cloistered. And apparently they've had some trouble over the years being a religious minority. So they've learned to just keep it to themselves. I think it gives them a nice air of mystery.

Then it goes from interesting to WAY interesting. About 90% of the Druze aren't permitted access to their holy literature. They're known as al-Juhhāl, "the Ignorant". The other 10% are al-ˤUqqāl, "the Knowledgeable Initiates". A further 10% of the al-ˤUqqāl (or 1% of the overall population) are al-Ajawīd, the actual spiritual leaders.

I'm not saying that more than 1% of any given population needs to be full-time spiritual leaders. And I can certainly understand keeping your religious beliefs a secret from outsiders, if you've had persecution problems. But keeping them a secret from 90% of your own people? That is hard core. The "need to know" principle translated to the religious world.

Non-Druze: "Hey, so what do you Druze believe in?"

Druze: "Look, if they won't tell me, I'm certainly not going to tell you."

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