The Canon · No. 060
Druze
al-Muwahhidun, the Unitarians
1017 CE – present · Abrahamic · Living · Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan
V. THE MEDIEVAL WORLD — c.500 – 1500 CE
How many
About 1 million, concentrated in Lebanon (~250,000), Syria (~600,000) and Israel (~150,000).
Who began it
Emerged from Ismaili Shiism under the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. The organising missionary was Hamza ibn Ali. The name comes from ad-Darazi, an early preacher whom the Druze themselves regard as a heretic — so the community is universally known by the name of a man it repudiates.
What it is for
To preserve the truth entrusted to a fixed number of souls, and to survive as a small community in a hostile region.
What it worships
One God, absolutely transcendent and beyond attributes. Al-Hakim is regarded as a manifestation of the divine unity, which is the point at which mainstream Islam regards the Druze as having left it.
What it holds
An esoteric system drawing on Ismaili Islam, Neoplatonism, Greek philosophy and Gnostic currents. Seven duties replace the Islamic pillars: truthfulness of speech, protection of one's brethren, renunciation of former beliefs, repudiation of evil, acceptance of divine unity, submission to God's will, and acceptance of his acts. Sharia obligations — prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, alms — are understood allegorically and not performed. The canon is closed: since 1043 CE no conversion in or out has been permitted, on the doctrine that the total number of souls is fixed and unchanging.
What it does
A two-tier community: the uqqal (the knowing), initiated, who study the scriptures, wear distinctive dress and abstain from alcohol, tobacco and pork; and the juhhal (the uninitiated), the great majority, who live ordinary lives and are not taught the doctrine. Women may be uqqal and are considered particularly suited to it. Meetings on Thursday evenings in a khalwa, a plain meeting house rather than a mosque. Taqiyya — outward conformity to the surrounding religion where necessary — is permitted and has been used for a thousand years. Marriage is strictly endogamous; polygamy is forbidden and divorce is heavily restricted.
After death
Reincarnation, immediately and exclusively into another Druze body. There is no intermediate state and no waiting; the soul transfers at the moment of death into a newborn. Because the number of souls is fixed, the community is understood as a closed circulation. Reports of young children recalling a previous life in detail, sometimes leading to meetings with the previous family, are treated as ordinary and are a widely documented feature of Druze village life. After a series of lives the soul attains union with the cosmic mind.
Its texts
Rasa'il al-Hikma, the Epistles of Wisdom, 111 letters in six volumes, kept secret from the uninitiated and from outsiders. This dossier records only what the community has itself made public.
Its branches
None. A single community, deliberately unfragmented and unrecruiting.
Of note
The Druze are the clearest case in the dossier of a religion whose survival strategy is secrecy and closure. It has worked for a thousand years and it means outsiders genuinely do not know the doctrine.
Its timeline
- 996–1021 CE Reign of al-Hakim in Fatimid Egypt; he disappears in 1021 in circumstances never explained.
- 1017 CE The call is proclaimed; the community's era begins.
- <strong>1043 CE</strong> The door closes. No further conversions accepted, permanently.
- 1516–1918 CE Ottoman rule; a series of Druze emirates in Mount Lebanon, notably under Fakhr al-Din II.
- 1860 CE Druze-Maronite civil war in Mount Lebanon; European intervention follows.
- 1925–27 CE The Great Syrian Revolt against the French, led by Sultan al-Atrash, a Druze.
- 1957 CE Israel recognises the Druze as a separate religious community; Israeli Druze men are subject to conscription, unlike other Arab citizens — a status that remains internally contested.
- 1975–1990 CE Lebanese civil war; Walid Jumblatt leads the Druze faction.
- 2011–present The Syrian war; Druze communities in Suwayda navigate between the regime, opposition and jihadist groups.
Sources
Not yet checked against named sources. This entry is the house's reading; until it is checked, treat each claim as unverified. Correct it, with a source.