Who Are the Druze? The Secretive Sect at the Heart of a New Middle East Eruption
Not quite Muslim. Never Christian. Older than Syria. Fiercely Israeli. Quiet—until now.
Who are the Druze?
They no longer take offense, as a millennium has passed since the betrayal, but the Druze do not call themselves “Druze.” They are called Ahl At-Tawhid (the People of Monotheism), or Al-Muahiddun (the Monotheists). They are the product of Fatimid Cairo, though no Muahhid is born or dies there, for they were long chased out of Egypt. They retreated to the mountaintops—because it’s a schlep for anyone’s army to come bother them there. After fleeing Egypt, they wanted safety. They found it in the higher elevations of the Levant, although they had Muslim neighbors in the valleys below their homes who conferred upon them the name of Mohammad Darzi, a man who betrayed them to the authorities in Egypt and is considered a heretic in the Druze religion. But the Druze are unbothered. They know what they know—no one else does.
They number fewer than three million globally. The vast majority of Druze live in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan, with diaspora communities in the US, Canada and Latin America. They have been closed since the thirteenth century. All Druze are reincarnates of those that closed the circle. Both parents must be Druze for a child to be born Druze, so intermarriage is not only forbidden, it is taboo. As a result, the diaspora communities maintain strong ties to the Levant, as there is a seriously limited dating pool in Caracas. There’s no converting, because like the Jews, their religion is not primarily about faith. It is a gnostic religion—it has secret divine knowledge.
The Druze emblem is a five-pointed star, each point rendered in a different color: green, red, yellow, blue, and white. These are not merely decorative—they correspond to five cosmic principles known as the Hudud, which guide Druze metaphysics. Green represents Aql (the Universal Mind), red is for Nafs (the Soul), yellow for Kalima (the Word), blue for Sabq (the Precedent), and white for Tali (the Immanence or Successor). Together, these colors express a hierarchy of spiritual emanations—the scaffolding of divine order as revealed through hidden knowledge. Their flag incorporates the same colors. The flag is not commonly flown outside of Druze areas, but the star appears on gravestones, religious texts, and the ceremonial dress of the initiated.
At age five, each Druze decides whether to be ‘Aqaal or a Juaal—literally, learned or ignorant, although in practice, religious or secular. Only if you choose to become ‘Aqaal do you get inculcated in the religious practice and divine secrets. Those who choose to become secular are taught normal subjects at school and enter the workforce at maturity. Those who become religious wear distinct attire that varies with position in the religious hierarchy. The higher the rank, the taller the hat.
Isn’t it a lot of pressure to ask a child of five to choose religion or work for the rest of his or her life? Not for the Druze. They believe that they have each chosen both roles in different incarnations, so today’s choice is merely this life’s turn of the wheel.
Because they carry secret knowledge, we don’t know much about their beliefs. We do know a few things, though.
They believe that there are two sets of prophets: the revealed and the hidden. The revealed prophets are familiar ones—Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Jesus, Mohammad etc.—whereas only a few hidden ones are known to outsiders. The holiest site to the Druze is Nabi Shuweib, perched above the northwestern cliffs of the Sea of Galilee. “Shuweib” is a diminutive meaning “of the people,” but the man of the people referenced here is Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law. Each revealed prophet has a corresponding hidden one—such is the case with the Midianite priest and the Prince of Egypt. Other hidden prophets include Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. There are perhaps some with greater knowledge than I, but here is where my knowledge of the hidden prophets ends. They are, after all, hidden.
In Israel, today, the Druze are often known for their cuisine. No one makes better labaneh, their bread is made on a taboun and though it bears no resemblance to a Greek or Israeli one, it is called "Druze pita". Like Jews and Muslims, the Druze have strict dietary laws. They are, in a familiar manner, forbidden from eating pork and drinking alcohol. Some find it more surprising to learn that they are also forbidden from eating cilantro as well as several other herbs which only grow locally and have no names in English.
It should be noted that all movements that have stemmed from Islamic societies but became separate religions were born in a Shia setting. The People of the One God came out of 11th-century Cairo, during the century and a half of a Shia Arab empire. The Islamic Golden Age is referenced with some frequency, but it would be highly unpalatable to today’s mainline Muslim establishment, which is far more conservative. Abbasid Baghdad and Fatimid Cairo were cultural centers of tremendous learning, expertise, wealth… and debauchery. Islam is quite rigid with regard to sexuality, but not all Islamic societies have been so.
As their theology matured in secret, the Druze found themselves adapting in public. Theology gave birth to identity; history forced it into form.
The rise of the Druze faith coincided with the reign of the Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, a ruler as enigmatic as he was feared. Al-Hakim claimed divinity, vanished mysteriously, and was later deified by the early Druze. His rule marked a moment of radical theology and bold philosophical departure. The Druze saw in him the embodiment of hidden truth—al-Haqq al-Maknun—and his disappearance only confirmed their sense that this world is not what it seems.
(Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah is also the man responsible for the destruction of the first Church of the Holy Sepulchre—Christ’s tomb in Jerusalem. That choice would eventually lead to the Crusades.)
The original adherents to the faith were drawn from the margins—primarily Circassian and other Caucasian peoples serving in military and administrative roles in the Fatimid court. Isolated by language, class, and creed, they gravitated toward a faith that promised not tribal belonging—but metaphysical clarity. (The Circassians deserve an essay of their own.)
The Druze began as a cohort associated with the Sultan al-Hakim, who is sometimes referred to as the Arab Nero. Their beliefs were unequivocally heretical according to Islam—enough, on their own, to justify persecution. But some were prominent members of the court and they had to be discredited, not only removed. Though entirely unrelated to Ahl at-Tawhid, Al-Hakim’s rumored orgies allowed his followers to be branded as morally depraved—and hunted from Egypt. They fled north and swore to never return. To swear is to commit to something across all of one's incarnations, so the Druze take them seriously.
The Druze had gone upslope for isolation, but they weren’t always alone. Before European powers carved new borders, their mountains were shared terrain. Before the French expanded its borders in the Sykes-Picot agreement that created the mess that is modern Lebanon, Mt. Lebanon was half Druze and half Maronite—Arab Christians that swore fealty to Rome during the Crusades and are Catholic. Under the Ottoman Empire, Francis I of France was granted Capitulations that made him the protector of all Catholics in the territories of Suleiman the Great and his successors. The region maintained a measure of autonomy from both Mamlouk and Ottoman rule—until the French arrived after World War I. While the Maronites had strong ties to and protection from France, the Druze never had any special relationship with the British, who were granted their own Capitulations for helping the Ottomans in the Crimean War, making them protectors of the Jews and the Druze.
The Druze became known for their stubborn independence. Nowhere was this more evident than in the leadership of Sultan al-Atrash, a legendary figure who led the Great Syrian Revolt against French colonial rule in the 1920s. His name still commands respect across Druze communities, particularly in Syria, where the mountains of Suwayda remain a Druze stronghold. That rebellion failed militarily but succeeded in forging Druze national consciousness.
Post–World War I, the Druze found themselves divided across new borders—carved without their consent. In Israel, Druze identity adapted to the emerging Jewish state: conscription into the IDF, participation in civic life, even high-ranking officers in the military. In Syria, the Druze remained more aloof, wary of regimes that treated them with alternating suspicion and exploitation. While both communities shared language, blood, and faith, their national trajectories diverged.
In southern Syria, the Jabal al-Druze remains their heartland, but the community is also present in the Golan Heights. Villages like Majdal Shams and Masaade—once part of Syria, now under Israeli control—have become crucibles of hybrid identity. The Golan Druze largely refused Israeli citizenship after the Six-Day War and remain officially “undecided,” holding Israeli residency cards but continued identifying as Syrians. They are fluent in ambiguity and skilled in navigating overlapping sovereignties. Since 2011 and the onset of the Syrian Civil War, Druze youth from the Golan began acquiring Israeli citizenship in greater numbers each year, such that today ~50% are citizens of the Jewish State. During moments of tension, such as the Syrian civil war or border clashes, their loyalties are tested—though not always in predictable ways.
As for Jordan, the Druze community there is the smallest of the four Levantine states. Numbering in the low thousands, they reside primarily in the northwest near the Syrian border. Jordanian Druze maintain religious cohesion but exercise little political influence. Unlike their counterparts in Lebanon, Israel, or Syria, they rarely appear in national discourse.
In Israel, the Druze are known and admired for being a warm, welcoming people and their strong ties to the state. They disproportionately become officers in the IDF. Because they are native Arabic speakers, they often police sensitive points like the entrances/exits to the Temple Mount/Harm ash-Sharif and West Bank checkpoints. They are not (and do not in any way identify as) Palestinians. The community was deeply hurt and perturbed by the 2018 Nation-State Law, which made no mention of minorities. This felt like a betrayal to a community that has been not just loyal, but integral to the State of Israel's security and social cohesion.
Since 8 December, 2024, when radical Islamic forces loyal to Ahmad ash-Sharaa ousted Bashar al-Assad, the IDF not only began a massive bombing campaign to remove the former regime's weapons, munitions and other military infrastructure, it also took direct control of several Druze villages on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights and declared to the world and the new regime: we are the defenders of the Druze: mess with them and you'll have us knocking on your doorstep.
The Druze in Israel have never rebelled against the state, never took matters into their own hands.
Until Tuesday, 15 July, 2025.
That day, forces loyal to Ahmad ash-Sharaa's new regime in Damascus massacred over three hundred Druze in Sweida. Over a thousand Israeli Druze breached the border fence and poured into Syria. The Israeli Druze crossed the border not to make a point, but to stop a slaughter. And the IDF intervened.
For all the talk of loyalty—to nation, to secrecy, to the silence of tradition—there comes a moment when a people erupts. They did not ask for permission. They did not file a petition. They crossed a line, because the line was no longer defensible.
It wasn’t mysticism. It wasn’t identity theory. It was a blood call, older than any treaty, louder than any doctrine.
The world calls it a border breach.
The Druze will remember it as the day they didn’t stay home.
Thank you for this Av. Very clear. I wish more people would read your work and learn a thing or two
Thank you for this essay. I have a lot of respect for the Druze but know so little about them. This was really quite interesting.