The Druze in the Middle East

Abstract

In A History of the Druze, Kais Firro suggests that the proliferation of works on the Druze over the last twenty years has resulted from this community’s prominent role in the Lebanese civil war. While such circumstances are, of course, regrettable, any notice taken of this small, secretive, and often overlooked society is welcome. Nissim Dana, a lecturer in academic religions and cultures of peoples in the Middle East at Bar-Ilan University and former minister of religious affairs in Israel, would no doubt explain his interest and clear warmth for his subject in different terms, as the personal letter included from Labib Abu Rukn, judge of the Druze Court of Haifa, attests. It is this affection, however, which may be at the heart of some of this extremely uneven investigation’s shortcomings. The author has chosen to divide his work into four parts, each dealing with the history, sociocultural make-up, sacred topography, and the laws governing the Druze in their respective states, most notably in Israel (to which a third of the text is devoted) – a most pronounced focus. The book is rounded out with an appendix of the “Arabic Original of the Laws of Personal Status in Lebanon and Israel” and an abbreviated version for Syria, which is a welcome addition for those who read Arabic ...