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Different Approaches About the Ethnic Origin of the Druze

Received: 3 January 2021     Accepted: 18 March 2021     Published: 7 April 2021
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Abstract

Around one thousand years have passed since the Druze appeared on the stage of history as bearers of a religion and a philosophy. In the year 1043, at the end of the period of preaching and dissemination, Druze clans were widely dispersed over a broad area that extended from North Africa in the west to India in the East. Since they were a minority, and because of opposition to the new religion, they were persecuted by rulers and by other nations, and many of them died out or were forced to abandon their religion and assimilate into other societies. Historical research has no final and absolute answers regarding the ethnic origins of the Druze. In this article, I will present the various research approaches to their ethnic origins. The first attempts to investigate Druze origins were made by European travelers and researchers, mainly French and English, and also by Philip Hitti, an American scholar of Lebanese origin. The Arab researchers who dealt with this subject are divided in their opinion. Some claim that the Druze are of Arab origin, while others assert that the Druze are descendants of ethnic groups that had once inhabited the region and had died out in the course of history. I will also present the position of some Arab historians and researchers and Israeli Druze of the modern period regarding the origins of the Druze now living in the State of Israel, in Syria, in Jordan, in Lebanon, and in the diaspora.

Published in History Research (Volume 9, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.history.20210901.19
Page(s) 74-77
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Approaches, Origins, Druze, Middle East, Arabic Tribes, Arabian Peninsul

References
[1] Philip Hitti, The Origins of the Druze People & Religion, New York: Ams press, 1966, p. 1.
[2] Aridi, Naim. “The Druze in Israel: History & Overview.” Jewish Virtual Library, 10 Sept. 2017, www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/history-and-overview-of-the-israelidruze.
[3] Amin Talea', The Origins of the Al Almwahidun Al-Druze, (Beirut: Al Majles El Durzi, 1979), p. 46.
[4] Najlaa Abu Izzeddin, Druze in History (Beirut: The Education Home for Millions, 1985), pp. 95-96 [Arabic]
[5] The Druze in Israel, The Druze Research Section, University of Haifa, No. 6 (1982).
[6] Central of statistics, statistical data from 20/4/2018, Jerusalem, Israel.
[7] Jihan Farhoud, The Druze Minority in The Middle East: A Case study of the Druze in Israel, Casa Cărţii de Ştiinţă, Cluj-Napoca, 2020, p. 3-4.
[8] David Bryer, The origins of the Druze religion, Der Islam, volume 52, issue 1, 2009.
[9] Hourani, A. A history of the Arab peoples: Updated edition (Faber & Faber, 2013).
[10] Scarlett Marshall, Ranajit Das, Mehdi Pirooznia& Eran Elhaik, Reconstructing Druze population history, volume 6, Article number: 35837, 2016, Scientific Reports
[11] Philip Hitti, The Oigins of the Druze People & Religion with extracts from their sacred writings, Columbia University press, 1928.
[12] Najlaa Abu Izzeddin, Druze in History (Beirut: The Education Home for Millions, 1985), pp. 16 [Arabic]
[13] Amin Talea', The Origins of the Al Almwahidun Al-Druze, (Beirut: Al Majles El Durzi, 1979), p. 15.
[14] Salman Falah, History of the Druze in Israel (Jerusalem: Prime Minister Office, Arabs and Druze Consultant Office, 1974), p. 11.
[15] Amin Talea', The Origins of the Al Almwahidun Al-Druze (Beirut: Al Majles El Durzi, 1967).
[16] Salman Falah, History of the Druze (Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University, 1989), p. 15-16 [Hebrew].
[17] Amin Talea', The Origins of the Al Almwahidun Al-Druze, (Beirut: Al Majles El Durzi, 1979), p. 13.
[18] Philip Hitti, The Origins of the Druze People & Religion, New York: Ams press, 1966, p. 23.
[19] Kais Firro, A History of the Druzes (Leiden: Brill, 1992), p. 18.
[20] Philip Hitti, The Origins of the Druze People & Religion, New York: Ams press, 1966, p. 18-22.
[21] Martin Sprengling, "The Berlin Druze Lexiooci", A. J. S. L. LVI, 1939, pp. 388-414.
[22] Kais Firro, A History of the Druzes (Leiden: Brill, 1992), p. 18-19.
[23] Najlaa Abu Izzeddin, The Druze: A New Study of their History, Faith and Society, Leiden, 1984, p. 10.
[24] Najlaa Abu Izzeddin, The Druze: A New Study of their History, Faith and Society, Leiden, 1984, p. 6-9.
[25] Najlaa Abu Izzeddin, The Druze: A New Study of their History, Faith and Society, Leiden, 1984, p. 4-6.
[26] Philip Hitti, The Origins of the Druze People & Religion, New York: Ams press, 1966, p. 19.
[27] Shakib Arsenal, Deewan El-Shakik, (Beirut: D. N. 1935) [Arabic].
[28] Salih Zaher-Eddin, History of the Muslem Al Muwahidun Al Druze (Katar: The Arabic Center for Research and Documentation, 1994), p. 78 [Arabic].
[29] Salman Falah, The Druze in the Middle East (Jerusalem: Ministry of Defense, 2000), p. 22 [Hebrew].
[30] Robert Betts, The Druze (New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1988), p. 25.
[31] Philip Hitti, The Origins of the Druze People & Religion, New York: Ams press, 1966, p. 14-17.
[32] Salih Alshech, Druze Identity, MA. Thesis, Tel Aviv University, 1978, pp. 45-149 [Hebrew]; Salih Alshech, A History of the Druze (Jerusalem: Ministry of Defense, 1989), p. 15. [Hebrew]
[33] Amin Talea', The Origin of the Monotheistic Druze, Beirut: Al Majles El Durzi, 1973. (in Arabic)
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    Jihan Farhoud. (2021). Different Approaches About the Ethnic Origin of the Druze. History Research, 9(1), 74-77. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20210901.19

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  • @article{10.11648/j.history.20210901.19,
      author = {Jihan Farhoud},
      title = {Different Approaches About the Ethnic Origin of the Druze},
      journal = {History Research},
      volume = {9},
      number = {1},
      pages = {74-77},
      doi = {10.11648/j.history.20210901.19},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.history.20210901.19},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.history.20210901.19},
      abstract = {Around one thousand years have passed since the Druze appeared on the stage of history as bearers of a religion and a philosophy. In the year 1043, at the end of the period of preaching and dissemination, Druze clans were widely dispersed over a broad area that extended from North Africa in the west to India in the East. Since they were a minority, and because of opposition to the new religion, they were persecuted by rulers and by other nations, and many of them died out or were forced to abandon their religion and assimilate into other societies. Historical research has no final and absolute answers regarding the ethnic origins of the Druze. In this article, I will present the various research approaches to their ethnic origins. The first attempts to investigate Druze origins were made by European travelers and researchers, mainly French and English, and also by Philip Hitti, an American scholar of Lebanese origin. The Arab researchers who dealt with this subject are divided in their opinion. Some claim that the Druze are of Arab origin, while others assert that the Druze are descendants of ethnic groups that had once inhabited the region and had died out in the course of history. I will also present the position of some Arab historians and researchers and Israeli Druze of the modern period regarding the origins of the Druze now living in the State of Israel, in Syria, in Jordan, in Lebanon, and in the diaspora.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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    AB  - Around one thousand years have passed since the Druze appeared on the stage of history as bearers of a religion and a philosophy. In the year 1043, at the end of the period of preaching and dissemination, Druze clans were widely dispersed over a broad area that extended from North Africa in the west to India in the East. Since they were a minority, and because of opposition to the new religion, they were persecuted by rulers and by other nations, and many of them died out or were forced to abandon their religion and assimilate into other societies. Historical research has no final and absolute answers regarding the ethnic origins of the Druze. In this article, I will present the various research approaches to their ethnic origins. The first attempts to investigate Druze origins were made by European travelers and researchers, mainly French and English, and also by Philip Hitti, an American scholar of Lebanese origin. The Arab researchers who dealt with this subject are divided in their opinion. Some claim that the Druze are of Arab origin, while others assert that the Druze are descendants of ethnic groups that had once inhabited the region and had died out in the course of history. I will also present the position of some Arab historians and researchers and Israeli Druze of the modern period regarding the origins of the Druze now living in the State of Israel, in Syria, in Jordan, in Lebanon, and in the diaspora.
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Author Information
  • (History) Druze Sector, Pedagogical Secretariat, Ministry of Education, Israel

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