The Druze in the Middle East

In A History of the Druze, Kais Firro suggests that the proliferation of workson the Druze over the last twenty years has resulted from this community’sprominent role in the Lebanese civil war. While such circumstances are, ofcourse, regrettable, any notice taken of this small, secretive, and often overlookedsociety is welcome. Nissim Dana, a lecturer in academic religionsand cultures of peoples in the Middle East at Bar-Ilan University and formerminister of religious affairs in Israel, would no doubt explain his interest andclear warmth for his subject in different terms, as the personal letter includedfrom 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 extremelyuneven investigation’s shortcomings.The author has chosen to divide his work into four parts, each dealingwith the history, sociocultural make-up, sacred topography, and the lawsgoverning the Druze in their respective states, most notably in Israel (towhich a third of the text is devoted) – a most pronounced focus. The book isrounded out with an appendix of the “Arabic Original of the Laws ofPersonal Status in Lebanon and Israel” and an abbreviated version for Syria,which is a welcome addition for those who read Arabic ...