Paul Calvert spoke with Bassam

The Druze in Israel are recognized as a separate religious entity with their own courts and spiritual leadership. Their culture is Arab and their language Arabic but they opted against mainstream Arab nationalism in 1948. They are a relatively small community of people with only about one million Druze worldwide. Bassam is a Christian Israeli with a Druze background. He is now a Pastor reaching out to Sudanese refugees and Paul Calvert spent time with him hearing his story.

Paul: Who are the Druze?

Bassam: Druze is an ethnical group who have their own religion. It started about 1000 years ago. Islam started 1400 years ago and Druze came out of Islam 400 years after Islam was started. They gathered all the religions they liked as well as the different philosophies and put them all together and wrote them under one religion which is considered secret.

For almost 1000 years they have been persecuted and attacked because Islam saw them as blasphemers because they said that Mohamed was not the last prophet. They had to run and flee. They all ran from Egypt into Israel, Lebanon and Syria. Today if you visit a Druze village you will find most of them living on the mountains because that was a natural place for people who are running away to live.

A very interesting fact about the Druze today is that they believe in all religions. They believe that God gave Mohammed to the Muslims, God gave Moses to the Jews and Jethro is a big Prophet to the Druze, Buddha to the Hindus etc. In a way they accept all religions. If you ask a Druze man he will even tell you that he believes in Jesus, but if you go deeper, he doesn't really see Jesus as a Messiah. He will see Jesus as one of the good Prophets that came to give the word of God to the world.

In the Druze faith they are not allowed to have a country and their faith demands that they serve loyally every country they are in. That is one of the main reasons why the Druze in Israel all go to the army; they all serve the nation.

Paul: Are there many Druze in Israel?

Bassam: A few hundred thousand; not too many.

Paul: Is Druze similar to a Bedouin life?

Bassam: No, other than the language that they speak and perhaps they look alike, it's very different. Bedouin is not a religion. There are Moslem Bedouin. Druze is a religion. They don't live in the desert; they're not nomads; they don't travel. They live up in the mountains mainly. They have their own unique style of life.

Paul: Is it very tribal?

Bassam: It's very tribal because they lived under persecution. The Druze religion is also secret and you are not allowed to marry out of the Druze. It's even more tribal than a lot of Middle Eastern cultures.

Paul: Is there a lot of respect for the traditions and you can't go against the traditions of your family and forefathers?

Bassam: Not at all, you're right. Respect is the most important thing to a Druze; pride of the family. Respect is even more important than life and it's very closed, so you cannot go against tradition. You cannot go against the religion and in many ways it's much stricter than any other religion that you might know.