what is druze religion

The Druze religion is an esoteric, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion whose main tenets are the unity of God and the belief in reincarnation and the eternity of the soul. The Druze call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn, which means "the monotheists" or "the unitarians". The religion originated in Egypt as an offshoot of Ismaʿīlī Shīʿism in the 11th century. The Druze are an Arab and Arabic-speaking ethnoreligious group from Western Asia, primarily found in Lebanon, Syria, and Israel, with small communities in Jordan. They make up 5.5% of the population of Lebanon, 3% of Syria, and 1.6% of Israel. The Druze do not permit outsiders to convert to their religion, and marriage outside the Druze faith is rare and strongly discouraged. Many Druze religious practices are kept secret, even from the community as a whole, and only an elite of initiates, known as ʿuqqāl, participate fully in their religious services and have access to the secret teachings of the scriptures.