Project outcome #3- The Druze as a sect of Islam or separate religion:

This research was conducted with Charlie Johnson and resulted in a systematic literature review (work in progress):

Zeedan, R., & Johnson, C. (work in progress). Is the Druze a Sect of Islam? – A Systematic Literature Review

The initial findings of this project were presented at the 2022 KU Undergraduate Showcase.

• Suggested proposition: existing scholarship on the Druze is sufficient to argue that the Druze faith is not a sect of Islam
• The findings show that, in quantity, the published research supports the proposition.
• However, in quality, there is a split stance in the scholarship, which is heavily affected by country of origin and focus. In the Israeli context, the Druze present themselves and are viewed as a different religion. On the other hand, in other countries, Druze present themselves and are viewed mainly as a sect of Islam. Existing scholarship from different countries reflects this disparity. Given that there are more publications about the Druze in Israel, this skews the results above in favor of adopting the proposition. Hence, the conclusions should not be based on quantity.
• Authors generally rely on social, political, historical, or doctrinal reasoning. And in each one of these aspects, scholars argued in favor or against the inclusion of the Druze as a sect of Islam.
• The acknowledgment that the Druze religion’s foundation is in Islam does not deter scholars from arguing that the Druze today is “beyond Islam.”

The outcome of this project includes the following list, which might be useful for other scholars wanting to start a research project on Druze genetics and the history of the Druze: Druze as a sect of Islam.

Please reach out to Dr. Zeedan if you have any questions on how to use the data.