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The Druze are considered to be a social group as well as a religion, but not a distinct ethnic group. Also complicating their identity is the custom of Taqiya - concealing or disguising their beliefs when necessary ? that they adopted from Shia Islam. Druze in different states can have radically different lifestyles. Some claim to be Muslim, some do not. The Druze faith is said to abide by Islamic principles, but they tend to be separatist in their treatment of Druze-hood. Druze does not allow conversion to the religion. Marriage between Druze and non-Druze is discouraged for religious, political and historical reasons.
[edit] God in the Druze faith
The Druze conception of the deity is declared by them to be one of strict and uncompromising unity. The main Druze doctrine states that God is both Transcendent and Immanent, in which He is above all attributes but at the same time He is present.
In their desire to maintain a rigid confession of unity they stripped from God all attributes (tanz?h) which may savor of, or lead into, polytheism (shirk). In Allah there are no attributes distinct from his essence. He is wise, mighty, just, not by wisdom, might, justice, but by his own essence. God is the whole of existence" rather than "above existence," or on His throne which would make Him "limited." There is neither "how," "when" nor "where" about him, he is incomprehensible
In this dogma, they are similar to the semi-philosophical, semi-religious body which flourished under Al-Ma'mun and was known by the name of Mu'tazila and the equally interesting fraternal order of the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan al-?afa).
But unlike the Mu?tazilla and similar to some branches of Sufism the Druze believe in the concept of Tajalli (meaning "theophany"). The Tajalli, which is more often misunderstood by scholars and writers ,and is usually confused with the concept of Incarnation, is the core spiritual beliefs in the Druze and some other intellectual and spiritual traditions. In a mystical sense, it refers to the light of God experienced by certain mystics who have reached a high level of purity in their spiritual journey. Thus, God is perceived as the ?Lahut? (the divine) who manifests His Light in the Station (Maqaam) of the ?Nasut (material realm) without the Nasut becoming Lahut. This is like one's image in the mirror: one is in the mirror but does not become the mirror. The Druze manuscripts are emphatic and warn against the belief that the Nasut is God. Neglecting this warning, individual seekers, scholars, and other spectators have considered al-Hakim and other figures divine.
In the Druze scriptural view of the Tajalli "takes a central stage.In which, ?One author comments that the Tajalli occurs when the seeker's humanity is annihilated so that divine attributes and light are experienced by the person. The concept of God reincarnating in a human, seem to contradict with what the Druze scriptural view has to teach about the Oneness of God, while Tajalli is at the center of the Druze and some other, often mystical, traditions
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WHY do the Druze believe the messiah will be born from a man?
