The Druze, who can be traced back to eleventh-century Levant, have long intrigued scholars of the Middle East. Their obscure origins and blending of beliefs from Ismali Shi ism, animism, Greek philosophy, Jewish and Christian mysticism, Iranian Gnosticism, and Buddhism have set them apart from their neighbors.

The author reveals the remarkable Druze pantheon of semi-deities and investigates their dogmas and rituals. The book also includes rarely seen extracts from the sacred writings of the Druze.

Philip Khuri Hitti (1886 1978) was born in Lebanon and taught at...

- Ibrahim Abu Lughod is] Palestine's foremost academic and intellectual.---Edward Said

Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798 exposed the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire to a Europe vastly different from the one known to the Arabs of the Middle Ages. At the start of the nineteenth century, Arabs were unprepared for the social, economic, and political progress made in Europe.

By 1870, however, their vague notions had evolved into a fairly sophisticated knowledge of the historic background and contemporary achievements of various European nations. The new reform movements in...