Page "Druze" Paragraph 8

Some authorities see in the name " Druze " a descriptive epithet, derived from Arabic dâresah (" those who study ").

Others have speculated that the word comes from the Arabic-Persian word Darazo ( " bliss ") or from Shaykh Hussayn ad-Darazī, who was one of the early converts to the faith.

In the early stages of the movement, the word " Druze " is rarely mentioned by historians, and in Druze religious texts only the word Muwaḥḥidūn (" Unitarian ") appears.

The only early Arab historian who mentions the Druze is the 11th century Christian scholar Yahya of Antioch, who clearly refers to the heretical group created by ad-Darazī rather than the followers of Hamza ibn ' Alī.

As for Western sources, Benjamin of Tudela, the Jewish traveler who passed through Lebanon in or about 1165, was one of the first European writers to refer to the Druzes by name.

The word Dogziyin (" Druzes ") occurs in an early Hebrew edition of his travels, but it is clear that this is a scribal error.

Be that as it may, he described the Druze as " mountain dwellers, monotheists, who believe in ' soul eternity ' and reincarnation.