Intermarriage among Druze Men

Abstract

In cases of intermarriage, both spouses profess different religions. For 50 years, this trend is rising constantly; naturally, it has not skipped the Druze community, even though its religious laws prohibit intermarriage, up to the point of being outcast from the community. The current study focuses on the extent of adjustment to the other society from the perspective of the Druze married men. The study is made by the qualitative method, the data is gathered through interviews of 5 Druze men, who are married to non-Druze women. The findings indicate that young Druze men meet their non-Druze spouses in the course of working in the city or during their military service. After being married, the Druze men integrate in the new culture, at the same time of being outcast from their Druze family. Over time, they experience disillusionment and enter the phase of nostalgia, yet, they cannot come back home as long as they are married to non-Druze women. The third phase is the phase of integrating between the identities or assimilating the two previous phases, if this phase is not completed properly, the Druze man would leave his non-Druze wife and children at a later age and would try to return to his Druze family and village, or would remain outcast forever.