Apparently the Druze have two sub-groups - the initiated (about 20% of the population) and the unitiated (the remainder). Apparently the uninitiated are are not allowed to read the holy writings and are kept largely in the dark about a lot of aspects of their religion. And apparently the initiated group is known as the al-ʻUqqāl. (I say “apparently” because I don’t know anything other than what wikipedia says and (as you’ll see below) an acquaintance of mine told me).
So anyway, my acquaintance (from Lebanon, but Christian) told me how the Druze get a new batch of initiates. The story he told was kind of bizarre, I really don’t believe it, and I’m not repeating it here b/c it seems ludicrous.
So I hit google to refute or corroborate what he said, and although there is tons on the divide between the initiated and the uninitiated, I haven’t been able to find an explicit reference for how exactly the initiated are selected. This seems conspicuous by its absence and perhaps my source’s tale is in fact correct and no one wants to talk about it.
So, does anyone know, or can anyone point me to a cite?