Alawites

:"For the Alaouite dynasty of Morocco see: Alaouite Dynasty, for the former state now in Yemen see Alawi (sheikhdom)"Infobox Religious group
group = Alawites




caption =Alawite falconer in Banyas, Syria, during World War II.
founder = Ibn Nuṣayr
population = More than 3 million
region1=flagcountry|Syria
pop1 = About 2.5 million
region2=flagcountry|Lebanon
pop2 = An estimated 100.000 [Cite web
url=http://www.tharwaproject.com/node/2127
title=Tharwa Project
quote=Alawites have been present in modern-day Lebanon since the 16th century and are estimated to number 100,000 today, mostly in Akkar and Tripoli. The sect is managed through the Islamic Alawite Union, a council of 600 members that are elected every four years.]
region3=flagcountry|Turkey
pop3 = Tens of thousands, in regions that were formerly part of Syria
region4=flagicon|Israel Israel
pop4 = About 2000 live in Ghajar, a village in the Golan Heights [Cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sy.html|title=CIA - The World Factbook - Syria]
region5=flagcountry|Australia
pop5 = There is a considerable Alawite community in Australia, but the exact number is unclear
rels = Shia Islam
scrips = Qur'an, Kitab al Majmu [cite web
url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/islam-alawi.htm
title=Alawi Islam
accessdate=2008-05-31
publisher=GlobalSecurity.org
quote=Their prayer book, the source of religious instruction, is the "Kitāb al-Majmu‘", believed to be derived from Ismā‘īlī writings. Alawis study the Qur'ān and recognize the five pillars of Islam, which they interpret in a wholly allegorical sense to fit community tenets.]
langs = Arabic, Turkish

The Alawites ( _ar. علوية"‘Alawiyyah"), known also as "Nuṣayrī" ( _ar. نصيريون), "an-Naṣīriyyah", and "al-Anṣāriyyah"), are a sect of Shī‘ah Islam [cite web
url=http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/Alawis.htm
title=Syria’s Alawis and Shi‘ism
last=Kramer
first=Martin
quote=In their mountainous corner of Syria, the Alawis claim to represent the furthest extension of Twelver Shi'ism.] [cite web
url=http://www.robert-fisk.com/articles452.htm
title=This election will change the world. But not in the way the Americans imagined.
last=Fisk
first=Robert
accessdate=2006-10-21
publisher=The Independent UK
quote=But outside Iraq, Arab leaders are talking of a Shia "Crescent" that will run from Iran through Iraq to Lebanon via Syria, whose Alawite leadership forms a branch of Shia Islam.] prominent in Syria. "‘Alawī" is not to be confused with "Alevi", a different religious sect based in Turkey, although they share the same etymology.

The ‘Alawī take their name from ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, cousin and son-in-law of Muḥammad, [cite web
url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan
title=Syria: Identity Crisis
last=Kaplan
first=Robert
date=1993-02
publisher=TheAtlantic.com
quote=The term "Alawite" means "follower of Ali," the martyred son-in-law of Mohammed who is venerated by millions of Shi'ites in Iran and elsewhere.] also the 4^th and last "Rightly Guided Caliph" of Islam.

History

The origin of the ‘Alawī is disputed. Some sources believe they are descendants of inhabitants of the Fertile Crescent from the time of Alexander the Great who gradually added elements of Islam and Christianity to their existing, pre-Islamic religion, when these flourished in the region. [cite web|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/islam-alawi.htm
title=Alawi Islam|accessdate=2008-05-31|publisher=GlobalSecurity.org|quote=The Alawis appear to be descendants of people who lived in this region at the time of Alexander the Great. When Christianity flourished in the Fertile Crescent, the Alawis, isolated in their little communities, clung to their own pre-Islamic religion.]

The Alawites themselves trace their origins to the eleventh Imām, Hassan al-‘Askarī (d. 873), and his pupil ibn Nuṣayr (d. 868). [cite web
url=http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Nosairis
title=Alawi Islam in the 11^th Encyclopædia Brittanica
year=1911
quote=Among the more possible explanations is that the name is derived from that of Muhommed ibn Nusair, who was an Isma'ilite follower of the eleventh imam of the Shiites at the end of the 9^th century. This view has been accepted by Nosairi writers, but they transfer Ibn Nusair to the 7^th century and make him the son of the vizier of Moawiya I.]

Muḥammad ibn Nuṣayr proclaimed himself the "Bāb" "Gate" (representative) of the 11^th Imām in 857. [cite web
url=http://www.mandrake-press.co.uk/Main_article/alawite.html
title=Alawite
publisher=Mandrake Press
quote=In 857, Muhammad ibn Nusair declared himself as the Bab or representative to the 10th Imam among the Shi'tes.] The sect seems to have been organised by a follower of Muḥammad ibn Nuṣayr known as al-Khasibi, who died in Aleppo in about 969. Al-Khasibi's grandson, al-Tabarani, moved to Latakia on the Syrian coast. There he refined the Alawite religion and, with his pupils, converted much of the local population.

In the 10^th century, Alawites were established during the Hamdanid dynasty of Aleppo, but they were driven out when the dynasty fell in 1004. In 1097, Crusaders initially attacked them, but later allied with them against the Ismailis. In 1120, the Alawites were defeated by the Ismailis and Kurds, but three years later, they fought the Kurds successfully. In 1297, the Ismailis and Alawis tried to negotiate a merger, but it came to nothing.

. The French recognized the term "‘Alawī" when they occupied Syria in 1920. The French gave autonomy to the ‘Alawīs and other minority groups and accepted them into their colonial troops. [cite web
url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan
title=Syria: Identity Crisis
last=Kaplan
first=Robert
date=1993-02
publisher=TheAtlantic.com] Under the mandate, many Alawite chieftains supported the notion of a separate Alawite nation and tried to convert their autonomy into independence. A territory of "Alaouites" was created in 1925. In May 1930, the Government of Latakia was created; it lasted until February 28, 1937, when it was incorporated into Syria.

In 1939, a portion of northwest Syria, the Sanjak of Alexandretta, now Hatay, that contained a large number of Alawites, was given to Turkey by the French, greatly angering the ‘Alawī community and Syrians in general. Zaki al-Arsuzi, the young Alawite leader from Antioch in Iskandarun (later renamed "Hatay" by the Turks) who led the resistance to the annexation of his province to the Turks, later became a founder of the Ba'ath Party along with the Eastern Orthodox Christian schoolteacher Michel Aflaq. After World War II, Salman Al Murshid played a major role in uniting the Alawite province with Syria. He was executed by the newly independent Syrian government in Damascus on December 12, 1946 only three days after a hasty political trial.

Syria became independent on April 16, 1946. Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Syria endured a succession of military coups in 1949, the rise of the Ba'th Party, and unification of the country with Egypt in the United Arab Republic in 1958. The UAR lasted for three years and broke apart in 1961 , when a group of army officers seized power and declared Syria independent again; a further succession of coups ensued until a secretive military committee, which included a number of disgruntled Alawite officers, including Hafez al-Assad and Salah Jadid, helped the Ba'th Party take power in 1963. In 1966, Alawite-oriented military officers successfully rebelled and expelled the old Ba'ath that had looked to the Christian Michel Aflaq and the Sunni Muslim Salah al-Din al-Bitar for leadership. They promoted Zaki al-Arsuzi as the "Socrates" of their reconstituted Ba'ath Party.

In 1970, then-Air Force Colonel Hafez al-Assad took power and instigated a "Correctionist Movement" in the Ba'ath Party. [Cite web
url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan
title=Syria: Identity Crisis
last=Kaplan
first=Robert
date=1993-02
publisher=TheAtlantic.com
quote=But the coup of 1970, which brought an Alawite air force officer, Hafez al-Assad, to power, was what finally ended the instability that had reigned in Syria since the advent of independence.] In 1971, al-Assad became president of Syria, a function that the Constitution only allows a Muslim to embrace. Then, in 1974, Imam Musa Sadr, leader of the Twelver Shi'ites of Lebanon and founder of the Amal Movement, was asked to proclaim that he accepted the Alawites as real Muslims. [cite web
url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan
title=Syria: Identity Crisis
last=Kaplan
first=Robert
date=1993-02
publisher=TheAtlantic.com
quote=Today, those Muslims called Alawis are brothers of those Shi'ites called Mutawallis by the malicious.] Under the dictatorial but secular Assad regime, religious minorities were tolerated, political dissent was not. During an uprising led by the Sunni Islamist Muslim Brotherhood in 1982 in the city of Hama, perhaps 20,000 were killed by the Syrian military. Many more were killed and arrested throughout Syria and especially in Damascus and Aleppo.

After the death of Hafez al-Assad in 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad maintained the outlines of his father's regime. Although ‘Alawīs predominate among the top military and intelligence offices, the civilian government and national economy is largely led by Sunnis, who represent about 70% of Syria's population. The Assad regime is careful to allow all of the religious sects a share of power and influence in the government, but there is clear ‘Alawī domination of the highest levels of power. Today the ‘Alawiyyah exist as a minority but politically powerful, religious sect in Syria.

Beliefs of the ‘Alawī

‘Alawī practise religious secrecy. They generally claim they are Muslims, which may be especially the case of the non-initiated. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "The basic doctrine of 'Alawite faith is the deification of Ali. They consider themselves to be moderate Shi'ites, not much different from the Twelvers." [ [http://secure.britannica.com/ebc/article-9005375] ]

Theologically, modern ‘Alawī claim to be Twelver Shi'ites, [cite web
url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan
title=Syria: Identity Crisis
last=Kaplan
first=Robert
date=1993-02
publisher=TheAtlantic.com
quote=In their mountainous corner of Syria, the Alawis claim to represent the furthest extension of Twelver Shi'ism.] but traditionally they have been designated as "extremists" ( _ar. غلاة "ghulat") and outside the bounds of Islam by the Muslim mainstream for their high level of devotion to ‘Alī. [cite web
url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan
title=Syria: Identity Crisis
last=Kaplan
first=Robert
date=1993-02
publisher=TheAtlantic.com]

‘Alawism is a somewhat gnostic version of Shī‘a Islam. [Cite web|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/259hbbtw.asp|title=All About the Alawites] The ‘Alawī believe ‘Alī is the true successor of Muhammad as well as in esoteric reading of the Qur'an. Alawites regard ‘Alī as the purpose of life and the divine knowledge of the Prophet. Alawites also believe that in each world age, special prophets like Jesus or Muhammad came to show the right path.‘Alī, Muhammad and a third entity, Salman the Persian, are important to the faith. Respectively, they are called the Idea, the Name, and the Door (to god). In Sura 6 of the "Majmu‘", one of their texts, it is stated, "I make for the Door, I prostrate myself before God, I worship the essence."

Alawites do not accept converts or openly publish their texts, which are passed down from scholar to scholar. The vast majority of Alawites (the "Ammah") know little about the contents of their sacred texts or theology, which are guarded by a small class of male initiates (the "Khassah"). [cite web
url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan
title=Syria: Identity Crisis
last=Kaplan
first=Robert
date=1993-02
publisher=TheAtlantic.com] For initiation, a person must be at least 15 and cannot be a non-Alawite. [cite web
url=http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Nosairis
title=Alawi Islam in the 11^th Encyclopædia Brittanica
year=1911
quote=Religion is restricted among the Nosairis to the initiated, who must be adults over fifteen years of age and of Nosairi parentage.] They believe in metempsychosis; the soul of the pious ascends to the starry heavens via a series of transformations. The less pious souls require more transformations. [cite web
url=http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Nosairis
title=Alawi Islam in the 11^th Encyclopædia Brittanica
year=1911
quote=The Nosairis are believers in metempsychosis. The pious Nosairi takes his rank among the stars, but the body of the impious undergoes many transformations.]

Several sources suggest that Alawism is a syncretic sect and has affinities with Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and ancient Phoenician paganism, but these claims are hard to verify, due to the secret nature of the sect. [cite web
url=http://www.mandrake-press.co.uk/Main_article/alawite.html
title=Alawite
publisher=Mandrake Press
quote=Various sources claim that their rites include remnants of Phoenician sacrificial rituals, that they claim that women have no souls and that they drink wine (possibly a form of communion).] [cite web
url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan
title=Syria: Identity Crisis
last=Kaplan
first=Robert
date=1993-02
publisher=TheAtlantic.com
quote=far more serious is the Alawite doctrine's affinity with Phoenician paganism — and also with Christianity.] They are believed to celebrate Christian festivals such as Christmas, Easter and Epiphany, as well as the Zoroastrian new year, Nowruz, along with regular Shi'ite festivals. [Cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DEFD71131F931A15755C0A9669C8B63|title=Assad Patronage Puts a Small Sect on Top in Syria|last=Sachs|first=Susan|date=2000-06-22|publisher=The New York Times] [cite web
url=http://i-cias.com/e.o/alawites.htm
title=Alawites
publisher=LookLex Encyclopedia
quote=But they also celebrate some of the same festivals as the Christians, like Christmas and Epiphany, as well as Nawruz, which originally is the Zoroastrian New Year.] [cite web
url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/intro/islam-alawi.htm
title=Alawi Islam
accessdate=2008-05-31
publisher=GlobalSecurity.org
quote=However, contacts with the Byzantines and the Crusaders added Christian elements to the Alawis' new creeds and practices. For example, ‘Alawīs celebrate Christmas, Easter, and Epiphany.]

Because only one book has been translated, outsiders know little about Alawite theology. Hanna Batatu's last book has a short but reliable section on Alawite doctrine, theology, and recent debates within the community. The French tried to pressure leading Alawite shaykhs to declare ‘Alawiyya a separate religion during the early 1920s, but they lost their battle because many religious leaders refused to do so. After all, Alawites declare themselves to be Muslims in their catechism and believe that Muhammad is God's messenger. Alawites try to follow the prime example left by ‘Alī. ‘Alī lived out of the eye of the public. Like ‘Alī, the ‘Alawī are called names and rejected by the common; like ‘Alī, Alawites also keep to themselves; like ‘Alī, they say that they "worship God in private and not for show".

Although Alawites recognize the five pillars of Islam, they do not believe that anyone has the privilege of practicing them because they are too pure to be performed by "any" soul. Alawites believe that there is no back door entrance to the gates of Heaven (i.e. follow the five pillars and you receive the keys to heaven). Instead they believe that one should devote his life the way that the prophet Muhammad would have permitted by following the example of ‘Alī.

Alawites are divided into subsects: "Haydariyyah" (Lion sect), "Shamsiyyah" (Sun Sect) and "Qamariyya" (Moon Sect). [ [http://www.mandrake-press.co.uk/Main_article/alawite.html Alawite ] ] The sects are oriented by tribe. Some hold a mistaken belief that the Murshidiyya (after Salman Al Murshid) are an Alawite group.

Population

Traditionally Alawites live in the mountains along the Mediterranean coast of Syria; Latakia and Tartous are the region's principal cities. Alawites are also concentrated in the plains around Hama and Homs. Today Alawites also live in all major cities of Syria. They were never estimated at more than 11% of the Syrian population (which would be about 2 million people if true today). Imami Twelver Shī‘a comprise an additional 10% of the population.

Before 1953, they had reserved seats in the Syrian Parliament, like all other religious communities. After that, including for the 1960 census, there were only general Muslim and Christian categories, without mention of subgroups in order to reduce "communalism" ("taïfiyya").

There are an estimated 100,000 [ [http://www.tharwaproject.com/node/2127 TDS - Lebanese Alawites welcome Syria's withdrawal as 'necessary' | The Tharwa project ] ] Alawites who live in Lebanon, where the Taif Agreement of 1989 gave them two reserved seats in the Parliament (Alawites are recognized as one of the 18 official Lebanese sects). They live mostly in Tripoli and small villages in Akkar.

There are tens of thousands of Alawites who live in the Hatay, Adana and Mersin provinces of Southern Turkey.

There are also about 2000 Alawites living in the village of Ghajar, split between Lebanon and the Israeli occupied Golan Heights, alongside Druze.

References

ee also

*Neo-Platonism
*Druze

External links

* [http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/Islamic%20Education%20in%20Syria.htm Islamic Education in Syria by Joshua Landis]
* [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/NEW_NUM/NOSAIRIS_also_known_as_Ansayrii.html Nosairi]
*T. E. Lawrence [http://telawrence.net/telawrencenet/works/spw/sp_05_058.htm on Syrians, including Nosaris/Alawites]
* [http://www.extenza-eps.com/WDG/doi/abs/10.1515/islm.2005.82.2.349 Ibn Taymiyya's Fatwa against the Nosairi] A .pdf file
* [http://mb-soft.com/believe/txw/nusayri.htm Nusayri]