The use of "Alawite", instead of "Nusayri", was advocated by the French early in the Mandate period and referred to a member of the Alawite religion. They have done greater harm to the community of Muhammad than have the warring infidels such as the Franks, the Turks, and others. Our book is the Qur'an. Mere prophets came to teach; Jesus not only taught like other prophets, He came to die to our sins (John 1:29; 1 Timothy 2:6; 1 John 2:2). In his book, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T. E. Lawrence wrote: The sect, vital in itself, was clannish in feeling and politics. During the Syrian Civil War, the Alawites have suffered as a result of their support for the Assad government against the mainly Sunni opposition, with up to a third of young Alawite men killed in the increasingly sectarian conflict. Women are prohibited from religious studies, since they came from the devil and have no souls, according to Alawite beliefs. [98] They also believe in intercession of certain legendary saints such as Khidr (Saint George) and Simeon Stylites. [121], Some sources have discussed the "Sunnification" of Alawites under the al-Assad regime. He built a ferocious security apparatus based on fellow Alawite officers. ", We must confess Jesus as Lord: "if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Selon Joshua Landis, Hafez el-Assad a tenté de « sunnitiser » les alaouites, tout en les considérant comme étant des adeptes du chiisme duodécimain10 D'un autr… They spoke Arabic, but had lived there since the beginning of Greek letters in Syria. The Alawites revere Ali (Ali ibn Abi Talib), considered the first Imam of the Twelver school. -- Not all Alawites support the Assad dynasty and only a few have profited from Assad’s rule, with many living in poverty in Syria’s central mountains. [38] Two prominent Alawite leaders in the following centuries, credited with uplifting the group, were Shaykhs al-Makzun (d. 1240) and al-Tubani (d. 1300), both originally from Mount Sinjar in modern Iraq. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Between 1809 and 1813, Mustafa Agha Barbar, the governor of Tripoli, attacked the Kalbiyya Alawites with "marked savagery. Who are the Alawites? Since the sacred writings of the Nuṣayrī-ʿAlawīs are kept secret by the members of the sect because of their sensitivity, it is important to note that the religious material used in this volume is only that which is accessible in public libraries and printed books. [68] Robert D. Kaplan compared Hafez al-Assad's coming to power to "an untouchable becoming maharajah in India or a Jew becoming tsar in Russia—an unprecedented development shocking to the Sunni majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries". The Old New Year is celebrated on 13 January, and named as, The festival is celebrated on 17 April according to the. No, we all are in the same boat without God, and God not only needed to reveal the truth, but He has to guide people to it, as people are so prone to chase after the deceptions of this life. When a large French force overran his positions, he went underground. [18] At the core of Alawite belief is a divine triad, comprising three aspects of the one God. Alawites are not to be confused with Alevis, a Turkish Muslim minority. Alawites demonstrate considerable social mobility. [100], Journalist Robert F. Worth argues that the idea that the Alawi religion as a branch of Islam is a rewriting of history made necessary by the French colonialists abandonment of the Alawi and departure from Syria. Most Alawites feel oppressed by the policies of the Presidency of Religious Affairs in Turkey (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı). Considered by many Muslims to be heretics, the present-day ʿAlawites obtained a legal decision about their status as Muslims from the Lebanese leader of the Ithnā ʿAsharīyah (Twelver) sect of Shīʿite Islām. The roots of ʿAlawism lie in the teachings of Muḥammad ibn Nuṣayr an-Namīrī (fl. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Alawites form the dominant religious group on the Syrian coast and towns near the coast which are also inhabited by Sunnis, Christians, and Ismailis. -- This year’s bloody struggle between Assad forces and pro-democracy protesters splits Syria along a minority-majority gulf made deeper by the fact many Sunnis call Alawites heretics. The Hatayan land was given to Turkey by the French after a League of Nations plebiscite in the province. [110] Other Sunni scholars, such as Al-Ghazali, also approved of violence against Alawites, whom he considered as non-Muslims. [120] Additionally, there has been a recent movement to unite Alawism and the other branches of Twelver Islam through educational exchange programs in Syria and Qom. [39][40] During the reign of Selim I, of the Ottoman Empire, the Alawites would again experience significant persecution;[41] especially in Aleppo when a massacre occurred in the Great Mosque of Aleppo on 24 April 1517. The Alawis, or Alawites (Arabic: علوية Alawīyah), are a sect of Shia Islam . The Ka`ba is our qibla, and our Dīn (religion) is Islam. The Ottoman Empire oppressed the Alawites,[44] attempting to convert them to Sunni Islam. By taking this step, leaders of the sect expressed not only their link to Shīʿism, but to Islam in general. [82], Alawites have traditionally lived in the Coastal Mountain Range along the Mediterranean coast of Syria. They are sometimes called Alawis, incorrectly called Ansaris, and are no longer referred to as Nusayris, which is now used almost exclusively as a slur. The Nusayris are more infidel than Jews or Christians, even more infidel than many polytheists. [115][116][117], The Christian elements in the Nusayri religion are unmistakable. Get kids back-to-school ready with Expedition: Learn! [135][136][137] Their Mufti is Sheikh Assad Assi. In 1903 the Belgian-born Jesuit and Orientalist Henri Lammens (d. 1937) visited a certain Ḥaydarī-Nuṣayrī sheikh Abdullah in a village near Antakya and mentions that the latter preferred the name 'Alawī' for his people. Turkish Alawites traditionally speak the same dialect of Levantine Arabic as Syrian Alawites. [102] however, according to associate professor Stefan Winter, this letter is a forgery. [74] In April 2017, a pro-opposition source claimed 150,000 young Alawites had died. A 2006 study concluded that Alawites of Adana region had 33% of Haplogroup R1b, 2% of Haplogroup R1a, 1% of Haplogroup T-M184,. They include the concept of trinity; the celebration of Christmas, the consecration of the Qurbana, that is, the sacrament of the flesh and blood which Christ offered to his disciples, and, most important, the celebration of the Quddas (a lengthy prayer proclaiming the divine attributes of Ali and the personification of all the biblical patriarchs from Adam to Simon Peter, founder of the Church, who is seen, paradoxically, as the embodiment of true Islam). Alawite theology and rituals break from mainstream Shia Islam in several remarkable ways. A majority of Syrians belong to Sunni Islam, as do almost 90% of all Muslims in the world. The Difference Between Alawites and Sunnis in Syria. [138] The Bab al-Tabbaneh–Jabal Mohsen conflict between pro-Syrian Alawites and anti-Syrian Sunnis has affected Tripoli for decades. For this reason, Alawites are sometimes called Nusayris (Arabic: نصيرية Nuṣayrīyah), although the term has come to be used as a pejorative in the modern era. The community and religious leaders say they hope to "shine a light" on the Alawites after a long period of secrecy, at what they call "an important moment" in their history. On the other hand, Al-Assad "declared the Alawites to be nothing but Twelver Shiites". By executing the orders of his majesty, the decisions and recommendations were implemented, and all the Syrian villages, especially the villages of Nusayris, were destroyed until the jungle of the bridge (Jisr al-Shughur) and the gate of the Eagle (probably Bab Qinnasrin), to Shaizar and Wadi Khaled (in Akkar District), until the victory was written for us. Al-Tabarani influenced the Alawite faith through his writings and by converting the rural population of the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range. [67] Before this, the Alawite Arabs and Armenians comprised most of the province's population. A succession of coups ensued until, in 1963, a secretive military committee (including Alawite officers Hafez al-Assad and Salah Jadid) helped the Ba'ath Party seize power. Ali Sulayman al-Ahmad, chief judge of the Baathist Syrian state, has said: We are Alawi Muslims. In 1949, after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Syria experienced a number of military coups and the rise of the Ba'ath Party. When the uprising against Bashar al-Assad kicked off in March 2011, most Alawites rallied behind the regime (as did many Sunnis.) When French authorities heard about the meeting, they sent a force to arrest Saleh al-Ali. [26] During the 19th and 20th centuries, some Western scholars believed that Alawites were descended from ancient Middle Eastern peoples such as the Arameans, Canaanites, Hittites,[27][28] and Mardaites. Moreover, Alawites are ethnic Arabs, while Iranians are Persians. 868). During the Islamist uprising in Syria in the 1970s and 1980s, the establishment came under pressure. According to Samuel Lyde, who lived among the Alawites during the mid-19th century, this was a term they used among themselves. [122] Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies, writes that Hafiz al-Assad "tried to turn Alawites into 'good' (read Sunnified) Muslims in exchange for preserving a modicum of secularism and tolerance in society". It gave the French the power to recruit Syrian civilians into their armed forces for an indefinite period and created exclusive areas for minorities, including an Alawite State. Other specific elements, such as the belief in divine incarnation, permissibility of alcohol, and celebration of Christmas and Zoroastrian New Year, make Alawite Islam highly suspect in the eyes of many orthodox Sunnis and Shiites. In his Natural History, Book V, Pliny the Elder said: We must now speak of the interior of Syria. A quasi-official name used during the 1930s by Turkish authorities was Eti Türkleri ("Hittite Turks"), to conceal their Arabic origins. Named after Ali, Alawites believe he was divine, one of many manifestations of God in a line with Adam, Jesus, Mohammad, Socrates, Plato and some pre-Islamic sages from ancient Persia. Oxford University Press.