Alawites
Alawites (Arabic: العلويون, romanized: al-ʿAlawiyyūn) are an Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, an offshoot of Shia Islam as a ghulat branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate Ali ibn Abi Talib, the “first Imam” in the Twelver school, as a manifestation of the divine essence. It is the only ghulat sect still in existence today. The group was founded during the ninth century by Ibn Nusayr, who was a disciple of the tenth Twelver Imam, Ali al-Hadi, and of the eleventh Twelver Imam, Hasan al-Askari. For this reason, Alawites are also called Nusayris.
Many categorise Alawism as a heterodox version of Shi’ism, with a doctrine combining principles from all great monotheistic religions, of which Islam is one, and from Zoroastrianism.
Surveys suggest Alawites represent an important portion of the Syrian population and are a significant minority in the Hatay Province of Turkey and northern Lebanon. There is also a population living in the village of Ghajar in the Golan Heights, where there had been two other Alawite villages (Ayn Fit and Za’ura) before the Six-Day War. The Alawites form the dominant religious group on the Syrian coast and towns near the coast, which are also inhabited by Sunnis, Christians, and Ismailis. They are often confused with the Alevis, a religious group in Turkey that shares certain similarities with the Alawites but has key differences.
The Quran is one of their holy books, but its interpretation differs significantly from Shia Muslim interpretations and aligns with early Batiniyya and other ghulat sects. Alawite theology and rituals differ sharply from Shia Islam in several important ways. For instance, various Alawite rituals involve the drinking of wine and the sect does not prohibit the consumption of alcohol for its adherents. As a creed that teaches the symbolic/esoteric reading of Qur’anic verses, Alawite theology is based on the belief in reincarnation and views Ali as a divine incarnation of God. Moreover, Alawite clergy and scholarships insist that their religion is theologically distinct from Shi’ism. Alawites have historically kept their beliefs secret from outsiders and non-initiated Alawites, so rumours about them have arisen. Arabic accounts of their beliefs tend to be partisan (either positively or negatively). However, since the early 2000s, Western scholarship on the Alawite religion has made significant advances. At the core of the Alawite creed is the belief in a divine Trinity, comprising three aspects of the one God. The aspects of the Trinity are Mana (meaning), Ism (Name) and Bab (Door). Alawite beliefs hold that these emanations underwent re-incarnation cyclically seven times in human form throughout history. According to Alawites, the seventh incarnation of the trinity consists of Ali ibn Abi Talib (Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law), Muhammad himself, and Salman al-Farisi, a Persian companion of Muhammad.
An important component of Alawism is the belief in the transfer of souls, rejected by orthodox Islamic scholars of both the Twelver Shia and Sunni conviction, leading to the Alawites being considered heretics by classical theologians of Sunni and Shia Islam. A lone 1932 fatwa by Hajj Amin al-Husseini recognising them as Muslims has been seen as based on immediate political, anticolonial considerations. Alawites have faced periods of subjugation or persecution under various Muslim empires such as the Ottomans, Abbasids, Mamluks, and others. The establishment of the French Mandate of Syria in 1920 marked a turning point in Alawite history. Until then, the community had commonly self-identified as “Nusayris”, emphasizing their connections to Ibn Nusayr. The French administration prescribed the label “Alawite” to categorise the sect alongside Shiism in official documents. The French recruited a large number of minorities into their armed forces and created exclusive areas for minorities, including the Alawite State. The Alawite State was later dismantled, but the Alawites continued to play a significant role in the Syrian military and later in the Ba’ath Party. After Hafez al-Assad’s seizure of power during the 1970 coup, the Ba’athist state enforced Assadist ideology amongst Alawites to supplant their traditional identity. During the Syrian revolution, communal tensions were further exacerbated as the country destabilized into a full-scale sectarian civil war.
“Nusayriyah” refers to the Alawites, an esoteric religious sect centered in Syria, historically known as Nusayris or Ansaris, who follow a mystical branch of Shia Islam with syncretic Gnostic and Christian elements. The term “Nusayriyah” was used until the 1920s, when the community adopted the name “[Alawi]” (meaning “followers of Ali”) to align more closely with mainstream Shia Islam, a move encouraged by French mandate officials. The term “Nusayri” is now often rejected and considered a derogatory slur by many within the community.
- Founder: The sect was founded by Muhammad ibn Nusayr al-Namiri in the 9th century.
- Deification of Ali: A core belief is the divinity of Ali, the cousin of Prophet Muhammad, whom they consider an incarnation of God.
- Trinity: They view Ali as “Ma’na” (meaning), Muhammad as “Ism” (name), and Salman the Persian as “Bab” (door), forming a divine trinity.
- Esoteric Doctrine: Their theology is largely secret, with texts not printed and teachings shared only with an elite few, which has led some scholars to classify them as a “ghulat” (extremist Shia) sect.
- Syria: The Alawite community is primarily centered in Syria.
- Nusayriyah Mountains: The mountains in northwestern Syria are historically associated with the Alawite population and share their names: the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range, Jabal an-Nusayria, and Jabal al-‘Alawiyin.
- Current Usage: “Nusayri” has been rejected by the community and is often used by opponents of the Alawite-led government in Syria to insinuate that their beliefs are not authentic.