{{short description|Ethnoreligious group centered in Syria}} {{pp|small=yes}} {{About||the religion which the Alawites follow|Alawism|mainly Turkish Shia religious group|Alevism|descendants of Ali ibn Abi Talib|Alids|other uses|Alawi (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox Religious group| | group = Alawites | image = Celebrating Alawites.jpg | caption = Alawites celebrating at a festival in Baniyas, Syria during World War II | founder = Ibn Nusayr<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/mohammad-nosayr|title=MOḤAMMAD B. NOṢAYR|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica |publisher=electricpulp.com}}</ref> and Al-Khasibi<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kasibi|title=ḴAṢIBI|encyclopedia = Encyclopaedia Iranica|publisher=electricpulp.com}}</ref> | region1 = {{flagcountry|Syria|revolution}} | population= {{Approx.|'''4 million'''}}<ref>{{cite web |title=The Politics of Sectarian Insecurity: Alawite 'Asabiyya and the Rise and Decline of the Asad Dynasty of Syria - University of Otago |url=https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/esploro/outputs/doctoral/The-Politics-of-Sectarian-Insecurity-Alawite/9926479007601891 |website=www.otago.ac.nz}} page 6</ref> center|frameless|240x240px | pop1 = 2–3 million<ref>{{cite web |title=The 'secretive sect' in charge of Syria |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-18084964 |website=BBC News |access-date=13 April 2021 |date=17 May 2012}}</ref> | region2 = {{flagcountry|Turkey}} | pop2 = 500,000–1,000,000<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/10/201210217225938535.html|title=Syria strife tests Turkish Alawites|first=Matthew|last=Cassel}}</ref><ref name="telegraph">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/02/who-are-the-alawites/|title=Who are the Alawites?|website=The Telegraph|date=3 April 2016|last1=Spencer|first1=Richard}}</ref> | region3 = {{flagcountry|Argentina}} | pop3 = 180,000<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11562-017-0405-7|doi=10.1007/s11562-017-0405-7|title='Alawis in Argentina: Religious and political identity in the diaspora|year=2018|last1=Montenegr|first1=Silvia|journal=Contemporary Islam|volume=12|pages=23–38|s2cid=255312769|hdl=11336/76408|hdl-access=free}}</ref> | region4 = {{flagcountry|Lebanon}} | pop4 = 150,000<ref name="repost1">[http://www.repost.us/article-preview/#!hash=0467cbf01990a23ab00bfe1a45696310] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806071752/http://www.repost.us/article-preview |date=6 August 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2005/Apr-30/4206-lebanese-allawites-welcome-syrias-withdrawal-as-necessary.ashx#axzz2xTGie9Fr |title=Lebanese Allawites welcome Syria's withdrawal as 'necessary' |journal=The Daily Star |date=30 April 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon%E2%80%99s-alawi-minority-struggles-%E2%80%98nation%E2%80%99-sects|title=Lebanon's Alawi: A Minority Struggles in a 'Nation' of Sects |work=Al Akhbar English |date=8 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304024011/http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/lebanon%E2%80%99s-alawi-minority-struggles-%E2%80%98nation%E2%80%99-sects |access-date=6 July 2012 |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref> | region5 = {{flagcountry|Germany}} | pop5 = 70,000<ref>''[http://remid.de/info_zahlen/islam "Mitgliederzahlen: Islam"]'', in: ''Religionswissenschaftlicher Medien- und Informationsdienst|Religionswissenschaftliche Medien- und Informationsdienst e. V. (Abbreviation: REMID)'', Retrieved 13 February 2017</ref><ref>''[http://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/76744/umfrage/anzahl-der-muslime-in-deutschland-nach-glaubensrichtung "Anzahl der Muslime in Deutschland nach Glaubensrichtung im Jahr 2015* (in 1.000)"]'', in: ''Statista GmbH'', Retrieved 13 February 2017</ref> | region6 = {{flagcountry|Australia}} | pop6 = 43,000{{efn|Approximately 2% of Lebanese-born people in Australia}}<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5Edz2OlQNMC|title=Arab-Australians today: citizenship and belonging|author=Ghassan Hage|edition=Paperback|publisher=Melbourne University Publishing|year=2002|isbn=0-522-84979-2|page=40}}</ref> | langs = Levantine Arabic, Turkish }} '''Alawites''' ({{langx|ar|العلويون|translit=al-ʿAlawiyyūn}}) are an ethnoreligious<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sandal |first=Nukhet A. |date=2021-05-27 |title=Solidarity theologies and the (re)definition of ethnoreligious identities: the case of the Alevis of Turkey and Alawites of Syria |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13530194.2019.1651632 |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |language=en |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=473–491 |doi=10.1080/13530194.2019.1651632 |issn=1353-0194|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Karakaya-Stump |first=Ayfer |date=2025-08-04 |title=Alevis and Alawites: A Comparative Study of History, Theology, and Politics |url=https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/8/1009 |journal=Religions |language=en |volume=16 |issue=8 |pages=1009 |doi=10.3390/rel16081009 |doi-access=free|issn=2077-1444 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251112001045/https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/8/1009 |archive-date=2025-11-12}}</ref> group, many of whom identify as Arabs,<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=12 November 2013 |title=Alawites and the Fate of Syria |url=https://origins.osu.edu/article/alawites-and-fate-syria?language_content_entity=en |access-date=4 May 2023 |website=Origins |publisher=The Ohio State University}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Feldman |first=Noah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ODu-DwAAQBAJ&dq=alawites+are+arabs&pg=PA79 |title=The Arab Winter: A Tragedy |date=12 May 2020 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-20144-3}}</ref> who live primarily in Syria and elsewhere in the Levant. They follow Alawism,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Alawite|title=Alawite|publisher=Britannica}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Feldman |first=Noah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ODu-DwAAQBAJ&dq=alawites+are+arabs&pg=PA79 |title=The Arab Winter: A Tragedy |date=12 May 2020 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-20144-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://minorityrights.org/communities/alawites/|title=Alawites in Lebanon|date=16 October 2023 |publisher=Minority Rights Group International}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Alawites and the Fate of Syria |url=https://origins.osu.edu/article/alawites-and-fate-syria?language_content_entity=en |access-date=4 May 2023 |website=Origins |date=12 November 2013 |publisher=The Ohio State University}}</ref> an offshoot of Shia Islam as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century.<ref name="urlHandbook to Life in the Medieval World, 3-Volume Set - Madeleine Pelner Cosman, Linda Gale Jones - Google Książki">{{cite book |author1=Madeleine Pelner Cosman |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Jf5t1vFw1QC&pg=PA407 |title=Handbook to Life in the Medieval World, 3-Volume Set |author2=Linda Gale Jones |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4381-0907-7 |pages=406, 407 |chapter=The Nusayriyya Alawis |quote=The Alawis are a sect of extremist (''ghuluw'') Shiism, so called because of their doctrine of the deification of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the nephew of the prophet Muhammad. The movement was founded in the mid-ninth century by Muhammad ibn Nusayr al-Namiri, who also proclaimed that the 10th of the 12 Shiite imams, Ali ibn Hadi, possessed a divine nature. Alawi doctrine is secret, esoteric, and Gnostic in nature.}}</ref><ref name="BaltaciogluBrammer">{{Cite web|author=Ayse Baltacioglu-Brammer|title=Alawites and the Fate of Syria |url=https://origins.osu.edu/article/alawites-and-fate-syria|access-date=4 May 2023 |website=Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective |date=November 2013 |publisher=The Ohio State University}}</ref><ref name="Feldman">{{Cite book |last=Feldman |first=Noah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ODu-DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 |title=The Arab Winter: A Tragedy |date=12 May 2020 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-20144-3}}</ref> Alawites venerate Ali ibn Abi Talib, the "first Imam" in the Twelver school, as a manifestation of the divine essence.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nisan |first=Mordechai |title=Minorities in the Middle East |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7864-1375-1 |edition=2nd |pages=116 |chapter=6: Alawites: To Power and the Unknown |quote='Alawite religious faith, that is the belief-system of the Nusairi sect, is rooted in a doctrine whose ideas reflect multiple theological and philo-sophical influences. ... Greek or gnostic conceptions of the divinity intersperse with human incarnation as a key element in its theology.}}</ref><ref>Sources: *{{cite book |author1=Madeleine Pelner Cosman |title=Handbook to Life in the Medieval World, 3-Volume Set |author2=Linda Gale Jones |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4381-0907-7 |pages=407 |chapter=The Nusayriyya Alawis |quote=Alawi doctrine is secret, esoteric, and Gnostic in nature. They believe that Ali ibn Abi Talib is the supreme eternal God... |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Jf5t1vFw1QC&pg=PA407}} *{{Cite book |title=Parts and Wholes |publisher=LIT Verlag |year=2016 |isbn=978-3-643-90789-9 |editor-last=Prager |editor-first=Laila |pages=146 |quote=A major difference between the Shia and the Alawi, however, is that the latter worship Ali as a manifestation of the divine essence and believe in the reincarnation and transmigration of souls. |editor2-last=Prager |editor2-first=Michael |editor3-last=Spenger |editor3-first=Guido}}</ref> It is the only ''ghulat'' sect still in existence today.<ref>{{harvnb|Halm|2001–2012}}. On Ibn Nusayr, see {{harvnb|Friedman|2000–2010}}; {{harvnb|Steigerwald|2010}}. On Alawism-Nusayrism in general, see {{harvnb|Bar-Asher|2003}}; {{harvnb|Bar-Asher|Kofsky|2002}}; {{harvnb|Friedman|2010}}.</ref> The group was founded during the ninth century by Ibn Nusayr,<ref>{{cite book |author1=Madeleine Pelner Cosman |title=Handbook to Life in the Medieval World, 3-Volume Set |author2=Linda Gale Jones |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4381-0907-7 |pages=406, 407 |chapter=The Nusayriyya Alawis |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Jf5t1vFw1QC&pg=PA407}}</ref> 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''',''<ref>{{cite book |author1=Gisela Procházka-Eisl |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ixl3NcvAixAC&pg=PA20 |title=The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-Alawi Community of Cilicia (Southern Turkey) and Its Sacred Places |author2=Stephan Procházka |publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-447-06178-0 |page=20 |quote=...for nearly a millennium the term by far most often used in both Oriental and Western sources for this group has been 'Nusayri'.}}</ref><ref name="JCB">{{Cite web |last=Benítez |first=Juan Carlos |date=9 December 2021 |title=The Assad Family Has Been Shaping Syria for 50 Years |url=https://www.fairobserver.com/region/middle_east_north_africa/juan-carlos-bc-syria-news-bashar-al-assad-syrian-president-arab-world-news-83492/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209173612/https://www.fairobserver.com/region/middle_east_north_africa/juan-carlos-bc-syria-news-bashar-al-assad-syrian-president-arab-world-news-83492/ |archive-date=9 December 2021 |website=Fair Observer}}</ref> although this term can be considered derogatory in the present day.<ref name="landis" />
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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Mara'i |first1=Tayseer |last2=Halabi |first2=Usama R. |date=1992 |title=Life under Occupation in the Golan Heights |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2537689 |journal=Journal of Palestine Studies |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=78–93 |doi=10.2307/2537689 |jstor=2537689 |issn=0377-919X}}</ref> 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.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal |last1=Zhigulskaya |first1=Darya |title=Alevis vs. Alawites in Turkey: From the General to the Specific|journal=International Journal of Humanities and Education |volume=5 |issue=10 |pages=195–206}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Olsson |first1=Tord |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A16QAgAAQBAJ |title=Alevi Identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives |last2=Ozdalga |first2=Elisabeth |last3=Raudvere |first3=Catharina |date=30 September 2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-79725-6 |language=en}}</ref>
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.<ref name="urlJourney to the End of Islam - Michael Knight - Google Książki">{{cite book|author=Michael Knight|title=Journey to the End of Islam|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9XM4AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA128|date=10 December 2009|publisher=Soft Skull Press|isbn=978-1-59376-552-1|page=128}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Atwan2015">{{cite book|author=Abdel Bari Atwan|title=Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgTjBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT58|year=2015|publisher=Saqi|isbn=978-0-86356-101-6|page=58}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Tom |first1=Heneghan |date=24 December 2011 |title=Who are the Alawites? |website=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-religion-alawites-idUSTRE7BM1J220111223 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307225030/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-religion-alawites-idUSTRE7BM1J220111223 |archive-date=7 March 2022}}</ref> Moreover, Alawite clergy and scholarships insist that their religion is theologically distinct from Shi'ism.{{Efn| * {{Cite book |last=van Dam |first=Nikolaos |title=Destroying a Nation: The Civil War in Syria |publisher=I. B. Tauris |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-78453-797-5 |location=New York, USA |chapter=Introduction: Greater Syria or Bilad al-Sham}}}} 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).{{sfn|Friedman|2010|p=68}} However, since the early 2000s, Western scholarship on the Alawite religion has made significant advances.{{sfn|Friedman|2010|p=67}} 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.<ref name= Saud>{{Cite book |last=Ismail |first=Raihan |title=Saudi Clerics and Shī'a Islam |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-19-023331-0 |location= New York, NY |pages=67}}</ref><ref name= MM>{{Cite book |last=Moosa |first=Matti |title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-8156-2411-5 |edition=1st |location=Syracuse, New York |pages=311–312}}</ref>
An important component of Alawism is the belief in the transfer of souls{{Citation needed|date=August 2025}}, rejected by orthodox Islamic scholars of both the Twelver Shia and Sunni conviction,<ref name="JCB" /> 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.<ref name="WI">{{Cite web |last=Balanche |first=Fabrice |author-link=Fabrice Balanche |date=31 December 2024 |title=Alawites Under Threat in Syria? |url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/alawites-under-threat-syria |access-date=18 July 2025 |publisher=The Washington Institute for Near East Policy}}</ref><ref name="JCB" /> Alawites have faced periods of subjugation or persecution under various Muslim empires such as the Ottomans, Abbasids, Mamluks, and others.{{cn |date= July 2025}} The establishment of the French Mandate of Syria in 1920 marked a turning point in Alawite history.<ref name= JCB/> Until then, the community had commonly self-identified as "Nusayris", emphasizing their connections to Ibn Nusayr.<ref name= JCB/> The French administration prescribed the label "Alawite" to categorise the sect alongside Shiism in official documents.<ref name= JCB/> 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rosen |first=Nir |date=10 October 2011 |title=Assad's Alawites: The guardians of the throne |work=Al Jazeera |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2011/10/10/assads-alawites-the-guardians-of-the-throne |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622012706/https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2011/10/10/assads-alawites-the-guardians-of-the-throne/ |archive-date=22 June 2023|quote=The state – even "Assadism" – supplanted the Alawite religion as the focus of their identity...To be accepted as leader, Assad had to persuade Sunnis and Alawites alike that Alawites were, in fact, mainstream Muslims... Alawites struck a bargain; they lost their independence and had to accept the myth that they were "good Muslims".. Assadism then filled the gap left by the negation of traditional Alawite identity. The loss of the traditional role of community leaders fragmented Alawites, preventing them from establishing unified positions and from engaging as a community with other Syrian sects – reinforcing sectarian fears and distrust.}}</ref> During the Syrian revolution, communal tensions were further exacerbated as the country destabilized into a full-scale sectarian civil war.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-religion-alawites-idUSTRE7BM1J220111223|title=Who are the Alawites?|website=Reuters|date=24 December 2011|last1=Tom|first1=Heneghan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307225030/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-religion-alawites-idUSTRE7BM1J220111223 |archive-date=7 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Rosen |first=Nir |date=10 October 2011 |title=Assad's Alawites: The guardians of the throne |work=Al Jazeera |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2011/10/10/assads-alawites-the-guardians-of-the-throne |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230622012706/https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2011/10/10/assads-alawites-the-guardians-of-the-throne/ |archive-date=22 June 2023}}</ref>
== Etymology == In older sources, Alawis are often called "Ansaris". According to Samuel Lyde, who lived among the Alawites during the mid-19th century, this was a term they used among themselves. Other sources indicate that "Ansari" is simply a Western error in the transliteration of "Nusayri".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DnDP09R4s_0C&pg=PA97|title=Initiates and The People Part 2, May 1929 to June 1930|first=R. Swinburne|last=Clymer|publisher=Kessinger Publishing|date=1 April 2003|isbn=978-0-7661-5376-9}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref name="telegraph-secret">{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8684113/Secretive-sect-of-the-rulers-of-Syria.html | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Christopher | last=Howse | title=Secretive sect of the rulers of Syria | date=5 August 2011}}</ref> Alawites historically self-identified as Nusayrites,{{Efn|{{langx|ar|نصيرية|translit=Nuṣayriyya}}}} after their religious founder Ibn Nusayr al-Numayri.<ref name= JCB/> However, the term "Nusayri" had fallen out of currency by the 1920s, as a movement led by intellectuals within the community during the French Mandate sought to replace it with the modern term "Alawi".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Matti Moosa|title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects|date=1987|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=9780815624110|page=262}}</ref><ref name=BaltaciogluBrammer/><ref name= JCB/> They characterised the older name (which implied "a separate ethnic and religious identity") as an "invention of the sect's enemies", ostensibly favouring an emphasis on "connection with mainstream Islam"—particularly the Shia branch.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://spectator.org/archives/2013/01/24/anti-islamism-in-an-islamic-ci |title=Anti-Islamism in an Islamic Civil War |last=al-Tamimi |first=Aymenn Jawad |date=24 January 2013 |magazine=The American Spectator |access-date=4 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130925174813/http://spectator.org/archives/2013/01/24/anti-islamism-in-an-islamic-ci |archive-date=25 September 2013 }}</ref> The term "Nusayrites" is now used as a slur<ref name=landis/> and was frequently used as by Sunni fundamentalists fighting against Bashar al-Assad's government in the Syrian civil war, who use its emphasis on Ibn Nusayr to insinuate that Alawi beliefs are "man-made" and not divinely inspired.<ref name=landis>{{cite web|url=http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/zahran-alloush/|title=Zahran Alloush: His Ideology and Beliefs|last=Landis|first=Joshua|date=15 December 2013|publisher=Syria Comment|access-date=24 December 2013|archive-date=25 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325123621/http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/zahran-alloush/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Necati Alkan argued in an article that the "Alawi" appellation was used in an 11th-century Nusayri book and was not a 20th-century invention. The following quote from the same article illustrates his point: <blockquote>As to the change from "Nuṣayrī" to "ʿAlawī": most studies agree that the term "ʿAlawī" was not used until after WWI and probably coined and circulated by Muḥammad Amīn Ghālib al-Ṭawīl, an Ottoman official and writer of the famous ''Taʾrīkh al-ʿAlawiyyīn'' (1924). However, the name 'Alawī' appears in an 11th century Nuṣayrī tract as one of the names of the believer (...). Moreover, the term 'Alawī' was already used at the beginning of the 20th century. 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. Lastly, it is interesting to note that in the above-mentioned petitions of 1892 and 1909 the Nuṣayrīs called themselves the 'Arab Alawī people' (ʿArab ʿAlevī ṭāʾifesi) 'our ʿAlawī Nuṣayrī people' (ṭāʾifatunā al-Nuṣayriyya al-ʿAlawiyya) or 'signed with Alawī people' (ʿAlevī ṭāʾifesi imżāsıyla). This early self-designation is, in my opinion, of triple importance. Firstly, it shows that the word 'Alawī' was always used by these people, as ʿAlawī authors emphasize; secondly, it hints at the reformation of the Nuṣayrīs, launched by some of their sheikhs in the 19th century and their attempt to be accepted as part of Islam; and thirdly, it challenges the claims that the change of the identity and name from 'Nuṣayrī' to 'ʿAlawī' took place around 1920, in the beginning of the French mandate in Syria (1919–1938).<ref>See Alkan, N. (2012) and the references cited therein. Alkan, N. Fighting for the Nuṣayrī Soul: State, Protestant Missionaries and the ʿAlawīs in the Late Ottoman Empire, Die Welt des Islams, 52 (2012) pp. 23–50.</ref></blockquote>
The Alawites are distinct from the ''Alevi'' religious sect in Turkey, although the terms share a common etymology and pronunciation.<ref name="The Weekly Standard">{{cite web|url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/erdogan-iran-syrian-alawites-and-turkish-alevis_634834.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330231354/http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/erdogan-iran-syrian-alawites-and-turkish-alevis_634834.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 March 2012 |title=Erdogan, Iran, Syrian Alawites, and Turkish Alevis |work=The Weekly Standard |date=29 March 2012 |access-date=6 July 2012}}</ref><ref name="Otto Harrassowitz Verlag">{{cite book|author1=Gisela Procházka-Eisl|author2=Stephan Procházka|title=The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-Alawi Community of Cilicia (Southern Turkey) and Its Sacred Places|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ixl3NcvAixAC&pg=PA20|year=2010|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-06178-0|page=20}}</ref>
== Genealogical origin theories == [[File:Alawite falconer.jpg|thumb|320px|alt=Man holding a falcon, in the centre of a group of people|An Alawite falconer photographed by Frank Hurley in Baniyas, Syria during World War II.]]
The origin of the genetics of Alawites is disputed. Local folklore suggests that they are descendants of the followers of the eleventh Imam, Hasan al-Askari (d. 873), and his pupil, Ibn Nusayr (d. 868).<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Nosairis|volume=19|page=821|first=Griffithes Wheeler|last=Thatcher}}</ref> 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,<ref>{{cite book|author=Samuel Lyde|title=The Asian Mystery Illustrated in the History, Religion, and Present State of the Ansaireeh Or Nusairis of Syria|url=https://archive.org/details/asianmysteryill00lydegoog|year=1860|publisher=Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts|page=[https://archive.org/details/asianmysteryill00lydegoog/page/n65 49]}}</ref><ref>''Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute'' (London, 1911), p.241.</ref> and Mardaites.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Mordechai Nisan|title=Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression, 2d ed.|date=1 January 2002|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-5133-3|pages=114–15}}</ref> Many prominent Alawite tribes are also descended from 13th century settlers from Sinjar.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Matti Moosa|title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects|date=1987|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-2411-0|pages=256, 270}}</ref>
In his ''Natural History'', Book V, Pliny the Elder said: {{blockquote|We must now speak of the interior of Syria. Coele Syria has the town of Apamea, divided by the river Marsyas from the Tetrarchy of the Nazerini.<ref>{{cite book|author=Pliny the Elder|title=Delphi Complete Works of Pliny the Elder (Illustrated)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OrJ0CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA273|year=2015|publisher=Delphi Classics|page=273}}</ref>}}
The "Tetrarchy of the Nazerini" refers to the western region, between the Orontes and the sea, which consists of a small mountain range called Alawi Mountains bordered by a valley running from southeast to northwest known as Al-Ghab Plain; the region was populated by a portion of Syrians, who were called Nazerini.<ref>{{cite book|author=Edme Mentelle|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L44X29n2n6AC&pg=PA199|title=Encyclopédie méthodique. Géographie ancienne, par M. Mentelle, historiographe de monseigneur comte d'Artois, censeur royal, de l'Académie d'histoire de Madrid, de celle de Rouen|publisher=chez Panckoucke|year=1792|language=fr|page=199}}</ref> However scholars are reluctant to link Nazerini and Nazarenes.<ref>{{cite book|author=Ray Pritz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vh84AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA17|title=Nazarene Jewish Christianity: From the End of the New Testament Period Until Its Disappearance in the Fourth Century|publisher=Brill Archive|year=1988|pages=17–18|isbn=9004081089}}</ref> Yet the term "Nazerini" can be possibly connected to words which include the Arabic triliteral root ''n-ṣ-r'' such as the subject ''naṣer'' in Eastern Aramaic, which means "''keeper of wellness''".<ref>{{cite book|author=John Jandora|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ni3cCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA119|title=No Carpenter From Nazareth?|publisher=Llumina Press|year=2015|page=119|isbn=9781625502506}}</ref>
== History == Ibn Nusayr and his followers are considered the founders of the religion. After the death of the Eleventh Imam, al-Askari, problems emerged in the Shia Community concerning his succession, and then Ibn Nusayr claimed to be the Bab and Ism of the deceased Imam and that he received his secret teachings. Ibn Nusayr and his followers' development seems to be one of many other early ghulat mystical Islamic sects, and were apparently excommunicated by the Shia representatives of the 12th Hidden Imam.{{sfn|Friedman|2010}}{{pn|date=March 2025}}
The Alawites were later organised during Hamdanid rule in northern Syria (947–1008) by a follower of Muhammad ibn Nusayr known as al-Khaṣībī, who died in Aleppo about 969, after a rivalry with the Ishaqiyya sect, which claimed also to have the doctrine of Ibn Nusayr.<ref name="halm" /> The embrace of Alawism by the majority of the population in the Syrian coastal mountains was likely a protracted process occurring over several centuries.{{sfn|Winter|2016|p=30}} Modern research indicates that after its initial establishment in Aleppo, Alawism spread to Sarmin, Salamiyah, Homs and Hama before becoming concentrated in low-lying villages west of Hama, including Baarin, Deir Shamil, and Deir Mama, the Wadi al-Uyun valley, and in the mountains around Tartus and Safita.{{sfn|Winter|2016|p=29}}
In 1032, al-Khaṣībī's grandson and pupil, Abu Sa'id Maymun al-Tabarani (d. 1034), moved to Latakia (then controlled by the Byzantine Empire). Al-Tabarani succeeded his mentor al-Jilli of Aleppo as head missionary in Syria and became "the last definitive scholar of Alawism", founding its calendar and giving Alawite teachings their final form, according to the historian Stefan Winter.{{sfn|Winter|2016|pp=27–28}} Al-Tabarani influenced the Alawite faith through his writings and by converting the rural population of the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range.<ref name="halm">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u5jO3QzVtPUC&pg=PA28|title=Shi'ism|first= Heinz|last= Halm|page=157 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press|isbn=978-0-7486-1888-0|year=2004}}</ref>
Winter argues that while it is likely the Alawite presence in Latakia dates to Tabarani's lifetime, it is unclear if Alawite teachings spread to the city's mountainous hinterland, where the Muslim population generally leaned toward Shia Islam, in the eleventh century. In the early part of the century, the Jabal al-Rawadif (part of the Syrian Coastal Mountains around Latakia) were controlled by the local Arab chieftain Nasr ibn Mushraf al-Rudafi, who vacillated between alliance and conflict with Byzantium. There is nothing in the literary sources indicating al-Rudafi patronized the Alawites.{{sfn|Winter|2016|p=28}}
To the south of Jabal al-Rawadif, in the Jabal Bahra, a 13th-century Alawite treatise mentions the sect was sponsored by the Banu'l-Ahmar, Banu'l-Arid, and Banu Muhriz, three local families who controlled fortresses in the region in the 11th and 12th centuries.{{sfn|Winter|2016|p=28}} From this southern part of the Syrian coastal mountain range, a significant Alawite presence developed in the mountains east of Latakia and Jableh during the Mamluk period (1260s–1516).{{sfn|Winter|2016|p=29}}
According to Bar Hebraeus, many Alawites were killed when the Crusaders initially entered Syria in 1097; however, they tolerated them when they concluded they were not a truly Islamic sect.<ref name="Syracuse University Press">{{cite book|author1=Matti Moosa|title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects|date=1987|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-2411-0|pages=269–71}}</ref> They even incorporated them within their ranks, along with the Maronites and Turcopoles.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.realmofhistory.com/2020/03/23/crusades-facts-medieval/|title=History of the Crusades: Origins, Politics, and Crusaders|website=Realm of History|date=23 March 2020|access-date=14 May 2020|archive-date=28 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328043355/https://www.realmofhistory.com/2020/03/23/crusades-facts-medieval/|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Syracuse University Press"/>
In the 14th century, the Alawites were forced by Mamluk Sultan Baibars to build mosques in their settlements, to which they responded with token gestures described by the Muslim traveller Ibn Battuta.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pipes |first1=Daniel |author-link1=Daniel Pipes|title=Greater Syria|date=1992|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-536304-3|page=161|quote="Every village built a mosque far from the houses, which the villagers neither enter nor maintain. They often shelter cattle and asses in it. Often a stranger arrives and goes to the mosque to recite the [Islamic] call to prayer; then they yell to him, 'Stop braying, your fodder is coming.' " [Ibn Battuta]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Matti Moosa|title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects|date=1987|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-2411-0|pages=270–1}}</ref>
=== {{anchor|Under the Ottoman Empire}}Ottoman Empire ===
During the reign of Sultan Selim I, of the Ottoman Empire, the Alawites would again experience significant persecution;<ref>{{cite book|author1=Matti Moosa|title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects|date=1987|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-2411-0|page=275}}</ref> especially in Aleppo when a massacre occurred in the Great Mosque of Aleppo on 24 April 1517. The massacre was known as the "Massacre of the Telal" ({{langx|ar|مجزرة التلل}}) in which the corpses of thousands of victims accumulated as a tell located west of the castle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sy-center.net/?p=1512|title=Ottoman Empire massacre against Alawites|work=Syrian Center for Studies|date=9 May 2017|access-date=28 May 2018|archive-date=23 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190423182731/http://sy-center.net/?p=1512|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=June 2022|reason=The cited article claims that the events were reported in an Ottoman letter preserved in the French National library in Strasbourg. However, the article fails to cite the letter properly as it does not provide any further information about the alleged letter, not even a title or any sort of identification number.|certain=yes}} The horrors of the massacre which caused the immigration of the survivors to the coastal region are documented at the National and University Library in Strasbourg.{{cn|date=November 2023}}
The Ottoman Empire took aggressive actions against Alawites,{{citation needed|date=February 2023}} due to their alleged "treacherous activities" as "they had a long history of betraying the Muslim governments due to their mistrust towards Sunnis."<ref>Seale, Patrick. ''Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East''. With the assistance of Maureen McConville. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989, c1988.</ref> The Alawis rose up against the Ottomans on several occasions, and maintained their autonomy in their mountains.
In his book ''Seven Pillars of Wisdom'' T. E. Lawrence wrote: {{Blockquote|The sect, vital in itself, was clannish in feeling and politics. One Nosairi would not betray another, and would hardly not betray an unbeliever. Their villages lay in patches down the main hills to the Tripoli gap. They spoke Arabic, but had lived there since the beginning of Greek letters in Syria. Usually they stood aside from affairs, and left the Turkish Government alone in hope of reciprocity.<ref>{{cite book|author-first=T. E. |author-last=Lawrence |author-link=T. E. Lawrence |url=http://telawrence.net/telawrencenet/works/spw/sp_05_058.htm |title=Seven Pillars of Wisdom |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070717202828/http://telawrence.net/telawrencenet/works/spw/sp_05_058.htm |archive-date=17 July 2007 |volume=Book 5 |chapter=58}}</ref>}}
During the 18th century, the Ottomans employed a number of Alawite leaders as tax collectors under the ''iltizam'' system. Between 1809 and 1813, Mustafa Agha Barbar, the governor of Tripoli, attacked the Kalbiyya Alawites with "marked savagery."<ref>{{cite book|author-first1=Matti |author-last1=Moosa |title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects |date=1987 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-8156-2411-0 |page=276}}</ref> Some Alawites supported Ottoman involvement in the Egyptian-Ottoman Wars of 1831–1833 and 1839–1841,<ref>{{cite journal |author-first=Stefan |author-last=Winter |title=La révolte alaouite de 1834 contre l'occupation égyptienne: perceptions alaouites et lecture ottomane |language=fr |journal=Oriente Moderno |volume=79 |issue=3 |year=1999 |pages=60–71 |doi=10.1163/22138617-07903006 }}</ref> and had careers in the Ottoman army or as Ottoman governors.<ref>{{cite book |first=Stefan |last=Winter |chapter=The Nusayris before the Tanzimat in the Eyes of Ottoman Provincial Administrators, 1804–1834 |editor-first=Thomas |editor-last=Philipp |editor2-first=Christoph |editor2-last=Schumann |title=From the Syrian Land to the States of Syria and Lebanon |location=Würzburg |publisher=Ergon |year=2004 |pages=97–112 |isbn=3-89913-353-6 }}</ref> Moreover, they even initiated the Alawite revolt (1834–35) against the Egyptian rule of the region, which was later suppressed by the Governor of Homs.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}
By the mid-19th century, the Alawite people, customs and way of life were described by Samuel Lyde, an English missionary among them, as suffering from nothing except a gloomy plight.<ref>{{cite book|author-first1=Matti |author-last1=Moosa |title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects |date=1987 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-8156-2411-0 |page=277}}</ref> Early in the 20th century, the mainly-Sunni Ottoman leaders were bankrupt and losing political power; the Alawites were poor peasants.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzuJAO7gTmoC&pg=PA101 |title=Inside the Arab World – |author-first=Michael |author-last=Field |publisher=Harvard University Press |date=1 March 1996 |isbn=978-0-674-45521-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Stratfor |url=http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110504-making-sense-syrian-crisis |title=Making Sense of the Syrian Crisis |publisher=Stratfor |date=5 May 2011 |access-date=6 July 2012}}</ref>
=== French Mandate period ===
[[File:Saleh al-Ali.jpg|thumb|upright|Saleh al-Ali, leader of the Alawite revolt of 1919]] After the end of World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Syria and Lebanon were placed by the League of Nations under the French Mandate for Syria and Lebanon. On 15 December 1918, Alawite leader Saleh al-Ali called for a meeting of Alawite leaders in the town of Al-Shaykh Badr, urging them to revolt and expel the French from Syria.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}
When French authorities heard about the meeting, they sent a force to arrest Saleh al-Ali. He and his men ambushed and defeated the French forces at Al-Shaykh Badr, inflicting more than 35 casualties.<ref name="Moosa">{{cite book|author-last=Moosa |author-first=Matti |title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=0-8156-2411-5 |pages=282–283 |year=1987}}</ref> After this victory, al-Ali began organizing his Alawite rebels into a disciplined force, with its general command and military ranks.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}
The Al-Shaykh Badr skirmish began the Syrian Revolt of 1919.<ref name="Moosa" /><ref name="Moubayed">{{cite book|author-last=Moubayed |author-first=Sami M. |author-link=Sami Moubayed |title=Steel & Silk: Men & Women Who Shaped Syria 1900–2000 |publisher=Cune Press |isbn=1-885942-41-9 |pages=363–364 |year=2006}}</ref> Al-Ali responded to French attacks by laying siege to (and occupying) al-Qadmus, from which the French had conducted their military operations against him.<ref name="Moosa" /> In November, General Henri Gouraud mounted a campaign against Saleh al-Ali's forces in the Alawi Mountains. His forces entered al-Ali's village of Al-Shaykh Badr, arresting many Alawi leaders; however, al-Ali fled to the north. When a large French force overran his position, he went underground.<ref name="Moosa" />
Despite these instances of opposition, the Alawites mostly favored French rule and sought its continuation beyond the mandate period.{{sfn|Pipes|1992|pp=166–168}}
==== {{anchor|Alawite state}}Alawite State ==== thumb|upright=1.3|alt=Multicoloured map|A map of French Mandate states in 1921–22. The Alawite State is in purple. When the French began to occupy Syria in 1920,<ref name="Kaplan">{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan |title=Syria: Identity Crisis |author-last=Kaplan |author-first=Robert |date=February 1993 |work=The Atlantic}}</ref> an Alawite State was created in the coastal and mountain country comprising most Alawite villages. The division was intended to protect the Alawite people from more powerful majorities, such as the Sunnis.
The French also created microstates, such as Greater Lebanon for the Maronite Christians and Jabal al-Druze for the Druze. Aleppo and Damascus were also separate states.<ref name="L">Longrigg, Stephen Hemsley. ''Syria and Lebanon Under French Mandate''. London: Oxford University Press, 1958.</ref> Under the Mandate, many Alawite chieftains supported a separate Alawite nation, and tried to convert their autonomy into independence.
The French Mandate Administration encouraged Alawites to join their military forces, in part to provide a counterweight to the Sunni majority, which was more hostile to their rule. According to a 1935 letter by the French minister of war, the French considered the Alawites and the Druze the only "warlike races" in the Mandate territories.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oawsAQAAIAAJ|title=The Levant: a fractured mosaic |author= William W. Harris |publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers|isbn=978-1-55876-264-0|year=2003}}</ref> Between 1926 and 1939, the Alawites and other minority groups provided the majority of the locally recruited component of the Army of the Levant—the designation given to the French military forces garrisoning Syria and the Lebanon.<ref>Christopher M. Andrew, page 236 "France Overseas. The Great War and the Climax of French Imperial Expansion", 1981 Thames and Hudson Ltd, London</ref>
[[File:Flag of the Alawite State (1920–1936).svg|thumb|left|One form of the flag of the Sanjak of Latakia or Alawite State in northwest Syria under French colonial rule, ca. 1920–1936.]] The region was home to a mostly-rural, heterogeneous population. The landowning families and 80 percent of the population of the port city of Latakia were Sunni Muslims; however, in rural areas 62 percent of the population were Alawite. According to some researchers, there was considerable Alawite separatist sentiment in the region,<ref name="K" /> their evidence is a 1936 letter signed by 80 Alawi leaders addressed to the French Prime Minister which said that the "Alawite people rejected attachment to Syria and wished to stay under French protection." Among the signatories was Sulayman Ali al-Assad, father of Hafez al-Assad.<ref name="K">Khoury, Philip S. ''Syria and the French Mandate: The Politics of Arab Nationalism, 1920–1945''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987.</ref> However, according to Associate Professor Stefan Winter, this letter is a forgery.<ref name="Winter">{{cite web|url=https://www.joshualandis.com/blog/asad-petition-1936-bashars-grandfather-pro-unionist-stefan-winter|title=The Asad Petition of 1936: Bashar's Grandfather Was Pro-Unionist By Stefan Winter|last=Winter|first=Stefan|date=June 2016|work=Joshualandis |ref=none}}</ref> Even during this time of increased Alawite rights, the situation was still so bad for the group that many women had to leave their homes to work for urban Sunnis.{{sfn|Pipes|1992|p=165}}
In May 1930, the Alawite State was renamed the Government of Latakia in one of the few concessions by the French to Arab nationalists before 1936.<ref name="K" /> Nevertheless, on 3 December 1936, the Alawite State was re-incorporated into Syria as a concession by the French to the National Bloc (the party in power in the semi-autonomous Syrian government). The law went into effect in 1937.<ref name="S">Shambrook, Peter A. ''French Imperialism in Syria, 1927–1936''. Reading: Ithaca Press, 1998.</ref>
[[File:Gleaning Alawite woman.jpg|thumb|alt=Woman bent over, picking up leftover grain|An Alawite woman gleaning in 1938]]
In 1939, the Sanjak of Alexandretta (now Hatay) contained a large number of Alawites. The Hatayan land was given to Turkey by the French after a League of Nations plebiscite in the province. This development greatly angered most Syrians; to add to Alawi contempt, in 1938, the Turkish military went into İskenderun and expelled most of the Arab and Armenian population.<ref name=JackKalpakian>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EmlX4Y7PMjgC&pg=PA130|title=Identity, Conflict and Cooperation in International River Systems|author=Jack Kalpakian |edition=Hardcover|publisher=Ashgate Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=0-7546-3338-1 |page=130}}</ref> Before this, the Alawite Arabs and Armenians comprised most of the province's population.<ref name=JackKalpakian /> Zaki al-Arsuzi, a young Alawite leader from Iskandarun province in the Sanjak of Alexandretta who led the resistance to the province's annexation by the Turks, later became a co-founder of the Ba'ath Party with Eastern Orthodox Christian schoolteacher Michel Aflaq and Sunni politician Salah ad-Din al-Bitar.
After World War II, Sulayman al-Murshid played a major role in uniting the Alawite province with Syria. He was executed by the Syrian government in Damascus on 12 December 1946, only three days after a political trial.
=== After Syrian independence === [[File:F-assad.jpg|thumb|alt=Formal family portrait, with parents seated in front and five grown children (four sons and a daughter) standing|The al-Assad family]] Syria became independent on 17 April 1946. In 1949, after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Syria experienced a number of military coups and the rise of the Ba'ath Party.
In 1958, Syria and Egypt were united by a political agreement into the United Arab Republic. The UAR lasted for three years, breaking apart in 1961, when a group of army officers seized power and declared Syria independent.
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. In 1966, Alawite-affiliated military officers successfully rebelled and expelled the Ba'ath Party old guard followers of Greek Orthodox Christian Michel Aflaq and Sunni Muslim Salah ad-Din al-Bitar, calling Zaki al-Arsuzi the "Socrates" of the reconstituted Ba'ath Party.
In 1970, Air Force General Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite, took power and instigated a "Corrective Movement" in the Ba'ath Party, overthrowing Salah Jadid (another Alawite).<ref name=Kaplan1993>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan|title=Syria: Identity Crisis |last=Kaplan|first=Robert|date=February 1993|work=The Atlantic }}</ref><ref name=USHMM>{{cite web|url=https://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/20130325-syria-report.pdf|title=Sectarian Violence in Syria's Civil War: Causes, Consequences, and Recommendations for Mitigation|date=2013|author1=Frederic C. Hof |author2= Alex Simon|publisher=Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum}}</ref> The coup ended the political instability which had existed since independence.<ref name=Kaplan1993/> Alawites were among Syria's poorest and most marginalized groups until Hafez al-Assad's seizure of power.<ref name=USHMM/> Robert D. Kaplan compared his rise 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."<ref name="Kaplan" />
Under Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father upon his death in June 2000, Alawites made up the majority of Syria's military and political elites, including in the intelligence services and the ''shabiha'' (loyalist paramilitaries).<ref name=USHMM/> The economic and social situation of Alawites improved, but the community remained relatively poor compared to other Syrians, and the Sunni-Alawite divisions persisted.<ref name=USHMM/>
In 1971, al-Assad declared himself president of Syria, a position the constitution at the time permitted only for Sunni Muslims. In 1973, a new constitution was adopted, replacing Islam as the state religion with a mandate that the president's religion be Islam, and protests erupted.<ref>Seale, Patrick. ''Asad, the Struggle for the Middle East''. University of California Press, 1989, p.173.</ref> In 1974, to satisfy this constitutional requirement, Musa as-Sadr (a leader of the Twelvers of Lebanon and founder of the Amal Movement, who had unsuccessfully sought to unite Lebanese Alawites and Shiites under the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council)<ref name="mideastmonitor.org">Riad Yazbeck. "[http://www.mideastmonitor.org/issues/0808/0808_2.htm#_ftn1 Return of the Pink Panthers?] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219114105/http://www.mideastmonitor.org/issues/0808/0808_2.htm#_ftn1 |date=19 February 2012 }}" ''Mideast Monitor''. Vol. 3, No. 2, August 2008.</ref> issued a fatwa that Alawites were a community of Twelver Shiite Muslims.<ref name="Glasse">''The New Encyclopedia of Islam'' by Cyril Glasse, Altamira, 2001, p.36–7</ref>
A significant majority of Sunni Syrians accepted Hafez al-Assad's rule, but the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, an Islamist group, did not.<ref name=USHMM/> In the 1970s and 1980s, the Muslim Brotherhood pushed anti-Alawite propaganda and a violent anti-Ba'athist campaign in Syria.<ref name=USHMM/> Thirty-two cadets, mostly Alawites, were killed in the June 1979 Aleppo Artillery School massacre.<ref name=USHMM/> In response to the Brotherhood's attempted assassination of Hafez al-Assad in 1980, the regime ordered a violent crackdown; Hafez's brother Rifaat al-Assad ordered the slaughter of hundreds of Brotherhood members at the Tadmor Prison in Palmyra.<ref name=USHMM/>
The Brotherhood responded with increased violence, culminating in an attempt to seize control of the city of Hama in February 1982. The regime deployed between 6,000 and 8,000 troops to suppress the insurgency, and in the Hama massacre, up to 25,000 people were killed over 27 days.<ref name=USHMM/> Seeking to ensure that troops would not turn against the government, the Assad regime was careful to ensure the dominance of Alawites in the units deployed to Hama: Rifaat al-Assad's Defense Companies were reported to be 90% Alawite, and in other units, up to 70% of officers corps were Alawites.<ref name=USHMM/> After 1982, Syria remained relatively stable until the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, but the events in Hama left enduring Sunni-Alawite sectarian resentments.<ref name=USHMM/>
=== Syrian civil war === {{See also|Sectarianism and minorities in the Syrian civil war}} [[File:Fadwa souleimane sete 20170725.jpg|thumb|upright|Syrian actress Fadwa Souleimane became one of the most recognized faces of the Syrian Revolution.<ref>Amrutha Gayathri (31 March 2012) [http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/322222/20120331/fadwa-suleiman-actress-alawite-syria-sectarian-violence.htm "Fadwa Suleiman: Actress And Alawite Icon Of Syrian Revolt Warns Of Sectarian Violence"], ''International Business Times''</ref>]] After the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, the Ba'athist state conscripted able-bodied men, mostly youth, into the regime's military. Fearing mass defections in military ranks, the Assad regime preferred to send Alawite recruits for active combat on the frontlines, and conscriptions disproportionately targeted Alawite regions. This has resulted in a large number of Alawite casualties and immense suffering to Alawite villages along the Syrian coast.
Many younger Alawites were greatly angered by the Assad government, held the government responsible for the crisis, and increasingly called for an end to the conflict via reconciliation with the Syrian opposition and preventing their community from being perceived as being associated with the Assad government.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lazkani |first=Alimar |date=4 August 2020 |title=No Homeland, No Future: Alawite Youth As the Backbone of the Assad Regime |url=https://www.arab-reform.net/publication/no-homeland-no-future-alawite-youth-as-the-backbone-of-the-assad-regime/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203043156/https://www.arab-reform.net/publication/no-homeland-no-future-alawite-youth-as-the-backbone-of-the-assad-regime/ |archive-date=3 February 2023 |journal=Arab Reform Initiative}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=7 April 2015 |title=ديلي تلغراف: الطائفة العلوية تدفع ثمنا باهظا لدعم ا��أسد |work=Arab 21 |url=https://arabi21.com/story/822591/%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%81%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%B9-%D8%AB%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B8%D8%A7-%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%AF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003210133/https://arabi21.com/story/822591/%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%81%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%B9-%D8%AB%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B8%D8%A7-%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%AF |archive-date=3 October 2020}}</ref>
In the early days of the Syrian civil war, many Alawites felt compelled to back Assad, fearing that a rebel victory would lead to a slaughter of the Alawite community, especially as the conflict took on an increasingly sectarian cast.<ref name=Reuters2024>[https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/assad-loyalists-shaken-by-his-fall-some-relieved-by-lack-violence-2024-12-08/ Assad loyalists shaken by his fall, some relieved by lack of violence], Reuters (8 December 2024).</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Yaroslav Trofimov|title=After Backing Regime, Syrian Minorities Face Peril|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/after-backing-regime-syria-minorities-face-peril-1436433540|access-date=15 July 2015|work=Wall Street Journal|date=9 July 2015}}</ref> In May 2013, pro-opposition SOHR stated that out of 94,000 Syrian regime soldiers killed during the war, at least 41,000 were Alawites.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-crisis-deaths-idUSBRE94D0L420130514 |title=Death toll in Syria likely as high as 120,000: group |work=Reuters |date=14 May 2013}}</ref> Reports estimate that up to a third of 250,000 young Alawite men of fighting age has been killed in the war by 2015, due to being disproportionately sent to fight in the frontlines by the Assad government.<ref>{{cite news |author1=Sherlock |first=Ruth |author-link=Ruth Sherlock |date=7 April 2015 |title=In Syria's war, Alawites pay heavy price for loyalty to Bashar al-Assad |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/11518232/In-Syrias-war-Alawites-pay-heavy-price-for-loyalty-to-Bashar-al-Assad.html |access-date=15 July 2015 |work=The Daily Telegraph}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=7 April 2015 |title=ديلي تلغراف: الطائفة العلوية تدفع ثمنا باهظا لدعم الأسد |work=Arab 21 |url=https://arabi21.com/story/822591/%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%81%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%B9-%D8%AB%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B8%D8%A7-%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%AF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003210133/https://arabi21.com/story/822591/%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%BA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%81-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D8%A6%D9%81%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%88%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AA%D8%AF%D9%81%D8%B9-%D8%AB%D9%85%D9%86%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%87%D8%B8%D8%A7-%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%AF |archive-date=3 October 2020}}</ref> In April 2017, a pro-opposition source claimed 150,000 young Alawites had died.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20170420-150000-alawites-killed-in-6-year-syria-war/|title=150,000 Alawites killed in 6-year Syria war|date=20 April 2017}}</ref> Another report estimates that around 100,000 Alawite youths were killed in combat by 2020.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lazkani |first=Alimar |date=4 August 2020 |title=No Homeland, No Future: Alawite Youth As the Backbone of the Assad Regime |url=https://www.arab-reform.net/publication/no-homeland-no-future-alawite-youth-as-the-backbone-of-the-assad-regime/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203043156/https://www.arab-reform.net/publication/no-homeland-no-future-alawite-youth-as-the-backbone-of-the-assad-regime/ |archive-date=3 February 2023 |journal=Arab Reform Initiative}}</ref>
Many Alawites feared significant danger during the Syrian civil war, particularly from Islamic groups who were a part of the opposition, though denied by secular opposition factions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2.11.4. Alawites |url=https://euaa.europa.eu/country-guidance-syria/2114-alawites |access-date=6 October 2022 |website=European Union Agency for Asylum |language=en}}</ref> Alawites have also been wary of the increased Iranian influence in Syria since the Syrian civil war, viewing it as a threat to their long-term survival due to Khomeinist conversion campaigns focused in Alawite coastal regions. Many Alawites, including Assad loyalists, criticize such activities as a plot to absorb their ethno-religious identity into Iran's Twelver Shia umbrella and spread religious extremism in Syria.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Tsurkov |first=Elizabeth |date=22 July 2019 |title=Between Regime and Rebels: A Survey of Syria's Alawi Sect |url=https://www.nybooks.com/online/2019/07/22/between-regime-and-rebels-a-survey-of-syrias-alawi-sect/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331134409/https://www.nybooks.com/online/2019/07/22/between-regime-and-rebels-a-survey-of-syrias-alawi-sect/ |archive-date=31 March 2023 |website=The New York Review}}</ref>
Alawite villages and neighborhoods were targeted by Islamist rebel attacks during the war. These include the Aqrab,<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20691206 'Alawite civilians killed' in Syria village] BBC, 12 December 2012</ref> Maan and Adra massacres, the 2013 Latakia offensive,<ref>HRW: [https://www.hrw.org/embargo/node/119645?signature=e2f9f3f7816e1c649b9265b332fc2ec2&suid=6 Executions, Unlawful Killings, and Hostage Taking by Opposition Forces in Latakia Countryside] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016062324/http://www.hrw.org/embargo/node/119645?signature=e2f9f3f7816e1c649b9265b332fc2ec2&suid=6 |date=16 October 2013 }}</ref> the Homs school bombing,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.sky.com/story/protests-as-47-children-killed-n-school-bombing-10387732|title=Protests As 47 Children Killed In School Bombing | World News | Sky News|website=news.sky.com|access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref> the Zara'a attack,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-village-idUSKCN0Y30Y2|title=Rebels seize Alawite village in Syria, abduct civilians: Observatory|work=Reuters|date=12 May 2016|access-date=1 June 2016}}</ref> and the February 2016 Homs bombings.<ref>{{cite news |title=ISIL car bomb attacks kill 129 in Damascus and Homs |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/2/22/isil-car-bomb-attacks-kill-129-in-damascus-and-homs |work=Al Jazeera |date=22 February 2016}}</ref>
While many Alawites were Assad loyalists throughout the civil war, the Baathist regime faced increasing discontent in the war's later years from Alawite-dominated areas. By 2023, some Alawites had criticized the regime for its corruption, economic mismanagement, and disregard for civil liberties.<ref>Mohammed Alaa Ghanem, [https://www.mei.edu/blog/alawites-syria-breaking-silence-criticizing-dictatorship-within Alawites in Syria breaking silence?: Criticizing the dictatorship from within], Middle East Institute (11 August 2023).</ref> During a rapid offense in November and December 2024 by opposition forces fighting the Assad regime, thousands of Alawites fled the city of Homs ahead of the capture of the city; those who left headed to coastal Tartus Governorate.<ref>[https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2024/12/06/syria-war-monitor-says-tens-of-thousands-flee-homs-as-opposition-group-fighters-advance Syria war monitor says tens of thousands flee Homs as opposition group fighters advance], Al Arabiya English (6 December 2023).</ref> Upon the fall of Damascus and collapse of the Assad regime days later, Alawite communities continued to express uncertainty about their future, although fears receded somewhat because the opposition forces did not target Alawites after capturing Homs.<ref name=Reuters2024/>
==== Alleged attempt to establish an Alawite state ==== {{See also|Federalization of Syria}} According to the UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad sought to establish an Alawite state on the Syrian coast as a fallback plan.<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 December 2024 |title=Final hours in power: Al-Assad gave up everyone and his plane did not accommodate military commanders and senior officials |work=Syrian Observatory For Human Rights |url=https://www.syriahr.com/en/351186/ |access-date=11 December 2024 |language=en-CA}}</ref> This proposed coastal statelet was reportedly intended to serve as a stronghold for his regime in the event of losing control over the rest of the country.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Syria latest: Syrian rebel fighters set fire to tomb of Bashar al-Assad's father |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c8781yyqddrt |access-date=11 December 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Syria post-Assad: Alawite minority faces uncertainty under Islamist rebel control |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/syria-post-assad-alawite-minority-faces-uncertainty-under-islamist-rebel-control/7896499.html |access-date=11 December 2024 |website=Voice of America|date=10 December 2024 }}</ref>
Russia, a key ally of Assad, allegedly rejected this plan, viewing it as an attempt to divide Syria. The SOHR claimed that Assad subsequently fled to Russia on his plane after facing opposition to the proposal and refused to deliver a speech about stepping down from power. There were also reports claiming that Assad had been relying heavily on Iran's support to maintain his position.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Syria latest: Syrian rebel fighters set fire to tomb of Bashar al-Assad's father |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c8781yyqddrt |access-date=11 December 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=17 December 2013 |title=Iran's Plan B in post-Assad Syria to create Alawite state - Today's Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news |url=http://www.todayszaman.com/news-311373-irans-plan-b-in-post-assad-syria-to-create-alawite-state.html |access-date=11 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217102515/http://www.todayszaman.com/news-311373-irans-plan-b-in-post-assad-syria-to-create-alawite-state.html |archive-date=17 December 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=11 December 2024 |title=On The Fall Of Syria |url=https://www.hiddendominion.com/on-the-fall-of-syria/ |access-date=11 December 2024 |website=The Hidden Dominion |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=11 December 2024 |title=Assad wanted to create Alawite statelet but Russia rebuffed him: Report |work=Conservative News Daily™ |url=https://www.conservativenewsdaily.net/breaking-news/assad-wanted-to-create-alawite-statelet-but-russia-rebuffed-him-report/ |access-date=11 December 2024 |language=en-US}}</ref>
=== Post-Assad Syria === {{see also|2025 massacres of Syrian Alawites|Western Syria clashes (December 2024–present)}}
[[File:Hatimogullari speaks about violence against religious minorities.webm|thumb|January 2025: Turkish politician Tülay Hatimoğulları gives a speech about anti-Alawite violence in Syria at the Shrine of Khidr.]] On 25 December 2024, thousands of people protested across Syria in various regions including Latakia, Tartus, Jableh and Homs after a video surfaced showing an attack on the Alawite shrine of Al-Khasibi in Aleppo's Maysaloon district following the rebel offensive and the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. During the shrine attack at least five people were killed and the shrine was set ablaze.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.barrons.com/news/syrians-protest-after-video-showing-attack-on-alawite-shrine-monitor-witnesses-8eb10cc1 |title=Syrians Protest After Video Showing Attack On Alawite Shrine: Monitor, Witnesses |publisher=Barron's |date=25 December 2024 }}</ref> The UK-based SOHR reported significant demonstrations, including in Qardaha, President Assad's hometown.{{cn|date=May 2025}}
The transitional authorities, appointed by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which led the offensive that toppled Assad, said in a statement that the shrine attack was from earlier December, attributing its resurfacing to "unknown groups" aiming to incite unrest. This incident followed protests in Damascus against the burning of a Christmas tree, highlighting ongoing sectarian tensions in Syria. Demonstrators chanting slogans including "Alawite, Sunni, we want peace" and placards with "No to burning holy places and religious discrimination, no to sectarianism, yes to a free Syria".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/2584283/middle-east |title=Syrians protest after video showing attack on Alawite shrine: monitor, witnesses |publisher=Arab News |date=25 December 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newarab.com/news/syrians-protest-after-video-attack-alawite-shrine |title=Syrians protest after video of attack on Alawite shrine |work=The New Arab |date=25 December 2024 }}</ref>
There have also been hundreds of reports across Syria of civilians belonging to the Alawite sect and other religious minorities being murdered and persecuted by HTS forces following the collapse of the Assad regime.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Alawites live in fear as Syrian rebels hunt members of Assad's regime |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/01/01/syria-assad-alawites-hts-rebels-violence/ |newspaper=Washington Post |date=1 January 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='Syrian above all': The Alawite community refuses to pay for Assad's crimes |url=https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20250113-syrian-above-all-the-alawite-community-refuses-to-pay-for-assad-crimes |work=France 24 |date=13 January 2025}}</ref> Most notably, a massacre of Alawites was reported in the village of Fahil near Homs by HTS-affiliated gunmen. The UK-based formerly pro-opposition monitor SOHR confirmed the deaths of at least 16 people.<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 January 2024 |title=Dea*th toll update: 16 people exec*uted including officers of former regime in Fahil Massacre |url=https://www.syriahr.com/en/354566/ |access-date=16 February 2025 |website=Syrian Observatory for Human Rights |language=}}</ref>
In March 2025, the UK-based SOHR reported that Syrian security forces and pro-government fighters had committed a massacre of more than 1,500 Alawite civilians during clashes in western Syria.<ref>{{cite news |title='Roads full of corpses': terrified Alawites in Syria flee attacks |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250309-roads-full-of-corpses-terrified-alawites-in-syria-flee-attacks |work=France 24 |date=9 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=17 March 2025 |title=As more massacres documented: The number of people killed during security operations in Syrian coastline exceeds 2,000 |url=https://www.syriahr.com/en/357944/ |website=The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights |access-date=17 March 2025 |language=en-CA }}</ref> There were reports that Alawites who had opposed the Assad regime in the past were murdered in sectarian attacks.<ref>{{cite news |title=More than 400 Alawite civilians killed in Syria, monitor says |url=https://www.channel4.com/news/more-than-400-alawite-civilians-killed-in-syria-monitor-says |work=Channel 4 News |date=8 March 2025}}</ref> Belteleradio described the violence as ethnic cleansing.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2025 |title=Syria Drowns in Blood: Ethnic Cleansing and Field Executions Continue for Second Day |url=https://news.by/eng/news/v_mire/syria-drowns-in-blood-ethnic-cleansing-and-field-executions-continue-for-second-day}}</ref> Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said{{when|date=March 2025}} that the Alawite sect had made an "unforgivable mistake" and urged them to lay down their weapons and surrender before it was too late.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fighting continues as Syria's president calls on Alawite to lay down arms |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/8/fighting-continues-as-syrias-president-calls-on-alawite-to-lay-down-arms |access-date=8 March 2025 |website=Al Jazeera |language=en}}</ref> Later that month, nearly 13,000 Alawites crossed the Nahr al-Kabir into Lebanon to escape sectarian violence.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/2594069/amp |title=Nearly 13,000 Syrians fled to Lebanon: report |publisher=Arab News |date=19 March 2025 }}</ref>
== Beliefs == {{Main|Alawism}}
Alawites and their beliefs have been described as secretive.<ref name="BBC-secretive">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-18084964 |title=The 'secretive sect' in charge of Syria|date=17 May 2012 |publisher=BBC |access-date=14 January 2015}}</ref><ref name="telegraph-secret" /><ref name="Reuters-secret" />{{sfn|Friedman|2010|p=68}} Yaron Friedman has noted in his scholarly work on the group that the Alawi religious material he cited came solely from "public libraries and printed books," as their "sacred writings" are kept secret.{{efn|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.{{sfn|Friedman|2010|p=xii}}}}{{efn|According to Alawite beliefs, women are not permitted to engage in religious studies.<ref>{{cite book|author=Barry Rubin|title=The Middle East: A Guide to Politics, Economics, Society and Culture|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|page=337|isbn=9781317455783}}</ref>}} Some of the components of the faith are kept hidden from all but a sect group of Alawites.{{sfn|Friedman|2010|p=xii}} They have, therefore, been described as a mystical sect.<ref>{{cite book|author=John C. Rolland|title=Lebanon: Current Issues and Background|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-JVOKeNkllgC&pg=PA75|year=2003|publisher=Nova Publishers|isbn=978-1-59033-871-1|page=75}}</ref>
Alawite doctrines originated from the teachings of Iraqi priest Muhammad ibn Nusayr, who claimed prophethood, declared himself as the "''Bāb'' (Door) of the Imams", and attributed divinity to Hasan al-Askari. Al-Askari denounced Ibn Nusayr, and Islamic authorities expelled his disciples—most of whom emigrated to the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range, wherein they established a distinct community.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nisan |first=Mordechai |title=Minorities in the Middle East |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7864-1375-1 |edition=2nd |pages=115 |chapter=6: Alawites: To Power and the Unknown}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=L. Esposito |first1=John |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World vol. 1 |last2=Moosa |first2=Matti |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |isbn=0-19-509612-6 |location=New York, USA |pages=63, 64 |chapter=Alawiyyah}}</ref> Nusayri theology treats Ali, the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, as a manifestation of "the supreme eternal God" and consists of various gnostic beliefs. Alawite doctrine regards the souls of Alawites as reincarnations of "lights that rebelled against God."<ref>{{cite book |author1=Madeleine Pelner Cosman |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Jf5t1vFw1QC&pg=PA407 |title=Handbook to Life in the Medieval World, 3-Volume Set |author2=Linda Gale Jones |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4381-0907-7 |page=407 |chapter=The Nusayriyya Alawis}}</ref>
Alawites' beliefs have never been confirmed by their modern religious authorities.<ref name="Yunis 1992, p. 63">'Abd al‑Latif al‑Yunis, Mudhakkirat al‑Duktur 'Abd al‑Latif al‑Yunis, Damascus: Dar al‑'Ilm, 1992, p. 63.</ref> As a highly secretive and esoteric sect,<ref>{{cite book |author1=Madeleine Pelner Cosman |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Jf5t1vFw1QC&pg=PA407 |title=Handbook to Life in the Medieval World, 3-Volume Set |author2=Linda Gale Jones |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4381-0907-7 |page=407 |chapter=The Nusayriyya Alawis}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Tom |first1=Heneghan |date=24 December 2011 |title=Who are the Alawites? |website=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-religion-alawites-idUSTRE7BM1J220111223 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307225030/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-religion-alawites-idUSTRE7BM1J220111223 |archive-date=7 March 2022}}</ref> Nusayri priests tend to conceal their core doctrines, which are introduced only to a chosen minority of the sect's adherents.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Tom |first1=Heneghan |date=24 December 2011 |title=Who are the Alawites? |website=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-religion-alawites-idUSTRE7BM1J220111223 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307225030/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-religion-alawites-idUSTRE7BM1J220111223 |archive-date=7 March 2022}}</ref> Alawites have also adopted the practice of ''taqiya'' to avoid victimization.<ref name="telegraph-secret" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Tom |first1=Heneghan |date=24 December 2011 |title=Who are the Alawites? |website=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-religion-alawites-idUSTRE7BM1J220111223 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307225030/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-religion-alawites-idUSTRE7BM1J220111223 |archive-date=7 March 2022}}</ref>
According to Peter Theo Curtis, the Alawi religion underwent a process of "Sunnification" during the years under Hafez al-Assad's rule so that Alawites became not Shia but effectively Sunni. Public manifestations or "even mentioning of any Alawite religious activities" were banned, as were any Alawite religious organizations, and "any formation of a unified religious council" or a higher Alawite religious authority. "Sunni-style" mosques were built in every Alawite village, and Alawis were encouraged to perform Hajj.<ref name="Padnos" />
=== Theology and practices === Alawite doctrine incorporates elements of Phoenician mythology, Gnosticism, neo-Platonism, Christian Trinitarianism (for example, they celebrate Mass including the consecration of bread and wine); blending them with Muslim symbolism and has, therefore, been described as syncretic.{{sfn|Friedman|2010|p=67}}<ref>{{cite book|title=The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-Alawi Community of Cilicia |author-last1=Prochazka-Eisl |author-first1=Gisela |author-last2=Prochazka |author-first2=Stephan |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-447-06178-0 |page=81|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag }}</ref><ref name=":1"/><ref name="auto"/>
Alawite Trinity envisions God as being composed of three distinct manifestations, ''Ma'na'' (meaning), ''Ism'' (Name), and ''Bab'' (Door), which together constitute an "indivisible Trinity". ''Ma'na'' symbolises the "source and meaning of all things" in Alawite mythology. According to Alawite doctrines, ''Ma'na'' generated the ''Ism'', which in turn built the ''Bab''. These beliefs are closely tied to the Nusayri doctrine of reincarnations of the Trinity.<ref name= Saud/><ref name= MM/>
''The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World'' classifies Alawites as the only remaining part of the divergent ''ghulat'' religious movements; owing to the secretive nature of the Alawite religious system and hierarchy.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8684113/Secretive-sect-of-the-rulers-of-Syria.html |title=Secretive sect of the rulers of Syria |author-last=Howse |author-first=Christopher |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=5 August 2011 |access-date=16 December 2018 |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=L. Esposito |first1=John |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World vol. 1 |last2=Moosa |first2=Matti |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |isbn=0-19-509612-6 |location=New York, USA |pages=63–65 |chapter=Alawiyyah}}</ref> Due to their esoteric doctrines of strict secrecy, conversions into the community is also forbidden.<ref name="auto">{{Cite book |last=Nisan |first=Mordechai |title=Minorities in the Middle East |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7864-1375-1 |edition=2nd |pages=115, 116 |chapter=6: Alawites: To Power and the Unknown}}</ref>
Alawites do not believe in daily Muslim prayers (''salah''). The central tenet of the Alawite is their belief of Ali ibn Abi Talib being an incarnation of God.<ref>{{cite book |author=Abdel Bari Atwan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgTjBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT58 |title=Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate |publisher=University of California Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-520-28928-4 |page=58}}</ref> The Alawite testimony of faith is translated as "There is no God but Ali."<ref>{{cite book |author=Abdel Bari Atwan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgTjBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT58 |title=Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate |publisher=University of California Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-520-28928-4 |location=Oakland, California, USA |page=58 |quote=The Alawite shahada (testimony) is that there is no God but Ali}}</ref>
==== Reincarnation ==== Alawites hold that they were originally stars or divine lights that were cast out of heaven through disobedience and must undergo repeated reincarnation (or metempsychosis<ref name= Plain>{{cite book |title=The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-Alawi Community of Cilicia |author-last1=Prochazka-Eisl |author-first1=Gisela |author-last2=Prochazka |author-first2=Stephan |year=2010 |isbn=978-3447061780 |page=82|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag }}</ref>) before returning to heaven.<ref name= Peters>{{cite book|title=The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition, Volume II |author-last=Peters |author-first=F.E. |year=2009 |isbn=978-1400825714 |page=321|publisher=Princeton University Press }}</ref> According to Alawite beliefs, females are excluded from reincarnation.<ref>{{cite book |author=Abdel Bari Atwan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgTjBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT58 |title=Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate |publisher=University of California |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-520-28928-4 |location=Oakland, California, USA |page=58 |quote=The Alawites celebrate the Christian festivals of Christmas, Easter, and Epiphany and believe in reincarnation (though not for women).}}</ref>
Alawite theologians divided history into seven eras, associating each era with one of the seven reincarnations of the Alawite Trinity (''Ma'na'', ''Ism'', ''Bab''). The seven reincarnations of the Trinity in the Alawite faith can be summarized in the following table.<ref name="auto4">{{Cite book |last=Moosa |first=Matti |title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects |publisher=Syracuse University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-8156-2411-5 |edition=1st |location=Syracuse, New York |pages=312}}</ref> {| class="wikitable sortable" |+ The seven eras in Alawite theology ! Era !! Ma'na (Meaning) !! Ism (Name) !! Bab (Gate) |- | 1 || Abel|| Adam|| Gabriel |- | 2 || Seth|| Noah|| Yail ibn Fatin |- | 3 || Joseph|| Jacob|| Ham ibn Kush |- | 4 || Joshua|| Moses|| Dan ibn Usbaut |- | 5 || Asaph|| Solomon|| Abd Allah ibn Siman |- | 6 || Simon Peter|| Jesus|| Rawzaba ibn al-Marzuban |- | 7 || Ali|| Muhammad|| Salman al-Farisi |}
The last triad of reincarnations in the Nusayri Trinity consists of Ali (''Ma'na''), Muhammad (''Ism''), and Salman al-Farsi (''Bab''). Alawites depict them as the sky, the sun, and the moon, respectively. They deify Ali as the "last and supreme manifestation of God" who built the universe, attributing to him divine superiority and believing that Ali created Muhammad, bestowing upon him the mission to spread Qur'anic teachings on earth.<ref name="auto4"/><ref>{{Cite book |last1=L. Esposito |first1=John |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World vol. 1 |last2=Moosa |first2=Matti |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1995 |isbn=0-19-509612-6 |location=New York, USA |pages=64 |chapter=Alawiyyah}}</ref><ref name= Saud/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Nisan |first=Mordechai |title=Minorities in the Middle East |publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc. |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7864-1375-1 |edition=2nd |pages=115, 117 |chapter=6: Alawites: To Power and the Unknown}}</ref>
The Israeli institution of Begin–Sadat Center for Strategic Studies describes the Alawite faith as Judeophilic and "anti-Sunni" since they believe that God's incarnations consist of Israelite Prophet Joshua who conquered Canaan, in addition to the fourth Caliph, Ali. This institution also denies the Arab ethnicity of Alawites, even though Alawites themselves self-identify ethnically as Arabs<ref name="Feldman"/> and assert that Alawites claim to be Arabs because of "political expediency."<ref>{{cite web |date=4 May 2011 |title=The Alawites and Israel |url=https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/the-alawites-and-israel/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528052540/https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/the-alawites-and-israel/ |archive-date=28 May 2018 |access-date=27 May 2018 |work=Begin–Sadat Center for Strategic Studies |quote=They don't necessarily understand or publicly present themselves as 'Arabs', doing so only when it seems politically expedient.}}</ref>
==== Other beliefs ==== [[File:Alawiteman.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Bearded man with sword in his belt|An Alawite man in Latakia, early 20th century.]]
Other beliefs and practices include: the consecration of wine in a secret form of Mass performed only by males; frequently being given Christian names; observing Epiphany, Christmas<ref>{{cite book|author-first1=David S. |author-last1=Sorenson |title=An Introduction to the Modern Middle East: History, Religion, Political Economy, Politics |date=3 December 2013 |publisher=Westview Press |isbn=978-0-8133-4922-0 |page=64}}</ref> and the feast days of John Chrysostom and Mary Magdalene;<ref>{{cite book|author-first1=Robert Brenton |author-last1=Betts |title=The Sunni-Shi'a Divide: Islam's Internal Divisions and Their Global Consequences |date=31 July 2013 |publisher=Potomac Books, Inc. |isbn=978-1-61234-522-2 |page=29 |edition=illustrated}}</ref> the only religious structures they have are the shrines of tombs;{{sfn|Pipes|1992|p=161}} the book ''Kitab al-Majmu'', which is allegedly a central source of Alawite doctrine,<ref>{{cite book|author-first1=Mordechai |author-last1=Nisan |title=Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression |edition=2nd |date=1 January 2002 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-5133-3 |page=116}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author-first1=Charles George |author-last1=Herbermann |title=Encyclopaedia of sects & religious doctrines |volume=1 |date=2005 |publisher=Cosmo Publications |isbn=9788177559286 |pages=15–16 |edition=3rd}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author-first1=Nanny M. W. |author-last1=de Vries |author-first2=Jan |author-last2=Best |author-link2=Jan Best |title=Thamyris |publisher=Rodopi |page=290}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author-first1=Ian |author-last1=Strathcarron |title=Innocence and War: Mark Twain's Holy Land Revisited |date=2012 |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=978-0-486-49040-3 |page=78 |edition=illustrated, reprint}}</ref> where they have their own trinity, comprising Mohammed, Ali, and Salman the Persian.<ref name="telegraph"/>
In addition, they celebrate different holidays such as Old New Year,{{efn|The Old New Year is celebrated on 13 January, and named as ''Gawzela'' Day ({{lang|ar|يوم القوزلة}}),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://golantimes.com/news/74442 |title=هل تعرف ما هو عيد القوزلة؟ |trans-title=Do you know what is the feast of Quzal? |website=golantimes.com |language=ar |date=14 January 2020}}</ref> as it means "Igniting the Fire" in Syriac language.<ref>{{cite web |author=ياسين عبد الرحيم |url=https://www.syriac-union.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB-%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%81-%D9%82-%D9%8A.pdf |title=موسوعة العامية السورية |trans-title=Syrian colloquial encyclopedia |publisher=Syrian General Organization of Books |place=Damascus |language=ar |page=1884 |date=2012 |url-status=dead |access-date=18 February 2020 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331112220/https://www.syriac-union.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AB-%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%81-%D9%82-%D9%8A.pdf }}</ref>}} Akitu,{{efn|The festival is celebrated on 17 April according to the Julian calendar, which is based on 4 April in the Gregorian calendar.<ref name="dkhlak"/>}} Eid al-Ghadir, Mid-Sha'ban and Eid il-Burbara.<ref name="dkhlak">{{cite web|url=https://dkhlak.com/facts-about-alawites/ |title=20 معلومة قد لا تعرفها عن العلويين |trans-title=20 facts you may not know about Alawites |website=dkhlak.com |language=ar |date=21 July 2016}}</ref> They believe in intercession of certain legendary saints such as Khidr (Saint George) and Simeon Stylites.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/26/world/syrian-success-story-a-hated-minority-sect-becomes-the-ruling-class.html |title=Syrian success story: A hated minority sect becomes the ruling class |work=The New York Times |date=26 December 1986}}</ref>
==== Development ==== {{further|Al-Khasibi|Ibn Nusayr|Schools of Islamic theology#'Alawism}} Yaron Friedman and many researchers of Alawi doctrine write that the founder of the religion, Ibn Nusayr, did not necessarily believe he was representative of a splinter, rebel group of the Shias, but believed he held the true doctrine of the Shias and most of the aspects that are similar to Christianity are considered more a coincidence and not a direct influence from it, as well as other external doctrines that were popular among Shia esoteric groups in Basra in the 8th century. According to Friedman and other scholars, the Alawi movement started as many other mystical ghulat sects with an explicit concentration on an allegorical and esoteric meaning of the Quran and other mystical practices, and not as a pure syncretic sect, though later, they embraced some other practices, as they believed all religions had the same ''Batin'' core.{{sfn|Friedman|2010|pp=223-238}}
Journalist Robert F. Worth argues that the idea that the Alawi religion is a branch of Islam is a rewriting of history made necessary by the French colonialists' abandonment of the Alawi and departure from Syria. Worth describes the "first ... authentic source for outsiders about the religion", written by Soleyman of Adana – a 19th-century Alawi convert to Christianity who broke his oath of secrecy on the religion, explaining that the Alawi, according to Soleyman, deified Ali, venerated Christ, Muhammad, Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle, and held themselves apart from Muslims and Christians, whom they considered heretics.<ref name=RFWRfO2016:82>Worth, ''A Rage for Order'', 2016: p.82</ref> According to Tom Heneghan:{{blockquote|Alawite religion is often called "an offshoot of Shi'ism," Islam's largest minority sect, but that is something like referring to Christianity as "an offshoot of Judaism." Alawites broke away from Shi'ism over 1,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-religion-alawites-idUSTRE7BM1J220111223|title=Who are the Alawites?|website=Reuters|date=24 December 2011|last1=Tom|first1=Heneghan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307225030/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-religion-alawites-idUSTRE7BM1J220111223 |archive-date=7 March 2022}}</ref>}}
[[File:Alawite children in Antioch.jpg|thumb|alt=Adolescent boy standing in front of younger children|Alawite children in Antioch, now in Turkey, 1938.]] According to a disputed letter, in 1936, six Alawi notables petitioned the French colonialists not to merge their Alawi enclave with the rest of Syria, insisting that "the spirit of hatred and fanaticism embedded in the hearts of the Arab Muslims against everything that is non-Muslim has been perpetually nurtured by the Islamic religion."<ref name=RFWRfO2016:85>Worth, ''A Rage for Order'', 2016: p.85</ref> However, according to associate professor Stefan Winter, this letter is a forgery.<ref name="Winter"/> According to Worth, later ''fatwas'' declaring Alawi to be part of the Shia community were by Shia clerics "eager for Syrian patronage" from Syria's Alawi president Hafez al-Assad, who was eager for Islamic legitimacy in the face of the hostility of Syria's Muslim majority.<ref name=RFWRfO2016:85 />
Yaron Friedman does not suggest that Alawi did not consider themselves Muslims, but does state that: {{blockquote|The modern period has witnessed tremendous changes in the definition of the ʿAlawīs and the attitude towards them in the Muslim world. ... In order to end their long isolation, the name of the sect was changed in the 1920s from Nusạyriyya to ʿAlawiyya'. By taking this step, leaders of the sect expressed not only their link to Shīʿism, but to Islam in general.{{sfn|Friedman|2010|p=235}}}}
According to Peter Theo Curtis, the Alawi religion underwent a process of "Sunnification" during the years under Hafez al-Assad's rule so that Alawites became not Shia but effectively Sunni. Public manifestations or "even mentioning of any Alawite religious activities" were banned, as were any Alawite religious organizations, and "any formation of a unified religious council" or a higher Alawite religious authority. "Sunni-style" mosques were built in every Alawite village, and Alawis were encouraged to perform Hajj.<ref name=Padnos>{{Cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/95722/syria-damascus-bashar-basil-al-assad-sunni-alawi|title=Peter Theo Curtis's Writing on The Twisted, Terrifying Last Days of Assad's Syria|first=Peter Theo|last=Curtis|date=4 October 2011|magazine=The New Republic}}</ref> It's also worth noting that the grand mosque in Qardaha, the hometown of the Assad family, is dedicated to Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq who is venerated by Sunnis but not Shi'ites.
== Opinions on position within Islam == The Sunni Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, issued a ''fatwa'' recognizing them as part of the Muslim community in the interest of Arab nationalism.<ref>{{Cite journal | last1 = Talhamy | first1 = Y. | title = The Fatwas and the Nusayri/Alawis of Syria | doi = 10.1080/00263200902940251 | journal = Middle Eastern Studies | volume = 46 | issue = 2 | pages = 175–194 | year = 2010 | s2cid = 144709130 }}</ref><ref name="Bar-AsherKootstra2002">{{cite book|author1=Me'ir Mikha'el Bar-Asher|author2=Gauke de Kootstra|author3=Arieh Kofsky|title=The Nuṣayr−i-ʻalaw−i Religion: An Enquiry into Its Theology and Liturgy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2bli4DyuHRIC&pg=RA1-PA153|year=2002|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-12552-0|pages=1}}</ref> However, classical Sunni scholars such as the Syrian historian Ibn Kathir categorized Alawites as non-Muslim and ''mushrikeen'' (polytheists), in their writings.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17085226|title=Syria crisis: Deadly shooting at Damascus funeral|work=BBC News|date=18 February 2012}}</ref><ref name="abdullah">Abd-Allah, Umar F., ''Islamic Struggle in Syria'', Berkeley: Mizan Press, c1983, pp. 43–48</ref> Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Kathir's mentor and arguably the most polemical anti-Alawite Sunni theologian, categorised Alawite as non-Muslims and listed them amongst the worst sects of polytheists.<ref>{{harvnb|Pipes|1992|p=163}}: "the Nusayris are more infidel than Jews or Christians, even more infidel than many polytheists. They have done greater harm to the community of Muhammad than have the warring infidels such as the Franks, the Turks, and others. To ignorant Muslims they pretend to be Shi'is, though in reality they do not believe in God or His prophet or His book...Whenever possible, they spill the blood of Muslims...They are always the worst enemies of the Muslims...war and punishment in accordance with Islamic law against them are among the greatest of pious deeds and the most important obligations."</ref>
Through many of his ''fatwa''s, Ibn Taymiyya described Alawites as "the worst enemies of the Muslims" who were far more dangerous than Crusaders and Mongols.<ref>{{harvnb|Pipes|1992|p=163}}</ref> Ibn Taymiyya also accused Alawites of aiding the Crusades and Mongol invasions against the Muslim world.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Matti Moosa|title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects|date=1987|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-2411-0|pages=269–70}}</ref> Other Sunni scholars, such as Al-Ghazali, likewise considered them non-Muslims.{{sfn|Pipes|1992|pp=160–161|ps=: "apostacize in matters of blood, money, marriage, and butchering, so it is a duty to kill them." [Al-Ghazali]"}} Benjamin Disraeli, in his novel ''Tancred'', also expressed the view that Alawites are not Shia Muslims.<ref name=Disraeli>{{harvnb|Pipes|1992|p=162}}</ref>
Historically, Twelver Shia scholars, such as Shaykh Tusi, did not consider Alawites Shia Muslims and condemned their heretical beliefs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nationalinterest.org/feature/the-real-reason-why-iran-backs-syria-14999|title=The Real Reason Why Iran Backs Syria|first=Barak|last=Barfi|date=24 January 2016|website=The National Interest}}</ref>
In 2016, according to several international media reports, an unspecified number of Alawite community leaders released a "Declaration of an Alawite Identity Reform" (of the Alawite community). The manifesto presents Alawism as a current "within Islam" and rejects attempts to incorporate the Alawite community into Twelver Shiism.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lecourrierdumaghrebetdelorient.info/syria/syria-the-alawite-identity-reform/|title=SYRIA – The Alawite 'Identity Reform' |work=The Maghreb and Orient Courier|date=20 April 2016 |language=en|access-date=14 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-alawites-in-syrian-society-loud-silence-in-a-declaration-of-identity-re|title=The Alawites in Syrian Society: Loud Silence in a Declaration of Identity Reform|website=Washington Institute|language=en|access-date=14 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Spencer|first=Richard|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/02/leaders-of-syrian-alawite-sect-threaten-to-abandon-bashar-al-ass/|title=Leaders of Syrian Alawite sect threaten to abandon Bashar al-Assad|date=3 April 2016|work=The Telegraph|access-date=14 April 2020|language=en-GB|issn=0307-1235}}</ref> The document was interpreted as an attempt by representatives of the Alawite community to overcome the sectarian polarisation and to distance themselves from the growing Sunni–Shia divide in the Middle East.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Hellyer|first=H.A.|date=6 April 2016|title=Alawite Identity in Syria|url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/syriasource/alawite-identity-in-syria/|access-date=17 April 2021|website=Atlantic Council|language=en-US}}</ref>
According to Matti Moosa, <blockquote>The Christian elements in the Nusayri religion are unmistakable. 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 importantly, 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).<ref>Moosa, Matti. ''Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects'' (1988). quoted in [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2011/jun/09/storm-over-syria/ "Storm Over Syria", Malise Ruthven]. nybooks.com 9 June 2011</ref></blockquote>
Barry Rubin has suggested that Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad and his son and successor Bashar al-Assad pressed their fellow Alawites "to behave like 'regular Muslims', shedding (or at least concealing) their distinctive aspects".<ref>{{cite book|last=Rubin|first=Barry|title=The Truth about Syria|location=New York|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2007|page=[https://archive.org/details/truthaboutsyria00rubi_0/page/49 49]|isbn=978-1-4039-8273-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/truthaboutsyria00rubi_0/page/49}}</ref> During the early 1970s, a booklet, ''al-'Alawiyyun Shi'atu Ahl al-Bait'' ("The Alawites are Followers of the Household of the Prophet") was published, which was "signed by numerous 'Alawi' men of religion", described the doctrines of the Imami Shia as Alawite.<ref>{{cite book|last=Abd-Allah|first=Umar F.|title=Islamic Struggle in Syria|location=Berkeley|publisher=Mizan Press|year=1983 |pages=43–48|isbn=0-933782-10-1 }}</ref>
The relationship between Alawite-ruled Ba'athist Syria and Khomeinist Iran has been described as a "marriage of convenience" due to the former being ruled by the ultra-secularist Arab Socialist Ba'ath party and the latter by the anti-secular Twelver Shi'ite clergy. The alliance was established during the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s, when Hafez al-Assad backed Iran against his Iraqi Ba'athist rivals, departing from the consensus of the rest of the Arab world. Iranian-backed militant groups like Hezbollah, Liwa Fatemiyoun, and Liwa Zainabiyoun have acted as proxy forces for the Assad regime in the Syrian civil war.<ref name="CoFR">{{cite web |url=http://www.cfr.org/iran/syria-iran-mideast-conflict/p11122 |title=Syria, Iran, and the Mideast Conflict |author-last=Esther |author-first=Pan |date=18 July 2006 |work=Backgrounder |publisher=Council on Foreign Relations|access-date=30 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523091927/http://www.cfr.org/iran/syria-iran-mideast-conflict/p11122 |archive-date= 23 May 2011 |url-status= live}}</ref>
thumb|right|alt=Four women in traditional dress|Alawi women in Syria, early 20th century Some sources have discussed the "Sunnification" of Alawites under the al-Assad regime.<ref name=dilemma /> 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". On the other hand, Al-Assad "declared the Alawites to be nothing but Twelver Shiites".<ref name=dilemma>[http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/syriablog/2004/10/asads-alawi-dilemma.htm Syrian comment. Asad's Alawi dilemma], 8 October 2004</ref> In a paper, "Islamic Education in Syria", Landis wrote that "no mention" is made in Syrian textbooks (controlled by the Al-Assad regime) of Alawites, Druze, Ismailis or Shia Islam; Islam was presented as a monolithic religion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://faculty-staff.ou.edu/L/Joshua.M.Landis-1/Islamic%20Education%20in%20Syria.htm |title=Islamic Education in Syria: Undoing Secularism |publisher=Open University |access-date=25 December 2012}}</ref>
Ali Sulayman al-Ahmad, chief judge of the Ba'athist Syrian state, has said: {{blockquote|We are Alawi Muslims. Our book is the Qur'an. Our prophet is Muhammad. The Ka`ba is our qibla, and our Dīn ''(religion)'' is Islam.<ref name="Yunis 1992, p. 63" />}}
== Population == [[File:Alawite Distribution in the Levant.png|thumb|upright=1.3|A 2012 map showing the distribution of Alawites in the Northern Levant.]]
=== Syria === Alawites have traditionally lived in the Coastal Mountain Range, along the Mediterranean coast of western Syria. Latakia and Tartus are the region's principal cities. They are also concentrated in the plains around Hama and Homs. Alawites also live in Syria's major cities. They make up about 11% of the country's population.<ref name="Reuters-secret">{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-alawites-sect-idUSTRE8110Q720120202/|title=Syria's Alawites, a secretive and persecuted sect |work=Reuters |date=2 February 2012 |access-date=25 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/afp/2012/02/20/332152/Turbulent-history.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120221003537/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/commentary/afp/2012/02/20/332152/Turbulent-history.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 February 2012 |title=Turbulent history colors Syria's ruling Alawite Muslims' fight to keep power |work=China Post |date=9 July 2012 |access-date=25 December 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Syrians flee their homes amid fears of ethnic cleansing |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syrians-flee-their-homes-amid-fears-of-ethnic-cleansing-7079802.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218030622/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syrians-flee-their-homes-amid-fears-of-ethnic-cleansing-7079802.html |archive-date=18 February 2012 |url-access=limited |url-status=live | work=The Independent | first=Charlotte | last=McDonald-Gibson | date=18 February 2012}}</ref><ref name="al-monitor">{{cite web |url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/battle-for-syria-just-getting-st.html |title=It's Time to Engage Iran, Russia on Syria |publisher=al-monitor.com |access-date=6 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140410112312/http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2012/al-monitor/battle-for-syria-just-getting-st.html |archive-date=10 April 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
There are four Alawite confederations—Kalbiyya, Khaiyatin, Haddadin, and Matawirah—each divided into tribes based on their geographical origins or their main religious leader,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://en.etccmena.com/2017/08/13/al-nuseyriyeen-alawitesbetween-politics-and-clan-life/ |title=Alawites: Between Politics and Clan Life |publisher= Center for Environmental and Social Development }}</ref> such as Ḥaidarīya of Alī Ḥaidar, and Kalāziyya of Sheikh Muḥammad ibn Yūnus from the village Kalāzū near Antakya.<ref>{{cite book|author=Muḥammad Amīn Ġālib aṭ-Ṭawīl|title=Tārīḫ al-ʿAlawiyyīn |edition=3rd |location=Beirut|year=1979|page=529}}</ref> Those Alawites are concentrated in the Latakia region of Syria, extending north to Antioch (Antakya), Turkey, and in and around Homs and Hama.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/12399/Alawite |title=ʿAlawite |access-date=17 January 2010}}</ref>
Before 1953, Alawites held specifically reserved seats in the Syrian Parliament, in common with all other religious communities. After that (including the 1960 census), there were only general Muslim and Christian categories, without mention of subgroups, to reduce sectarianism (''taifiyya'').
==== Golan Heights ==== Before the 1967 war, Alawites in the Golan Heights lived mainly in three northern villages, 'Ayn Fit, Za'ura and Ghajar.<ref name=PalestineStudies2000>{{cite journal |last1=Abu Fakhr|first1=Sakr|date=2000|title=Voices from the Golan|journal=Journal of Palestine Studies|volume=29|issue=4 |pages=5–36|url=https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/40836|bibcode=|doi=10.2307/2676559|jstor=2676559 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> There are about 3,900 Alawites living in the village of Ghajar, which is located on the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. In 1932, the residents of Ghajar were given the option of choosing their nationality, and overwhelmingly chose to be a part of Syria, which has a sizable Alawite minority.<ref name="NYTfence">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/11/world/middleeast/11lebanon.html|title=A New Fence Is Added to a Border Town Already Split|date=11 October 2006|work=The New York Times}}</ref> Before the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the residents of Ghajar were counted in the 1960 Syrian census.<ref name="GhajRid">{{cite web|last=Bar |first=Zvi |url=https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1084425.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723152305/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/getting-rid-of-ghajar-1.275742 |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 July 2010 |title=Getting rid of Ghajar, Zvi Bar'el|work=Haaretz |date=10 May 2009 |access-date=25 December 2012}}</ref> According to Joshua Project, after Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria, and after implementing Israeli civil law in 1981, the Alawite community chose to become Israeli citizens.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/18805/IS|title=Alawite in Israel|author=Joshua Project}}</ref> However, according to Al-Marsad, Alawites were forced to undergo a process of naturalisation.<ref name="ALmarsad">{{cite web |url=https://golan-marsad.org/majority-of-syrians-continue-to-refuse-israeli-citizenship/ |title=Majority of Syrians continue to refuse Israeli citizenship |date=8 May 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200831152446/https://golan-marsad.org/majority-of-syrians-continue-to-refuse-israeli-citizenship/ |archive-date= 31 August 2020 |url-status= live}}</ref>
=== Turkey === {{Further|Minorities in Turkey#Religious minorities|l1=Religious minorities in Turkey|Shia Islam in Turkey}} [[File:Shrine of Khidr.jpg|thumb|The Shrine of Khidr, located near the Syria-Turkey border, is a notable Alawite shrine frequently visited by people from multiple cities.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Prager |first=Laila |date=2013 |title=Alawi Ziyāra Tradition and Its Interreligious Dimensions: Sacred Places and Their Contested Meanings among Christians, Alawi and Sunni Muslims in Contemporary Hatay (Turkey) |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/muwo.12000 |journal=The Muslim World |language=en |volume=103 |issue=1 |pages=41–61 |doi=10.1111/muwo.12000 |issn=1478-1913|url-access=subscription }}</ref>]] To avoid confusion with the ethnic Turkish and Kurdish Alevis, the Alawites call themselves ''Arap Alevileri'' ("Arab Alevis") in Turkish. The term ''Nusayrī'', previously used in theological texts, has been revived in recent studies. A quasi-official name used during the 1930s by Turkish authorities was ''Eti Türkleri'' ("Hittite Turks"), to conceal their Arabic origins. Although this term is obsolete, it is still used by some older people as a euphemism.
In 1939, the Alawites accounted for some 40 percent of the population of the province of İskenderun. According to French geographer Fabrice Balanche, relations between the Alawites of Turkey and the Alawites of Syria are limited. Community ties were broken by the Turkification policy and the decades-long closure of the Syria-Turkey border.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Balanche|first=Fabrice|title=The Alawi Community and the Syria Crisis|url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/alawi-community-and-syria-crisis|access-date=17 April 2021|website=Middle East Institute|language=en}}</ref>
The exact number of Alawites in Turkey is unknown; there were 185,000 in 1970.<ref>{{Cite book | title=State and rural society in medieval Islam: sultans, muqtaʻs, and fallahun | year=1997 | publisher=E.J. Brill | location=Leiden | isbn=90-04-10649-9 | page=162}}</ref> As Muslims, they are not recorded separately from Sunnis. In the 1965 census (the last Turkish census where informants were asked about their mother tongue), 185,000 people in the three provinces declared their mother tongue as Arabic; however, Arabic-speaking Sunnis and Christians were also included in this figure. Turkish Alawites traditionally speak the same dialect of Levantine Arabic as Syrian Alawites. Arabic is preserved in rural communities and in Samandağ. Younger people in the cities of Çukurova and İskenderun tend to speak Turkish. The Turkish spoken by Alawites is distinguished by its accents and vocabulary. Knowledge of the Arabic alphabet is confined to religious leaders and men who have worked or studied in Arab countries.
Alawites demonstrate considerable social mobility. Until the 1960s, they were bound to Sunni ''aghas'' (landholders) around Antakya and were poor. Alawites are prominent in the sectors of transportation and commerce and a large, professional middle class has emerged. Male exogamy has increased, particularly among those who attend universities or live in other parts of Turkey. These marriages are tolerated; however, female exogamy (as in other patrilineal groups) is discouraged.{{citation needed|date=April 2023}}
Alawites, like Alevis, have strong leftist political beliefs. However, some people in rural areas (usually members of notable Alawite families) may support secular, conservative parties such as the Democrat Party. Most Alawites feel oppressed by the policies of the Presidency of Religious Affairs in Turkey (''Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı'').<ref>''Fellahlar'ın Sosyolojisi'', Dr. Cahit Aslan, Adana, 2005</ref><ref>''Arap Aleviliği: Nusayrilik'', Ömer Uluçay, Adana, 1999</ref>
There are religious festivals celebrated by Alawites in Turkey that have origins in the pre-Islamic periods, such as the Evvel Temmuz Festival.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=15 July 2024 |archive-date=19 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230219021321/https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/binlerce-yillik-kadim-gelenek-evvel-temmuz-misafirlerini-bekliyor-haber-1528205 |date=7 November 2021 |language=tr |title=Binlerce yıllık kadim gelenek 'Evvel Temmuz' misafirlerini bekliyor |url=https://www.gazeteduvar.com.tr/binlerce-yillik-kadim-gelenek-evvel-temmuz-misafirlerini-bekliyor-haber-1528205 |url-status=live |work=Gazete Duvar}}<!-- auto-translated from Turkish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref>
=== Lebanon === thumb|right|The Alawite Imam Ali Mosque in Jabal Mohsen, Tripoli, Lebanon
In 2011, there were an estimated 150,000<ref name="repost1" /><ref>{{cite web|author=Zoi Constantine |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/pressures-in-syria-affect-alawites-in-lebanon-1.437456 |title=Pressures in Syria affect Alawites in Lebanon |work=The National|date=21 August 2011 |location=Abu Dhabi |access-date=6 July 2012}}</ref> Alawites in Lebanon, where they have lived since at least the 16th century.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2005/Apr-30/4206-lebanese-allawites-welcome-syrias-withdrawal-as-necessary.ashx#axzz2njhPbwW1|title=Lebanese Allawites welcome Syria's withdrawal as 'necessary'|date=30 April 2005|newspaper=The Daily Star}}</ref> They are one of the 18 official Lebanese sects; due to the efforts of their leader, Ali Eid, the Taif Agreement of 1989 gave them two reserved seats in Parliament. Lebanese Alawites live primarily in the Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood of Tripoli and in 10 villages in the Akkar District, and are represented by the Arab Democratic Party.<ref>[http://menassat.com/?q=en%2Fnews-articles%2F5210-tripoli-4] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100514032159/http://menassat.com/?q=en%2Fnews-articles%2F5210-tripoli-4|date=14 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/489c1be4c.html |title=Refworld | Lebanon: Displaced Allawis find little relief in impoverished north |publisher=UNHCR |date=5 August 2008 |access-date=6 July 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4896c47526.html |title=Refworld | Lebanon: Displaced families struggle on both sides of sectarian divide |publisher=UNHCR |date=31 July 2008 |access-date=6 July 2012}}</ref> Their Mufti was Sheikh Assad Assi, but he died in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nassif |first1=Marwan |title=REPORT: Alawite Grand Mufti Sheikh Assad Assi passes away |url=https://www.lbcgroup.tv/news/breaking-news/300644/report-alawite-grand-mufti-sheikh-assad-assi-passes-away/en |website=LBCIV7 |access-date=28 January 2026 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yalibnan.com/2012/07/21/lebanon-muslim-leaders-held-a-summit-in-beirut/ |title=Lebanon Muslim leaders held a summit in Beirut | World News Live from Lebanon |location=LB |publisher=Ya Libnan |date=21 July 2012 |access-date=25 December 2012}}</ref> The Bab al-Tabbaneh–Jabal Mohsen conflict between pro-Syrian Alawites and anti-Syrian Sunnis has affected Tripoli for decades.<ref>{{cite web |author=David Enders, McClatchy Newspapers |url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/02/13/v-print/138757/syrian-violence-finds-its-echo.html |title=Syrian violence finds its echo in Lebanon | McClatchy |publisher=Mcclatchydc.com |date=13 February 2012 |access-date=6 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130603083656/http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/02/13/v-print/138757/syrian-violence-finds-its-echo.html |archive-date=3 June 2013}}</ref>
== Language == Alawites in Syria speak a special dialect (part of Levantine Arabic) famous for the usage of letter (qāf),<ref>{{cite web |last=Omran |first=Rasha |url=https://www.syria.tv/حرف-القاف-والمظلوميات-المتعارضة |title=حرف القاف والمظلوميات المتعارضة |publisher=Syria TV |language=ar |date=8 September 2021 }}</ref> but this feature is shared with neighboring non-Alawite villages, such as Idlib. Due to foreign occupation of Syria, the same dialect is characterized by multiple borrowings, mainly from Turkish and then French, especially terms used for imported inventions such as television, radio, elevator (ascenseur), etc.
== See also == {{stack|{{portal|Syria|Islam}}}} * List of Alawites * Islam in Syria
== Notes == {{notelist}}
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
==Sources== * {{cite encyclopedia | article = NOṢAYRIS | last = Bar-Asher | first = Meir M.| url = http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/nosayris |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Iranica | year = 2003 }} * {{cite book|last1=Bar-Asher|first1=Meir M.|last2=Kofsky|first2=Aryeh|date=2002|title=The Nusayrī-ʿAlawī Religion: An Enquiry into its Theology and Liturgy|location=Leiden|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-12552-0|doi=10.1163/9789004453500}} * {{cite encyclopedia|last1=Friedman|first1=Yaron|date=2000–2010|title=Moḥammad b. Noṣayr|editor1-last=Yarshater|editor1-first=Ehsan|editor1-link=Ehsan Yarshater|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/mohammad-nosayr}} * {{cite book|last1=Friedman|first1=Yaron |title=The Nuṣayrī-ʿAlawīs : An Introduction to the Religion, History and Identity of the Leading Minority in Syria |date=2010 |publisher=Brill|location=Leiden, Boston |isbn=978-90-04-178922|url=https://goaloflife.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/the-nuc59fayrc4ab-_alawc4abs-_-an-introduction-to-the-religion-history-and-identity-of-the-leading-minority-in-syria-islamic-history-and-civilization.pdf |access-date=31 July 2016|doi=10.1163/ej.9789004178922.i-328|series=Islamic History and Civilization|volume=77}} * {{cite encyclopedia|last1=Halm|first1=Heinz|author1-link=Heinz Halm|date=2001–2012|title=Ḡolāt|editor1-last=Yarshater|editor1-first=Ehsan|editor1-link=Ehsan Yarshater|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica|url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/golat}} * {{cite encyclopedia|last1=Steigerwald|first1=Diana|year=2010|title=Ibn Nuṣayr|editor1-last=Fleet|editor1-first=Kate|editor2-last=Krämer|editor2-first=Gudrun|editor2-link=Gudrun Krämer|editor3-last=Matringe|editor3-first=Denis|editor4-last=Nawas|editor4-first=John|editor5-last=Rowson|editor5-first=Everett|editor5-link=Everett K. Rowson|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_23483}} * {{cite book|last1=Worth|first1=Robert F.|title=A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir Square to ISIS|date=2016|publisher=Pan Macmillan |page=82 |isbn=9780374710712|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PNOLCgAAQBAJ&pg=PP7|ref=RFWRfO2016}} * {{cite book |last1=Winter |first1=Stefan |title=A History of the 'Alawis: From Medieval Aleppo to the Turkish Republic |date=2016 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton and Oxford |isbn=9780691173894 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Suf-CwAAQBAJ}}
== Further reading == * {{cite book |last=Al Marouf |first=Emil Abbas |title=History of Alawites in the Levant |publisher=Dar Al Amal & Al Salam |language=ar |year=2016 }} * {{EI2 | last = Halm | first = Heinz | authorlink = Heinz Halm | title = Nuṣayriyya | volume = 8 | pages = 145–148 | url = http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0876}} * Kazimi, Nibras. ''Syria Through Jihadist Eyes: A Perfect Enemy'', Hoover Institution Press, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-8179-1075-4}}. * {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ixl3NcvAixAC&pg=PA20|title=The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-Alawi Community of Cilicia ... |first1=Gisela |last1=Procházka-Eisl |first2=Stephan |last2=Procházka |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |date= 11 August 2010|isbn=978-3-447-06178-0|ref=GPE2010}} RFWRfO2016
== External links == {{Commons category}} {{NIE Poster|year=1905|Ansaries}}
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