On the Nusayris
This document is based on descriptions given in:
A Christian article on the Alawis
A defintion of the term "Nusayri"
A Gnostic article on the Nusayris
A Loyola University article on the Alawis
A Sunni article on the Nusayris
A Wikipedia article on the Alawis
A Wikipedia article on Sulayman al-Murshid
An article from Daniel Pipes on the Alawis
Another Christian article on the Alawis
Mekdad, Hosam - "The Clash of Sunni and Nusayri Beliefs"
Meri, Josef - "Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia"
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Nomenclature of the Nusayriyyah / Nusayris / Alawiyyah / Alawis / Alawites / Ansaris / Ansayriyyah
Known collectively as the Alawiyyah ("the Followers
of Ali"), the Alawis are also known as Nusayris, Nusayriyya, Ansayriyyah, etc.
They are Arab Shi'ah who live in Syria, Turkey (mostly in the region of
Iskandariyya / Iskenderun) and Lebanon. They are not to be confused with Alevis
("the People of Fire," implying fire-worship, from Alev, "fire", this is
actually a misnomer, for the Alevis are a Sufi cult of Turkey, and not Alawis).
Alawism is often referred to as Nusayrism, and other Muslims of Syria often
refer to Alawis as Nusayris. "Alawi" is the term that Alawis usually apply to
themselves; but until 1920 they were known to the outside world as Nusayris or
Ansaris. The change in name - imposed by the French upon their seizure of
control in Syria - has significance. Whereas "Nusayri" emphasises the group's
differences from Islam, "Alawi" suggests an adherent of Ali (the son-in-law of
the Prophet Muhammad) and accentuates the religion's similarities to Shi'i
Islam. Consequently, opponents of the Assad regime habitually use the term
Nusayri, supporters of the regime use the term Alawi.
Some would say that the Alawis and Nusayris are not identical, that among the Alawis, there is a sect who followed Abu Shu'ayb Muhammad ibn Nusayr al-Numayri and viewed him as a "Bab" and that they are the Nusayris.
Alawite Sects:
The Alawis themselves are divided into five sects:
- The Sun Sect (Shamsiyya)
- The Moon Sect (Qamariyya)
- The Murshidis, named after their Messiah, Sulayman al-Murshid / Salman al-Murshad
- The Haidariyya
- The Ghaibiyya
These sects all agree on the Alawite "fundamentals", but when their divine
manifestation of God, Ali ibn Abu Talib, left earth, the Sun and Moon sects
disagree on whether he now lives in the sun or in the moon. The Moon sect is
made up of six tribes of Alawis. The majority of Alawis belong to the sect of
their religion that their parents and tribe belonged to.
As a side note, there was a Sunni Alawiyya dynasty in Morocco, but it is
unrelated.
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Doctrines
The Nusayris have been classed as a Ghulat
("extremist") Shi'i sect. Nusayris are named after their purported founder, Abu
Shu'ayb Muhammad ibn Nusayr al-Abdi al-Bakri al-Namri (d. 868 CE), the pupil of
the eleventh Shi'i Imam, Hasan al-Askari (d. 874 CE). The main distinction
between the Twelver Shi'ah and the Alawis is that the Alawis believe in "Babiyyat"
as an extension of Imamat. The "Bab" is a person believed to be a "door" /
"gate" for Imam Mahdi / the Imam of the age. The Shi'ah believe that this
special deputyship ended with the fourth Imam.
Despite mutual animosity, the Alawis are much like the Druzes. Historically both
the Druze and the Alawis are off-shoots of Ismailism, which was an earlier split
from the Shi'i Imamis (Twelver Shi'ah, the sect that predominates in Iran). The
Ismailis broke with the Shi'i Imamis over the issue of the succession to the
sixth Imam Ismail (d. 760 CE). In about 857 CE, Ibn Nusayr declared himself the
Bab of the eleventh Imam. On the basis of this authority, Ibn Nusayr proclaimed
a host of new doctrines which, to make a long story short, make Alawism into a
separate religion. Alawis reject Islam's main tenets; by almost any standard
they must be considered non-Muslims. The majority of Shi'ah believe that Ibn
Nusayr was cursed by Imam Hasan al-Askari for deviant beliefs, while other
Shi'ah and Alawis suppose that any curses and deviant beliefs were an act of
taqiyya and / or false ahadith circulated by the Abbassids.
An accepted reference on Nusayri rites and doctrines was published in Aleppo in
1859 as Kitab al-Majmu. According to its author, Sulayman al-Adhani, the
Nusayris, like other sects of the Syrian mountains on the Mediterranean,
primarily believed in the transmigration of souls. Since the French mandate over
Syria (1920 - 1946), the term Nusayri has been dropped in favour of the more
common Alawi, and a doctrinal, if not political, rapprochement has been in the
works with the majority of Shi'ah. The Kitab al-Majmu shows the Alawis as an
isolated group who have incorporated many different religions into theirs.
Alawi doctrine is a mixture of Islamic, Gnostic and Christian beliefs. Some
Alawi doctrines appear to derive from Phoenician paganism, Mazdakism and
Manicheanism. But by far the greatest affinity is with Christianity. Alawi
religious ceremonies involve bread and wine; indeed, wine drinking has a sacred
role in Alawism, for it represents God. The religion holds Ali, the fourth
caliph, to be the (Jesus-like) incarnation of divinity. The Alawis maintain that
all Islamic teaching can be interpreted spiritually and therefore does not have
to be taken literally. The Alawis possess a range of distinctive doctrines which
have led them to be treated as heretics by Sunni Muslims, for example:
Rejection of the Qur'an.
Rejection of the Five Pillars of Islam.
Alawis recognize the five pillars of Islam, but they do not believe that anyone
has the privilege of practicing them because they are too pure to be performed
by just any soul. The Creed, Prayer, Alms, Pilgrimage, and Fasting during
Ramadan, are thus believed only as symbols and there is no need to practice
them. According to Ibn Kathir (d. 1372 CE), where Muslims proclaim their Creed
with the phrase "There is no deity but God and Muhammad is His prophet," Alawis
assert "There is no deity but Ali, no Veil but Muhammad, and no Bab but Salman."
Furthermore, they believe the five daily prayers to symbolise the pentad: Ali,
Hasan, Husayn, Muhsin and Fatimah, and that mentioning these five names suffices
one instead of making ghusl from major impurity, or ablution, or fulfilling
other conditions and obligatory actions of the five daily prayers. The Alawis
have two other pillars: Jihad, or holy struggle / war is another pillar, in
common with the Kharijites, and the worship of Ali, (called Waliya), is the
another pillar. This involves not only devotion to Ali, but also struggle
against Ali's enemies.
Chauvinism for the Shaykhs.
Alawis have their own shaykhs. These shaykhs are believed to be endowed with a
kind of divine authority (a common trend among Sunnis, Shi'ah and Rabbinical
Jews today). One of the Shaikh's duties is to lead religious and other forms of
ceremony.
Belief in incarnation.
Almost all Shi'ah (Zaydis excepted) believe Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet,
was the rightful first caliph. However, Alawis go further and believe Ali is a
member of an appearance of a "Trinity" of Allah. The Alawis believe that Ali is
God in the flesh, their Imam on Earth and their God in the heavens; they believe
that Ali created the Prophet from his spirit, and that the Prophet created
Salman al-Farsi. These three form a Trinity in which Ali is described as the
'Idea', the Prophet is the 'Name' and Salman is the 'door' / 'gate' (Bab). In
Sura 6 of the Kitab al-Majmu, it is stated, "I make for the Door, I prostrate
myself before God, I worship the essence."
They believe that Allah has appeared in a threeness during at least seven
cycles. The last appearance was Muhammad, Ali and Salman al-Farsi, and thus:
Revealed: Adam
Hidden: Abel
Gate: ?
Revealed: Noah
Hidden: Seth
Gate: ?
[Note that Noah and Seth are together, even though they lived over a millennia
apart.]
Revealed: Jacob
Hidden: Joseph
Gate: ?
Revealed: Moses
Hidden: Joshua
Gate: ?
Revealed: Solomon
Hidden: Asaph / Asaf
Gate: ?
Revealed: Jesus
Hidden: Peter
Gate: ?
Revealed: Prophet Muhammad
Hidden: Ali
Gate: Salman al-Farsi
According to Question 44 of the Druze Catechism, the Alawis split off from the
Druze because the former worshipped Ali, when they really should be worshipping
Lord al-Hakim (996 - 1021 CE) who is visible God to the Druze.
Alawis use wine as a symbol for God, which they use in the manner of a communion
service. Like Catholics, they believe that the wine is transubstantiated into
the deity, Allah. The wine is consecrated in an occasional and highly secretive
mass for the male members of the community.
Legalisation of intoxicants.
Alawis in Syria drink wine but they do not believe in getting drunk.
Belief in reincarnation.
Alawis believe in reincarnation. Contrary to Islamic belief, the Alawis claim
that women do not have souls and, therefore, there is no need to explain the
secrets of Alawi doctrine to women, because they are not reincarnated. The
Encyclopedia of Islam (New Edition) thus states: "Women are excluded from this
because they are born of the sins of devils; for this reason, they are not
entitled to participate in the rights of men" (Sulayman al-Adhani,
Kitab al-Bakurah, 61). Some modern Alawis consider that women
have souls.
The principle of metempsychosis, or the transfer of souls from one body to
another, is an essential element in Alawi beliefs. There are different kinds of
soul transmigration - some souls pass into the bodies of other humans while
other souls pass into the bodies of either animals or plants.
The Alawis believe that all persons were stars in the world of light but fell
from here due to disobedience. They believe they must be reincarnated seven
times before they once again return to the stars where Ali is prince. A good
Alawi will assume a better form after his death than a bad Alawi. The Alawis
claim that the Milky Way is infact the deified souls of the true believers. The
less pious souls require more transformations. If an Alawi is sinful, he will be
reborn as a Chrsitian until his atonement is complete. A bad Alawi will
definitely assume a better form than a non-Alawi. Infidels will be reborn as
animals.
According to this principle, there are different degrees of punishment for
people after death. The small punishment occurs as the souls of those who defied
Alawis pass into the bodies of foul animals and insects until the end of time.
The big punishment will occur on judgment day as those souls are eternally put
to burn in hell. This doctrine of metempsychosis, which Alawis share with the
Druzes, controverts the common Islamic belief that souls remain within the
confines of the grave until judgment day.
Disbelief in resurrection, Paradise and Hellfire.
Contrary to the above, it has also been said that the Alawis reject the concept
of a final Judgement and eternal abode (Paradise / Hell).
Astrological doctrines.
While the Prophet was against astrology, Alawis use astrology. They believe the
stars in the Milky Way are actually the deified souls of believers.
Mosque Attendance.
Attending Mosque is not important to most Alawis.
However, they do have ceremonies in the famous Ummayad mosque in Damascus.
Status of Women.
Women do most of the hard labour; they are prized "precisely because of the work
they do that men will not do except grudgingly, finding it incompatible with
their dignity." Women are never inducted into the mysteries ("Would you have us
teach them whom we use, our holy faith?"); indeed, their uncleanliness requires
their exclusion from all religious rituals. Females are thought to retain the
pagan cult of worshipping trees, meadows, and hills, and to have no souls.
Secrecy.
While maintaining their beliefs they pretended to adhere to the dominant
religion present, in the spirit of the Shi'i principle of taqiyyah
(dissimulation of religion). Mainstream Muslims, Sunni and Shi'i alike,
traditionally disregarded Alawi efforts at dissimulation; they viewed Alawis as
beyond the pale of Islam - as non-Muslims. Hamza ibn Ali, who saw the religion's
appeal as lying in perversity, said that "The first thing that promotes the
wicked Alawi is the fact that all things normally prohibited to humans - murder,
stealing, lying, calumny, fornication, pederasty - is permitted to he or she who
accepts [Alawi doctrines]." The theologian al-Ash'ari (874 - 936 CE) held that
Alawism encourages male sodomy and incestuous marriages and the founder of the
Druze religious doctrine, Hamza ibn Ali (d. 1021), wrote that Alawis consider
"the male member entering the female nature to be the emblem of their spiritual
doctrine." Accordingly, Alawi men freely share their wives with co-religionists.
These and other accusations survived undiminished through the centuries and even
circulated among Europeans. A British traveller of the early 1840s wrote that
"the institution of marriage is unknown. When a young man grows up he buys his
wife." Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058 - 1111), the Thomas Aquinas of Islam, wrote
that the Alawis "apostatise in matters of blood, money, marriage, and
butchering, so it is a duty to kill them."
Alawis do not accept converts or openly publish their texts, which are passed
down from scholar to scholar. The vast majority of Alawis (the "Ammah") know
little about the contents of their sacred texts or theology, which are guarded
by a small class of male initiates (the "Khassah", c.f. the term "Khassid", a
kind of Orthodox but ecstatic Jew). For Initiation, a person must be at least 15
and an Alawaite.
Religious secrecy is strictly maintained, on pain of death and being incarnated
into a vile animal. Thus, the most renowned apostate from Alawism, Sulayman al-Adhani,
was assassinated for divulging the sect's mysteries in his Kitab al-Majmu. Even
more impressive, at a time of sectarian tension in the mid-1960s, the suggestion
that the Alawi officers who ran the country publish the secret books of their
religion caused an Alawite leader, Salah Jadid, to respond with horror, saying
that were this done, the religious leaders "would crush us."
A British traveler observed in 1697 that the Alawis are "of a strange and
singular character. For 'tis their principle to adhere to no certain religion;
but chameleon-like, they put on the colour of religion, whatever it be, which is
reflected upon them from the persons with whom they happen to converse ... No
body was ever able to discover what shape or standard their consciences are
really of. All that is certain concerning them is, that they make much and good
wine, and are great drinkers." A hundred and fifty years later, Benjamin
Disraeli described the Alawis in a conversation in the novel Tancred:
"Are they Moslemin?"
"It is very easy to say what they are not, and that is about the extent of any
knowledge we have of them; they are not Moslemin, they are not Christian, they
are not Druzes, and they are not Jews, and certainly they are not Guebres
[Zoroastrians]."
Sulayman al-Adhani explained this flexibility from within: "They take on the
outward practices of all sects. If they meet [Sunni] Muslims, they swear to them
and say, 'We are like you, we fast and we pray.' But they fast improperly. If
they enter a mosque with Muslims, they do not recite any of the prayers;
instead, they lower and raise their bodies like the Muslims, while cursing Abu
Bakr, 'Umar, 'Uthman, and other [major figures of the Sunni tradition]."
Taqiya permitted Alawis to blow with the wind. When France ruled, they portrayed
themselves as lost Christians. When Pan-Arabism was in favour, they became
fervent Arabs. Over 10,000 Alawis living in Damascus pretended to be Sunnis in
the years before Assad came to power, only revealing their true identities when
this became politically useful. Since about the French mandate over Syria (1920
- 46), the term Nusayri seems to have been dropped in favour of the more common
Alawi, and a doctrinal, if not political, rapprochement has been in the works
with the majority of Shi'ah. During Assad's presidency, concerted efforts were
made to portray the Alawis as Twelver Shi'iah.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Imam ibn Taymiyyah [Majmu al-Fatwa 35 / 145], when
asked if it is permissible for a [Sunni] Muslim to marry a Nusayri, or to
partake of their food, etc. replied that they were from among the Qaramatah and
Batiniyyah, "their aim is repudiation of Islamic beliefs and laws in every
possible way ... such as that 'five prayers' means knowledge of their secrets,
'obligatory fast' hiding of their secrets, and 'pilgrimage to Bayt al-Atiq'
means to visit their shaykhs, and that the two hands of Abu Lahab represent Abu
Bakr and Umar, and that 'the great news and the manifest imam' [al-Naba ul-Azeem
wa al-Imam ul-Mubiyn] is Ali ibn Abu Talib. When they have an opportunity, they
spill the blood of Muslims, such as when they once killed pilgrims and threw
them into the well of Zamzam [apparently confounding the Alawis with the
Qarmatians, who did such things when they occupied Makkah]. Once they took the
black stone and it stayed with them for a period of time [again, a reference to
the Qarmatians], and they have killed so many Muslim scholars and elders that
only Allah knows their number. They wrote many books, such as what the
questioner mentioned, and others. It is known to us that the coast of Sham was
only taken over by the Christians [north European Crusaders] from their [Nusayri]
side. And also that they are always on the side of every enemy against Muslims,
so they are with Christians against Muslims. From the greatest afflictions that
have befallen them are Muslims' opening conquest of the coast (of Sham) and
defeat of the Christians. Nay, one of the greatest afflictions that has befallen
them is Muslims' victory over the Tatars [Mongols], and from the greatest
holidays for them is the Christians' conquest ... of Muslim ports. They don't
admit that this world has a Creator that created it, or that he has a religion
that he orders with, or that he has a place with which he will reward people for
their deeds, other than this place."
Alawis tend to show more friendliness to Christians than to Muslims. For these
reasons, many observers - missionaries especially - have suspected the Alawis of
a secret Christian proclivity. Even T. E. Lawrence described them as "those
disciples of a cult of fertility, sheer pagan, antiforeign, distrustful of
Islam, drawn at moments to Christianity by common persecution." The Jesuit
scholar Henri Lammens unequivocally concluded from his research that "the
Nusayris were Christians" and their practices combine Christian with Shi'i
elements.
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Customs
At the age of 19 Alawis undergo an initiation rite
in which they begin to learn some of the secrets of the sect. Alawis are in fact
born into the sect; the initiation ceremony serves to confirm their membership.
While most Islamic holidays such as Id al Fitr and Id al Adha are celebrated, in
addition to Shi'i holidays such as Yawm al-Ashura, Alawis celebrate some
Christian holidays such as the day of Epiphany. By commemorating this day in
which Jesus was baptised by St. John, Alawis believe that God will answer their
prayers. In addition, their celebration of Christmas is a way for Alawis to
affirm the different ways in which God has manifested Himself on earth. Their
prayers on both these days resemble to a large degree those held in Christian
masses.
Alawis have special feasts in which they celebrate the anniversaries of their
sacred figures.
Alawis celebrate many Christian festivals, including Christmas, New Year's,
Epiphany, Easter, Pentecost , and Palm Sunday. They honor many Christian saints:
St. Catherine, St. Barbara, St. George, St. John the Baptist, St. John
Chrysostom, and St. Mary Magdalene. The Arabic equivalents of such Christian
personal names as Gabriel, John, Matthew, Catherine, and Helen, are in common
use.
They also celebrate Nawruz, which is the New Year of the Zoroastrians. Other
Shi'ah celebrate this also, teaching this was the day the Prophet gave the
Caliphate to Ali.
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History
Caliphates Rise and Crumble into the Dust, 10th
Century CE - 1920
The Nusayris were a remnant of the Shi'i upsurge which had swept Islam a
thousand years ago. They were islands left by a tide which had receded. The
Nusayris themselves trace their origins to the eleventh Shi'i Imam, Hasan al
Askari (d. 874 CE), and his pupil Ibn Nusayr (d. 868 CE). Ibn Nusayr proclaimed
himself the Bab of the eleventh Imam in 857 CE. The sect seems to have been
organised and evolved through a follower of Ibn Nusayr's, Husayn ibn Hamdan al-Khasabi
(c. 970 CE), who died in Aleppo in about 969. Al-Khasibi's grandson, al-Tabarani,
moved to Latakia on the Syrian coast. There he refined the Alawite religion and,
with his pupils, converted much of the local population.
In the 10th century CE Alawis were established during the Hamdanid dynasty of
Aleppo. They then mostly lived in the mountains of Syria. When the Shi'ah lost
power in Syria, Alawis were killed by Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans, and Alawis
also fought among themselves. In 1085 the Shi'i state fell to the Seljuk Turks.
The break down of political support made the Alawis extremely vulnerable to
attack and persecution. In 1097, Crusaders massacred a group of Alawis, but
later allied with them against the Ismailis. In 1120, the 25,000 Alawis were
defeated by Ismailis and Kurds, but in 1123, they fought the Kurds successfully,
with the help of some Ismailis. In 1260 the Mongols captured Aleppo, the capital
of the region, and killed many thousands of Shi'ah. At the end of the 13th
century CE many Shi'ah were massacred by Sunni Muslims because the Shi'ah had
supported the Christian crusaders. From then on the Alawis and other Shi'i
branches were required to conform to the practices of Sunni Islam. In 1297, the
Ismailis and Alawis tried to negotiate a merger, but it came to nothing. The
Egyptian Mamluk rulers persecuted them from 1260 to 1518. Some 20,000 Alawis
were massacred in 1317, and half that number in 1517, after the Ottomans took
over Syria, starting in 1516. In 1832, after the Alawi attacked the Ismaili
village of Masyaf, the Pasha of Damascus sent thousands of troops to fight them.
They were also persecuted in 1870 and 1877.
Frequently persecuted, the Alawis insulated themselves geographically from the
outside world by staying within their own rural regions. Jacques Weulersse
explained their predicament: "Defeated and persecuted, the heterodox sects
disappeared or, to survive, renounced proselytism ... The Alawis silently
entrenched themselves in their mountains ... Isolated in rough country,
surrounded by a hostile population, henceforth without communications with the
outside world, the Alawis began to live out their solitary existence in secrecy
and repression. Their doctrine, entirely formed, evolved no further."
Centuries of hostility took their toll on the Alawi psyche. In addition to
praying for the damnation of their Sunni enemies, Alawis attacked outsiders.
They acquired a reputation as fierce and unruly mountain people who resisted
paying the taxes they owed the authorities and frequently plundered Sunni
villagers on the plains.
In 1860, Samuel Lyde wrote that "nothing is thought of thus killing a Mussulman
as a natural enemy, or a Christian as an unclean thing." Writing about the same
time, a British travel-guide writer warned of the cool reception to be expected
from the Alawis: "They are a wild and somewhat savage race, given to plunder,
and even bloodshed, when their passions are excited or suspicion roused."
Alawis were so badly off after World War I, many of the youth left their
homeland to work elsewhere. Sons left to find menial labor or to join the armed
forces. Daughters went off at the age of seven or eight years to work as
domestics for urban Sunni Arabs. Because many of them also ended up as
mistresses (one estimate holds that a quarter of all Alawi children in the 1930s
and 1940s had Sunni fathers), both Muslims and Alawis saw this practice as
deeply shameful. In some cases, daughters were even sold. It is no exaggeration
to say, as does one indigenous historian, that Alawis "were among the poorest of
the East." Samuel Lyde went even further, writing in 1860 that "the state of [Alawi]
society is a perfect hell upon earth."
In the twentieth century Alawis have enjoyed a degree of political dominance
that is disproportionate to their size. After the First World War the French,
who were ruling Syria at the time, made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a
separate Alawi state.
The collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the Great War brought on a
scramble to take control of various provinces of the disintegrating empire.
The French Mandate, 1920 - 1946
The establishment of French rule over former Ottoman territories after World War
I benefited the Alawis more than any other community. French efforts to
cooperate with the minorities meant the Alawis gained political autonomy and
escaped Sunni control. France occupied Syria in 1918, and received the Alawite
Territory as a mandate from the League of Nations on the 2nd September, 1920.
According to Yusuf al-Hakim, a prominent Syrian politician, the Alawis adopted a
pro-French attitude even before the French conquest of Damascus in July 1920.
"The Alawis saw themselves in a state of grace after hell; accordingly, they
were dedicated to the French mandate and did not send a delegation to the
[General] Syrian Congress." So intensely did they oppose Prince Faysal, the
Sunni Arab ruler of Syria in 1918 - 20, whom they suspected of wanting to
dominate them, they launched a rebellion against his rule in 1919, using French
arms. According to one well-informed observer, the Alawis cursed Islam and
prayed "for the destruction of the Ottoman Empire." General Gouraud received a
telegram in late 1919 from 73 Alawi chiefs representing different tribes, who
asked for "the establishment of an independent Nusayri union under our absolute
protection."
Two years later, the Alawis rebelled against French rule under the leadership of
Salih al-Ali, a revolt that had more to do with the Ismailis siding with France,
than with an anti-Imperialist drive. Initially, the Alawite Territory was an
autonomous territory under French rule, and the French kept the peace until the
1st July, 1922, when it was incorporated into French Syria and the autonomous
state of Latakia was set up. The Alawis gained legal autonomy; a 1922 decision
to end Sunni control of court cases involving Alawis transferred these cases to
Alawi jurists. The Alawi state enjoyed low taxation and a sizeable French
subsidy. Not surprisingly, Alawis accepted all these changes with enthusiasm. As
soon as the French authorities granted autonomy to the Alawis, they won Alawi
support.
On the 29th September, 1923, the Alawaite State was declared with the port city
of Latakia as its capital. After Alawis massacred some Christian nuns on the
27th of April, 1924, the French persecuted the Alawis. On the 1st January, 1925,
the Alawite Territory was formally renamed the Alawite State.
In return, Alawis helped maintain French rule. They turned out in large numbers
when most Syrians boycotted the French-sponsored elections of January 1926. They
provided a disproportionate number of soldiers to the government, forming about
half the eight infantry battalions making up the Troupes Spéciales du Levant,
serving as police, and supplying intelligence. As late as May 1945, the vast
majority of Troupes Spéciales remained loyal to their French commanders. Alawis
broke up Sunni demonstrations, shut down strikes, and quelled rebellions. Alawis
publicly favoured the continuation of French rule, fearing that France's
departure would lead to a reassertion of Sunni control over them.
H. Schoeffler was the French Governor (1925 - 5 December 1936) of the Alawite
Territory during a key epoch of its history.
On the 22nd September, 1930, the Alawaite State was renamed the Sanjak of
Latakia. The population at this time was 278,000. On the 5th December, 1936
(effective on the 28th February, 1937), the Alawite State was fully incorporated
into Syria.
An Alawi note to the French government in July 1936 asked: "Are the French today
ignorant that the Crusades would have succeeded if their fortresses had been in
northeast Syria, in the Land of the Nusayris? ... We are the people most
faithful to France." Even more strongly worded was a petition of September 1936,
signed by 450,000 Alawis, Christians, and Druzes, which read: "The Alawis
believe that they are humans, not beasts ready for slaughter. No power in the
world can force them to accept the yoke of their traditional and hereditary
enemies to be slaves forever ... The Alawis would profoundly regret the loss of
their friendship and loyal attachment to noble France, which has until now been
so loved, admired, and adored by them."
In 1939, a portion of northwest Syria, the Sanjak of Alexandretta / Iskenderun,
now Hatay, that contained a large number of Alawis, was given to Turkey by the
French, greatly angering the Alawite community and Syrians in general. Zaki al-Arsuzi,
the young Alawite leader from Antioch in Iskenderun who led the resistance to
the annexation of his province to the Turks, later became a founder of the
Ba'ath Party along with the Eastern Orthodox Christian schoolteacher Michel
Aflaq.
Sulayman al-Murshid, "the Electric Messiah", was born sometime before 1900 CE.
His name appears to be more correctly written "Salman" not Sulayman. He
proclaimed himself the Messiah, he proclaimed himself divine; many Alawis
followed him. His followers claimed he performed miracles. For example, he would
secretly bury food in a mud wall, and when he hit the wall hard, food would come
out for the villagers to eat. His legs would glow in the dark, because he
painted them with phosphorus. The phosphorus would glow when he would literally
light up, because he had lights connected to a small battery he carried. Alawi
resistance to Sunni rule took a new turn in 1939 with the launching of an armed
rebellion led by Sulayman al-Murshid, who challenged Sunni rule with French
weapons and some 5,000 Alawi followers. After World War II, when the Alawite
provinces were united with Syria, Alawite followers of Sulayman al-Murshid tried
to resist integration and they fought against the Nationalist Syrian troops, who
captured al-Murshid despite his French backing, after he led the second revolt
in his career, in 1946. Syria became independent on the 16th April, 1946.
Right up to independence, Alawi leaders continued to submit petitions to the
French in favour of continued French patronage. For example, a manifesto signed
by twelve leaders in March 1945 called for all Alawi soldiers to remain under
French command and French arbitration of disputes between the Alawi government
and Damascus. Sulayman al-Murshid was hanged by the Syrian government in
Damascus on the 12th December, 1946.
Sunni Dominance, 1946 - 1963
After the execution of Sulayman al-Murshid, many Alawis joined the army and
later the Ba'ath Party. Curiously, even some people who were suing Sulayman, and
did not believe him to be any kind of Messiah, were sad to see him killed
because he promoted the cause of Alawite autonomy.
It was the Sunnis, and especially the urban Sunni elite, who inherited the
government when the French mandate ended in 1946. When they came to power, the
Sunni rulers in Damascus spared no effort to integrate Latakia into Syria (in
part because this region offered the only access to the sea). Overcoming armed
resistance, they abolished the Alawi State, Alawi military units, Alawi seats in
parliament, and courts applying Alawi laws of personal status. Alawis continued
to resist submission to the central government. The followers of al-Murshid
became known as al-Murshidiyya, an Alawite sect founded by al-Murshid's second
son Mujib.
Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Syria endured a succession of military
coups in 1949. Then, in 1952, the Murshidis attempted a third unsuccessful Alawi
uprising, led by Mujib. The failure of these efforts led Alawis to look into the
possibility of attaching Latakia to Lebanon or Transjordan - anything to avoid
absorption into Syria. These acts of resistance further tarnished the Alawis'
already poor reputation among Sunnis. Murshidis were persecuted by the Syrian
authorities until President Hafiz al-Assad came to power in 1970. Since then,
Murshidism was practiced freely like any other religion in Syria.
Alawis became reconciled to Syrian citizenship after the crushing of a Druze
revolt in 1954 and henceforth gave up the dream of a separate state. This change
of outlook, which seemed to be a matter of relatively minor importance at the
time, in fact ushered in a new era of Syrian political life: the political and
military ascent of the Alawis. Once they recognized that their future lay within
Syria, the Alawis began a rapid rise to power. Two key institutions, the armed
forces and the Ba'ath Party, had special importance in their transformation. Out
of the chaos of the past decades, the rebellions and military coups, the Ba'ath
Party rose to prominence (note: the Iraqi Ba'ath Party is not Alawite).
Alawis and the Ba'ath Party
Alawis acquired power through the Ba'ath Party. From its earliest years, the
Ba'ath held special attraction for Syrians of rural and minority backgrounds,
including the Alawis, who joined in disproportionately large numbers (especially
at the Ba'ath Party's Latakia branch ). Rural migrants who went to Damascus for
educational purposes constituted a majority of the membership in the Ba'ath
Party. They tended to be students of lower middle-class origins, the sons of
ex-peasants newly arrived in the towns. In Aleppo, for example, the Ba'ath
claimed as members as many as three-quarters of the high school students in some
schools. One of the founders of the party was an Alawi, Zaki al-Arsuzi, and he
brought along many of his (rural) coreligionists to the Ba'ath.
In particular, two doctrines appealed to the Alawis: socialism and secularism.
Socialism offered economic opportunities to the country's poorest community.
(The Ba'ath's socialism was unclear, however, until the 1960s; only when the
minorities took over did this feature became prominent). Secularism - the
withdrawal of religion from public life - offered the promise of less prejudice
to a despised minority. What could be more attractive to members of a
downtrodden religious community than a combination of these two ideologies?
Indeed, these aspects drew Alawis (and other poor rural minorities) to the
Ba'ath more than its Pan-Arab nationalism.
The only rival to the Ba'ath was the SSNP, which offered roughly the same
attractions. The two competed rather evenly for a decade, until the Ba'ath
eliminated the SSNP through the Maliki affair in 1955. From then on, especially
in Syria, Alawis were associated predominantly with the Ba'ath.
Alawis and the Military
Even though the special circumstances which had brought them into the military
lapsed with the French departure, Alawis and other minorities continued after
independence to be over-represented in the army. Old soldiers remained in
service and new ones kept coming in. Given the Sunni attitude toward Alawis, the
persistence of large numbers of Alawis in the armed forces is surprising. This
anomaly resulted from several factors.
First, the military retained its reputation as a place for the minorities.
Patrick Seale observed that Sunni landed families, "being predominantly of
nationalist sentiment, despised the army as a profession: to join it between the
wars was to serve the French. Homs [Military Academy] to them was a place for
the lazy, the rebellious, the academically backward, or the socially
undistinguished." For the non-Sunnis, however, Homs was a place of opportunity
for the ambitious and talented.
Second, the Sunni rulers virtually ignored the army as a tool of state;
disliking it to influence domestic politics, they begrudged it funds, kept it
small, and rendered military careers unattractive. Third, the dire economic
predicament of the Alawis and other rural peoples meant that they saw military
service as a means to make a decent living.
Accordingly, although the proportion of Alawis entering the Homs Military
Academy declined after 1946, Alawis remained over-represented in the officer
corps. A report from 1949 stated that "persons originating from the minorities"
commanded "all units of any importance" in the Syrian military (this did not
mean just Alawis; for example, the bodyguard of President Husni az-Za'im in 1949
was entirely Circassian).
Sunni leaders apparently believed that reserving the top positions for
themselves would suffice to control the military forces. Accordingly, minorities
filled the lower ranks and for some years found it difficult to rise above the
company level. Ironically, this discrimination actually served them well; as
senior officers engaged in innumerable military coups d'état between 1949 and
1963, each change of government was accompanied by ruinous power struggles among
the Sunnis, leading to resignations and the depletion of Sunni ranks. Standing
apart from these conflicts, the non-Sunnis, and Alawis especially, benefited
from the repeated purges. As Sunni officers eliminated each other, Alawis
inherited their positions. With time, Alawis became increasingly senior; and, as
one Alawi rose through the ranks, he brought his kinsmen along.
Purges and counter-purges during the 1946-63 period bred a deep mistrust between
the officers. Syria was joined with Egypt in the United Arab Republic in 1958.
Never knowing who might be plotting against whom, superior officers frequently
bypassed the normal hierarchy of command in favour of kinship bonds. As fear of
betrayal came to dominate relations between military men, having reliable ethnic
ties gave minority officers great advantage. In circumstances of almost
universal suspicion, those officers within reliable networks could act far more
effectively than those without. Sunnis entered the military as individuals,
while Alawis entered as members of a sect; the latter, therefore, prospered.
Alawi ethnic solidarity offered a far more enduring basis of co-operation than
the shifting alliances formed by Sunni officers. The UAR lasted for three years
and broke apart in 1961, when a group of army officers seized power and declared
Syria independent again.
Ba'ath Time: Alawi Consolidation, 1963 - 1970
A further succession of coups ensued until a secretive military committee, which
included a number of disgruntled Alawite officers, including Hafiz al-Assad and
Salah Jadid, helped the Ba'ath Party take power in 1963. In 1966, Alawite-oriented
military officers successfully rebelled and expelled the old Ba'ath that had
looked to the Christian Michel Aflaq and the Sunni Muslim Salah al-Din al-Bitar
for leadership. They promoted Zaki al-Arsuzi as the "Socrates" of their
reconstituted Ba'ath Party.
To resist President Amin al-Hafiz, a Sunni, and to consolidate their new
position, Alawi leaders flooded the military with cosectarians. In this way,
minority officers came to dominate the Syrian military establishment. When seven
hundred vacancies opened in the army soon after the March 1963 coup, Alawis
filled half the positions. So restricted were Sunnis, some graduating cadets
were denied their commissions to the officer corps. While Alawis, Druze, and
Ismailis held politically sensitive positions in the Damascus region, Sunnis
were sent to regions distant from the capital.
Political events solidified ties between Alawis, reducing the tribal, social,
and sectarian differences that historically had split them. However, Salah Jadid
and Hafiz al-Assad, fought each other for supremacy in Syria through the late
1960s, a rivalry that ended only when Assad prevailed in November, 1970. In
addition to differences in outlook - Jadid was more ideologue and Assad more
pragmatist - they represented diverse Alawi sects. The September 1970 war
between the PLO and the Jordanian government was the decisive event in Assad's
rise to power. Jadid sent Syrian ground forces to help the Palestinians but
Assad refused to send air cover. The defeat of Syrian armour precipitated
Assad's bloodless coup d'état two months later. This, Syria's tenth military
coup d'état in seventeen years, was to be the last for a long time to come. It
also virtually ended intra-Alawi fighting.
The New World, 1970 - Present
Since 1970, following the coup of the Alawi Air Force Colonel, Hafiz ibn Ali ibn
Sulayman al-Assad, the Alawis have been dominant in Syrian political and
military life. Hafiz al-Assad, was born on 6th October, 1930, in Qardaha, a
village not far from the Turkish border and the seat of the Alawi religious
leader. Hafiz was the second of five children (Bayat, Hafiz, Jamil, Rif'at,
Bahija); in addition, his father had an older son by another wife. The family
belongs to the Numaylatiya branch of the Matawira tribe (this means Assad's
ancestors came from Iraq in the 1120s). Assad took power and instigated a "correctionist
movement" in the Ba'ath Party.
In 1971, al-Assad became president of Syria, a function that the Constitution
only allows a Muslim to embrace. Then, in 1974, Imam Musa Sadr, leader of the
Twelver Shi'ah of Lebanon and founder of the Amal Movement, was asked to
proclaim that he accepted the Alawis as real Muslims. Alawis try to follow the
prime example left by Ali. Ali lived out of the public eye. Some other Muslims,
particularly in Syria and Lebanon, accept them as Muslims, but others consider
them heretics. Apparently 50% (or more) of Syrians accept Alawis as Muslims,
which indicates greater acceptance than for the Druze. The reason Alawis give
for their success is that they try harder than the Druze to be like orthodox
Muslims and to assimilate to the textbook version of Islam.
Under the dictatorial but secular Assad regime, religious minorities were
tolerated, political dissent was not. The Ikhwan ul-Muslimin (Muslim
Brotherhood) almost assassinated President Assad on the 26th of June, 1980. The
Ikhwan started an uprising in the town of Hama in 1982. The government sent 500
Syrian troops to punish them. The Ikhwan killed all of them. All the mosques of
Hama blared out that the guerilla war against Assad was over, now was time to
openly support the Ikhwan and drive out the "infidels". The streets of Hama were
too narrow for tanks, so Assad’s brother ordered the artillery flatten the town,
and then sent in troops to kill everyone else. Between 20,000 and 38,000 people
were killed. Many more were killed and arrested throughout Syria and especially
in Damascus and Aleppo.
After the death of Hafiz al-Assad in 2000, his son Bashr al-Assad maintained the
outlines of his father's regime. Although Alawis predominate among the top
military and intelligence offices, the civilian government and national economy
is largely led by Sunnis, who represent about 70% of Syria's population. The
Assad regime is careful to allow all of the religious sects a share of power and
influence in the government, but there is clear Alawite domination of the
highest levels of power. Today Alawis exist as a minority but politically
powerful, religious sect in Syria. Alawis dominate the government, hold key
military positions, enjoy a disproportionate share of the educational resources,
and are becoming wealthy. And so the Alawis have metamorphosed from being the
weakest, poorest, most rural, most despised, and most backward people of Syria,
into the ruling elite of Damascus.
Conclusions on the Alawi-Nama
The Alawi ascent took place over the course of half a century. In 1920 they were
a lowly minority. By 1970, they firmly ruled Syria. This was a stunning
metamorphosis from which many parallels, past and present, may be drawn. We will
leave the exegesis of the book of Time to be written by dedicated students of
politics.
______________________________________
Demographics
The Alawis or Nusayris number approximately 3
million and live primarily in Syria, Turkey and Lebanon. It is estimated that
there about 2.5 million Nusayris in Syria who make up about 12% of the
population of the country. Indeed, the headquarters of the entire sect is in
Damascus, Syria. Approximately 65% of the Latakia populace on the Syrian
Mediterranean is Alawi, constituting approximated 75% of the Syrian Alawi
population.
There are an estimated 100,000 Alawis who live in Lebanon, where the Taif
Agreement of 1989 gave them two reserved seats in the Parliament (Alawis are
recognized as one of the 18 official Lebanese sects). They live mostly in
Tripoli and small villages in Akkar. There are also about 2,000 Alawis living
alongside the Druze in the village of Ghajar, split between Lebanon and the
Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
There are tens of thousands of Alawis who live in the Hatay, Adana, and Mersin
provinces of southern Turkey. The Turkish Alawis live mostly in the region of
Iskandariyya / Iskenderun, a city in the Hatay province. It has been said that
they are called Nusayris in order not to confuse them with Alevis, who are not
Alawis but a Sufic cult in Turkey.
There is a considerable Alawi community in Australia, but the exact number is
unclear.
The Alawis are composed of a number of tribes, some of which were native to
northwest Syria; other tribes emigrated from Iraq in the 12th century CE. In
1516 CE, the Ottoman Emperor Selim I "The Grim" killed over 9,400 mainly Alawite
Shi'ah. He settled many Turks in the Alawite homelands of northeast Syria, but
over time, many of them joined the Alawis also.