Alawi

The Alawite Alawite or ( Arabic : alawy, , also called noseris or Nusayris (Nusayr, , are a branch of Shiism. It should not be confused with the Alawite dynasty that reigns in Morocco since the ^seventeenth century.

Summary 1 Distribution of the Alawite community 2 Origins and History 3 Weight of the Alawite Syria 4 Alawite Doctrine 5 Notes and references 6 See also 6.1 Bibliography 6.2 External Links

Distribution of the Alawite community

In the early twenty-first ^century, they form about 10% of the population of Syria , an Alawite community and exists in Lebanon and Turkey , especially near the Syrian border (in the old Sanjak Alexandretta ). The Syrian head of state, Bashar al-Assad is Alawite.

The Alevis in Turkey are often considered close Nusayris.

Origins and History

The founder of nosirisme is Muhammad Ibn al-Nusayr Namir al-`Abdi , who died in 884. In 859 , when the caliphate collapses and Shiite propaganda is at its peak, the latter declared himself the Bab ("emanation, manifestation") of the tenth Imam , Ali al-Hadi al-Naqi. He considered an incarnation of the Holy Spirit, and saw himself as a prophet. According to tradition, the eleventh Imam al-Hasan al-'Askar (d. 874 ) gives him a new revelation, which is the core of the Alawite doctrine. The oldest sources called the sect of al-Namriyya after nisba Ibn Nousayr, then the ^eleventh century al-Nouayriyya needed.

^In the tenth century, the doctrine is transferred in Syria 's north, in Aleppo. Surur b. al-Qasim al-Tabarani, the community leader nosayri, leaving the city in 1032 because of the incessant wars and goes in the city Byzantine Laodicean ( Latakia ). He is the true founder of nosayris Syrian. The local dynasty of Tanh seems to take its doctrine, al-Tabarani also converts the peasants may still pagans of the mountains (or Jabal Jabal Arabic by region) of the hinterland. His works comprise the largest of the written tradition. He died in Latakia in 1034-1035. His tomb is venerated in the al-Sa'rn, near the port.

In the early ^twelfth century, the western region is submitted by the Crusaders. However, the Christian penetration is low, and little is said in Latin sources of "nossorites. From 1132-1133, the Ismaili Nizari take several strongholds in the southern Jebel. Conflicts with many already are Alawite. Two "councils" held at the ANA, the medium Euphrates , and in 1291 in Safita in order to find a balance with the Ismailis are failures.

In 1188 , Saladin took Djebli , Latakia and Sahyoun , Jebel passes a sultanate Ayyubid. At the end of the Ayyubid , about 1220, Bedouins from the Jebel Sinjar are apparently called by the Alawite against the Ismailis, and invade the Jebel. From them descended four major tribes Alawi, who are Hadddiyya (Haddadin) Matawa (Mataouiras) Mahliba (Mehelbs) Darwisa (Darouissas) Numayltiyya (Nmeilatis) and Bani Ali (Beni Ali).

When Sultan Baybars took the castles of southern Jebel, it tries to convert to Sunni and Alawite, prohibiting initiation and ordering the construction of mosques. The uprising following these steps is suppressed, and the sultan Qala'un reinforces this policy.

But the sect has survived and continues, and the pressure falls under the Ottomans. The nosayris, driven by poverty but more free to move, gather in gangs who loot and ransom in the region. The settling of accounts are common with the Ismailis. The most serious took place in 1808 , when the Emir of Masyaf is assassinated by two Alawite.

In 1854 , the Turkish government wants to control the Jebel and appoint a local leader, the al-Jabal musir Isma'il Beg, governor of the district Safita. Dreykiche installed, it puts an end to the incessant struggles of rival families and different subjects. In exchange for a fixed tribute paid to the government, it leaves him all power over the country. But in 1858 , it is too powerful and dismissed by Tahir Pasha. On several occasions, and especially in 1870 and 1877 , the Ottoman troops ravaging the country, break the resistance of the tribes and erect mosques, which are empty.

Weight of the Alawite Syria

After the First World War , the French , who receive the mandate on Syria , creating an Alawite Territory.

Distrustful of Arab nationalism and Sunni, they encourage during the wars between particularism Alawite who wants to make them a separate people, having nothing to do with Arabs and whose history dates back to Phoenicians.

Doctrine Alawite

The Alawite profess a Trinitarian doctrine:

1. Ma'n the (divine)
2. the Ism ("Name, Word, the prophetic voice that reveals the hidden Ma'n)
3. The Bab (which plays the role of initiator to religious mysteries).

The last two are the hypostasis of the first.

For Alawi, Ali is the incarnation of God. It is eternal in His divine nature and manifested itself as Imam of the time.

They profess a belief in the passage of the Holy Spirit in the succession of imams and are contradictory: they reject Shariah and the obligations of worship of Islam (pilgrimage). Their own holy book (the Kitab al-madjm ') added to the Koran.

Cosmogony Alawite is dialectical: the beginning of time, the souls of believers are lights around God and praise him, then revolted by doubting his divinity. They are then precipitated on land where they are trapped in material bodies sentenced to metempsychosis. But they have a chance to redeem himself: indeed, God appears in their history to compel them to obedience. Every theophany, He is the essence (ma'na) and is accompanied by two subordinate hypostases: name (ism) or veil (hijab) and gate (bab).

The ma'na was Abel , Seth, Joseph , Joshua , Peter , and Ali , then all until the eleventh imams al-Hasan al-'Askar. The hijab, which veils the true nature of God and doing His will was Adam , Noah , Jacob , Moses , Solomon , Jesus , Muhammad , and each is accompanied by a bab, which reveals the true nature of God, intermediate between hidden divinity insiders and believers. The trinity is central but one that Ali for ma'na, Muhammad and Salman for hijab to bab al-Faris.

The eleven Imams are the incarnations of the following ma'na their hujub are the caliphs, and Abwab reveal their divine nature. Thus, Muhammad Ibn Nusayr Is the bab of the last Imam. Whoever recognizes the ma'na is saved, freed from the cycle, his soul becomes a star, and returns through the seven heavens to Gaya, the ultimate goal, that is to say, contemplation (mu'yana) of the divine light. But reincarnation may be a punishment. For the soul who has transgressed the commandments of Ali must be reincarnated until its purification from a Jew , a Sunni or Christian , or even worse, an animal.

The Alawite religion is based on the hidden meaning (batin), ignoring the mass of the faithful the deep meaning of the divine message, only the initiated. It is therefore difficult to be certain about the Alawite beliefs. Apparently, besides being in history, we find the Trinity in the main stars. Here, the interpretations differ. According to Ren Dussaud are four different views, which are all sects: Haidar, who identify Mohammed Salman in the sun and moon, Chamali, which identify Ali in heaven, for it remains that the sun represents Muhammad the Ghaib, who think the hypostasis, having arisen, are now invisible in the atmosphere, and Kalaz, who have retained vestiges of the ancient lunar cults. In contrast, the English anthropologist Sir Edward Evan Evans-Pritchard is like the father in 1915 Henry Lammens, Chamali disappear, together with Haidar.

The Alawite males are circumcised, and their initiation is about 15 years. Two spiritual fathers are designated for the young man, then instructs a sheikh ^References