Alawites, orAlawis[b] are anArab[17][18] ethnoreligious group[19] who live primarily in theLevant region inWest Asia and followAlawism.[20] A sect of Islam that splintered from earlyShia as aghulat branch during the ninth century,[21][22][23] Alawites venerateAli ibn Abi Talib, the "first Imam" in theTwelver school, as a manifestation of the divine essence.[24][25] It is also the onlyghulāt sect still in existence today.[26] The group was founded byIbn Nusayr during the ninth century,[27] 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 calledNusayris.[28]
Surveys suggest Alawites represent an important portion of theSyrian population and are a significant minority in theHatay Province ofTurkey and northernLebanon. There is also a population living in the village ofGhajar in theGolan Heights, where there had been two other Alawite villages (Ayn Fit andZa'ura) before theSix-Day War.[29] The Alawites form the dominant religious group on the Syrian coast and towns near the coast, which are also inhabited bySunnis,Christians, andIsmailis. They are often confused with theAlevis, a distinct religious group in Turkey that shares some similarities with the Alawites but also has key differences.[30][31]
TheQuran is one of their holy books, but its interpretation differs significantly from Shia Muslim interpretations and aligns with earlyBatiniyya and otherghulat sects. Alawite theology and rituals differ sharply from Shia Islam in several important ways. For instance, various Alawite rituals involve the drinking ofwine and the sect does not prohibitthe consumption of alcohol for its adherents.[32] As a creed that teaches the symbolic/esoteric reading ofQur'anic verses, Alawite theology is based on the belief inreincarnation and views Ali as a divine incarnation of God.[33][34] Moreover, Alawiteclergy and scholarships insist that their religion is also theologically distinct fromShi'ism.[c]
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).[35] However, since the early 2000s,Western scholarship on the Alawite religion has made significant advances.[36] 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 areMana (meaning),Ism (Name) andBab (Door). Alawite beliefs hold that theseemanations underwentre-incarnation cyclically seven times in human form throughout history. According to Alawites, the seventh incarnation of the trinity consists ofAli ibn Abi Talib,Muhammad andSalman al-Farisi.[37][38]
Alawites, considered disbelievers by classical Sunni and Shi'ite theologians, faced periods of subjugation or persecution under various Muslim empires such as the Ottomans, Abbasids, Mamluks, and others. The establishment of theFrench Mandate of Syria in 1920 marked a turning point in Alawite history. Until then, the community had commonly self-identified as "Nusayris", emphasizing their connections toIbn Nusayr. The French administration prescribed the label "Alawite" to categorise the sect alongside Shiism in official documents.[39] TheFrench recruited a large number of minorities into their armed forces and created exclusive areas for minorities, including theAlawite State. The Alawite State was later dismantled, but the Alawites continued to play a significant role in theSyrian military and later in theBa'ath Party. AfterHafez al-Assad's seizure of power during the1970 coup, theBa'athist state enforcedAssadist ideology amongst Alawites to supplant their traditional identity.[40] During theSyrian revolution, communal tensions were further exacerbated as the country destabilized into afull-scale sectarian civil war.[41][42]
In older sources, Alawis are often called "Ansaris". According toSamuel 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".[43][44] Alawites historically self-identified as Nusayrites,[d] after their religious founder Ibn Nusayr al-Numayri.[39] However, the term "Nusayri" had fallen out of currency by the 1920s, as a movement led by intellectuals within the community during the FrenchMandate sought to replace it with the modern term "Alawi".[45] The term "Nusayrites" is now used as a slur.[46]
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.[47] The French also popularised the termAlawite.[22][39] As such, "Nusayri" is now generally regarded as antiquated, and has even come to have insulting and abusive connotations. The term was frequently employed ashate speech by Sunni fundamentalists fighting againstBashar al-Assad's government in theSyrian civil war, who use its emphasis on Ibn Nusayr to insinuate that Alawi beliefs are "man-made" and not divinely inspired.[46]
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:
"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, anOttoman official and writer of the famousTaʾrīkh 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 OrientalistHenri 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)."[48]
The Alawites are distinct from theAlevi religious sect in Turkey, although the terms share a common etymology and pronunciation.[49][50]
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).[51] During the 19th and 20th centuries some Western scholars believed that Alawites were descended from ancientMiddle Eastern peoples such as theArameans,Canaanites,Hittites,[52][53] andMardaites.[54] Many prominent Alawite tribes are also descended from 13th century settlers fromSinjar.[55]
We must now speak of the interior of Syria.Coele Syria has the town ofApamea, divided by the riverMarsyas from the Tetrarchy of theNazerini.[56]
The "Tetrarchy of the Nazerini" refers to the western region, between the Orontes and the sea, which consists of a small mountain range calledAlawi Mountains bordered by a valley running from south-east to north-west known asAl-Ghab Plain; the region was populated by a portion of Syrians, who were called Nazerini.[57] However scholars are reluctant to link Nazerini andNazarenes.[58] Yet the term "Nazerini" can be possibly connected to words which include the Arabictriliteral rootn-ṣ-r such as the subjectnaṣer inEastern Aramaic, which means "keeper of wellness".[59]
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.[60][page needed]
The Alawites were later organised duringHamdanid rule in northern Syria (947–1008) by a follower of Muhammad ibn Nusayr known asal-Khaṣībī, who died inAleppo about 969, after a rivalry with the Ishaqiyya sect, which claimed also to have the doctrine of Ibn Nusayr.[61] The embrace of Alawism by the majority of the population in the Syrian coastal mountains was likely a protracted process occurring over several centuries.[62] Modern research indicates that after its initial establishment in Aleppo, Alawism spread toSarmin,Salamiyah,Homs andHama before becoming concentrated in low-lying villages west of Hama, includingBaarin,Deir Shamil, andDeir Mama, theWadi al-Uyun valley, and in the mountains aroundTartus andSafita.[63]
In 1032, al-Khaṣībī's grandson and pupil, Abu Sa'id Maymun al-Tabarani (d. 1034), moved toLatakia (then controlled by theByzantine 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 historianStefan Winter.[64] Al-Tabarani influenced the Alawite faith through his writings and by converting the rural population of the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range.[61]
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.[65]
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, andBanu Muhriz, three local families who controlled fortresses in the region in the 11th and 12th centuries.[65] From this southern part of the Syrian coastal mountain range, a significant Alawite presence developed in the mountains east of Latakia andJableh during theMamluk period (1260s–1516).[63]
According toBar Hebraeus, many Alawites were killed when theCrusaders initially entered Syria in 1097; however, they tolerated them when they concluded they were not a truly Islamic sect.[66] They even incorporated them within their ranks, along with theMaronites andTurcopoles.[67] Two prominent Alawite leaders in the following centuries, credited with uplifting the group, were Shaykhsal-Makzun (d. 1240) and al-Tubani (d. 1300), both originally fromMount Sinjar in modern Iraq.[66]
In the 14th century, the Alawites were forced by Mamluk SultanBaibars to build mosques in their settlements, to which they responded with token gestures described by the Muslim travellerIbn Battuta.[68][69]
During the reign ofSultan Selim I, of the Ottoman Empire, the Alawites would again experience significant persecution;[70] especially inAleppo when a massacre occurred in theGreat Mosque of Aleppo on 24 April 1517. The massacre was known as the "Massacre of the Telal" (Arabic:مجزرة التلل) in which the corpses of thousands of victims accumulated as atell located west of thecastle.[71][unreliable source] The horrors of the massacre which caused the immigration of the survivors to the coastal region are documented at theNational and University Library inStrasbourg.[citation needed]
TheOttoman Empire took aggressive actions against Alawites,[citation needed] due to their alleged "treacherous activities" as "they had a long history of betraying the Muslim governments due to their mistrust towards Sunnis."[72] The Alawis rose up against the Ottomans on several occasions, and maintained their autonomy in their mountains.
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.[73]
During the 18th century, the Ottomans employed a number of Alawite leaders as tax collectors under theiltizam system. Between 1809 and 1813,Mustafa Agha Barbar, the governor of Tripoli, attacked theKalbiyya Alawites with "marked savagery."[74] Some Alawites supported Ottoman involvement in the Egyptian-Ottoman Wars of1831–1833 and1839–1841,[75] and had careers in the Ottoman army or as Ottoman governors.[76] Moreover, they even initiated theAlawite revolt (1834–35) against the Egyptian rule of the region, which was later suppressed by the Governor of Homs.[citation needed]
By the mid-19th century, the Alawite people, customs and way of life were described bySamuel Lyde, an English missionary among them, as suffering from nothing except a gloomy plight.[77]Early in the 20th century, the mainly-Sunni Ottoman leaders were bankrupt and losing political power; the Alawites were poorpeasants.[78][79]
One form of the flag of the Sanjak of Latakia orAlawite State in northwest Syria under French colonial rule, ca. 1920–1936.
After the end of World War I and the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Syria and Lebanon were placed by theLeague of Nations under theFrench Mandate for Syria and Lebanon. On 15 December 1918, Alawite leaderSaleh al-Ali called for a meeting of Alawite leaders in the town ofAl-Shaykh Badr, urging them to revolt and expel the French from Syria.
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.[80] After this victory, al-Ali began organizing his Alawite rebels into a disciplined force, with its general command and military ranks.
The Al-Shaykh Badr skirmish began theSyrian Revolt of 1919.[80][81] 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.[80] In November, GeneralHenri 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.[80]
Despite these instances of opposition, the Alawites mostly favored French rule and sought its continuation beyond the mandate period.[82]
A map of French Mandate states in 1921–22. The Alawite State is in purple.
When the French began to occupy Syria in 1920,[83] anAlawite State was created in the coastal and mountain country comprising most Alawite villages. The division also intended to protect the Alawite people from more powerful majorities, such as the Sunnis.
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 theDruze the only "warlike races" in the Mandate territories.[85] Between 1926 and 1939, the Alawites and other minority groups provided the majority of the locally recruited component of theArmy of the Levant—the designation given to the French military forces garrisoning Syria and the Lebanon.[86]
The region was home to a mostly-rural, heterogeneous population. The landowning families and 80 percent of the population of the port city ofLatakia 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,[87] 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 wasSulayman Ali al-Assad, father ofHafez al-Assad.[87] However, according to Associate ProfessorStefan Winter, this letter is a forgery.[88] 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.[89]
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.[87] Nevertheless, on 3 December 1936, the Alawite State was re-incorporated into Syria as a concession by the French to theNational Bloc (the party in power in the semi-autonomous Syrian government). The law went into effect in 1937.[90]
In 1939, theSanjak of Alexandretta (nowHatay) contained a large number of Alawites. The Hatayan land was given to Turkey by the French after a League of Nationsplebiscite in the province. This development greatly angered most Syrians; to add to Alawi contempt, in 1938, the Turkish military went intoİskenderun and expelled most of theArab andArmenian population.[91] Before this, the Alawite Arabs and Armenians comprised most of the province's population.[91]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 theBa'ath Party withEastern Orthodox Christian schoolteacherMichel Aflaq and Sunni politicianSalah 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 inDamascus on 12 December 1946, only three days after a political trial.
Syria became independent on 17 April 1946. In 1949, after the1948 Arab–Israeli War, Syria experienced a number of militarycoups and the rise of the Ba'ath Party.
In 1958, Syria and Egypt were united by a political agreement into theUnited Arab Republic. The UAR lasted for three years, breaking apartin 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 officersHafez al-Assad andSalah 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 ofGreek Orthodox ChristianMichel Aflaq and Sunni MuslimSalah ad-Din al-Bitar, callingZaki 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, overthrowingSalah Jadid (another Alawite).[92][93] The coup ended the political instability which had existed since independence.[92] Alawites were among Syria's poorest and most marginalized groups until Hafez al-Assad's seizure of power.[93]Robert D. Kaplan compared his rise to "anuntouchable becomingmaharajah in India or a Jew becomingtsar in Russia—an unprecedented development shocking to the Sunni majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries."[83]
Under Hafez al-Assad and his sonBashar 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 theshabiha (loyalist paramilitaries).[93] The economic and social situation of Alawites improved, but the community remained relatively poor compared to other Syrians, and the Sunni-Alawite divisions persisted.[93]
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.[94] In 1974, to satisfy this constitutional requirement,Musa as-Sadr (a leader of the Twelvers ofLebanon and founder of theAmal Movement, who had unsuccessfully sought to unite Lebanese Alawites and Shiites under the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council)[95] issued afatwa that Alawites were a community of Twelver Shiite Muslims.[96]
The Brotherhood respondedwith increased violence, culminating in an attempt to seize control of the city ofHama in February 1982. The regime deployed between 6,000 and 8,000 troops to surpress the insurgency, and in theHama massacre, up to 25,000 people were killed over 27 days.[93] 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'sDefense Companies were reported to be 90% Alawite, and in other units, up to 70% of officers corps were Alawites.[93] After 1982, Syria remained relatively stable until the outbreak of theSyrian civil war in 2011, but the events in Hama left enduring Sunni-Alawite sectarian resentments.[93]
After theSyrian civil war broke out in 2011, theBa'athist state conscripted able-bodied men, mostly youth, into theregime'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 youngerAlawites were greatly angered by the Assad government, held the government responsible for the crisis, and increasingly called for an end the conflict via reconciliation with theSyrian opposition and preventing their community from being perceived as being associated with the Assad government.[98][99]
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 increasinglysectarian cast.[100][101] In May 2013, pro-oppositionSOHR stated that out of 94,000Syrian regime soldiers killed during the war, at least 41,000 were Alawites.[102] 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.[103][104] In April 2017, a pro-opposition source claimed 150,000 young Alawites had died.[105] Another report estimates that around 100,000 Alawite youths were killed in combat by 2020.[106]
Many Alawites fearedsignificant danger during the Syrian civil war, particularly from Islamic groups who were a partof the opposition, though denied by secular opposition factions.[107] Alawites have also been wary of the increased Iranian influence in Syria sincethe Syrian civil war, viewing it as a threat to their long-term survival due toKhomeinist 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 spreadreligious extremism in Syria.[108]
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.[114] During arapid offense in November and December 2024 byopposition forces fighting the Assad regime, thousands of Alawites fled the city ofHoms ahead ofthe capture of the city; those who left headed to coastalTartus Governorate.[115] Upon thefall of Damascus andcollapse 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.[100]
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.[116] 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.[117][118]
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.[119][120][121][122]
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 ofAl-Khasibi in Aleppo's Maysaloon district following therebel offensive and thefall of the regime ofBashar al-Assad. During the shrine attack at least five people were killed and the shrine was set ablaze.[123] The UK-basedSOHR reported significant demonstrations, including inQardaha, President Assad's hometown.
Thetransitional authorities, appointed byHay'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 aChristmas 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".[124][125]
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.[126][127] Most notably, a massacre of Alawites was reported in the village ofFahil near Homs by HTS-affiliated gunmen. The UK-based formerly pro-opposition monitorSOHR confirmed the deaths of at least 16 people.[128]
On 8 March 2025, the UK-basedSOHR reported that Syrian security forces and pro-government fighters had committed amassacre of more than 740 Alawite civilians duringclashes in western Syria.[129] There were reports that Alawites who had opposed the Assad regime in the past were also murdered insectarian attacks.[130] While some reports claim that Syrian forces are commiting ethnic cleansing.[131] Syrian PresidentAhmed al-Sharaa said that the Alawite sect had made an unforgivable mistake and urged them to lay down their weapons and surrender before it was too late.[132] Later that month, nearly 13,000 Alawites crossed theNahr al-Kabir into Lebanon to escape sectarian cleansing.[133]
Alawites and their beliefs have been described as "secretive".[134][44][135][35] Yaron Friedman, for example, in his scholarly work on the sect, has written that the Alawi religious material quoted in his book came only from "public libraries and printed books" since the "sacred writings" of the Alawi "are kept secret".[e][f]) Some tenets of the faith are kept secret from most Alawi and known only to a select few.[136] They have, therefore, been described as amystical sect.[138]
Alawite doctrines originated from the teachings of Iraqi priestMuhammad ibn Nusayr who claimed prophethood, declared himself as the "Bāb (Door) of theImams", and attributed divinity toHasan al-Askari. Al-Askari denounced Ibn Nusayr, and Islamic authorities expelled his disciples—most of whom emigrated to theSyrian Coastal Mountain Range, wherein they established a distinct community.[139][140] Nusayri theology treatsAli, the cousin of the Prophet Muhammad, as a manifestation of "the supreme eternal God" and consists of variousgnostic beliefs. Alawite doctrine regards the souls of Alawites as re-incarnations of "lights that rebelled against God."[141]
Alawites' beliefs have never been confirmed by their modern religious authorities.[142] As a highly secretive and esoteric sect,[143][144] Nusayri priests tend to conceal their core doctrines, which are introduced only to a chosen minority of the sect's adherents.[145] Alawites have also adopted the practice oftaqiya to avoid victimization.[44][146]
Alawite Trinity envisions God as being composed of three distinct manifestations,Ma'na (meaning),Ism (Name), andBab (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 theIsm, which in turn built theBab. These beliefs are closely tied to the Nusayri doctrine ofre-incarnations of the Trinity.[37][38]
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World classifies Alawites as part of extremist Shia sects referred to as theghulat which are unrelated toSunni Islam;[citation needed] owing to the secretive nature of the Alawite religious system and hierarchy.[149][150] Due to their esoteric doctrines of strict secrecy, conversions into the community were also forbidden.[148]
Alawites do not believe in daily Muslim prayers (salah). The central tenet of the Alawite is their belief ofAli ibn Abi Talib being an incarnation of God.[151] The Alawite testimony of faith is translated as "There is no God but Ali."[152]
Alawites hold that they were originally stars or divine lights that were cast out of heaven through disobedience and must undergo repeatedreincarnation (ormetempsychosis[153]) before returning to heaven.[154] According to Alawite beliefs, females are excluded from re-incarnation.[155]
Alawite theologians divided history into seven eras, associating each era with one of the seven re-incarnations of the Alawite Trinity (Ma'na,Ism,Bab). The seven re-incarnations of the Trinity in the Alawite faith can be summarized in the following table.[156]
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 him with divine superiority and believing that Ali created Muhammad, bestowing upon him the mission to spread Qur'anic teachings on earth.[156][157][37][158]
The Israeli institution ofBegin–Sadat Center for Strategic Studies describes the Alawite faith asJudeophilic and "anti-Sunni" since they believe that God's incarnations consist ofIsraelite ProphetJoshua who conqueredCanaan, 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[23] and assert that Alawites claim to be Arabs because of "political expediency."[159]
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 toChristianity 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 theQuran 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 sameBatin core.[171]
JournalistRobert F. Worth argues that the idea that the Alawi religion as a branch of Islam is a rewriting of history made necessary by the French colonialists' abandonment of the Alawi and departure fromSyria. 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, deifiedAli, veneratedChrist,Muhammad,Plato,Socrates, andAristotle, and held themselves apart fromMuslims andChristians, whom they consideredheretics.[172] According to Tom Heneghan:
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.[173]
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."[174] However, according to associate professor Stefan Winter, this letter is a forgery.[88] According to Worth, laterfatwas declaring Alawi to be part of the Shia community were by Shia clerics "eager for Syrian patronage" from Syria's Alawi presidentHafez al-Assad, who was eager for Islamic legitimacy in the face of the hostility of Syria's Muslim majority.[174]
Yaron Friedman does not suggest that Alawi did not consider themselves Muslims but does state that:
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.[175]
According toPeter 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 performHajj.[176] It's also worth noting that the grand mosque inQardaha, the hometown of the Assad family, being dedicated toAbu Bakr Al-Siddiq who is venerated by Sunnis but not Shi'ites.
Through many of hisfatawa, Ibn Taymiyya described Alawites as "the worst enemies of the Muslims" who were far more dangerous than Crusaders and Mongols.[182] Ibn Taymiyya also accused Alawites of aiding theCrusades andMongol invasions against theMuslim World.[183] Other Sunni scholars, such asAl-Ghazali, likewise considered them as non-Muslims.[184]Benjamin Disraeli, in his novelTancred, also expressed the view that Alawites are not Shia Muslims.[185]
Historically, Twelver Shia scholars (such asShaykh Tusi) did not consider Alawites as Shia Muslims while condemning their heretical beliefs.[186]
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.[187][188][189] 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.[190]
According to Matti Moosa,
The Christian elements in the Nusayri religion are unmistakable. They include the concept of trinity; the celebration of Christmas, the consecration of theQurbana, that is, thesacrament of theflesh 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 fromAdam toSimon Peter, founder of the Church, who is seen, paradoxically, as the embodiment of true Islam).[191]
Barry Rubin has suggested that Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad and his son and successorBashar al-Assad pressed their fellow Alawites "to behave like 'regular Muslims', shedding (or at least concealing) their distinctive aspects".[192] 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 theImami Shia as Alawite.[193]
Some sources have discussed the "Sunnification" of Alawites under the al-Assad regime.[195]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".[195] 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.[196]
Ali Sulayman al-Ahmad, chief judge of the Baathist Syrian state, has said:
Alawites have traditionally lived in theCoastal Mountain Range, along the Mediterranean coast of western Syria.Latakia andTartus are the region's principal cities. They are also concentrated in the plains aroundHama andHoms. Alawites also live in Syria's major cities. They make up about 11% of the country's population.[135][197][198][199]
There are four Alawite confederations—Kalbiyya, Khaiyatin, Haddadin, and Matawirah—each divided into tribes based on their geographical origins or their main religious leader,[200] such as Ḥaidarīya of Alī Ḥaidar, and Kalāziyya of Sheikh Muḥammad ibn Yūnus from the village Kalāzū nearAntakya.[201] Those Alawites are concentrated in the Latakia region of Syria, extending north toAntioch (Antakya), Turkey, and in and around Homs and Hama.[202]
Before 1953, Alawites held specifically reserved seats in theSyrian 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 reducesectarianism (taifiyya).
Before the 1967 war, Alawites in the Golan Heights lived mainly in three northern villages,'Ayn Fit,Za'ura and Ghajar.[203] There are about 3,900 Alawites living in the village ofGhajar, which is located on the border between Lebanon and the Israeli-occupiedGolan 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.[204] Before the1967 Arab-Israeli War, the residents of Ghajar were counted in the 1960 Syrian census.[205] According toJoshua Project, after Israel captured theGolan Heights from Syria, and after implementing Israeli civil law in 1981, the Alawite community chose to become Israeli citizens.[206] However, according toAl-Marsad, Alawites were forced to undergo a process of naturalisation.[207]
To avoid confusion with the ethnic Turkish and KurdishAlevis, the Alawites call themselvesArap Alevileri ("Arab Alevis") inTurkish. The termNusayrī, previously used in theological texts, has been revived in recent studies. A quasi-official name used during the 1930s by Turkish authorities wasEti Türkleri ("Hittite Turks"), to conceal theirArabic origins. Although this term is obsolete, it is still used by some older people as aeuphemism.
In 1939, the Alawites accounted for some 40 percent of the population of the province ofIskenderun. According to French geographerFabrice Balanche, relations between the Alawites of Turkey and the Alawites of Syria are limited. Community ties were broken by theTurkification policy and the decades-long closure of theSyria-Turkey border.[208]
The exact number of Alawites in Turkey is unknown; there were 185,000 in 1970.[209] AsMuslims, they are not recorded separately from Sunnis. In the1965 census (the last Turkish census where informants were asked about theirmother tongue), 185,000 people in the three provinces declared their mother tongue asArabic; however, Arabic-speaking Sunnis andChristians were also included in this figure. Turkish Alawites traditionally speak the same dialect ofLevantine Arabic as Syrian Alawites. Arabic is preserved in rural communities and inSamandağ. Younger people in the cities of Çukurova andİskenderun tend to speak Turkish. The Turkish spoken by Alawites is distinguished by itsaccents andvocabulary. Knowledge of theArabic alphabet is confined to religious leaders and men who have worked or studied inArab countries.
Alawites demonstrate considerablesocial mobility. Until the 1960s, they were bound to Sunniaghas (landholders) around Antakya and were poor. Alawites are prominent in the sectors of transportation and commerce and a large, professional middle class has emerged. Maleexogamy has increased, particularly among those who attend universities or live in other parts of Turkey. These marriages are tolerated; however, female exogamy (as in otherpatrilineal groups) is discouraged.[citation needed]
Alawites, like Alevis, have strongleftist political beliefs. However, some people in rural areas (usually members of notable Alawite families) may support secular, conservative parties such as theDemocrat Party. Most Alawites feel oppressed by the policies of thePresidency of Religious Affairs in Turkey (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı).[210][211]
There are religious festivals celebrated by Alawites in Turkey that have origins in the pre-Islamic periods, such as theEvvel Temmuz Festival.[212]
The Alawite Imam Ali Mosque in Jabal Mohsen, Tripoli, Lebanon
In 2011, there were an estimated 150,000[10][213] Alawites in Lebanon, where they have lived since at least the 16th century.[214] They are one of the 18 official Lebanese sects; due to the efforts of their leader,Ali Eid, theTaif Agreement of 1989 gave them two reserved seats in Parliament. Lebanese Alawites live primarily in the Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood ofTripoli and in 10 villages in theAkkar District, and are represented by theArab Democratic Party.[215][216][217] Their Mufti is Sheikh Assad Assi.[218] TheBab al-Tabbaneh–Jabal Mohsen conflict between pro-Syrian Alawites and anti-Syrian Sunnis has affected Tripoli for decades.[219]
Alawites in Syria speak a special dialect (part ofLevantine Arabic) famous for the usage of letter (qāf),[220] but this feature is also shared with neighboring non-Alawite villages, such asIdlib. 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.
van Dam, Nikolaos (2017). "Introduction: Greater Syria or Bilad al-Sham".Destroying a Nation: The Civil War in Syria. New York, USA: I. B. Tauris.ISBN978-1-78453-797-5.
^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.[136]
^According to Alawite beliefs, women are not permitted to engage in religious studies.[137]
^The Old New Year is celebrated on 13 January, and named asGawzela Day (يوم القوزلة),[167] as it means "Igniting the Fire" inSyriac language.[168]
^"Mitgliederzahlen: Islam", in:Religionswissenschaftlicher Medien- und Informationsdienst|Religionswissenschaftliche Medien- und Informationsdienst e. V. (Abbreviation: REMID), Retrieved 13 February 2017
^Madeleine Pelner Cosman; Linda Gale Jones (2009)."The Nusayriyya Alawis".Handbook to Life in the Medieval World, 3-Volume Set. Infobase Publishing. pp. 406, 407.ISBN978-1-4381-0907-7.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.
^abAyse Baltacioglu-Brammer (November 2013)."Alawites and the Fate of Syria".Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective. The Ohio State University. Retrieved4 May 2023.
^Nisan, Mordechai (2002). "6: Alawites: To Power and the Unknown".Minorities in the Middle East (2nd ed.). McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 116.ISBN978-0-7864-1375-1.'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.
Madeleine Pelner Cosman; Linda Gale Jones (2009)."The Nusayriyya Alawis".Handbook to Life in the Medieval World, 3-Volume Set. Infobase Publishing. p. 407.ISBN978-1-4381-0907-7.Alawi doctrine is secret, esoteric, and Gnostic in nature. They believe that Ali ibn Abi Talib is the supreme eternal God...
Prager, Laila; Prager, Michael; Spenger, Guido, eds. (2016).Parts and Wholes. LIT Verlag. p. 146.ISBN978-3-643-90789-9.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.
^Madeleine Pelner Cosman; Linda Gale Jones (2009)."The Nusayriyya Alawis".Handbook to Life in the Medieval World, 3-Volume Set. Infobase Publishing. pp. 406, 407.ISBN978-1-4381-0907-7.
^abZhigulskaya, Darya. "Alevis vs. Alawites in Turkey: From the General to the Specific".International Journal of Humanities and Education.5 (10):195–206.
^Rosen, Nir (10 October 2011)."Assad's Alawites: The guardians of the throne".Al Jazeera. Archived fromthe original on 22 June 2023.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.
^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.
^Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (London, 1911), p.241.
^Mordechai Nisan (1 January 2002).Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression, 2d ed. McFarland. pp. 114–15.ISBN978-0-7864-5133-3.
^Matti Moosa (1987).Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects. Syracuse University Press. pp. 256, 270.ISBN978-0-8156-2411-0.
^Pipes, Daniel (1992).Greater Syria.Oxford University Press. p. 161.ISBN978-0-19-536304-3."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]
^Matti Moosa (1987).Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects. Syracuse University Press. pp. 270–1.ISBN978-0-8156-2411-0.
^Matti Moosa (1987).Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects. Syracuse University Press. p. 275.ISBN978-0-8156-2411-0.
^Seale, Patrick.Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East. With the assistance of Maureen McConville. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989, c1988.
^Moosa, Matti (1987).Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects. Syracuse University Press. p. 276.ISBN978-0-8156-2411-0.
^Winter, Stefan (1999). "La révolte alaouite de 1834 contre l'occupation égyptienne: perceptions alaouites et lecture ottomane".Oriente Moderno (in French).79 (3):60–71.doi:10.1163/22138617-07903006.
^Winter, Stefan (2004). "The Nusayris before the Tanzimat in the Eyes of Ottoman Provincial Administrators, 1804–1834". In Philipp, Thomas; Schumann, Christoph (eds.).From the Syrian Land to the States of Syria and Lebanon. Würzburg: Ergon. pp. 97–112.ISBN3-89913-353-6.
^Moosa, Matti (1987).Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects. Syracuse University Press. p. 277.ISBN978-0-8156-2411-0.
^Nisan, Mordechai (2002). "6: Alawites: To Power and the Unknown".Minorities in the Middle East (2nd ed.). McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 115.ISBN978-0-7864-1375-1.
^L. Esposito, John; Moosa, Matti (1995). "Alawiyyah".The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World vol. 1. New York, USA: Oxford University Press. pp. 63, 64.ISBN0-19-509612-6.
^Prochazka-Eisl, Gisela; Prochazka, Stephan (2010).The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-Alawi Community of Cilicia. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 81.ISBN978-3-447-06178-0.
^abNisan, Mordechai (2002). "6: Alawites: To Power and the Unknown".Minorities in the Middle East (2nd ed.). McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 115, 116.ISBN978-0-7864-1375-1.
^L. Esposito, John; Moosa, Matti (1995). "Alawiyyah".The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World vol. 1. New York, USA: Oxford University Press. pp. 63–65.ISBN0-19-509612-6.
^Prochazka-Eisl, Gisela; Prochazka, Stephan (2010).The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-Alawi Community of Cilicia. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. p. 82.ISBN978-3447061780.
^Peters, F.E. (2009).The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition, Volume II. Princeton University Press. p. 321.ISBN978-1400825714.
^Abdel Bari Atwan (2015).Islamic State: The Digital Caliphate. Oakland, California, USA: University of California. p. 58.ISBN978-0-520-28928-4.The Alawites celebrate the Christian festivals of Christmas, Easter, and Epiphany and believe in reincarnation (though not for women).
^abMoosa, Matti (1987).Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects (1st ed.). Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. p. 312.ISBN0-8156-2411-5.
^L. Esposito, John; Moosa, Matti (1995). "Alawiyyah".The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World vol. 1. New York, USA: Oxford University Press. p. 64.ISBN0-19-509612-6.
^Nisan, Mordechai (2002). "6: Alawites: To Power and the Unknown".Minorities in the Middle East (2nd ed.). McFarland & Company, Inc. pp. 115, 117.ISBN978-0-7864-1375-1.
^Sorenson, David S. (3 December 2013).An Introduction to the Modern Middle East: History, Religion, Political Economy, Politics.Westview Press. p. 64.ISBN978-0-8133-4922-0.
^Betts, Robert Brenton (31 July 2013).The Sunni-Shi'a Divide: Islam's Internal Divisions and Their Global Consequences (illustrated ed.). Potomac Books, Inc. p. 29.ISBN978-1-61234-522-2.
^Nisan, Mordechai (1 January 2002).Minorities in the Middle East: A History of Struggle and Self-Expression (2nd ed.). McFarland. p. 116.ISBN978-0-7864-5133-3.
^Herbermann, Charles George (2005).Encyclopaedia of sects & religious doctrines. Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). Cosmo Publications. pp. 15–16.ISBN9788177559286.
^Strathcarron, Ian (2012).Innocence and War: Mark Twain's Holy Land Revisited (illustrated, reprint ed.). Courier Corporation. p. 78.ISBN978-0-486-49040-3.
^"هل تعرف ما هو عيد القوزلة؟" [Do you know what is the feast of Quzal?].golantimes.com (in Arabic). 14 January 2020.
^ياسين عبد الرحيم (2012)."موسوعة العامية السورية" [Syrian colloquial encyclopedia](PDF) (in Arabic). Damascus: Syrian General Organization of Books. p. 1884. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 31 March 2022. Retrieved18 February 2020.
^Abd-Allah, Umar F.,Islamic Struggle in Syria, Berkeley : Mizan Press, c1983, pp. 43–48
^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, theTurks, 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."
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