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[[Image:F-assad.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Assad family]]]]
[[Image:F-assad.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Assad family]]]]
In 1970, then an [[Syrian Air Force|Air Force]] General, [[Hafez al-Assad]], an Alawite, took power and instigated a [[The Corrective Revolution|"Correctionist Movement"]] in the Ba'ath Party. The coup of 1970 ended the political instability having lasted since the arrival of independence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan|title=Syria: Identity Crisis |last=Kaplan|first=Robert|date=1993-02|work=The Atlantic|quote=But the coup of 1970, which brought an Alawi air force officer, Hafez al-Assad, to power, was what finally ended the instability that had reigned in Syria since the advent of independence.}}</ref> [[Robert D. Kaplan]] has compared Hafez al-Assad's coming to power to "an [[Dalit|untouchable]] becoming [[maharajah]] in India or a Jew becoming [[tsar]] in Russia—an unprecedented development shocking to the Sunni majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries."<ref name="Kaplan"/> In 1971, al-Assad declared himself president of Syria, a position the constitution at the time allowed only for Sunni Muslims to hold. In 1973, a new constitution was adopted that omitted the old requirement that the religion of the state be Islam and replaced it with the statement that the religion of the republic's president is Islam. Protests erupted when this was known.<ref>Seale, Patrick. ''Asad, the Struggle for the Middle East. University of California Press, 1989, p.173.</ref> In 1974, in order to satisfy this constitutional requirement, [[Moussa Sader|Musa Sadr]], a leader of the [[Twelvers]] of [[Lebanon]] and founder of the [[Amal Movement]] who had earlier sought to unite Lebanese Alawis and Shias under the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council without success,<ref name="mideastmonitor.org">Riad Yazbeck. "[http://www.mideastmonitor.org/issues/0808/0808_2.htm#_ftn1 Return of the Pink Panthers?]" ''Mideast Monitor''. Vol. 3, No. 2, August 2008.</ref> issued a [[fatwa]] stating that Alawis were a community of Twelver Shia Muslims.<ref name="KaplanSadr">{{cite web |url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan |title=Syria: Identity Crisis |last=Kaplan |first=Robert |date=1993-02 |work=The Atlantic |quote=Today, those Muslims called Alawīs are brothers of those Shi'ites called Mutawallis by the malicious.}}</ref><ref name="Glasse">''The New Encyclopedia of Islam'' by Cyril Glasse, Altamira, 2001, p.36–7</ref> Under the authoritarian but [[secularism|secular]] Assad government, religious minorities were tolerated more than before, but political dissidents were not.
In 1970, then an [[Syrian Air Force|Air Force]] General, [[Hafez al-Assad]], an Alawite, took power and instigated a [[The Corrective Revolution|"Correctionist Movement"]] in the Ba'ath Party. The coup of 1970 ended the political instability having lasted since the arrival of independence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan|title=Syria: Identity Crisis |last=Kaplan|first=Robert|date=1993-02|work=The Atlantic|quote=But the coup of 1970, which brought an Alawi air force officer, Hafez al-Assad, to power, was what finally ended the instability that had reigned in Syria since the advent of independence.}}</ref> [[Robert D. Kaplan]] has compared Hafez al-Assad's coming to power to "an [[Dalit|untouchable]] becoming [[maharajah]] in India or a Jew becoming [[tsar]] in Russia—an unprecedented development shocking to the Sunni majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries."<ref name="Kaplan"/> In 1971, al-Assad declared himself president of Syria, a position the constitution at the time allowed only for Sunni Muslims to hold. In 1973, a new constitution was adopted that omitted the old requirement that the religion of the state be Islam and replaced it with the statement that the religion of the republic's president is Islam. Protests erupted when this was known.<ref>Seale, Patrick. ''Asad, the Struggle for the Middle East. University of California Press, 1989, p.173.</ref> In 1974, in order to satisfy this constitutional requirement, [[Moussa Sader|Musa Sadr]], a leader of the [[Twelvers]] of [[Lebanon]] and founder of the [[Amal Movement]] who had earlier sought to unite Lebanese Alawis and Shias under the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council without success,<ref name="mideastmonitor.org">Riad Yazbeck. "[http://www.mideastmonitor.org/issues/0808/0808_2.htm#_ftn1 Return of the Pink Panthers?]" ''Mideast Monitor''. Vol. 3, No. 2, August 2008.</ref> issued a [[fatwa]] stating that Alawis were a community of Twelver Shia Muslims.<ref name="KaplanSadr">{{cite web |url=http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199302/kaplan |title=Syria: Identity Crisis |last=Kaplan |first=Robert |date=1993-02 |work=The Atlantic |quote=Today, those Muslims called Alawīs are brothers of those Shi'ites called Mutawallis by the malicious.}}</ref><ref name="Glasse">''The New Encyclopedia of Islam'' by Cyril Glasse, Altamira, 2001, p.36–7</ref> Under the authoritarian but [[secularism|secular]] Assad government, religious minorities were tolerated more than before, but political dissidents were not.

After the death of Hafez al-Assad in 2000, his son [[Bashar al-Assad]] maintained the outlines of his father's governance.{{citation needed|date=June 2009}} In 2012, the Alawis comprised the overwhelming majority of the top military and intelligence offices. Government employees from lower bureaucratic ranks are largely from the popular majority of the Sunni Muslim faith, who represent about 74% of Syria's population. The Alawis are currently the politically most powerful religious affiliation in Syria and the only one in direct governmental control.


==Beliefs==
==Beliefs==

Revision as of 21:07, 3 November 2012

This article is about the minority religious group in Syria. For other uses, see Alawites (disambiguation).
Alawis
علوية
An Alawi falconer in Baniyas, Syria, during World War II. Photographed by Frank Hurley
Total population
3 million[1]
Founder
Ibn Nuṣayr
Regions with significant populations
 Syria2.6 million[2]
 TurkeyAbout 700,000-750,000[3]
 LebanonAn estimated 100,000-120,000[4][5][6]
Lebanon/Golan Heights2,100 live in Ghajar
 AustraliaAlawites comprise 2% of Lebanese born people in Australia[7]
Religions
Shia Islam
Scriptures
Qur'an, Nahj al-Balagha, Kitab al Majmu[8]
Languages
Arabic, Turkish

The Alawis, also known as Alawites, Nusayris and Ansaris (‘Alawīyyah (Template:Lang-ar), Nuṣayrī (Template:Lang-ar), and al-Anṣāriyyah) are a prominent mystical[9] religious group centred in Syria who follow a branch of the Twelver school of Shia Islam.[10][11][12]

Etymology

Zulfiqar, a stylized representation of the sword of Ali, is an important symbol for Alawis

The Alawis take their name from Ali ibn Abi Talib, cousin and son-in-law of Muḥammad,[13] who was considered the first Shi'a Imam and the fourth and last "Rightly Guided Caliph" of Sunni Islam.

Until fairly recently, Alawis were referred to as "Nusairis", after Abu Shu'ayb Muhammad ibn Nusayr (d. ca 270 h, 863 CE) who is reported to have attended the circles of the last three Imams of the prophet Muhammad's line. This name is considered derogatory, and they refer to themselves as Alawis.[page needed][14] They have allegedly "generally preferred" to be called Alawis, because of the association of the name with Ali ibn Abi Talib, rather than commemorating Abu Shu'ayb Muhammad Ibn Nusayr. In September 1920 French occupational forces instituted the policy of referring to them by the term "Alawi".

In older sources they are often referred to as Ansaris, as this is how they referred to themselves, according to the Reverend Samuel Lyde, who lived among Alawis in the mid-19th century. Other sources state that "Ansari", as referring to Alawites, is simply a Western mis-transliteration of "Nosairi".[page needed][15][16]

Alawis are distinct from the Alevi religious sect in Turkey, although the terms share similar etymologies.[17][18]

History

Origins

The origin of the Alawis is disputed. The Alawis themselves trace their origins to the followers of the eleventh Imām, Hassan al-'Askarī (d. 873), and his pupil ibn Nuṣayr (d. 868).[19] The sect seems to have been organised by a follower of Muḥammad ibn Nuṣayr known as al-Khasibi, who died in Aleppo about 969. In 1032 Al-Khaṣībī's grandson and pupil al-Tabarani moved to Latakia, which was then controlled by the Byzantine Empire. Al-Tabarani became the perfector of the Alawi faith through his numerous writings. He and his pupils converted the rural population of the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range and the plain of Cilicia to the Alawi faith.[20] Around the turn of the last century, some Western scholars believed Alawites to be descended from ancient Middle Eastern peoples such as Canaanites and Hittites.[page needed][21][22]

Under the Ottoman Empire

Under the Ottoman Empire they were often ill treated,[23] and they resisted an attempt to convert them to Sunni Islam.[24] The Alawites were traditionally good fighters, and revolted against the Ottomans on several occasions, and maintained virtual autonomy in their mountains.[25] In his book Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T. E. Lawrence wrote:

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.[26]

On the other hand, throughout the 18th century a number of Alawi notables were engaged as local Ottoman tax farmers (multazim). In the 19th century some Alawis also supported the Ottomans against the Egyptian occupation (1831–1840),[27] while individual Alawis made careers in the Ottoman army or as Ottoman governors.[28] In the early part of the 20th century, the mainly Sunni notables sat on the wealth and dominated politics, while Alawites lived as poor peasants.[29][30] Alawites were not allowed to testify in court until after World War I.[31]

French Mandate period

Saleh al-Ali, leader of the 1919 Alawite Revolt against French rule

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Syria and Lebanon came under a French mandate. On December 15, 1918, prominent Alawi leader Saleh al-Ali called for a meeting of Alawi notables in the town of Sheikh Badr, and urged them to revolt and expel the French from Syria. When the French authorities heard of the meeting, they sent a force in order to arrest Saleh al-Ali. Al-Ali and his men ambushed them, and the French forces were defeated and suffered more than 35 casualties.[32] After the initial victory, al-Ali started to organize his Alawi rebels into a disciplined force, with its own general command and military ranks, which resulted in the Syrian Revolt of 1919.[32][33]

In 1919, Al-Ali retaliated to French attacks against rebel positions by attacking and occupying al-Qadmus from which the French conducted their military operations against him.[32] In November, General Henri Gouraud mounted a full-fledged campaign against Saleh al-Ali's forces in the An-Nusayriyah Mountains. They entered al-Ali's village of Ash-Shaykh Badr and arrested many Alawi notables. Al-Ali fled to the north, but a large French force overran his positions and al-Ali went underground.[32]

Alawite State

File:Mandate of Syria.png
Map showing the states of the French Mandate from 1921–22 (Alawite State in green)

When the French finally occupied Syria in 1920, they recognized the term "Alawi", gave autonomy to them and other minority groups, and accepted them into their colonial troops.[34] On 2 September 1920 an Alawite State was created in the coastal and mountain country comprising Alawi villages; the French justified this separation with the "backwardness" of the mountain-dwelling people, religiously distinct from the surrounding Sunni population. It was a division meant to protect the Alawi people from more powerful majorities.[35] Under the mandate, many Alawi chieftains supported the notion of a separate Alawi nation and tried to convert their autonomy into independence. The French considered the Alawites, along with the Druze, as the only "warlike races" in the mandate territories, as excellent soldiers, and the communities from where they could recruit their best troops.[36]

Flag of Alawite State (1920-1936)

The region was both coastal and mountainous, and home to a mostly rural, highly heterogeneous population. During the French Mandate period, society was divided by religion and geography: the landowning families of the port city of Latakia, and 80% of the population of the city, were Sunni Muslim. However, more than 90% of the population of the province was rural, 62% being Alawite peasantry.[37] In May 1930, the Alawite State was renamed "the Government of Latakia", the only concession the French made to Arab nationalists until 1936.[37] There was a great deal of Alawite separatist sentiment in the region,[37] as evidenced by a letter dating to 1936 and signed by 80 Alawi notables and was addressed to the French Prime Minister stating that "Alawi people rejected attachment to Syria and wished to stay under French protection." Among the signatories is Sulayman Ali al-Assad, the father of Hafez al-Assad who would later become president of the country, and grandfather of Bashar al-Assad, the current president.[38] However, these political views could not be coordinated into a unified voice. This was attributed to the majority of Alawites being peasants "exploited by a predominantly Sunni landowning class resident in Latakia and Hama".[37] Nevertheless, On 3 December 1936 (effective in 1937), the Alawite state was re-incorporated into Syria as a concession by the French to the Nationalist Bloc, the party in power of the semi-autonomous Syrian government.[39]

Alawite woman gleaning in 1938

In 1939 a portion of northwest Syria, the Sanjak of Alexandretta, now Hatay, that contained a large number of Alawis, was given to Turkey by the French following a plebiscite carried out in the province under the guidance of League of Nations which favored joining Turkey. However, this development greatly angered the Alawi community and Syrians in general. In 1938, the Turkish military had gone into Alexandretta and expelled most of its Arab and Armenian inhabitants.[40] Before this, Alawi Arabs and Armenians were the majority of the province's population.[40] Zaki al-Arsuzi, the young Alawi leader from Iskandarun province in the Sanjak of Alexandretta, who led the resistance to the annexation of his province to the Turks, later became a co-founder of the Ba'ath Party along with the Eastern Orthodox Christian schoolteacher Michel Aflaq and Sunni politician Salah al-Din al-Bitar when his Arab Ba'ath merged with their Arab Ba'ath Movement . After World War II, Salman Al Murshid played a major role in uniting the Alawi province with Syria. He was executed by the newly independent Syrian government in Damascus on December 12, 1946 only three days after a hasty political trial.

After Syrian independence

Syria became independent on April 17, 1946. In 1949, following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Syria endured a succession of military coups and the rise of the Ba'ath Party. In 1958, Syria and Egypt were united through a political agreement into the United Arab Republic. The UAR lasted for three years. In 1961, it broke apart when a group of army officers seized power and declared Syria independent anew.

A further succession of coups ensued until, in 1963, a secretive military committee, which included a number of disgruntled Alawi officers, including Hafez al-Assad and Salah Jadid, helped the Ba'ath Party seize power. In 1966, Alawi-affiliated military officers successfully rebelled and expelled the old Ba'ath that had looked to the founders of the Ba’ath Party, the Greek Orthodox 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.

The Assad family

In 1970, then an Air Force General, Hafez al-Assad, an Alawite, took power and instigated a "Correctionist Movement" in the Ba'ath Party. The coup of 1970 ended the political instability having lasted since the arrival of independence.[41] Robert D. Kaplan has compared Hafez al-Assad's coming to power to "an untouchable becoming maharajah in India or a Jew becoming tsar in Russia—an unprecedented development shocking to the Sunni majority population which had monopolized power for so many centuries."[34] In 1971, al-Assad declared himself president of Syria, a position the constitution at the time allowed only for Sunni Muslims to hold. In 1973, a new constitution was adopted that omitted the old requirement that the religion of the state be Islam and replaced it with the statement that the religion of the republic's president is Islam. Protests erupted when this was known.[42] In 1974, in order to satisfy this constitutional requirement, Musa Sadr, a leader of the Twelvers of Lebanon and founder of the Amal Movement who had earlier sought to unite Lebanese Alawis and Shias under the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council without success,[43] issued a fatwa stating that Alawis were a community of Twelver Shia Muslims.[44][45] Under the authoritarian but secular Assad government, religious minorities were tolerated more than before, but political dissidents were not.

Beliefs

Alawis celebrating a festival in Banyas, Syria, during World War II
Part of a series on Shia Islam
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The Alawis get their beliefs from the Prophets of Islam, from the Quran, and from the books of the Imams from the Ahlulbayt such as the Nahj al-Balagha by Ali ibn Abu Talib.[citation needed] Alawis are self-described Shia Muslims, and have been recognised as such by Shi'ite authorities such as Ayatollah Khomeini and the influential Lebanese Shia cleric Musa al-Sadr of Lebanon.[46][44] The prominent Sunni Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammad Amin al-Husayni also issued a fatwah recognizing them as part of the Muslim community in the interest of Arab nationalism.[47][48] Some Sunni scholars such as Ibn Kathir, on the other hand, have categorized Alawis as pagans in their religious works and documents.[23] At least one source has compared them to Baha'is, Babis, Bektashis, Ahmadis, and "similar groups that have arisen within the Muslim community".[49]

Heterodox

Alawi man in Latakia, early 20th century

Many of the tenets of the faith are secret and known only to a select few Alawi.[23][50] According to some sources, Alawis have integrated doctrines from other religions (syncretism), in particular from Ismaili Islam and Christianity.[9][23][45] Alawites are reported to celebrate certain Christian festivals, "in their own way",[45] including Christmas, Easter, and Palm Sunday, which make use of bread and wine.[34]

According to author Theo Padnos, who lived in Syria from 2007 to 2010, the Alawi religion evolved during the years under Hafez Al Assad's rule, so that Alawites became not Shia, but effectively Sunni. Public manifestation or "even mentioning of any Alawite religious activities" was banned, as was any Alawite religious organizations or "any formation of a unified religious council" or a higher Alawite religious authority. "Sunni-style" mosques were built in every Alawite village, and Alawi were encouraged to perform Hajj.[51]

Orthodox

Alawi women in Syria, early 20th century

Some sources have suggested that the non-Muslim nature of many of the historical Alawi beliefs notwithstanding, Alawi beliefs may have changed in recent decades. In the early 1970s a booklet entitled "al-`Alawiyyun Shi'atu Ahl al-Bait" ("The Alawis are Followers of the Household of the Prophet"), was issued in which doctrines of the Imami Shi'ah were described as 'Alawi, and which was "signed by of numerous `Alawi` men of religion".[52]

A scholar suggests that factors such as the high profile of Alawi in Syria, the strong aversion of the Muslim majority to apostasy, and the relative lack of importance of religious doctrine to Alawi identity may have induced Syrian leader Hafez al-Assad and his successor son to press their fellow Alawi "to behave like 'regular Muslims', shedding or at least concealing their distinctive aspects".[53]

Alawis have their own scholars, referred to as shaikhs, although more recently there has been a movement to bring Alawism and the other branches of Twelver Islam together through educational exchange programs in Syria and Qumm.[54]

Some sources have talked about "sunnification" of Alawites under Baathist Syrian leader and Alawite Hafiz al-Asad.[55] 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." While al-Asad "declared the Alawites to be nothing but Twelver Shiites", he "set the example for his people by adhering to Sunni practice. He built mosques in Alawite towns, prayed publicly and fasted and encouraged his people to do the same."[55] In a paper on "Islamic Education in Syria", Landis wrote that "no mention" is made in Syrian textbooks controlled by the Al Assad regime, of Alawites, Druze, and Ismailis or even Shi`a Islam. "Islam is presented as a monolithic religion and Sunni Islam is it."[56] Ali Sulayman al-Ahmad, chief judge of the Baathist Syrian state, has stated: “We are Alawi Muslims. Our book is the Quran. Our prophet is Muhammad. The Ka`ba is our qibla, and our religion is Islam.”[57]

Population

Map showing the current distribution of Alawites in the Levant

Syria

Traditionally Alawis have lived in the Alawite Mountains along the Mediterranean coast of Syria. Latakia and Tartous are the region's principal cities. Today Alawis are also concentrated in the plains around Hama and Homs. Alawis also live in all major cities of Syria. They have been estimated to constitute about 12% of Syria's population[58][59][60]—2.6 million people of syria's 22 million population.[2]

There are four Alawi confederations—Kalbiyah, Khaiyatin, Haddadin, and Matawirah—each divided into tribes.[23] Alawis are concentrated in the Latakia region of Syria, extending north to Antioch (Antakya), Turkey, and in and around Homs and Hama.[61]

Before 1953 they held specifically reserved seats in the Syrian Parliament, like all other religious communities. After that, including for the 1960 census, there were only general Muslim and Christian categories, without mention of subgroups in order to reduce "communalism" (taïfiyya).

Lebanon

The Alawite Imam Ali Mosque in Jabal Mohsen, Lebanon
See also: Shi'a Islam in Lebanon

There are an estimated 100,000 to 120,000[4][62] Alawis in Lebanon, where they have lived since at least the 16th century.[63] They are recognized as one of the 18 official Lebanese sects, and due to the efforts of their leader Ali Eid, the Taif Agreement of 1989 gave them two reserved seats in the Parliament. Lebanese Alawis live mostly in the Jabal Mohsen neighbourhood of Tripoli, and in 15 villages in the Akkar region, and are mainly represented by the Arab Democratic Party.[64][65][66] Their Mufti is Sheikh Assad Assi.[67] The Bab al-Tabbaneh, Jabal Mohsen clashes between pro-Syrian Alawites and anti-Syrian Sunnis have haunted Tripoli for decades.[68]

There are also about 2000 Alawis living in the village of Ghajar, split between Lebanon and the Golan Heights.[69] 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.[70] Prior to the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, the residents of Ghajar were counted in the 1960 Syrian census.[71] When Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967, Ghajar remained a no-man's land for two and a half months.

Turkey

See also: Religious minorities in Turkey
Alawite children in Antioch, now in Turkey, 1938

In order to avoid confusion with Alevis, they prefer the self-appellation Arap Alevileri ("Arab Alevis") in Turkish. The term Nusayrī, which used to exist in (often polemical) theological texts is also revived in recent studies. In Çukurova, they are named as Fellah and Arabuşağı, the latter considered highly offensive by Alawis, by the Sunni population. A quasi-official name used particularly in 1930s by Turkish authorities was Eti Türkleri ("Hittite Turks"), in order to conceal their Arab origins. Today, this term is almost obsolete but it is still used by some people of older generations as a euphemism.

The exact number of Alawis in Turkey is unknown, but there were 185,000 in 1970[72] (this number suggest circa 400,000 in 2009). As Muslims, they are not recorded separately from Sunnis in ID registration. In the 1965 census (the last Turkish census where informants were asked their mother tongue), 180,000 people in the three provinces declared their mother tongue as Arabic. However, Arabic-speaking Sunni and Christian people are also included in this figure. Alawis traditionally speak the same dialect of Levantine Arabic with Syrian Alawis. Arabic is best preserved in rural communities and Samandağ. Younger people in Çukurova cities and (to a lesser extent) in İskenderun tend to speak Turkish. Turkish spoken by Alawis is distinguished by Alawi and non-Alawi alike with its particular accents and vocabulary. Knowledge of the Arabic alphabet is confined to religious leaders and men who had worked or studied in Arab countries.

Alawis show a considerable pattern of social mobility. Until 1960s, they used to work bound to Sunni aghas around Antakya and they were among the poorest folk in Çukurova. Today, Alawis are prominent in economic sectors such as transportation and commerce. A large professional middle-class had also emerged. In recent years, there has been a tendency of exogamy, particularly among males who had attended universities and/or had lived in other parts of Turkey. These marriages are highly tolerated but exogamy of women, as in other patrilineal groups, is usually disfavoured.

Alawis, like Alevis, mainly have strong leftist political preferences. However, some people in rural areas (usually members of notable Alawi families) may be found supporting secularist conservative parties such as True Path Party. Most Alawis feel discriminated by the policies of the Presidency of Religious Affairs in Turkey (Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı).[73][74]

References

  1. ^ "The sword and the word". The Economist. 12 May 2012. {{cite news}}: Text "a" ignored (help)
  2. ^ a b "It's Time to Engage Iran, Russia on Syria". al-monitor.com. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  3. ^ "On Turkey's Syrian frontier, fears of a sectarian spillover". yahoo.com. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  4. ^ a b http://www.repost.us/article-preview/#!hash=0467cbf01990a23ab00bfe1a45696310
  5. ^ "Lebanese Allawites welcome Syria's withdrawal as 'necessary' 2005". The Daily Star. 30 April. The Alawis have been present in modern-day Lebanon since the 16th century and are estimated to number 100,000 today, mostly in Akkar and Tripoli. The sect is managed through the Islamic Alawi Union, a council of 600 members that are elected every four years. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Lebanon's Alawi: A Minority Struggles in a 'Nation' of Sects". Al Akhbar English. 2011-11-08. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  7. ^ Ghassan Hage (2002). Arab-Australians today: citizenship and belonging (Paperback ed.). Melbourne University Publishing. p. 40. ISBN 0-522-84979-2.
  8. '^ "Alawi Islam". GlobalSecurity.org. Archived from the original on 13 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-31. Their prayer book, the source of religious instruction, is the Kitāb al-Majmu, believed to be derived from Ismā'īlī writings. Alawis study the Qur'ān and recognize the five pillars of Islam, which they interpret in a wholly allegorical sense to fit community tenets. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ a b Lebanon: current issues and background John C. Rolland (2003)
  10. ^ Kramer, Martin. "Syria's Alawis and Shi'ism". In their mountainous corner of Syria, the 'Alawī claim to represent the furthest extension of Twelver Shi'ism.
  11. ^ Fisk, Robert. "This election will change the world. But not in the way the Americans imagined". The Independent UK. Archived from the original on 2006-05-06. Retrieved 2006-10-21. But outside Iraq, Arab leaders are talking of a Shia "Crescent" that will run from Iran through Iraq to Lebanon via Syria, whose Alawi leadership forms a branch of Shia Islam.
  12. ^ The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-Alawi Community of Cilicia and its sacred places, by Gisela Procházka-Eisl, Verlag, 2010, page 81
  13. ^ Kaplan, Robert (1993-02). "Syria: Identity Crisis". The Atlantic. The term "Alawi" means "follower of Ali", the martyred son-in-law of prophet Mohammed who is venerated by millions of Shi'ites in Iran and elsewhere. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C - James Minahan - Google Břger. Books.google.dk. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  15. ^ Initiates and The People Part 2, May 1929 to June 1930 - R. Swinburne Clymer - Google Břger. Books.google.dk. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  16. ^ Howse, Christopher (5 August 2011). "Secretive sect of the rulers of Syria". The Daily Telegraph.
  17. ^ "Erdogan, Iran, Syrian Alawites, and Turkish Alevis". The Weekly Standard. 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  18. ^ The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-Alawi Community of Cilicia ... - Gisela Procházka-Eisl, Stephan Procházka - Google Břger. Books.google.dk. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  19. ^ "Alawi Islam in the 11th Encyclopædia Britannica". 1911. Among the more plausible explanations is that the name is derived from that of Muhommed ibn Nusair, who was an Isma'ilite follower of the eleventh imam of the Shiites at the end of the 9th century. This view has been accepted by Nosairi writers, but they transfer Ibn Nusair to the 7th century and make him the son of the vizier of Moawiya I.
  20. ^ Shi'ism, by Heinz Halm, pg.157. Books.google.com.au. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
  21. ^ The Asian mystery illustrated in the history, religion, and present state of ... - Samuel Lyde - Google Břger. Books.google.dk. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  22. ^ Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (London, 1911), page 241.
  23. ^ a b c d e Alawi Islam. GlobalSecurity.org.
  24. ^ Seale, Patrick. Asad of Syria: The Struggle for the Middle East. With the assistance of Maureen McConville. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989, c1988.
  25. ^ Mordechai Nisan. Minorities in the Middle East: a history of struggle and self-expression. McFarland, 2002. ISBN 0-7864-1375-1, ISBN 978-0-7864-1375-1
  26. ^ T. E. Lawrence. Seven Pillars of Wisdom. Book 5, Chapter 58.
  27. ^ Winter, Stefan (1999). "La révolte alaouite de 1834 contre l'occupation égyptienne: perceptions alaouites et lecture ottomane". Oriente Moderno. 79 (3): 60–71.
  28. ^ 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. ISBN 3899133536.
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  32. ^ a b c d Moosa, Matti (1987). Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects. Syracuse University Press. pp. 282–283. ISBN 0-8156-2411-5.
  33. ^ Moubayed, Sami M. (2006). Steel & Silk: Men & Women Who Shaped Syria 1900-2000. Cune Press. pp. 363–364. ISBN 1-885942-41-9.
  34. ^ a b c Kaplan, Robert (1993-02). "Syria: Identity Crisis". The Atlantic. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "Kaplan" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  35. ^ Longrigg, Stephen Hemsley. Syria and Lebanon Under French Mandate. London: Oxford University Press, 1958.
  36. ^ The Levant: a fractured mosaic - William W. Harris - Google Břger. Books.google.dk. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  37. ^ a b c d Khoury, Philip S. Syria and the French Mandate: The Politics of Arab Nationalism, 1920–1945. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987.
  38. ^ Seale 1990, p. 20.
  39. ^ Shambrook, Peter A. French Imperialism in Syria, 1927–1936. Reading: Ithaca Press, 1998.
  40. ^ a b Jack Kalpakian (2004). Identity, Conflict and Cooperation in International River Systems (Hardcover ed.). Ashgate Publishing. p. 130. ISBN 0-7546-3338-1.
  41. ^ Kaplan, Robert (1993-02). "Syria: Identity Crisis". The Atlantic. But the coup of 1970, which brought an Alawi air force officer, Hafez al-Assad, to power, was what finally ended the instability that had reigned in Syria since the advent of independence. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  42. ^ Seale, Patrick. Asad, the Struggle for the Middle East. University of California Press, 1989, p.173.
  43. ^ Riad Yazbeck. "Return of the Pink Panthers?" Mideast Monitor. Vol. 3, No. 2, August 2008.
  44. ^ a b Kaplan, Robert (1993-02). "Syria: Identity Crisis". The Atlantic. Today, those Muslims called Alawīs are brothers of those Shi'ites called Mutawallis by the malicious. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  45. ^ a b c The New Encyclopedia of Islam by Cyril Glasse, Altamira, 2001, p.36–7
  46. ^ http://books.google.dk/books?id=vxrqo2q5jFQC&pg=PA23&lpg=PA23&dq=musa+sadr+alawites&source=bl&ots=tbv7h2O99k&sig=KbhJbo6bJ8lYria9GKydbGtzYdE&hl=da&sa=X&ei=jzFXUOP_Dcbysgaq04G4Dw&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q=musa%20sadr%20alawites&f=false
  47. ^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1080/00263200902940251, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1080/00263200902940251 instead.
  48. ^ Me'ir Mikha'el Bar-Asher; Gauke de Kootstra; Arieh Kofsky (2002). The Nuṣayr−i-ʻalaw−i Religion: An Enquiry Into Its Theology and Liturgy. BRILL. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-90-04-12552-0. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
  49. ^ Abd-Allah, Umar F., Islamic Struggle in Syria, Berkeley : Mizan Press, c1983, p.43–48
  50. ^ The Nuaayri-Alawis (2009) Yaron Friedman
  51. ^ The Cult: The Twisted, Terrifying Last Days of Assad’s Syria, Theo Padnos, October 4, 2011.
  52. ^ Abd-Allah, Umar F. (1983). Islamic Struggle in Syria. Berkeley: Mizan Press. pp. 43–48. ISBN 0933782101.
  53. ^ Rubin, Barry (2007). The Truth about Syria. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 49. ISBN 9781403982735.
  54. ^ Esther, Pan (18 July 2006). "Syria, Iran, and the Mideast Conflict". Backgrounder. Council on Foreign Relations. Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 30 April 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  55. ^ a b Syrian comment. Asad's Alawi dilemma, 8 October 2004
  56. ^ Islamic Education in Syria: Undoing Secularism
  57. ^ `Abd al‑Latif al‑Yunis, Mudhakkirat al‑Duktur `Abd al‑Latif al‑Yunis, Damascus: Dar al‑`Ilm, 1992, p. 63.
  58. ^ "Turbulent history colors Syria's ruling Alawite Muslims' fight to keep power"
  59. ^ "Syria's Alawites, a secretive and persecuted sect"
  60. ^ McDonald-Gibson, Charlotte (18 February 2012). "Syrians flee their homes amid fears of ethnic cleansing". The Independent.
  61. ^ ʿAlawite. Retrieved 2010-01-17. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |encylopedia= ignored (help)
  62. ^ Zoi Constantine. "Pressures in Syria affect Alawites in Lebanon - The National". Thenational.ae. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  63. ^ "'Lebanese Allawites welcome Syria's withdrawal as 'necessary' 2005, The Daily Star, 30 April". The Alawis have been present in modern-day Lebanon since the 16th century and are estimated to number 100,000 today, mostly in Akkar and Tripoli.
  64. ^ [1][dead link]
  65. ^ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2008-08-05). "Refworld | Lebanon: Displaced Allawis find little relief in impoverished north". UNHCR. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  66. ^ United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (2008-07-31). "Refworld | Lebanon: Displaced families struggle on both sides of sectarian divide". UNHCR. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  67. ^ http://www.yalibnan.com/2012/07/21/lebanon-muslim-leaders-held-a-summit-in-beirut/
  68. ^ David Enders, McClatchy Newspapers (2012-02-13). "Syrian violence finds its echo in Lebanon | McClatchy". Mcclatchydc.com. Retrieved 2012-07-06.
  69. ^ "Getting rid of Ghajar - Haaretz - Israel News". Haaretz. Retrieved 2010-01-17.
  70. ^ A New Fence Is Added to a Border Town Already Split
  71. ^ Getting rid of Ghajar, Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz
  72. ^ State and rural society in medieval Islam: sultans, muqtaʻs, and fallahun. Leiden: E.J. Brill. 1997. p. 162. ISBN 90-04-10649-9. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  73. ^ Fellahlar'ın Sosyolojisi, Dr. Cahit Aslan, Adana, 2005
  74. ^ Arap Aleviliği: Nusayrilik, Ömer Uluçay, Adana, 1999
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