Alawites make up a small branch of Twelver Shī`ite Muslims. Shī`ites are one of two major divisions of the religion of Islam . Twelver Shī`ites place authority in a series of 12 imāms (Muslim leaders), starting with Alī ibn Abī Tālib , a cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad . Twelver Shī`ites believe the 12th imām, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, also called Muhammad al-Mahdī, will restore justice on Earth at the end of time. The Alawites’ name comes from their extreme reverence for Alī, who they believe was a manifestation (visible form) of God’s characteristics, or even the supreme and eternal God . The Alawites are based in the country of Syria in southwestern Asia.
Alawites frequently have been persecuted and labeled as non-Muslims. As a result, they conceal their exact beliefs. The early Alawite leader Muhammad ibn Nusayr apparently proclaimed the 10th Shī`ite imām, Alī al-Hādī, to be divine and claimed that he himself was a prophet . Al-Hādī cursed Ibn Nusayr for saying he was divine. Ibn Nusayr also reportedly claimed that he himself was the door (closest disciple) to the 11th imām, al-Hasan al-`Askarī, and that al-`Askarī had confided secret revelations to him alone.
Alawites believe that they originally were stars or creatures of divine light that God cast out of heaven because of their disobedience. They were exiled to Earth, enclosed in material bodies, and condemned to reincarnation. Reincarnation is the passing of a soul into another body after the death of the previous body. Alawites believe they can be reincarnated as Christians or others because of their sins, and as animals if they become infidels (nonbelievers). Alawites also believe in three aspects of God that appear in human form. These aspects have appeared as different groups of three people during different periods throughout history. The last three were Alī, the Prophet Muhammad, and Muhammad’s companion Salmān the Persian. Most Muslims regard the Alawites as heretics. Heretics are people whose beliefs differ from the accepted beliefs of a religion.
Unlike other Muslims, Alawites view the Five Pillars of Islam as mere symbols and do not practice them. The Five Pillars are formal acts of worship that provide the framework for Muslim life. They include shahadah, prayer, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage. Shahadah is the testimony that there is one God— Allah —and that Muhammad was his prophet. Alawites celebrate some Islamic and Christian holidays. They also celebrate the Iranian festivals of the equinoxes, Nawruz << naw ROOZ >> and Mihragan, as the days when Alī’s divinity is manifested in the sun. The equinoxes are two moments each year when the sun is directly above Earth’s equator.
The Alawite movement began in Iraq , an Arab country in southwestern Asia. Abu `Abd Allah al-Husayn ibn Hamdān al-Khasībī, head of the Alawite community in the city of Baghdad in the 900’s, spread the movement to northwestern Syria. Until the 1920’s, the Alawites were known as Nusayris, after their leader, Muhammad ibn Nusayr, who died in the mid-800’s. Nusayr was a companion of the 10th and 11th Shī`ite imāms. In the 2010’s, Alawites made up about 12 percent of Syria’s population. Alawite communities also exist in Lebanon and Turkey.
