The Nusayris

BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents   The Nusayri (Alawi) Ancient Period   Of all the ghulat sects or extremists Shia sects mentioned thus far, the Nusayri have attracted the most attention from contemporary writers of both east and west, largely because they now control the government of Syria. In 1970, a Nusayri general, Hafiz al Asad, assumed military power in Syria, and on 22 February 1971, he became the […]

BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents   The Nusayris Middle Period   The Nusayri centre in Baghdad was eventually destroyed, together with other institutions, when the armies of Mongol Hulago ransacked Baghdad in 1258. The centre in Aleppo, after al Khasibi died, continued under the leadership of Muhammad ibn Ali al Jilli, who was in turn succeeded by the prominent Nusayri, Abu Sa’id al Maymun ibn Qasim al Tabarani (d. […]

BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents   The Nusayris Under the French Mandate   During World War I, France and Britain signed the notorious secret Sykes-Picot Agreement (1916) which divided Syria, including Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq, among the great powers. In 1919, the League of Nations placed Syria under French mandate which came into effect in the next year. Beginning in 1918, the French forces stationed in Cilicia, in southern […]

BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents   The Nusayris Rise to Political Power   How did the downtrodden Nusayris rise to become masters of post-independence Syria? They did so through two channels: the army and the Baath Party. Their rise to pre-eminence in both was slow but sure: not the result of a master plan but rather of the conjunction of a variety of circumstances, including political developments and economic […]

BACK⇒ Return to Table of contents   The Nusayri Religious System The Concept of God   The fundamental article of the religion of the Nusayris is the absolute oneness of God, who is self-existent and eternal. Like other Gulat, the Nusayris believe in God without attempting to define His existence, essence, or attributes, either philosophically or theologically. Like the Ahl –al Haqq[1], the Nusayris believe that this God appeared on […]