ALAWI
The Alawites are a Middle Eastern religious group prominent in Syria.
Alawites call themselves Alawī (Arabic: علوي). They take their name from Alī, cousin and son-in-law of the prophet Muhammad. The term Alawī was recognized by the French when they occupied Syria in 1920. Historically, the Alawites have been called Nusayrīs (Arabic نصيريون), Namiriyya, and Ansariyya. The term Nusayriyya became one of abuse, and they themselves preferred to be called ʕAlawiyya to show their reverence for Alī.
BELEIFS
Theologically, Alawites today claim to be Twelver Shiites, but traditionally they have been designated as "extremists" (Arabic غلاة ghulat) and outside the bounds of Islam by the Muslim mainstream for their high level of devotion to Ali ibn Abi Talib. They have only one holy book, the Qur'an, but insist that without knowledge of the family of Muhammad, the Qur'an cannot be properly interpreted. Alawites study the book of Jafār as-Sādaq (Al-Hayfat aš-Šarīf) which has been translated into French and printed. This was done in Beirut in the mid-nineteenth century by an Alawite convert to Christianity, who was later killed by a fellow Alawite for exposing a secret sacred book.
The Alawite religion has many similarities to Isma'ilism. Alawiyya believe Alī is the true Successor of Muhammad as well as in esoteric reading of the Qur'an. Unlike Ismailis, Alawites regard Alī as the purpose of life and the divine knowledge of the prophet Muhammad. The Alawite catechism is expressed in the formula:
An Alawite prays in a manner patterned after the shahada:
It has also been reported that they will proclaim "There is no god but Alī ibn Abū Talib", and that Alawī created Muhammad. Alī is an incarnation or avatar of God.
Each World Age, of which there are Seven in total, has an incarnation of God within it. Ali is the last incarnation for the last age. Each world age thus has a person who is the base (asa) and one who is the utterer (natiq). The asas are Abel, Seth, Joseph, Joshua, Asaph, and possible Peter and then Ali. The natiqs are Adam, Noah, Jacob, Moses, Solomon, Christ, and Muhammad. The true prophet of the set will dissapear and leave a deputy behind who will administer for him until he returns.
Ali, Mohammed, and a third entity, Salman ul-Farsi (alternatively Salman El Farsi) are important to the faith. Respectively, they are called the Idea, the Name, and the Door (to god). In Sura 6 of the Mujma', one of their texts, it is stated, "I make for the Door, I prostrate myself before the Name, I worship the Idea.
ʕAlawiyya do not accept converts or openly publish their texts, which are passed down from scholar to scholar. The vast majority of Alawites know little about the contents of their sacred texts or theology which is guarded by a small class of male initiates. For Initiation, a person must be at least 15 and can not be a non-Alawite. They believe in metempsychosis; the soul of the pious ascends to the starry heavens via a series of transformations. The less pious souls require more transformations.
There are at least four sects within Alawiyya. The Ghaybiyya believe that the occulted one or the absent one is the true God and associate this absence with the sky and air. The Šamaliyya identify Alī, Muhammad and Salman with Heaven, the Sun and the Moon. The Kalaziyya, contarily, hold that the Moon is the abode of Alī, not the Sun, and that by drinking wine one reaches closer communion with the Moon. The identification of wine with Alī in sacred and secret feast lead some to erroneously think that the Alawites were crypto-christians. A fourth sect are the Haydariyya.