What is Alawite Islam (in Syria)?

//sam// said:
i think youve got the wrong idea. the alawites believe that prophet muhamed (saw) was the last of the prophets. however they believe that the family of muhamed (ahlul bayt) led islam after his death(pbuh) just like the shias do.
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I have only the ideas conveyed from my wife about her family's beliefs. So it may be even she isn't fully understanding what her Grandmother believes, so I will leave it at that is the common view from the outside (as confirmed by many other sources when I asked what their view of it was). However most Sunnis would say Shias also border on reformists in their heightened view of Ali although it is my understanding Shias don't view him as a prophet or even near it, but rather an important person (and of course some early disagreements in politics to go with it).
 
Alawites / Nusayris / Druze / Bahais and a few others are considered extreme (Ghulat) sects, by the mainstream Shias. Not a Wahhabi geopolitical game. Both Sunni and Shias consider them extreme. The late Henry Corbin touched on it in his copious works. Those sects embrace the phenomenon of Christology (as Corbin puts it) where the divine becomes a man, maybe vice versa too. The Pentad of the Shias is the starting point i think (the holy family of 5).
 
Amergin said:
I have heard of Shia Islam, Sunni Islam, Wahabi Islam, and now Alawite Islam (the last being the ruling class of Syria.

What is Alawite and could someone briefly tell me how it differs from the other forms of Islam?

Amergin
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Others already commented what they know about Alawites. What I have also learned about them is:

1. Greek philosophers are considered prophets
2. Women are believed not to have souls
3. Only men reincarnate, therefore they are considered to have souls
4. Outsiders cannot convert to Alawite religion
5. Keeping secrets is important
6. They believe in saints
7. Taqiyah, or necessary lying, is essential. This one Alawites generally ascribe to the Muslims, and one of the most vocal Alawites is Wafa Sultan whose whole anti-Islam argument is "Islamic taqiyah."

Also, according to my research, Alawites have claimed to be Christians or Muslims, depending on who rules or has dominance. But, little that we know about them, thanks to limited western research, Alawites are not Muslim in practice. Supposedly, they are a persecuted group. But they sure do not qualify to be Muslims in accordance to their beliefs and practices. They only borrowed some themes, like Ali. In reality, we don't even know if they believe in Ali, and whether Ali is a camouflage for the public, in hope that they are called Muslims to retain some rights.
 
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//sam// said:
hah, there are many different conceptions about the alawite muslims. They are considered as dirt by some muslims just because of their beliefs. to be honest there is no point of having an arguement bout all of this. alawites are muslims. alawite boys go through circumcision as do all the other types of muslims. they believe that there is no got but allah and muhamed is his prophet
لا إله إلا الله و محمد رسول الله
they believe in prophet muhamed's (saw) legacy to put it into understandable terms.they believe in the 5 Pillars of Islam. Belief in one God and Prophet Muhammad Establishment of the daily prayers Concern for and almsgiving to the needy
Self-purification through fasting The pilgrimage to Makkah for those who are able.
to go into history... 500 years ago the few alawites where murdured discriminated and forced to live in the mountains of syria...but why?
the answer is simple. it was because they are alawites.
a couple of decades ago syria won their independance from the french. hafez alasad ruled syria but did something no one expected. instead of banishing and murdering sunnis as the sunnis have done in the past, he allowed them to live alongside the alawite. the sunnis only had to pay one price:
peace
since then many sunnis learned to live along with the alawite faith.
however in 2011 a extremist group calling themselves the jihadist (a war or struggle against unbelievers.) started the slaughter of the alawites. now im not going to go deep into politics as im sure many people here have thier different views. what is now known as a civil war is actually a terrorist war. jihadist dressed themselves as the syrian army and would kill the alawites whilst filming it and send it to europe. the cause most of the world to believe that this is the doing of the bashar family. but infact the doing of the jihadist. they call themselves muslims but the do things way worse then wat alawites are said to believe.
raping teenage girls
killing off families with one bomb
poisening food and water supply
my point is that not everything you learn is true.
now you say that alawites are very secretive, so how do you have all of this information on them.. for all you know they could be a romour.
just to make it clear alawites are identicle to almost every other muslims out there. the only real differences is about who led islam after the last prophet muhamed(saw) . alawites like shias believe imam ali came after the prophet where as sunnis believe abu becker and umar where next
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I do not know where you found that information, but Alawites have their own religion which they promote as either Islam or Christianity. They have a different holy book, pray differently, etc. They may have sprung from a Shiite sect, but have established their own religion, which appears to be a mix of Christianity, Islam, Greek paganism and other influences. While many sects could be considered Muslim if they share core beliefs, practices and understandings, unfortunately Alawites cannot. Though, politically speaking they are recognized as "moderate " Shiite subsect. But their ideas even contradict most spiritualistic islamic teachings such as Sufis.
 
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