A thread about the history of the Alawites, or formerly, the Nusayris.
The Alawites are an ethno-religious group with originated from Rafidi Shi'ism. During the old times they were known as Nusayris after their founder Ibn Nusayr. Despite similarities in naming, Alawites are not the same as the Sufi Alevi order.
Ibn Nusayr, the founder of the Alawites, was a person who claimed to be the representative of the Shi'i Twelfth Imam. He also claimed to be a prophet. He even said that he was the "gate" of Imam Ali al-Hadi (bruh, did he think he was some transformer that turns into a gate?)
Ibn Nusayr also believed that he was the closest human to all of the Imams. For this, both Sunnis and Rafidi Shi'ites despised him. The Shia council of that time banished him from their religion. After the death of Imam Hassan al-Askari (r) Ibn Nusayr was exiled.
Ibn Nusayr and his fellow Nusayris were exiled into several Syrian and Anatolian areas. At some point of time after 868 CE, Ibn Nusayr passed away.
Time skip to Hamdanid Dynasty rule.
The surviving Nusayris were reunited by a Shi'i charlatan named Al-Khasibi. Al-Khasibi is regarded as the second founder of Alawites religion as he was the one who reorganized the Nusayris and made reforms, such as new manuscripts, to their religion.
Al-Khasibi became a Nusayri as he was already a Shia and he got exposed to the teachings of Ibn Nusayr through Abdullah al-Jannan, the student of one of Ibn Nusayr's famous disciples. Through Al-Jannan, Khasibi became the "spiritual son" of Ibn Nusayr.
Al-Khasibi turned Halab into the capital centre for the Nusayris. His main theological books, Kitab al-Hidaya al-Kubra, was dedicated to his Hamdanid patrons. The Hamdanid rulers of that time promoted and advertised Shi'ism, resulting in an increased Shia population in Halab.
These new Shi'ites would follow the teachings of Ibn Nusayr that were written down and compiled together by Al-Khasibi. Khasibi eventually passed away in 969 CE and his mausoleum is in Aleppo. After his death, he was known as "Sheikh Yabraq".
Due to Al-Khasibi, several villages in Homs and Hama embraced the Nusayri religion. These villages were mainly small ones. It is unknown what religion the villagers were before their conversion.
The Nusayri doctrine and teachings were ultimately finalized by Al-Khasibi's grandson. Nusayris also spread their religion to Ladhiqiyya, a city near to Hama. Three tribal clans also supported the Nusayri religion in the 13th century.
When the Crusaders entered Syria in 1097, they slayed the Nusayris, but then they stopped and apologized after they realised the Nusayris were completely separate from Islam. The Crusaders even incorporated Nusayris into their ranks along with other anti-Islam factions.
Timeskip to the rule of the Ottoman Empire.
The Ottomans disliked the Nusayris and were very aggressive against them. The villages of the Nusayris were destroyed and the Nusayris were left homeless in the jungles, where they risked attacks from wild animals such as crocodiles.
On 24 April 1517, a massacre occured in the central mosque of Halab. At least 1000 Nusayri deceased were piled up as a large mound outside the Qalat al-Halab. Survivors were forced to migrate to the mountainous areas.
Timeskip to French rule of Syria in the 19th century.
French colonisers created an Alawite State in the 1920s, to protect the Alawites from the stronger Sunni population. The Alawites were heavily disliked by the Sunnis of Syria.
The French Mandate Administration encouraged Alawites to join their military forces, as a defence against the adherents of Ahl as-Sunnah who despised French rule.
Alawites eventually had higher ranking governmental roles throughout the years. Hafez al-Assad eventually took power, and he became the President of Syria in 1971. He was a Taghut who ruled by his man-made laws.
The Alawite al-Assad family became very popular due to Hafez's rise in power. Hafez was succeeded by Bashar al-Assad. Bashar was praised by several Sufi ulama of Syria.
Both Hafez and Bashar hated Sunnis and did genocides of them. Despite this, many non-Alawite scholars (who claimed to be Sunni) praised the Assad regime. One of them, whom I won't mention the name of, even criticized anti-Assad movements.
(I refuse to name the scholar because I know I will be cursed by people who love him, and there are many people who love him even though he is rather misguided and even likes Hassan Nasrallah.)
May Allah guide the layman Alawites to Islam, and may Allah's curse be upon the Assad regime.
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