Extremist Shiites the Ghulat Sects

Extremist Shiites The Ghulat Sects Matti Moosa SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY PRESS Copyright © 1988 by Syracuse University Press Syracuse, New York 13244-5160 First published 1987 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED First Edition 93 92 91 90 89 88 654321 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. T" Extremist Shiites is published with the support of the Office of the Vice-President for Academic Affairs, Gannon University, Erie, Pennsylvania. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Moosa, Matti. Extremist Shiites. (Contemporary issues in the Middle East) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Shi'ah. 2. Sufism. 3. Islamic sects. 4. Nosairians. I. Title. II. Series. BP193.5.M68 1987 297'.82 87-25487 ISBN 0-8156-2411-5 (alk. paper) MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA r To Hans, Mark, Petra, and Jessica With Love MATTI MOOSA is Professor of History at Gannon University and the author of The Origins of Modern Arabic Fiction and The Maronites in History (Syracuse University Press). Contents Preface ix Introduction xiii 1 The Shabak 1 2 The Bektashis 10 3 The Safawis and Kizilbash 21 4 The Bektashis, the Kizilbash, and the Shabak 36 5 The Ghulat's "Trinity" 50 6 The Miraculous Attributes of Ali 66 7 The Family of the Prophet 77 8 Religious Hierarchy 88 9 The Twelve Imams 92 10 The Abdal 110 11 Rituals and Ceremonies 120 12 Social Customs 144 13 Religious Books 152 14 The Bajwan and Ibrahimiyya 163 15 The Sarliyya-Kakaiyya 168 16 The Ahl-i Haqq (Alillahis): Origin and Identity 185 17 The Ahl-i Haqq: Cosmology and Cosmogony 194 18 Sultan Sahak: Founder of the Ahl-i-Ha<ft 214 19 The Ahl-i Haqq: The Cult ofDawud 224 20 The Ahl-i Haqq: The Jam 231 21 The Ahl-i Haqq: The Role of Ali 245 22 The Nusayris (Alawis): Ancient Period 255 23 The Nusayris: Middle Period 267 24 The Nusayris: Under the French Mandate 280 25 The Nusayris: Rise to Political Power 292 26 The Nusayri Religious System: The Concept of God 311 27 The Nusayri Religious System: The Apotheosis ofAli 324 28 The Nusayri Concept of Light: Shamsis and Qatnaris 337 29 The Nusayri "Trinity": AH, Muhammad and Salman al- Farisi 342 30 The Nusayri Religious System: The Twelve Imams 352 31 The Nusayri Religious System: Role of the Aytam and Spiritual Hierarchies 357 32 The Nusayri Religious System: Metempsychosis 362 33 The Nusayri Religious System: Initiation 372 34 Nusayri Ceremonies: Festivals 382 35 The Nusayri Mass 398 36 The Nusayris, Sunnites, and Twelver Shiites 409 37 Pagan, Christian, and Islamic Elements in the Beliefs of the Ghulat 419 38 Armenian Elements in the Beliefs of the Kizilbash Kurds 432 Notes 449 Bibliography 535 Index 565 22 The Nusayris (Alawis) Ancient Period F ALL THE GHULAT or extremist Shiite sects mentioned thus far, the O Nusayris 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 first Nusayri president in the country's history. Al-Asad comes from the Numaylatiyya division of the Matawira, one of the major Nusayri tribes in Syria. Other key positions in the present Syrian government are also occupied by Nusayri officers.1 The Nusayris have been known throughout history by the name al- Nusayriyya (Nusayris), but prefer to be called Alawis (followers of Ali). When the French mandate over Syria went into effect in 1920, the French authorities created a separate Nusayri territory with its own commissioner, under the authority of the French high commissioner in Beirut. On 1 July 1922, when this Nusayri territory became a state, it was named Dawlat al-Alawiyyin (the Alawis' state); it had a seventeen-member representative council, with Nusayris holding twelve seats and Sunnites and other minorities holding five. In 1930, the political institution of this state was defined by the Organic Law and it become formally known as the Government of Latakia. The Nusayri writer Muhammad Ghalib al-Tawail (d. 1932), who wrote a history of his sect, thanked God that after four centuries of Ottoman occupation of Syria, the Nusayris, who had been con- temptuously called by this name since 1516, finally had their lawful name, Alawis, restored.2 The fact is, however, that the sect has always 255 256 EXTREMIST SHIITES: THE GHULAT SECTS been known as Nusayris, a name that has had a religious connotation since the ninth century. Moreover, it should be pointed out that Alawi is a general term frequently applied to all Shiites who follow Ali and believe him to be the heir and successor of the Prophet in leading the Muslim community. The original habitat of the Nusaryis is the massive mountain range in northern Syria that bears their name: Jabal al-Nusayriyya (Nusayriyya Mountains), the Bargylus of the Romans.3 The ancient Syrians called them Ukomo (Black), and, following the Syrians' practice, the Arabs called them Jabal al-Lukam (black mountains). The southern peaks of this range are called Jabal al-Summaq (sumac mountains) and Jabal Amil. The Nusayriyya Mountains stretches from al-Nahr al-Kabir (the great river, the ancient Eleutherus) on the south to a point north of the Orontes (al-Asi) River and Antioch. The range extends from Mount Lebanon along the Mediterranean, facing the island of Cyprus. The Nusayris are not confined to this mountain region, however. They are also found in great numbers in the Syrian provinces of Latakia, Hims, and Hama; in the Lebanese district of Akkar, south of Latakia; and in the Turkish provinces of Hatay (formerly the Syrian province of Alexandretta, or al- Iskandarun), Seyhan (Adana), Tarsus, and Antioch. A small number of Nusayris live in Wadi al-Taym, south of Mount Hermon, in two villages north of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of Jordan, and in Banyas (the ancient Caesarea Philippi).4 About thirteen Nusayri families live in Ana, a town in Western Iraq near the Syrian border. Groups of Nusayris also live in Damascus, Aleppo, and Salamiyya, south of Hama; in al-Karak, Jordan; in Istanbul, Turkey; in Yemen; and in Brazil.5 Until the thirteenth century, a number of Nusayri tribes lived in Sinjar, north of the city of Mosul, Iraq. These Nusayris from Sinjar, led by their Amir Hasan Yusuf al-Makzun (d. 1240), left for Syria to help their coreligionists in their struggle against their oppressors, the Kurds and Ismailis. One of these tribes was the Matawira, to which President Hafiz al-Asad of Syria belongs.6 With the passage of time, the religious concepts of followers of al- Makzun evolved in new directions, especially regarding Ali Ibn Ali Talib, the center of worship of all the Nusayris. Some of al-Makzun's followers came to be known as Kalazis after one of their religious leaders, Muham- mad Ibn Kalazo. They also became known as Qamaris (moon-wor- shipers, from the Arabic qamar, moon) because they believe that Ali Ibn Ali Talib dwells in the moon; another group, the Shamsis (sun-wor- shipers), also called Shamalis, derived their name from the word shams THE NUSAYRIS: ANCIENT PERIOD 257 (sun), because they believe that the sun, not the moon, is the abode of Ali Ibn Ali Talib. Thus, from a purely religious point of view, the Nusayris are divided into two sects whose beliefs, apart from their association of the sun or the moon with their worship of Ali, are substantially the same. We shall have more to say about these two sects in our discussion, in later chapters, of the religion of the Nusayris. As an oppressed minority, the Nusayris found a haven for centuries in the fastness of their mountains. They avoided the urban centers of Syria; in the nineteenth century, they were not found even in Latakia, Beirut, or Damascus. They were very suspicious of other Syrian peoples and were ready to attack at the least provocation. Rev. Samuel Lyde (d. 1860), who lived among the Nusayris for six years (1853—1859), writes that, oppressed by the Ottoman government and overburdened by many taxes, the Nusayris usually took revenge on the Muslim people of the plains, whom they hated, plundering and killing without mercy.7 The constant internal feuds among their many tribes and clans reduced them to a state of barbarism and rendered their country a wasteland. We learn from Lyde that violence, bloodshed, treachery, and murder became a way of life with the Nusayris. He states that because of the violence, the gradual ruin of the villages, and the increasing desola- tion and depopulation of their country, by the middle of the nineteenth century the province of Latakia, which once had been heavily populated by Nusayris, had only a very small number of them left.8 These chaotic conditions must have impelled the remaining Nusayri farmers to move close to the urban centers of Syria to work for landowners who lived mostly in the cities. Some of the Nusayris moved to the plains of Akkar to the south and Latakia to the west, while still others spread into the interior of Syria, especially the province of Hama. Although Nusayris were despised by their Muslim and Chris- tian neighbors, the landholders needed the services of the Nusayri farmers, who, because they were desperate, were subservient and hardworking, and posed no threat to their employers' interests. This explains the settlement of Nusayris in the villages in the northeastern part of the province of Hama.

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