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Thursday, 22 May 2025

Alawites

Ethnoreligious group centered in the Levant


Alawites
Alawites

Alawites are an Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism. A sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ghulat branch during the ninth century, Alawites venerate Ali ibn Abi Talib, the "first Imam" in the Twelver school, as a manifestation of the divine essence. It is the only ghulat sect still in existence today. The group was founded during the ninth century by Ibn Nusayr, who was a disciple of the tenth Twelver Imam, Ali al-Hadi, and of the eleventh Twelver Imam, Hasan al-Askari. For this reason, Alawites are also called Nusayris.

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