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Assad's Alawites: The Guardians of the Throne

(Al Jazeera) Nir Rosen - The Alawite faith bears little resemblance to mainstream doctrines of Islam and involves belief in reincarnation, the divinity of Ali ibn Abi Talib - the fourth Caliph and a cousin of Prophet Muhamad - and a holy trinity comprising Ali, Muhamad and one of the prophet's companions, Salman al Farisi. A common theme to Alawite identity is a fear of Sunni hegemony, based on a history of persecution that only ended with the demise of the Ottoman empire. The French mandate replaced the Ottoman empire and the Alawites begged the French to grant them a separate state. Beginning in the 1960s, the Syrian regime encouraged mainly Alawite peasants to migrate from the mountain regions to the plains, giving them ownership of lands that had belonged to a mainly Sunni elite. Minorities, especially Alawites, saw the ruling Baath party and its pan-Arab ideology as a way to transcend narrow sectarian identities, while state employment and the military offered opportunities for social advancement and an escape from poverty. In 1955, the majority of the military's non-commissioned officers were Alawites.
2011-10-12 00:00:00
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