Alawi, n. and a. Islam.
Brit. /ˈaləwi/, U.S. /ˈæləwi/
Plural -s unchanged
Forms: 19– Alawi, 19– ꜥAlawi
[‹ Arabic ꜥAlawī (follower or descendant) of ꜥAlī, first cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. Compare Shiah n. 1a.]
A. n. A member of a branch of the Nusayri sect based mainly in northern Syria. Cf. Alawite n.
Since 1924 also the preferred name for the sect as a whole.
| 1921 Times 29 Mar. 7/3 The Musulman Alawis together with the Christian communities form an absolute majority of the Cilician population. 1947 Geogr. Rev. 37 424 The Alawi, Druses, and Metwali of western Syria all represent heretical Moslem belief combined with a more primitive animism and totemism. 1963 D. Peretz Middle East Today xiv. 349 The Alawis also expelled Syrian officials in 1939, giving the French an excuse to subdivide Syria again into autonomous regions as a foil against Arab nationalism. 2000 Church Times 16 June 2/2 Some Sunnis had made little secret of their desire to see power taken away from the Alawis. |
B. adj. Of, relating to, or designating this sect or its members.
| 1921 Times 29 Mar. 7/3 The..petition signed by the Chiefs of the Alawi Moslems (Shiahs) of Cilicia. 1931 Internat. Affairs 10 40 Today, these ex-Ottoman territories are broken up into a dozen separate States:..the Great Lebanon, the ꜥAlawi State, the Syrian State, [etc.]. 1945 Amer. Jrnl. Internat. Law 39 420 The constituencies were not divided on geographical lines, but on racial and religious divisions, namely, into Turkish, Alawi, Arab, Armenian, Greek Orthodox, Kurdish, and other communities. 1995 Middle East Policy 3 74 Syria's authoritarian minority regime needs an external enemy to justify repressive rule and divert attention from its Alawi character. |