Abstract:

The Nusayrī-Alawīs is a group fed by Islamic elements in the geography where Islam was dominant at that time, traces of various religious formations such as Christianity and Zoroastrianism and different cultural structures are seen in shaping of the religious structure. In this sense, Nusayrīsm, which has a syncretic sect structure, is one of the gulāt formations with an esoteric character, differs from the basic structure of Shia. From its first appearance at the end of the ninth century to the twentieth century had continued its existence under the rule of different states. Due to the religious and political approach of each of the administrations towards the Nusayrīs is different, the Nusayrīs had to establish different methods in living and conveying their beliefs. Accordingly, concealing the esoteric knowledge from non-Nusayrīs, so called taqiyya, has been accepted as a religious principle of the sect. Therefore, the Nusayrīs continued their existence as a closed community for a long time. It can be said that those who were not Nusayrīs were unaware of the main Nusayrī religious texts until the nineteenth century. In the modern period, Nusayrism has become one of the most studied minority religious group. Despite the accessibility of a number of classical Nusayrī works, in most of the studies on Nusayrīs in Turkey, there are statements saying that it is difficult to analyze the Nusayrī belief, teaching, and theology due to the fact that the Nusayrīs have a secret community organization, that their belief is based on oral culture, and that they have insufficient written sources. In this article, the works titled Risālat al-zuhūr wa-’l-butūn (The Epistle of Appearance and Concealment) and al-Masaīl al-khāssa (Private Matters) accredited to Qāsim at-Tabarānī (d. 426/1034) in the third Volume of the Silsilat al-turāth al-Alawī: Rasāil al-hikma al-Alawiyya will be analyzed thoroughly.

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