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NOSAIRIS (also known as Ansayrii, som...
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See also:NOSAIRIS (also known as Ansayrii, sometimes Ansariyeh) , the See also:people who inhabit the mountainous See also:country of N. See also:Syria, which is bounded on the S. by the See also:north end of the See also:Lebanon at the Nahr el-Kebir (Eleutherus), on the N. by Mt Casius, See also:Antioch and the Nahr el-'Asi (See also:Orontes). Various settlements of them are found also in Antioch itself and in See also:Tarsus, See also:Adana, and a few other places, while in See also:harvest See also:time they come down as far as the Biqa (Buka'a). From the time of See also:Strabo until about two centuries ago, the country was famed for its See also:wine, but now more for its See also:tobacco (especially at See also:Latakia). The See also:total number of Nosairis inhabiting this country is variously estimated at from 120,000 to 150,000. The origin of the name Nosairi is uncertain. Among the more possible explanations is that the name is derived from that of Mahommed See also:ibn Nusair, who was an Isma`ilite follower of the See also:eleventh See also:imam of the See also:Shiites at the end of the 9th See also:century. This view has been accepted by Nosairi writers, but they See also:transfer Ibn Nusair to the 7th century and make him the son of the See also:vizier of Moawiya I., while another tradition (cf. See also:Abulfeda, Geog. vol. ii. p. 11, No. 7) identifies him with Nusair, a freedman of the See also:caliph `See also:Ali. It is, however, noteworthy that See also:Pliny (Hist. nat. v. 81) gives the name Nazerini to the inhabitants of this See also:district. In this See also:part of Syria paganism remained even up to the See also:middle ages (cf. Archives de l'Orient latin, vol. ii. 2, p. 375), and there is a See also:complete See also:absence of churches of the 5th to the 7th centuries in these mountains. In the 7th century the See also:Arabs invaded Syria, but do not seem to have got into these mountains. At the end of the loth century, however, the Isma`-ilite propaganda won some success among the people. Their strongholds were taken by See also:Raymond in 1099, and later See also:Tancred secured the very summits. In 1132—1140 the Assassins (q.v.) gained See also:possession of their See also:chief towns, but See also:Saladin recovered them in 1188. In 1317 the See also:sultan Bibars endeavoured to convert them to orthodox See also:Islam, and built many mosques, but Ibn Batuta (i. 177) says they did not use them. A fatwa of Ibn Taimiyya (d. 1327) of this time shows that the Nosairis were regarded with fear and hatred by the orthodox. For the next 5oo years they were given over to their own See also:internal disputes, until they came under the See also:power of See also:Ibrahim See also:Pasha in 1832. At the See also:present time they are under the See also:direct ad-ministration of the See also:Turks. The See also:religion of the Nosairis seems to have been almost the same in the first years of the 5th century A.H. (11th century A.D.)as it is to-See also:day, judging by the references in the.sacred books of the See also:Druses. As set forth in their own sacred See also:book, the Majmu`, it seems to be a See also:syncretism of Isma`ilite doctrines and the See also:ancient heathenism of See also:Harran. The ages of the See also:world are seven in number, each of these having its own manifestation of deity. But the manifestation of the 7th See also:age is not a See also:Mandi who is yet to come, but the See also:historical See also:person `Ali ibn See also:abu Talib. This is stated in the crudest See also:form in Sura 11 of the Majmu`: " I testify that there is no See also:god but `Ali ibn abu Talib." `Ali is also called the Ma'na (" See also:Idea "; cf. the See also:Logos of the New Testament), hence the Nosairis are also called the Ma`nawiyya. `Ali created See also:Mahomet, who is known as the Ism (" Name "), and a trinity is formed by the addition of Salman ul-Farisi, who is the Bab (" See also:Door "), through whom the propaganda is made, and through whom one comes to God. A mysterious See also:symbol much used in their ceremonies of See also:initiation consists of the three letters `See also:Ain, Mim, See also:Sin, these being the See also:initials of `Ali, Mahomet and Salman. Of these three, however, `Ali is the supreme. In Sura 6 of the' Majmu` the Nosairi says: " I make for the Door, I prostrate myself before the Name, I See also:worship the Idea." Each of the seven manifestations of God in the ages of the world has been opposed by an adversary. The Nosairis are divided into four sects. (1) The Haidaris (from the name haidari, " See also:lion," given to `Ali on See also:account of his valour) are the most advanced. (2) The Shamalis or Shamsis preserve many traces of the old nature-worship, `Ali (i.e. the supreme god) is the See also:heaven, Mahomet is the See also:sun, Salman the See also:moon. (3) On the other See also:hand the Kalazis, so named from a sheik Mahommed ibn Kalazi (cf. E. See also:Salisbury in the See also:Journal of the See also:American See also:Oriental Society, viii. 237), or Qamaris, hold that the supreme god (`Ali) is the moon, not the sun. Their See also:poetry addressed to the moon is translated by C. Huart in the Journal asiatique, See also:ser. vii. vol. xiv. pp. Igo if. (4) The Ghaibis are worshippers of the See also:air, for God is invisible. In this they come nearer to the See also:ordinary Isma`ilite See also:doctrine. Religion is restricted among the Nosairis to the initiated, who must be adults over fifteen years of age and of Nosairi parentage. The initiator, who must not be a relative, becomes a spiritual See also:father, and the relation cannot be broken except by his consent. The initiation consists of three stages. In the first the novice is received and told to meditate on the three mystic letters; in the second, after a See also:period of See also:forty days, he is taught the titles of the 16 suras of the Majmu`; in the third, after seven or nine months (intended to correspond with the ordinary period of gestation), he is taught Suras 5, 6 and g, learns the meaning of the three mystic letters and goes through a further period of instruction from his initiator. The initiated are divided into two classes, the sheiks, who are recruited from the families of sheiks only, and the ordinary members. The Nosairis are believers in See also:metempsychosis. The pious Nosairi takes his See also:rank among the stars, but the See also:body of the impious undergoes many transformations. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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