TURKISH ALEVISM: RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION

Alevis are forming a large religious community in Turkey. According to different estimations they compose 10 up to 20% of the country’s population. Their system of religious belief is called Alevism which is one of the heterodox Muslim sects. Formation of Alevism has completed in Anatolia in the XVI...

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Main Author: D. V. Zhigulskaya
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MGIMO University Press 2013-10-01
Series:Vestnik MGIMO-Universiteta
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.vestnik.mgimo.ru/jour/article/view/1215
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author D. V. Zhigulskaya
author_facet D. V. Zhigulskaya
author_sort D. V. Zhigulskaya
collection DOAJ
description Alevis are forming a large religious community in Turkey. According to different estimations they compose 10 up to 20% of the country’s population. Their system of religious belief is called Alevism which is one of the heterodox Muslim sects. Formation of Alevism has completed in Anatolia in the XVI century. The philosophy, ritual and worship in Alevism extremely differ from those, which are attributed to dominant Islam of Turkey (Hanafi school of Sunni Islam).This article is dedicated to the question of religious identity of Alevism. Comparative method has been used in the article: it focuses on the problem of correlation between Alevism and Bektashism, which is considered to be another «popular Islam» of Anatolia;It should be mentioned that the terms of Alevism and Bektashism are often used as synonyms, which is incorrect. The question of possibility of ascribing Alevism to Shi’ism is also investigated in the article, as well as comparison of Alevism with Syrian Nusayri doctrine. It is well known that Nusayris of Syria are quite often called «Arab Alawites». This denomination causes misunderstanding between the wide range of readers. At the end of the article Alevism’s own place is finally being defined within the religious mosaic of Turkey.
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spelling doaj.art-91e28e302ab348f4b07f41750a9545042024-02-07T10:17:02ZengMGIMO University PressVestnik MGIMO-Universiteta2071-81602541-90992013-10-0105(32)11812210.24833/2071-8160-2013-5-32-118-122974TURKISH ALEVISM: RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATIOND. V. Zhigulskaya0Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in the Russian Federation. 12, 7-Rostovskiy per., Moscow, 115127, Russia.Alevis are forming a large religious community in Turkey. According to different estimations they compose 10 up to 20% of the country’s population. Their system of religious belief is called Alevism which is one of the heterodox Muslim sects. Formation of Alevism has completed in Anatolia in the XVI century. The philosophy, ritual and worship in Alevism extremely differ from those, which are attributed to dominant Islam of Turkey (Hanafi school of Sunni Islam).This article is dedicated to the question of religious identity of Alevism. Comparative method has been used in the article: it focuses on the problem of correlation between Alevism and Bektashism, which is considered to be another «popular Islam» of Anatolia;It should be mentioned that the terms of Alevism and Bektashism are often used as synonyms, which is incorrect. The question of possibility of ascribing Alevism to Shi’ism is also investigated in the article, as well as comparison of Alevism with Syrian Nusayri doctrine. It is well known that Nusayris of Syria are quite often called «Arab Alawites». This denomination causes misunderstanding between the wide range of readers. At the end of the article Alevism’s own place is finally being defined within the religious mosaic of Turkey.https://www.vestnik.mgimo.ru/jour/article/view/1215alevismkizilbash (qizilbash)shia islammuslim heterodoxyislam
spellingShingle D. V. Zhigulskaya
TURKISH ALEVISM: RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION
Vestnik MGIMO-Universiteta
alevism
kizilbash (qizilbash)
shia islam
muslim heterodoxy
islam
title TURKISH ALEVISM: RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION
title_full TURKISH ALEVISM: RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION
title_fullStr TURKISH ALEVISM: RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION
title_full_unstemmed TURKISH ALEVISM: RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION
title_short TURKISH ALEVISM: RELIGIOUS IDENTIFICATION
title_sort turkish alevism religious identification
topic alevism
kizilbash (qizilbash)
shia islam
muslim heterodoxy
islam
url https://www.vestnik.mgimo.ru/jour/article/view/1215
work_keys_str_mv AT dvzhigulskaya turkishalevismreligiousidentification