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a
= shrouds/shells/shirts). Eventually, God took pity with the fallen Light Souls and sent
them Al with His revelation. Thus the Light Souls were given the possibility to
ascend once more to the seven paradises and return to God, on condition that they
understood Gods true nature, the mana (meaning). To achieve this end, they were
granted several consecutive lives, which they had to spend incarnated in different
human bodies. Should they, however, during one of these lives, oppose Gods
commandments again, they would be reborn in the body of an animal, or, even
worse, in lifeless matter.
In Alawi religious practice, the mythical fall and potential resurgence of Light Souls
is related with two different modalities of rebirth, the cyclical reincarnation, and the
16
Joseph Azzi, Les Noussairites-Alaouites (histoire, doctrine et coutumes) (Clamecy: Editions Publisud,
2002).
17
cf. i.a. H. Halm, Die islamische Gnosis, 284ff; Alain Nimier, Les Alawites (Paris: dition Asfar, 1988).
18
For further information on the syncretistic nature of Alawi cosmology, cf. Fuad I. Khuri, The Alawis
of Syria: Religious Ideology and Organization, in: Syria: Society, Culture, and Policy, eds. R. T. Antoun
& D. Quataert (New York: New York University Press, 1991), 5051; see also Yaron Friedman, The
Nusayr -Alaw s, An Introduction to the Religion, History and Identity of the Leading Minority in Syria
(Leiden: Brill, 2010), 106; Laila Prager, Die Gemeinschaft des Hauses: Religion, Heiratsstrategien und
transnationale Identitt trkischer Alawi-/Nusairi-Migranten in Deutschland (Mnster/ London: LIT
Publishing, 2010), 4345.
19
Edited by Wladimir Ivanov, Umm al-Kitab, Der Islam 23 (1936): 1132.
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45 2013 Hartford Seminary.
transmigration of souls.
20
The reincarnation, raja, entails the return of the same
immortal Light Soul (ruh
) of unchanging rank.
21
This mode of rebirth applies solely to
the Prophets and to the Alawi sheikhs (see Figure 1), from the past and the present.
Their Light Souls are reincarnated in unchanged form, thus guaranteeing the
continuous presence of the saints and the sacred on earth, rendered visible by the
shrines of Prophets (such as Musa, Yun s, Miqdad, etc.) in the Hatay region.
The second form of rebirth, the transmigration of souls referred to as tanasukh in
Alawi religious texts, is based on the idea that an immortal Light Soul drifts from one
body and one life to another, thereby potentially increasing the chance of ascending
toward a higher spiritual and social rank in the next life, on the condition that their
20
For a detailed discussion about the idea of the transmigration of souls and its socio-cosmic
implications for the body in Alawi religious practice, see Laila Prager, The Mnemonic Body: Cycles of
rebirth and the remembrance of former lives in Alawi religion, in Krper, Sexualitt und Medizin in
muslimischen Gesellschaften, eds. Patrick Franke, Suzanne Kurz & Claudia Preckel (Bamberg:
University of Bamberg Press, forthcoming).
21
Cf. Rainer Freitag, Seelenwanderung in der islamischen Hresie (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz, 1985), 30.
Figure 1. Guardian-Sheikh of the Khid
r-ziya ra in Samandag.
This position is inherited from one generation to the other
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46 2013 Hartford Seminary.
respective hosts have led impeccable and God-fearing lives. As a result of such on-going
transmigrations the Light Souls may eventually be released from being condemned to
live on earth by understanding the true meanings of the world. In the course of the
ascendance, the Light Soul will completely shed the physical shell (shrouds aqmis
a)
and be transferred to the Light World again. To humans it will then be visible as a star in
the sky, where the Light Soul passes through further transformative stages so as to nally
return to its original state as a free oating nuran (Light Soul).
22
These ideas about the
reincarnation and transmigration of Light Souls are at heart of the religious ideas and
ritual practices relating to the Alawi ziyara shrines.
Alawi Ziyara Tradition
The practice of venerating local saints and the visiting of ziyara shrines is a
phenomenon well known from the Middle East and the Islamic world at large. Much has
been written about the architecture of such shrines and the concept of baraka, the
benecial force which is usually believed to emanate from such sacred places.
23
In early
Islam the practice of visiting gravesites (ziyarat al-qubur ) was considered lawful and
even recommended, as it is evident from different reports in the h
usayn Ibn H
amdan al-Khas
b s
al-Risalat al-rastbashiyya, in Silsilat al-turath al Alaw II, 1582, 6465.
23
See Dionigi Albera, Plerinages mixtes et sanctuaires ambigus en Mditerrane, in Les Plerinages
au Maghreb et au Moyen-Orient, eds. S. Chiffoleau, A. Madoeuf (Damascus: Ifpo, 2005), 347378; Josef
W. Meri, Lonely Wayfarers Guide to Pilgrimage. Al ibn Ab Bakr al-Haraw s Kitab al-Isharat ila
Marifat al-ziyarat (Princeton: The Darwin Press INC, 2004); Gebhard Fartacek, Pilgersttten in der
syrischen Peripherie: Eine ethnologische Studie zur kognitiven Konstruktion sakraler Pltze und deren
Praxisrelevanz (Wien: Verlag der sterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2003); Richard C.
Martin, Ziyara, in Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim world, ed. R. C. Martin (New York: Thomson
Gale, 2004), 533; Nelly van Doorn-Harder, Ziyara, in the central Arab lands from 1800 to the present
day in Encyclopedia of Islam, eds. C.E. Bosworth et al. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999),
529530; 530; for Christian sites in Anatolia, cf. Franz Cumont, Studia Pontica (Bruxelles 190310).
24
Abdulaziz Sachedina, Ziyarah, in Encyclopedia of the Islam (2
nd
Edition), eds. P.J. Bearman et al.
(Leiden: Brill, 19602005), 5051, 50; J. W Meri, Ziyara, in the central and eastern Arab lands during
pre-modern period in Encyclopedia of Islam, eds. C.E. Bosworth et al. (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1999), 524529; 524; for further information about the opposition to ziyara veneration in Islam,
particularly in the Hanbali school, see 525526.
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47 2013 Hartford Seminary.
Islamic jurisprudence ( qh) and in the great collections of the h
ad th.
25
The rules of
ziyara-conduct were prescriptive as well as proscriptive
26
and consisted of specic
guidelines of proper conduct (adab al-ziyara) to which a Muslim should adhere.
27
However, even if the Alawi heed most of these guidelines, they also deviate from the
normative rules of conduct at pilgrimage sites due to the general discrepancy between
what Muslims should do according to normative Islamic rules and how they act in
reality.
28
Moreover, and more importantly, the Alawi practice of ziyara is based on a very
specic idea about the soul which necessarily entails a different way of conceptualiza-
tion the ziyara saints and ziyara shrines.
The Alawi ziyara rituals include the kissing of the tomb, lightning of candles and
essences, rubbing ones body with oil, reciting the Fatih
r-ziyarat,
nab -ziyarat, and shaykh-ziyarat. While the rst two categories are related to the idea
of reincarnation of Lights Souls, the Shaykh- ziyarat are usually connected with the
transmigration of souls, particularly those of gifted/spiritually advanced human
beings.
29
Each of these ziyarat is named after the respective Prophet, saint or shaykh to
whom the shrine is dedicated.
25
For example, see Kitab al-janaiz, in Muslim, s
ah
man b. Ab al-h
ammad Fah
r-ziyara
30
in Samandag
(performed on the 14
th
of July), where according to tradition, Khid
r-ziyara
in Samandag , see Jacques Weulersse, Le Pays des Alaouites, Vol. II (Tours: Arrault, 1940).
31
According to Alawi tradition, Moses and Khid
r shrines are venerated by different religious groups; c.f. Yunus Emre, Khidr, Elwan
elebi and the Conversion of Sacred Sanctuaries in Anatolia, The Muslim World, 90 (2000): 309322;
Patrick Franke, Begegnung mit Khid
r. QuellenstudienzumImaginrenimtraditionellenIslam. (Beirut:
Stuttgart. 2000); for Christians the gure of Khid
r to be a bat
r is believed to have generated numerous holy sites, since as the legend goes
wherever his feet touched the ground, small oases and springs emerged. Therefore,
Khid
r-ziyarat can be easily recognized, for their sacred core usually consists of an
extraordinary site within the natural landscape (a tree, spring, rock, etc., see Figure 3),
which nowadays are often being enshrined.
34
The next group of shrines is formed by the anbiya, referring to Prophets or saints
such as nab al-Miqdad
35
or nab Yunis. These Prophet/saint-shrines are, for the
most part, also characterised by natural phenomena which are out of the ordinary. For
33
Other Khid
r-ziyarat are located in Antakya, Turfanda, Hdrbey, and many other locations.
34
The superiority of the Khid
r-ziyara. The Alawi explain this taboo arguing that the superior
spiritual power of the Khid
r-ziya ra in Samandag.
Formerly, this rock was considered the actual ziya ra, today the whole qubba
construction is called ziya ra by the Alawi
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50 2013 Hartford Seminary.
instance, the two Miqdad-ziyarat that are located at different sites in the Hatay region
are distinguished by the conspicuous shapes of the large trees growing inside the ziyara
or in the vicinity of the ziyara.
36
In contrast to the anbiya-ziyarat and Khid
r-ziyarat in that usually they are only of local concern. Thus, they are important to
a peculiar village, a town quarter or a localized kinship group. Only a few
shaykh-ziyarat that are thought to be endowed with special healing powers such as
the Shaykh Hassan and Shaykh Yusuf ziyara in Harbiye are of translocal importance,
drawing Alawi pilgrims from all over Turkey.
It is important to note that the shaykh-ziyarat are the sacred sites most contested by
other religious groups in the Hatay region. Forming a gateway in the Alawi cosmological
topography between the earthly and the Light World and being a visible and tangible
representation of the very idea of rebirth, it is hardly surprising that the shaykh-ziyarat
(1866): 227308, 248. This is why the Alawi in the Hatay region still utter Ya Midad or sa ad ruh
ni
ya Miqdad (Help my soul Miqdad) when they see lightning.
36
The tree in the Miqdad-ziyara of Harbiye is considered by many contemporary Alawi as virtually
indestructible, since it has already deed natural catastrophes such as oods and landslides. My
informants recounted the following story regarding the Miqdad-ziyara to the north of Antakya: In the
time of the Ottoman Empire, the innocent ed from Ottoman soldiers to the place where the
Miqdad-ziyara is located today. It was nab Miqdad himself who led them to this holy site in order to
protect them. When the Ottoman soldiers arrived, he warned them not to use their weapons. The
soldiers did not listen to him, and set about killing the innocent. When they raised their arms wielding
their swords, Miqdad turned the soldiers into trees. This is why today the Miqdad-ziyara is surrounded
by many trees with strange shapes and unnaturally formed branches to remind the people that they
should obey the words of a nab , see L. Prager, Die Gemeinschaft des Hauses, 6162.
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51 2013 Hartford Seminary.
have always been considered an offence by the Sunni majority. More recently, however,
the local Sunni Muslims way of struggling with the Alawi sacred sites assumes the form
of an appropriation in the material and spiritual sense. Moreover, during the last decade
the shaykh-ziyarat were also increasingly contested by various Christian groups in the
region. In the following, I shall present some exemplary cases of interreligious
contestation and appropriation involving Alawi, Christians and Sunni Muslims.
Epitomizing Differential Religious Identities
The rst case concerns the ziyara Kismet yen H
ak m may stay
overnight.
The same site, however, is also claimed by different Christian groups. Each year the
local Rum-Orthodox Christians and the Armenian Catholics celebrate carnival at this site
which, according to them, is called ziyara Cosmanus ve Dimyanus, harbouring the
tombs of the saints Kosmas and Damian,
37
two early Christian martyrs ( around 300)
who had been twin brothers and physicians, born in Cilicia, todays ukurova region in
Turkey.
38
It is further reported that they practiced their craft in the seaports of Ayas,
Adana, and later in the Roman province of Syria, never accepting payments for their
services and thereby attracting many new believers to Christianity.
39
In this perspective,
the respective ziyara emerges as a genuine Christian site, an argument which as the
37
Hans-Gnther Griep, Cosmas und Damian, Schutzheilige der rzte und Apotheker aus der Historia
medica im Raum Niedersachsen, Ringelheimer Biologische Umschau 19 (1964): 3784.
38
For a description of the Christian mythology about Cosmas and Damian in Turkey and the alleged
localization of their tombs in Istanbul and other Turkish places, see Altan Gokalp, Ttes rouges et
bouches noires et autre crits, (Paris: CNRS 2010), 319322.
39
Only in some Eastern Churches and in Catholicism the Saints Cosmas and Damian are venerated as
saints known as the Unmercenary Physicians (Greek: anargyroi, without money). This classica-
tion refers to those who heal purely out of love for God and man, strictly observing the command of
Jesus: Freely have you received, freely give (Matthew 10: 8).
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52 2013 Hartford Seminary.
local Christians further state is more plausible than the Alawis claimgiven the fact that
the Christians had settled in Hatay long before the Alawi. Furthermore, as some Christian
informants stated, the Alawi stories about the healing powers of the two sheikhs were
nothing else than corrupted versions of the Christian tradition about the two saints.
Whereas the Christians and the Alawi are aware of their competing claims they
usually do not take part in each others religious ceremonies performed at this sacred
site. Exceptions from this rule may involve interreligious misunderstandings. While
visiting the annual Christian festival at the ziyara Cosmanus ve Dimyanus, I was
accompanied by an Alawi woman. When she was invited to enter the ziyara by the
Christian hosts, she refused to do so by explaining that she had her menses and was not
wearing a veil. The Christian women laughed at her saying that this was no sufcient
reason not to enter a ziyara (see Figure 4). Shocked by the immoral behaviour of the
Christians, the Alawi woman and her co-villagers discussed for months the shameful
ways in which the Christians were dishonouring and polluting the ziyara. The
Christians mocking of the Alawi guest was linked to the religious tensions surrounding
the competing claims regarding the ziyara.
Actually, the contemporary mausoleum sheltering the graves of the two sheikhs/
Cosmas and Dimyanus has been erected and is maintained with Alawi money. For the
Christians this is already sufcient proof that the ziyara has been usurped by the Alawi;
the more so as some Christians argue since there is no longer any Bible to be found
inside the sacred site. Indeed, historical data suggest that the valley region surrounding
Samandag until the beginning of the 20
th
century was a genuine Christian region. As
Figure 4. Rum-Orthodox and Armenian Christians worshipping their saints
Cosmas and Dimyanus during the festival at the ziya ra Cosmanus ve Dimyanus/
Kismet yen H
ak m
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53 2013 Hartford Seminary.
Hartmann noticed at the end of the 19th century that in Mzrakl, the village where the
ziyara is erected, there were the ruins of a church once dedicated to Cosmas and
Dimyanus along with a sacred spring.
40
It is thus possible that Mzrakl once was
exclusively associated with the Christian religious tradition concerning the two martyrs.
Later, however, demographic changes have led to the appropriation of this Christian
village by Alawi settlers, a phenomenon that is part of a development which will be
further explored in the course of the present article.
A second case relating to conicting Alawi-Christian interpretations is linked to a
ziyara which is situated a few meters from the Rum-Orthodox church in Samandag (see
Figure 5). As in the former case the respective site is claimed by both Christians and
Alawi. While the Alawi maintain that the ziyara contains the tomb of a sheikh called Rih