Kalbiyya
The Kalbiyya, or Qalbiyya, are a tribe, or tribal confederation, of the Alawite community of Syria.
Alawite background
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The Kalbiyya are a tribe, or tribal confederation, of the Alawite community in Syria.[1][2] The Alawites, also known as Nusayris, are a prominent mystical[3] religious group who follow a branch of the Twelver school of Shia Islam.[4][5][6] They are divided into four tribes, sometimes described as tribal confederations: the Matawira, Haddadin, Khayyatin and Kalbiyya.[1][2][7]
History
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Kalbiyya had a reputation for lawlessness and were in open conflict with the Ottoman authorities.[8] In the 1850s, an English missionary, Samuel Lyde lived among them and built a mission and school.[9]He subsequently published a negative but popular account of his time there, in which he wrote that he was convinced that they were like St Paul's description of the heathen: "filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness".[10] He criticized their brigandage, feuds, lying and divorce[10] and claimed that "the state of [their] society was a perfect hell upon earth".[11]
The Kalbiyya consisted of five branches: Rashawneh, Junaydi, al-Nawasireh, al-Jurud, and al-Qarahilah. The Junayd family typically provided the confederation's leadership and was based at Tell Salhab, near Masyaf.[12]
Role in Assad government
The 1963 Syrian coup d'état was led by three Alawites: Salah Jadid, Muhammad Umran and Hafez Al-Assad.[13] Assad was from the Kalbiyya tribe,[14] Umran from the Khayyatin, and Jadid from the Haddadin.[13] Following Assad's seizure of sole power in 1970 (the Corrective Movement), part of his strategy was to concentrate control in the hands of members of the Kalbiyya tribe.[13] In practice, active participation in the Assad government has, since then, been limited to members of the Kalbiyya tribe.[15]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-Alawi Community of Cilicia and its sacred places, by Gisela Procházka-Eisl, Verlag, 2010, page 81
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Batatu, p. 377.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
