Sunni or Shia? | Who Are the Alevis?

Comments · 1.9K

• RE

  @ReligionForBreakfast · 1 year ago · pinned

  Compare news coverage. Spot media bias. Avoid algorithms. Try Ground News today and get 40% off your subscription by going to <a href="https://ground.news/religionforbreakfast">https://ground.news/religionforbreakfast</a>

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• HA

  @HassanRadwan133 · 1 year ago

  &quot;Before I came here I was confused about this subject. Having listened to your lecture I am still confused. But on a higher level.&quot;

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• ZA

  @zackwing2967 · 1 year ago

  I live in Turkey and my wife’s family is Alevi. Alevism is more or less just a cultural identity for most people at this point. I&apos;ve met dozens of Alevis and none of them are religious at all. But they carry the label &quot;Alevi&quot; proudly.

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• AM

  @amirtaati2891 · 10 months ago

  I&apos;m an Azeri from Iran, most of our ancestors were qızılbaş Alevi before becoming Shia, but we still had ashiks as folk music players.

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• SU

  @subutaynoyan5372 · 1 year ago

  As someone who comes from a strict very traditional alevi background I can say a lot of things about this. My family is quite strong about shamanistic symbols, rites and such as well. And one of the big problems about studying alevism is how provincial and diverse it can be<br><br>My father always tells the old days when their own grandfathers used to put deer skulss at the entrances of houses, particularly if there&apos;s a newborn in the home. I followed it up and it&apos;s a Eurasian shamanistic symbol of health and fertility. <br><br>The overall tenants of the faith is built around the idea of &quot;İnsan-ı Kamil(Wise Person) becoming an idol and a goal for a whole society. This Wisdom is spiritual, but not very determined on religious practices themselves. In alevi tradition, being a devout muslim and never missing a prayer, being over obsessed with Allah, being performatively pious is frowned upon. <br><br>And cems are not annual, in a lot of communities, weekly cem is practiced but these days I am aware that some started to challenge this. <br><br>Those semah dances are also unique from place to place. Traditional clothes are common, but dance itself can vary quite massively. In my own Chepni tradition, the semah is done in a full circle, women and men(referred to hearts and sisters in the jargon) form a circle and make a rhytmic dance, hitting their heels to the ground and when its tempo increases, it really can be a sight to see with loud stamping mixing with the music <br><br>Folk have various pre-islamic &nbsp;heritage, my own family&apos;s ken has the albastı, a Turkish mythological figure that eats newborn children quite deep in their minds. The albastı beast itself isn&apos;t talked about anymore in our generation, but rituals to keep yourself away from it are still practiced. No woman may be left unattended in a house for 40 days after her labour. Particularly if she&apos;s sleeping, someone has to be in the house. <br><br>The biggest difference with traditional Islam is at the funerals. First of all, you can&apos;t bury your dead after washing it and waiting for next day. No matter what, the dead must be brought to its own home, in its own bed, and be laid down for a night until dawn. And not alone either, one of the kin has to take charge and wait with him till dawn, and it can&apos;t be in darkness, a light must be lit in the room, I once asked why all this is done still and they told me &quot;To help the soul pass through the other side from where he belongs, instead of being confused and lost elsewhere&quot; <br><br>Which of course, is linked with Old Turkic belief of bodies becoming spirit marks after death. <br><br>I remember, there was dispute about having funeral prayers just like sunni Islam tradition has. Some people challenged it in my village, saying that is a new trend and in the days of yore, such sunni rites were not practiced. This was actually a big debate in the village for months. <br><br>Anyhow, after burying your dead, your task is not done! You have to give a davet. Which is, again a direct decendant of Turkic <i>yuğ</i> ritual. You gather people, you make a sacrifice and serve meat, rice and halwa to your guests. Again, deyiş and nefes are sung, semah is optional. And then, seven of the community, mostly the decesaed person&apos;s close kin come forth and kneel, dede leads a prayer to honor the dead, and ask God to ease his soul which is now in his domain, and the seven people kneeling there are witnesses of the dead person&apos;s truth, faith, integrity and honour. And if God thinks them wrong, then he should take some of the sins of the dead, and put them on those seven witnesses to ease their kin&apos;s burden in the otherside.

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• CA

  @Cadı_Orddu_Medea · 1 year ago

  As an Atheist coming from an Alevi family, I need to say that the video is really accurate, really well done.

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• VI

  @Vivvaldi0 · 1 year ago

  As a Kurdish Alevi from Turkey, thank you for this video. I&apos;ve been waiting for this video since I discovered your channel. I knew only you could create an unbiased and informative video about Alevis on YouTube.

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• AS

  @AshishDhankar-s9c · 1 year ago

  As someone who grew up as a Hindu(now an atheist) in North India , I found this video on Alevism really interesting. What struck me most were the similarities with the way Hinduism and Islam are practiced in North India. There, religion often blends together with local traditions, poetry, music, and community gatherings, rather than being strictly about rituals or rigid orthodoxy. For example, in many parts of North India, you’ll find Sufi shrines visited by both Hindus and Muslims, devotional songs (bhajans/qawwalis) that transcend sectarian lines, and a strong emphasis on love, tolerance, and human connection over dogma. Seeing Alevism described here felt very familiar in that sense.<br>Only difference is that people (usually Hindu but even muslims) have not that much knowledge about Ali and sufism has to do with respecting each others religion instead of belief in teaching of Ali itself.

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• VO

  @volkanhto · 1 year ago

  As someone born and raised in a secular non-Alevi culture in Turkey we were always taught Alevism as the more Turkish, less Arabic version of Islam. With a different view on rituals, community and traditions, we were told of the respect Atatürk commands in their communities as well as a strengthening bond between Turks and Kurds of Turkey. <br>As an atheist in Turkey, I&apos;ve always had more open and respectful connections with my Alevi friends above many others, which led to many of my closest friends being of Alevi descent.

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• BE

  @benscat · 1 year ago

  real ones know this is a reupload

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• QI

  @Qizilbash12 · 1 year ago

  As a traditional Alevi, I have to say this video is surprisingly objective and accurate.

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• IS

  @ismailcevik2254 · 1 year ago

  Alevism rose in Anatolia, but its seeds were brought from Asia. Alevism rose among nomadic Turkmens in 13th-15th century. These Turkmens were in the process of conversion to Islam in Central Asia and fled to Anatolia when Mongols started invading. Their conversion was slow and it was interrupted further when Tengrist Turks who arrived in Mongol Armies mixed into the population.<br>Kurds on the other hand converted to Islam in 7-8th century. Their conversion was complete centuries before rise of Alevism. Kurds were hardcore Sunnis by the time they met Turks for the first time in western Iran. Kurds spread all around Eastern Anatolia because Ottomans supported the hardcore Sunni Kurds against Alevi Turkmens in the region. How can Alevism be a Kurdish belief?

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