Quem são os alauitas

Considered by some Muslims a heretic sect, this small Levantine minority have survived persecution and the Crusades to rise to the top and take over the Syrian establishment. Alawite practices, which are said to include celebrating Christmas and the Zoroastrian new year, are little known even to most Muslims. They account for 12% of Syria's population, or just under 3 million people, and yet have been in tight control of a Sunni-majority country, for more than 40 years. After a coup in 1970, led by President Bashar al-Assad's father Hafez, Alawites consolidated power over Syria's main institutions and security apparatus. Hafez's identity as an Alawite helped him gain the loyalty of other minority groups in Syria, to whom he promised rights and protection. Alawites are seen by other Muslims in the Middle East as very liberal or even secular. In Syria women are not encouraged to wear hejab and many choose not to fast or pray. Shia roots Nusairism, as Alawism was originally called, emerged in the 9th and 10th Centuries in Syria. Hafez al-Assad led Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000 The word Alawite, or Alawi means "follower of Ali", who was a cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. BBC