alevism is unfortunately regarded as a sect of islam even by many of it's adherents... on the other hand, i am glad that we are rightly referred to as godless heathens by the orthodoxy. following is a summary of my experience as a self-professed atheist alevi dimili-kurdish observer of alevi politics and religious practices in turkey.
alevi community, which consists of turkish and kurdish alevis of turkey, is a quite diverse group and given the politics of turkey lately, a politicized diversity has provided for more confusion which makes it almost impossible to skim over in a short amount of time and still get the nuances. let me start with my description of different historical experiences with regards to different alevi groups in turkey in order to provide some background information.
turkish alevis are politically aligned with the state, especially the kemalist-authoritarian factions, as they feel especially indebted to the kemalist regime and it's pseudo-secularist policies that they believe to have protected them from sunni discrimination and even perhaps destruction. (they might have a point given the modern history of the republic) they are in the opinion that they practice a true form of islam and koran and hadith have been manipulated and manufactured to suit the needs of the muawiyah so they argue they don't have to follow certain tenants of orthodox islam. in certain cases, like god's permission to have sex with 9 year old kids, they actively denounce it as inaccurate history, immorality and perversion injected to islam by the followers of muawiyah. yet, they do believe in god, as described by abrahamic religions in general, all knowing, all powerful creator etc. they do believe prophet mohammad as the messenger of god and they elevate ali ibn abu talib to the status of the perfect example of a human being and view him and mohammed as two sides of the same coin. they have incorporated religious tolerance, elements of humanism and other parallels with the sufi tradition. these people are theists, without a doubt and they consider themselves muslims and true believers of islam. a recent poll among turkish alevis had shown that over 65% hold this belief. their tradition is closely linked with bektashi teachings yet constantly is moving closer to traditional islam due to certain state policies promoting this.
many kurdish alevis, which are mostly dimili (a language related to gorani) speaking alevis have a different outlook on their beliefs which stems from a different tradition, mostly inspired by various eastern belief systems as well as native iranian religions (such as ahl-e haqq) and sufism. this tradition is roughly based on accepting man as god and the cyclical purification/deification of man through controlling ones desires and actions. this tradition has no belief an all-powerful god, or in heaven and hell, in fact the tradition is most critical of orthodox islam using the many arguments of atheists today with regards to their hypocrisy on bribing god and basing their morality on a carrots and sticks system. kurdish alevism does regard ali quite highly but what they do is to actually symbolize him as a moral guide, even to the point of making up stories about him to add certain characteristics they hold to be valuable. kurdish alevis regard many turkish alevis as "kılıç artığı - sword residue/remains" to imply that these were people conquered whose lives were spared because they moderated their views to be more inline with mainstream islam. around 15% of kurdish alevis refer to themselves as atheists, around 60% in total refer to alevism as a culture rather than a religion and thus not a part of islam. this disgust for the orthodoxy and it's authority also stems from the poor relations kurdish alevis have traditionally had with the turks and the turkish state, especially during and after the 1938 genocidal massacres committed by the kemalist regime that aimed to assimilate the local population of dersim, which i'm glad to say have failed so far.
anyway, i hope i could be of some help and not caused further confusion.
alevi community, which consists of turkish and kurdish alevis of turkey, is a quite diverse group and given the politics of turkey lately, a politicized diversity has provided for more confusion which makes it almost impossible to skim over in a short amount of time and still get the nuances. let me start with my description of different historical experiences with regards to different alevi groups in turkey in order to provide some background information.
turkish alevis are politically aligned with the state, especially the kemalist-authoritarian factions, as they feel especially indebted to the kemalist regime and it's pseudo-secularist policies that they believe to have protected them from sunni discrimination and even perhaps destruction. (they might have a point given the modern history of the republic) they are in the opinion that they practice a true form of islam and koran and hadith have been manipulated and manufactured to suit the needs of the muawiyah so they argue they don't have to follow certain tenants of orthodox islam. in certain cases, like god's permission to have sex with 9 year old kids, they actively denounce it as inaccurate history, immorality and perversion injected to islam by the followers of muawiyah. yet, they do believe in god, as described by abrahamic religions in general, all knowing, all powerful creator etc. they do believe prophet mohammad as the messenger of god and they elevate ali ibn abu talib to the status of the perfect example of a human being and view him and mohammed as two sides of the same coin. they have incorporated religious tolerance, elements of humanism and other parallels with the sufi tradition. these people are theists, without a doubt and they consider themselves muslims and true believers of islam. a recent poll among turkish alevis had shown that over 65% hold this belief. their tradition is closely linked with bektashi teachings yet constantly is moving closer to traditional islam due to certain state policies promoting this.
many kurdish alevis, which are mostly dimili (a language related to gorani) speaking alevis have a different outlook on their beliefs which stems from a different tradition, mostly inspired by various eastern belief systems as well as native iranian religions (such as ahl-e haqq) and sufism. this tradition is roughly based on accepting man as god and the cyclical purification/deification of man through controlling ones desires and actions. this tradition has no belief an all-powerful god, or in heaven and hell, in fact the tradition is most critical of orthodox islam using the many arguments of atheists today with regards to their hypocrisy on bribing god and basing their morality on a carrots and sticks system. kurdish alevism does regard ali quite highly but what they do is to actually symbolize him as a moral guide, even to the point of making up stories about him to add certain characteristics they hold to be valuable. kurdish alevis regard many turkish alevis as "kılıç artığı - sword residue/remains" to imply that these were people conquered whose lives were spared because they moderated their views to be more inline with mainstream islam. around 15% of kurdish alevis refer to themselves as atheists, around 60% in total refer to alevism as a culture rather than a religion and thus not a part of islam. this disgust for the orthodoxy and it's authority also stems from the poor relations kurdish alevis have traditionally had with the turks and the turkish state, especially during and after the 1938 genocidal massacres committed by the kemalist regime that aimed to assimilate the local population of dersim, which i'm glad to say have failed so far.
anyway, i hope i could be of some help and not caused further confusion.
