- Acts 17:22-23
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Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, "Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; "for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you:
- The Alevi
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A majority of the Dimili Kurds of Turkey and some Kurmanji speaking Kurds follow Alevism which is considered by some as a subgroup of the Cult of Angels. They have been described by various names such as the Alawis "the Followers of Ali", the Alevis "the People of Fire", or the Qizilbash "the red heads," from their red headgear. Dimili Alevism bears close similarities to ancient Aryan cults. Its rites include daily bowing to the rising sun and moon and the incantation of hymns for the occasion. The communal ritual gathering of Jamkhana is observed by these Dimili Alev as the Ayini Jam, "the Tradition of Jam." The major Jam, or the grand annual, communal gathering, coincides with the great Muslim Feast of Abraham that concludes the Haj - Islam’s pilgrimage to Mecca and includes the sacrifice of a lamb. Jam was the great Aryan hero in the tradition of the Zoroastrians to whom is ascribed the creation of the feast of New Ruz - the Kurdish and Iranic new year. The myth holds that Jam was sacrificed at the end of his own days to the rising sun by none else than Azhi Dahak. The red headgear that gave the name Qizilbdsh, which is Turkic for "red heads," to these socio-religious revolutionaries, are still worn among the Alevi Dimila Kurds Observers also frequently comment on the Christian influences on Alevism, which could have been the result of intermarriage with the Armenians.
- Beliefs in Alevism-
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Alevi worship takes place in assembly houses called cemevi, not in mosques. The ceremony âyîn-i cem, or simply cem features music and dance called semah, which symbolize the putting off of one’s self and uniting with God. In Alevism, men and women are regarded as equals, and pray side by side.
Key Alevi principles include:
- Love and respect for all people -“The important thing is not religion, but being a human being.”
- Tolerance towards other religions and ethnic groups -“If you hurt another person, the ritual prayers you have done are counted as worthless.”
- Respect for working people -"The greatest act of worship is to work”.
The Alevi spiritual path is commonly understood to take place through four major life-stages, or "gates":
- Sheriat (Sharia) ("religious law")
- Tarikat ("spiritual brotherhood")
- Marifat ("spiritual knowledge")
- Hakikat ("reality" or "truth" i.e., God)
- Four Gates of Alevism
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These may be further subdivided into "four gates and forty levels." The first gate (religious law) is considered elementary (and in this we may perceive a subtle criticism of other Muslim traditions). Alevi legal principles do exist. The following are major crimes that cause an Alevi to be declared shunned:
- Killing a person
- Committing adultery
- Divorcing one’s wife
- Marrying a divorced woman
- Stealing