ʿAlawism through Women’s Eyes

The ʿAlawi “practice of secrecy involves a do-not-talk-it proscription” (Bellman, 1984, p. 144). This proscription, grounded in ʿAlawi cosmology and biological differences between men and women, has created the basis for the socio-religious organisation of the community. That is to say, the Turkish ʿAlawi community is divided between those who know the secrets and those who do not.