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Although the majority of Sunni Syrians are considered "Arabs", this is a term based on spoken language (Arabic), not ethnicity. Some Muslim minorities in Syria have been Arabized to some degree, particularly the smaller ethnic groups (such as the Albanians, Bosnians, Cretan Muslims, Pashtuns, Persians, etc.). [10]
Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is an Alawite. [10] The Alawites are the third largest religious group in Syria, after the Sunni and Shi'a Muslims. [10] Hafez al-Assad and his son, former President Bashar al-Assad, belong to the Alawite sect. [10]
Sunni Islam is the religion of 74% of Syrians. The Alawites, a variety of Shia Islam, make up 12% of the population and mostly live in and around Tartus and Latakia.
In 1991, Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch said that some 85% of Syrians were Muslims and that the remainder were almost all Christians, however, both religious groups were subdivided into many ethnic sects. [55] Among the former, approximately 75% of Syrians were Sunni Muslim, of whom, 60% were Arabic-speaking and ...
The majority of Syrian Arabs speak a variety of dialects belonging to Levantine Arabic.Arab tribes and clans of Bedouin descent are mainly concentrated in the governorates of al-Hasakah, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa and eastern Aleppo, forming roughly 30% of the total population and speaking a dialect related to Bedouin and Najdi Arabic.
In a paper, "Islamic Education in Syria", Landis wrote that "no mention" is made in Syrian textbooks (controlled by the Al-Assad regime) of Alawites, Druze, Ismailis or Shia Islam; Islam was presented as a monolithic religion. [186] Ali Sulayman al-Ahmad, chief judge of the Baathist Syrian state, has said: We are Alawi Muslims. Our book is the ...
However, Syria has increased its support for the practice and study of government-sanctioned, moderate forms of Islam, and Syrian state radio also began broadcasting the dawn and afternoon Muslim prayers, in addition to its traditional broadcast of noon prayers. Syrian state television also broadcasts recitations from the Qur'an in the morning.
The village of Burj Islam is mostly populated by Syrian Turkmen. [66] Most Syrian Turkmen live in the area around the northern Euphrates, near the Syrian-Turkish border; however, they are also scattered throughout several governorates, stretching towards central Syria and the southern region near the Golan Heights.