American Protestant Missionary Activity among the Nusayris (Alawis) in Syria in the Nineteenth Century

Abstract

During the 17th century Christian missionaries began to arrive to the region of the Ottoman Empire especially to Syria, Lebanon, and the Holy Land, in order to work among the Eastern Christians and among the Muslims, including the religious minorities such as the Druze and the Nusayris/?Alawis. Their main target was to convince them to convert. The American Protestant missionaries were the main missionaries who worked among the Nusayris. Due to their extreme beliefs, the Nusayris were mistreated by the Ottomans, and the region in which they resided was much neglected. The Protestant missionaries took advantage of this opportunity and began to build schools in the region so that Nusayri children could be taught the Bible and be induced to convert. The Ottomans grasped the danger of the missionary activity in the Empire and tried to win the Nusayris back by building schools and mosques to ‘Sunnify‘ them. After 60 years of working amongst the Nusayris the success of the missionaries was very limited.