The Nusayri-'Alawi faith is an excellent example of a syncretistic
esoteric religion with self-conscious elite who zealously guarded its
sectarian literature. The faith fuses elements of cults and creeds of
ancient pagan religions, Persian religion, Christianity, Gnosticism, Sunni
and especially Shi'i Islam, in a syncretistic system that is clothed in
heterodox Shi'i garb. This book presents a critical edition and study of Kitab
al-Ma'arif (Book of Knowledge), authored by the early 11th century
sage Abu Sa'id Maymun b. Qasim al-Tabarani. Al-Tabarani was an outstanding
communal leader and theologian in the formative period of the Nusayri
religion, and became a prominent figure in the golden chain of Nusayri
tradition. This seminal work is a compendium of Nusayri theology and
liturgy, forming part of al-Tabarani's larger project to systematize the
beliefs and practices of the developing religion and to consolidate its
self-definition through a corpus of religious paideia. As such,
this work, together with al-Tabarani's other writings, played a crucial
role in transforming the meaning and practice of Islam by shaping the new
religion's identity as the true Shi'a, reminiscent of antinomian Pauline
Christianity and its definition of verus Israel.