Ibn Taymiyya’s Fatāwā against the Nuṣayrī-ʿAlawī Sect

The view of Sunnī scholars about minorities and sects in the medieval Muslim world has a crucial influence on their actual image in the Middle East. While Šī'īsm is considered a fifth school (madcombining macron belowhab) in Islam today, Sunnī authorities have never accepted such sects as Bahācombining comma above rightīs, Druzes and Nuscombining dot belowayrīs-'Alawīs as part of Islam. This rejection of what Sunnīs consider as heretical sects contributed to their persecution and isolation, which lasted until the twentieth century.