() is a book that is claimed to be a primary source of teaching of
Alawism
Alawism (), also known as Nusayrism (), is an offshoot of early Shia Islam with influences from ancient Iranian, Christian, and Gnostic traditions. Its adherents, called the Alawites, are estimated to number around 4 million and are primarily conc ...
. This claim has been asserted by some
Sunni Muslim
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Musli ...
s and former Alawites.Glassé, Cyril. 2008. The New Encyclopedia of Islam. Walnut Creek CA: AltaMira Press, p.37 They claim the book is not openly published and instead is passed down from initiated Master to
Apprentice
Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a Tradesman, trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in ...
; however, the book has been published by Western scholars, and both the original Arabic and French translation are available on the Internet Archive.
History and translation
According to Matti Moosa:
:''Kitab al-Majmu'' contains sixteen suras (chapters) incorporated by Sulayman al-Adani in his ''Kitab al-Bakura''... ''Kitab al-Majmu'' was published with a French translation by
René Dussaud
René Dussaud (; December 24, 1868 – March 17, 1958) was a French Orientalism, Orientalist, archaeology, archaeologist, and epigraphy, epigrapher. Among his major works are studies on the religion of the Hittites, the Hurrians, the Phoenicians a ...
in his ''Histoire et Religion des Nosairis'', 161-98. The Arabic text of the same is found in Abu Musa al-Hariri's ''al-Alawiyyun al-Alawiyya'' (Dubai: Dar al-Itisam, 1980), 145-74.
An English translation by Edward E. Salisbury was published in ''
Sefer Yetzirah
''Sefer Yetzirah'' ( ''Sēp̄er Yəṣīrā'', ''Book of Formation'', or ''Book of Creation'') is a work of Jewish mysticism. Early commentaries, such as the ''Kuzari'', treated it as a treatise on mathematical and linguistic theory, as opposed t ...
''; Friedman in particular points to the similarity of the texts in their letter mysticism, comparing Sefer Yetzirah's "great secret" (''sod gadol'') of ''aleph-mem-shīn'' to Kitab al-Majmu's secret (''sirr'') of ''ʿayn-mīm-sīn''.
Most Alawites insist that the ''Kitab al-Majmu'' is fabricated, some even suggesting that it is a forgery created by 19th century Christian missionaries.