The original habitat of the Nusayri is the massive mountain range in the northern Syria that bears their name: Jabal al Nusayriyyah (Nusayriyyah Mountain), the Bargylus of the Romans.[3] The ancient Syrians called them Ukomo (Black), following their Syrians’ practice, the Arabs called them Jabal al–Lukam (black mountain). The southern peaks of this range are called Jabal al–Summaq (Sumac Mountains) and Jabal Amil. The Nusayriyyah Mountains stretches from al Nahr al–Kabir (the great river, the ancient Eleutherus) on the south to a point north of the Orontes (al Asi) River and Antioch. The range extends from Mount Lebanon along the Mediterranean, facing the island of Cyprus. The Nusayri are not confined to this mountain region, however. They are also found in great numbers in the Syrian provinces of Latika, Hims, amd Hama; in the Lebanese district of Akkar, south of Latakia; and in the Turkish provinces of Hatay (formerly the Syrian province of Alexandretta, or al Iskandarun), Seyhan (Adana), Tarsus, Antioch. A small number of Nusayri live in Wadi al Taym, south of Mount Hermon, in two villages north of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of Jordan, and in Banyas (the ancient Caesarea Philippi).[4] About thirteen Nusayri families live in Ana, a town in western Iraq near the Syrian border. Groups of Nusayri live in Damascus, Aleppo, and Salamiyya, south of Hama; in al Karak, Jordan; in Istanbul, Turkey; in Yemen; and in Brazil.[5] Until the thirteen century, a number of Nusayri lived in Sinjar, north of the city of Mosul, Iraq. These Nusayri from Sinjar, led by their Amir Hassan Yusuf Makzum (d. 1240), left Syria to help their coreligionists in their struggle against their oppressors, the Kurds and the Ismaili. One of these tribes was Mutawira, to which President Hafiz al Asad of Syria belongs.[6]
In his Syriac Chronography, the Syrian Maphrian of the East, Bar Hebraeus (d. 1286), includes a chapter entitled “The History of Those who are Called Nusiraye.”[11] He ascribes the name Nusiraye to an old man who appeared in the year 891 A.D in the country of Aqula (al Kufah, in southern Iraq), in the village called Nasariah. In his Tarikh Mukhtasar al Duwal (a compendium of the history of dynasties), written in Arabic, Bar Hebraeus mentions a village called Nasrana, from which came a certain Abu al Faraj ibn Uthman, who belonged to the extremist sect of al Qaramitah (Carmatians). And in a third place, Bar Hebraeus mentions the Nusayriyyah as an extremist Shia sect.[12] Silvestre de Sacy, who produced Bar Hebraeus’ statements about Nasariah and Nasrana, seems at first to be convinced that the name of the Nusayris derives from the village of Nasariah or Nasrana, where their alleged founder lived. But after further contemplation, de Sacy seems uncertain of this explanation.[13]
Other writers, like Wolff, maintain that the name Nusayris is a diminutive of the Arabic word Nasarah (Christians), and the Nusayris means “little Christians.” Wolff reasons that the adversaries of the Nusayris contemptuously called them by this name because of their many Christian’s rituals and practices.[14] Ernest Renan likewise maintains that Nusayris is a diminutive of Nasarah.[15]