The origins of Aliyiyism, the Aliyites, Aliyite Creed, Al-'Aliyiyyah

The Aliyites have a 300 year long history that is poorly documented. In this passage, the origins and history of Aliyiyism will be covered. Aliyiyism as a faith has unknown origins. Nobody knows exactly when the existence of the Aliyites began, but by the mid to late 18th century (between 1750 and 1799) the Aliyites had a growing influence in West Africa in the land of the Yoruba people. Aliyiyism is a syncretic mix of Sufi Islam and the Ìṣẹ̀ṣe religion. In 1804, the Fulani Empire, also called the Sokoto Caliphate, formed and was led by Usman Dan Fodio. Danfodio saw the practices of the early Aliyites of modern day Nigeria to be heretical, and he tried to correct what he believed was a heresy, converting Aliyites to a stricter interpretation of Islam that was more in line with traditional Sunni Islam. The term "Aliyites" was only accepted in 1991 during a secret convention of some Aliyite leaders in North America. Before 1991, there wasn't a term for the Aliyites. The West African practice that became Aliyiyism was almost entirely destroyed, but has thousands of followers in North America due to the transatlantic slave trade. European explorers and colonists transported slaves they bought from West African nations to North America. In Virginia and North Carolina, some maroons and free people of color continued following African traditions, often by oral history and in secret. Those who knew of the Aliyite religious adherents often would call them Soofies, Aliwites, Alites, Mohametan, and Muhammadan. The Ethnic Qarsherskiyan Tribe became heavily influenced by Aliyites within the Qarsherskiyan Tribe who had massive impacts on the culture and philosophical and spiritual development of the Qarsherskiyan people. As the Sokoto Caliphate, also called the Fulani Empire, all but ended the existence of the distinct Nigerian practice later termed as Aliyite Islam, North America populations of crypto-Aliyites and even some publicly practicing Aliyites at times continued the legacy and development of the Aliyite Sufi Tariqa, shifting it into Zaydi Shia Islamic practice and severing the Aliyite Sufi Order's ties with Sunni Islam, for reasons unknown. It is speculated that Yemeni immigrants brought Zaydi Shia Islam to the Qarsherskiyans and managed to merge it with Aliyiyism's beliefs about Orishas, making Orisha Ogun one with Imam Ali and Orisha Obatala (called ObatAllah by Qarsherskiyan Aliyites) one with Jesus Christ. This isn't proven and is only speculation about how Aliyiyism ended up being a Zaydi Shia Sufi Order and not a Sunni Sufi Order. Cryptomuslims in the American colonies, including the Aliyite community, were often thought to be followers of small sects of Christianity. Christian influence is a possible consideration that researchers have looked into, as Orisha Obatala is often called the son of God in the Ìṣẹ̀ṣe religion in West Africa, and Orisha Obatallah in the Ethnic Qarsherskiyan/North American interpretation of Aliyite Islam, the North American Brotherhood of Aliyiyism, is one with Jesus, whom Christians often call the son of God. While this is factual, the Aliyites do not believe God has a son, as they interpret the roles and identities of the Orishas through an Islamic lens, where the concept of Tawheed forbids the unity of any entities with God, opposing doctrines like Trinitarian Christianity. The Aliyite Qarsherskiyans didn't write much down, if anything, and relied heavily on oral tradition until the 21st century when they went public and started preaching their religion online, in campaigns known as Dawah. Through these online campaigns, the Qarsherskiyan Aliyites have introduced Aliyiyism to Brazil, with a few Umbanda and Candomblé followers becoming Aliyites in Brazil. In Nigeria, a few remaining Aliyites remain, and have tried to regrow their community and gain new converts to the Nigerian Aliyite Brotherhood, or the Nigerian Interpretation of Aliyiyism. Nigerian Aliyites are often Sunni or Shia and are not part of an organized religious movement, having different interpretations influenced by Ìṣẹ̀ṣe and the Sunni and Shia communities in Nigeria. Zakzaky's Nigerian Shiite movement has heavily influenced some Nigerian Aliyites, and the 1 million Jafari Shia Muslims in Nigeria definitely have an impact on some individuals' theological and cosmological understandings. In Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, some converts to Aliyite Islam hide their faith and religious identity to avoid persecution, a practice known as Taqiyyah. Most people who publicly profess the Aliyite Muslim faith are from the Ethnic Qarsherskiyan Tribe in North America, and follow the North American interpretation of Aliyiyism, or the North American Aliyite Brotherhood and Sisterhood. It is not known how many Aliyites exist outside of the Qarsherskiyan Tribe, with some unverifable online estimates claiming one, two, or even three million being heavily criticized as over exaggerations that lack reliable sources. It is most likely that the vast majority of Aliyites in the world as of 2025 follow the North American Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Aliyiyism. Many Qarsherskiyans and a few members of other Sweetgum Kriyul tribes like the Melungeons are Aliyites, and many have an oral tradition stating that Imam Ali came to North America to preach Aliyite Islam to Indigenous American tribes before or during the era of Christopher Columbus. Some tales which have several variants claim that Imam Ali came by ship or was brought by an angel, possibly Jibreel or Azrael, and first stepped foot on North American soil at a hill bordered by a bald cypress swamp, known as the Hill Of Wisdom. At some point, an unknown amount of years after stepping foot onto this hill, it is said that Qarsherskiyan Aliyites took seeds from a gumball tree (American Sweetgum) and planted them on the hill, causing a now very large tree called the Tree Of Wisdom to grow atop this hill on the Virginia Peninsula, with 4 main branches signaling the 4 cardinal directions and how Qarsherskiyan people are a mix of people from all 4 corners of the world and 4 of the inhabited continents (Europe, Africa, North America, and the 4th is disputed as being either South America, or being Eurasia and the North American continent being one with the South and is a single continent). This is claimed to be the origin of the term "Sweetgum Kriyul" which Qarsherskiyan people coined as an umbrella term for various triracial groups in the region.