كنيسة الساحل الغنوصية

My Alawite brothers and sisters,
you have my greetings of love and peace.

Today I continue the topics of the Coastal Gnostic Church, and I will address a very important subject in the Alawite creed: reincarnation.
But before that, I would like to reiterate the aims of the Church for those who are new to this content. There are two main aims:
First: to teach the Alawite religion to our Alawite sisters, because clerics unjustly prevented them from learning; I regard this as a historical error that must be corrected.
Second: to teach the Alawite religion to Alawites in general, and to anyone interested in seeing this religion in its original form, free from the Islamic and Shi‘i accretions that entered it.

In earlier videos I stated that the root of the Alawite religion is Christian Gnosticism, which existed in our region and along all the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. After the coming of the Islamic conquest, its form gradually changed until al-Khasibi came and it took on its present Alawite form. During that period, alterations occurred and errors entered in—I believe some of them to be grave. It matters to me a great deal to identify these points and correct them by looking to and comparing with the true root, namely Christian Gnosis.

In the first video of the Church series, I spoke about repairing the relationship with the Creator. I said that the relationship with the Creator in Islam is one of servitude—a pathological and unsound relationship—whereas in Christianity it is a filial relationship with God, which is the sounder one. In Gnosis—which is the essence of Alawism—the relationship is one of sonship and the soul’s desire to purify itself and return to its Creator, ultimately uniting with Him in the highest Kingdom.

In the second video I discussed the Alawite Holy Trinity and explained its Christian roots. I pointed out the major error that occurred when the concept of the Holy Spirit was altered and turned into “the Gate,” a Shi‘i religious office. But the correct Trinity—the third element within it—is the Holy Spirit. This Spirit is the divine spark that dwells in every human being, and a person need only look within and follow that divine spark to find the path of salvation.

In the third episode I spoke about the exoteric (ẓāhir) and esoteric (bāṭin) in the Alawite religion, explained their roots, and showed their importance as a pedagogical method—the same method our Lord Jesus used when He taught people with simple parables while giving more inward, esoteric teachings to His disciples who were advanced spiritually and in gnosis.

Today’s topic is likewise foundational in the Alawite religion: faith in reincarnation.
This subject has a deep spiritual basis linked to our ancient roots and to our Christian Gnostic belief; for that reason I devoted this episode in the Gnostic Church of the Coast series to discussing reincarnation.

What is the difference between eschatological religions and Gnostic religions?

At the outset, we must distinguish between two types of religions:
Eschatological religions that believe in a Day of Resurrection and Judgment—such as Islam, Judaism, and Orthodox Christianity—hold that a human being lives only one life, and during that one life the Creator evaluates him and judges him on the Day of Resurrection as to whether he goes to Paradise or to Hell.

As for Gnostic religions—such as Christian Gnosis, Manichaeism, and Mandaeism, as well as the Druze, the Alawites, the Yazidis, and also Buddhism—they believe in reincarnation: the soul is not bound to a single body; rather, it lives multiple lives on earth, passing from body to body after death. Through these multiple lives the soul ascends gradually and purifies itself from desires and passions until it attains true knowledge of the Creator—what Gnosis calls gnosis—at which point the soul is chosen (elect) and returns to its Creator.

Thus, there is not “one single Day of Resurrection” for everyone; rather, each person has his own experience and each soul has its own path. When the soul matures and becomes worthy of returning, it is chosen and returns.

In Alawite texts this concept appears clearly, as in the First Mass of the Alawite Constitution:

“So call upon your Lord with a pure, sincere, devout, pristine, white, Alawite, resplendent, luminous supplication that delivers you from the human garments and admits you into the luminous temples.”

The “human garments” are the bodies—that is, the soul assumes multiple bodies until it ascends and attains the luminous garment that is free from matter.

Other teachings state:

“Spirits pass from form to form until they are purified of their sins and become worthy of the light.”
“The ignorant soul puts on body after body until it learns the truth, while the soul that knows God ascends to the stars of heaven and is not bound by the realm of darkness.”

Thus, reincarnation in the Alawite religion is not a random process; rather, it is an ordered process governed by divine wisdom, wherein the Creator grants opportunity upon opportunity to each soul to learn and be saved, according to its deeds, ethics, and knowledge.

This belief originates in Christian Gnosis, and we find its roots plainly in the Gospel of Philip, which says:

“No one hides a precious thing in a precious vessel; rather, immeasurable treasures are kept in a vessel worth only a single penny. So it is with the soul: it is a precious jewel found in a body of no value.”

And elsewhere:

“If you throw a pearl into the mud, it does not lose its value; and if you anoint it with balsam, it does not increase its value. It is always precious in the eyes of its owner. Likewise, the children of God are precious in the Father’s eyes, whatever the circumstances of their lives.”

It also says:

“Flesh and blood do not inherit the Kingdom of God… Whoever does not eat my flesh and drink my blood has no life in him. My flesh is the Word, and my blood is the Holy Spirit. Whoever receives these two has food, drink, and clothing.”

In Pistis Sophia, chapter 111, it is written:

“The soul that has sinned is cast into a new body to be tested until it is purified and becomes worthy to ascend.”

And in the Gospel of Thomas, saying 84:

“When you see your likeness, you rejoice. But when you see your images that came into being before you and that neither die nor are manifested—how much you will bear!”

And in the Secret Book of John (Apocryphon of John):

“Souls remain in the prison of the body, born again and again, until they acknowledge the truth and return to the One who is their source.”

All these Gnostic texts clearly show that life is a universal school, and that the soul undergoes repeated experiences until it learns and returns to the realm of light.

The philosophical and ethical dimension of faith in reincarnation

From a philosophical and ethical perspective, belief in reincarnation answers many questions regarding divine justice:
Are the opportunities to know the Creator truly equal for all human beings?
Does a child who dies young, or a person born with an intellectual disability, or someone living in an oppressive environment, have the same opportunities for spiritual learning and knowledge of God as someone who lives in a free environment full of books and learning?

The logical answer is that divine justice requires multiple opportunities and their equity, which reincarnation provides. One life is not sufficient; the soul needs multiple cycles to learn and ascend.

In the Alawite texts we find:

“Were it not for the cycles of return, the world would perish in ignorance; but God has decreed that every soul will know Him, even after a thousand lives.”

And in Pistis Sophia:

“If the soul does not complete the number of its cycles or is not purified, it is returned to the world and cast into bodies according to the sins it committed—now as a man, now as a woman—until it becomes pure.”

Thus we see that reincarnation is an expression of divine mercy and justice, granting souls repeated chances to grow and learn.

From the standpoint of human conduct, belief in reincarnation engenders patience and hope, and reduces the sense of despair and failure, because one believes there is always a new chance for reform. It also generates compassion toward others, since those around us may have been our siblings or loved ones in previous lives.

As for the matter of fear of death, it is a pivotal issue.
In eschatological religions—especially Islam—fear of death and hell is used as a pressure on people to direct their behavior. But this produces a relationship of fear and servitude, not one of love and knowledge. In Gnosis and Alawism, death is not an end but a transitional stage and a new opportunity; worship therein is not out of fear or greed, but out of love and thanksgiving to the Creator.

Kitab al-Majmu‘ (The Collection) says:

“Worship is neither fear nor compulsion, but love for the One who created the soul and returns it to Him.”

And in The Book of al-Asus (al-Usus), one of the oldest Alawite references, it is stated:

“Do you not know that when priests and monks attained the degree of knowledge, they renounced the world, became wanderers, and shunned its adornment in gratitude to God who bestowed favor upon them and raised them to that degree, and they knew the Messiah in the very essence of knowledge; so much so that the apostles who secluded themselves in hermitages and churches reached a level of asceticism unmatched by the adherents of these sects—out of gratitude and love, not fear and not greed.”

This saying sums up the essence of the right relationship with God: gratitude and love, not fear and not greed.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I hope I have been able to clarify the concept of reincarnation in the Alawite religion, its Christian Gnostic roots, and the importance of this concept intellectually and humanly, for it restores to the relationship with the Creator its true meaning based on love, light, and knowledge.

I will continue in upcoming episodes to explain more concepts of the Alawite religion, drawing on the Gnostic gospels and original sources. I also hope that interested brothers and sisters will read the canonical gospels first—especially the Gospel of Matthew—carefully and reflectively, for they are rich in the beauty of the teaching, both its outward sense and its inward depths, because the outward is beautiful, and the inward is deeper and more beautiful.