Saleh al-Ali

Sheikh Saleh al-Ali (1883 – 13 April 1950) was a Syrian Alawite military commander who led the Alawite revolt of 1919–1921 against the French Mandate of Syria. After a general amnesty in 1922 he abstained from all political activity until his death at Tartus. ^{1 2}

Salih al-Ali was born at al-Shaykh Badr, in the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range. The year of his birth is given two ways: the English article's lead and infobox, the Arabic article and the Urdu article's body give 1883, while the Urdu article's lead gives 1884, the English article's death-age template computes from 1884 and files him under "1884 births", and Wikidata carries both values. He was born to a family of Alawite notables; the Arabic article names his father, Sheikh Ali Salman of al-Murayqib, as a sheikh, religious man and poet and one of the known sheikhs of the Alawite ta'ifa, and his mother as Hababa, daughter of Sheikh Ali Eid of Bsharaghi near Jableh. ^{1 2 3 4}

He reportedly clashed with the Ottomans in 1918, before their withdrawal from Syria, killing two Ottoman soldiers who were harassing a wife of his father — an act that gained him a local reputation as a rebel. The Ottoman state sentenced him to death and he declared his revolt, making the Sheikh Badr area his base. After his father's death he built a shrine for him and reportedly performed miracles at the site, according to local legend. ^{1 2}

Al-Ali led the revolt of the coastal mountains against the French from 1919. The balance shifted in France's favour after they conquered Damascus, defeating a makeshift army at the Battle of Maysalun on 24 July 1920. Around this time al-Ali began collaborating, through Ibrahim Hananu's mediation, with Turkish Kemalist forces fighting the French in southern Anatolia; a letter addressed directly to Mustafa Kemal in January 1921 asking for weapons for their common "jihad" against the French is preserved in the Turkish ATASE military archives in Ankara. ¹

When he refused the French offer of a separate Alawite state, the French placed him under house arrest and tried to groom his younger brother Mahmoud as a political substitute; the brother refused. Al-Ali remained in hiding until General Gouraud issued a general amnesty in 1922, returned home, and abstained from all political activity until his death on 13 April 1950 at Tartus. ^{1 2}

In the early 1930s al-Ali returned to political activity against the religious-political proselytising of French and Western missions among Muslims generally and Alawites especially, and his activity culminated in his refusal of a separate Alawite state and his declaration that the mountain was part of Syria. After independence he became a celebrated figure: in his first public appearance since 1922 he was guest of honour of President Shukri al-Quwatli at the Evacuation Day celebrations on 17 April 1946. ^{1 2}

The sources document Saleh al-Ali's community fully, and his record separates communal role from personal attestation. As communal role and background: the English article's lead calls him a Syrian Alawite military commander and its background section says he was born to a family of Alawite notables of al-Shaykh Badr; the Arabic article says his father was one of the known sheikhs of the Alawite ta'ifa, and Saleh himself bore the title Sheikh and led his community's revolt; the Urdu article calls him an Alawite leader. As affiliation-shaped attestations there are only two, both single structured values: the Arabic article's infobox, which gives his religion as Islam and his creed as Alawite, and Wikidata's religion field, which carries Islam and Alawites together. No article text names an affiliation for him personally beyond his community and his office in it, no source attests "Shia" for him, and the museum's faith enum has no alawite value; the Shia mapping is therefore not engaged and none is forced. His value stands as unknown, with the community stated here in full. ^{1 2 3 4}