Religion in Syria refers to the range of religions practiced by the citizens of Syria. Historically, the region has been a mosaic of diverse faiths with a range of different sects within each of these religious communities.
The majority of Syrians are Muslims, of which the Sunnis are the most numerous (formed mostly of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens, and Circassians), followed by the Alawites and other Shia groups (particularly Isma'ilis and Twelver Shi’ism) Druze are about 3% of the population. It has its origin in Shia Islam, but Druze do not consider themselved Muslims. In addition, there are several Christian minorities (including Greek Orthodox, Melkite Catholics, Armenian Apostolics, Armenian Catholics, Syriac Orthodox, Syriac Catholics, Assyrian Apostolic, Chaldean Catholics, Maronites, Latin Catholics, Protestants). There is also a small Yazidi community. In 2020, the Jewish Chronicle reported that there were no Jews left in Syria.
Islam
Sunnis
The largest religious group in Syria are Sunni Muslims. Sunnis make up about 74% of the population, of whom Arabic-speaking Sunnis form the majority, followed by the Kurds, Turkmens/Turkomans, Circassians, and Palestinians. The capital cities of eleven of the fourteen governorates have Sunni majority populations, except for the cities of Latakia, Tartus, and Suwayda.
Sunnis follow nearly all occupations, belong to all social groups and nearly every political party, and live in all parts of the country. There are only three governorates in which they are not a majority: Al-Suwayda, where Druzes predominate, Latakia, where Alawis are a majority, and Tartus, where Alawis are also a majority. In Al Hasakah, Sunni Kurds rather than Arabs form a majority.
Of the four major schools of Islamic law, represented in Syria are the Shafii school and the Hanafi school, which places greater emphasis on analogical deduction and bases decisions more on precedents set in previous cases than on literal interpretation of the Quran or Sunna. After the first coup d'état in 1949, the waqfs were taken out of private religious hands and put under government control. Civil codes have greatly modified the authority of Islamic laws, and before the recent upsurge in Islamism during the Syrian civil war, the educational role of Muslim religious leaders had been declining with the gradual disappearance of kuttabs, the traditional mosque-affiliated schools. Syria maintains a dual system of sharia and civil courts.
According to the US government's 2012 International Religious Freedom Report, the government of Syria was increasingly targeting members of faith groups it deemed a threat. The report said the Sunni majority is the primary persecuted group.
Arabs Arab Sunnis form the largest Sunni Muslim community in the country.. They form a majority of Sunnis in all districts of the country except for the Al-Hasakah Governorate.
In 1991, Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch said that approximately 60% of the country was formed of Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslims. More recently, Dr. Pierre Beckouche also said that the Arab Sunni Muslims formed 60% of the population, including 500,000 Palestinian refugees.
Although the majority of Sunni Syrians are considered "Arabs", this is a term based on spoken language (Arabic), not ethnicity. Some Muslim minorities in Syria have been Arabized to some degree, particularly the smaller ethnic groups (such as the Albanians, Bosnians, Cretan Muslims, Pashtuns, Persians, etc.).. Moreover, there are also some members of the larger communities, particularly within the Kurdish and Turkmen/Turkoman minorities, who no longer speak their mother tongue and have become Arabized.
Kurds
The Kurds in Syria are the second largest ethnic group in the country (around 10% in 2013) and are mainly Sunni Muslims. The majority live in Syrian Kurdistan, bordering on Iraqi Kurdistan and Turkish Kurdistan. There are also smaller Kurdish communities in Aleppo and Damascus. Damascus Kurds are very Arabized and do not usually speak Kurdish.. The only governorate in which Kurds constitute a majority is the Hasakah Governorate, where they make up 60% of the population.
In 1979, Dr. Nikolaos van Dam said that the Syrian Kurds formed 8.5% of the population and were almost exclusively Sunni Muslims. In 1991, Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch also said that approximately 8.5% of the country was formed of Sunni Muslim Kurds. More recently, Dr. Pierre Beckouche said that before 2011 the Sunni Muslim Kurds formed 9–10% of the country's total population.
Turkmens
The Turkish-speaking Turkmen/Turkoman are the third largest ethnic group in the country (around 4–5% in 2013); they are mainly Sunni Muslims. They mainly live in the urban centres and countryside of the following six governorates: the Aleppo Governorate, the Damascus Governorate, the Homs Governorate, the Hama Governorate, the Latakia Governorate and the Quneitra Governorate.
In 1979, Dr. Nikolaos van Dam claimed that the Syrian Turkmen/Turkoman (forming 3% of the population) were almost exclusively Sunni Muslims. By 1991 Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch also said that approximately 3% of the country was formed of Sunni Muslim Turkmen/Turkoman. More recently, Dr. Pierre Beckouche said that before 2011 the Sunni Muslim Turkmen/Turkoman formed 4% of the country's population.
However, the Sunni Turkmen population is believed to be considerably higher if Arabized Turkmen are also taken into consideration; some estimations indicate that only 30% of Turkmen still speak their mother tongue, therefore, the Arabic-speaking Turkmen are likely to be omitted from the Sunni Turkmen population estimates.
Circassians
Most Circassians in Syria are Sunni Muslims. They form the fifth largest ethnic group in the country (around 1.5% in 2013) but the fourth largest Sunni Muslim community in Syria. They live mostly in three Syrian governorates: the Hama Governorate, the Homs Governorate and the Quneitra Governorate. Most Circassians speak very good Arabic but they have also retained their mother tongue.
In 1991, Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch said that less than 1% of the country was formed of Sunni Muslim Circassians.
Shias
Other Muslims in the country, who do not practice Sunni Islam, form up to 16% of the population and are formed of mostly Alawites (11%) and other Shias (such as twelver). These Muslim sects include diverse ethnic groups, including: Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen/Turkoman, and other smaller communities.
Alawites
The Alawites are the second largest religious group in Syria, after the Sunni Muslims.. They are divided into two main groups: traditional Alawites, who form the majority, and the minority Murshid Alawites (which rose from a modern schism in the Alawite sect at the beginning of the 20th century).
In 1991, Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch said that approximately Alawites formed 11.5% of the country's population. More recently, Dr. Pierre Beckouche said that 11% of the country's population was Alawites.
The Alawites mainly live in the Syrian Coastal Mountain Range, particularly in the countryside of the Latakia Governorate and the Tartus Governorate on the western side of the mountains, and in the countryside of the Homs Governorate and Hama Governorate on their eastern side. They form a majority (around 60%) in Latakia and Tartus. In the Homs and Hama areas, they make up around 10% of the population in both the countryside and the cities, living in Talkalakh, Al-Mukharram, Al-Qabo, Shin, Al-Riqama, the Houla plain, Maryamin, Qarmas, Al Muhani, and the areas of Zahra and Naziha.
Ismailis The Ismailis form the second largest Shia group in the country.. According to Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch the Ismailis formed 1.5% of the country's population in 1991.
They mainly in live in two governorates: in the Hama Governorate the Ismailis mainly live in the city of Salamiyah, which is considered to be the "Ismaili capital". They also live in the city of Masyaf and in the surrounding countryside, as well as a small minority living in the city of Hama. In addition, Ismailis also live in the Tartus Governorate, particularly in the town of Qadmus and its surrounding countryside and in the district and villages of Nahr al-Khawabi.
Twelvers
The Twelvers/Imamis form the smallest of the Islamic sects in Syria, making up around 0.5% of the population. They live in the Amin neighbourhood in Damascus and in two villages close to Aleppo. The Ja’afari Shi’ites are found mainly in Qadmus, in the Tartous Governorate.
In Damascus, there are Twelvers/Imamis living near to the Shia pilgrimage sites, especially in the al-Amara-quarter which is near to Umayyad Mosque and Sayyidah Ruqayya Mosque, and around Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque. Another important site is Bab Saghir Cemetery. The Shia Twelvers in Syria have close links to the Lebanese Shi'a Twelvers. Imami Shias are also found in villages in Idlib, Homs and Aleppo provinces.
Alevis
In northern Syria, there are some Kurdish and Turkmen Alevis. The town of Maabatli in Afrin District is mainly inhabited by Kurdish Alevis. In 2014, the Alevi Hêvî Îbrahîm became the Prime Minister of the then-Kurdish controlled Afrin Canton. Thousands of Turkmen Alevis were living in Aleppo, and a significant portion of these fled to Turkey.
Druze
The Syrian Druze community constitute the third largest religion in the country, forming approximately 3% of the population of Syria.. The main centre of the Druze population is in Sweida Governorate; the small towns and villages under its authority is called the Jabal al-Druze (the "Mountain of the Druze"). The rest of the community mainly live in the Quneitra Governorate, the Rif Dimashq Governorate, and Idlib Governorate. Even though the faith originally developed out of Ismaili Islam, most Druze do not identify as Muslims, and they do not accept the five pillars of Islam and believe in reincarnation.
There are many Syrian Druze also living abroad, particularly in Latin America, who have been living there for over the past hundred years. In Venezuela alone, there are approximately half a million Druze of Syrian origin.
Christianity
The Christian communities of Syria in 2011 accounted for about 5-6% of the population. The country's largest Christian denomination was the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch. Estimates of the number of Christians in Syria in 2022 ranged from less than 2% to around 2.5% of the Syrian population.
In 2012, Christians were split into five traditions. A primary distinguishing feature is acceptance or otherwise of the 3rd and 4th Ecumenical Councils of 431 and 451, which concerned the precise relationship of the human and divine natures of Christ. The traditions are: Oriental Orthodox (Armenian Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox) which accept the 3rd Ecumenical Council, Eastern Orthodox (such as Greeks or Russians), Roman Catholics, various Eastern Catholic Churches that are under the authority of the Pope, and Protestants who accept the 4th Ecumenical Council (two natures before and after the Incarnation in one person). The Assyrians accept only the First and Second and deny being Nestorian in doctrine (two natures in a personal non-essential union).
The Syriacs reject the 4th Council, denying being monophysites (one nature, the human being subsumed into the divine) and asserting instead that they are miaphytes (two natures united as one in one person, without separation, mixture, confusion or alteration). The East Syriac (Syro-Oriental) Rite is represented by the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic and Ancient Church of the East. Members of the Syriac tradition are all Eastern Aramaic–speaking ethnic Assyrians. Slight differences concerning which books of the Bible are counted as canonical are also apparent.