Alians

The Alians, also called the Alian Order, are a Shia Muslim community based in Bulgaria, primarily in the northeastern provinces of Sliven, Razgrad, Silistra and Targovishte, whose name derives from their veneration of Ali ibn Abi Talib as an emanation of God. Their precise origins are not definitively established, but they appear to descend from Sufi dervish groups connected to the Safavid dynasty and Qizilbash tribes, most likely emerging after the Ottoman Sultan Selim I defeated the Safavid Shah Ismail I in 1512. The community practices Sufism emphasizing personal spiritual experience of the divine, maintains secretive rituals and a closed-society structure, holds Thursday night Dzhem ceremonies using candles and wine, follows the Persian calendar, and is monogamous, marrying only within the community while blending Islamic, Christian and Sufi elements in its practice.