section_path: Assessment and legacy/In Islam/In Alawism
section_name: In Alawism
paragraph_text: In Alawism
  
  The Alawites venerate Ali, the first of the Twelve Imams, as the physical manifestation of God. Even, the Alawite testimony of faith (shahada) translates as "there is no God but Ali". The Alawite trinity envisions God as being composed of three distinct manifestations, Ma'na (meaning), Ism (Name) and Bab (Door); which together constitute an "indivisible trinity". Ma'na symbolises the "source and meaning of all things" in Alawite mythology. According to Alawite doctrines, Ma'na generated the Ism, which in turn built the Bab. These beliefs are closely tied to the Alawite doctrine of reincarnations of the trinity. The final trinity of reincarnation in the Alawite trinity consists of Ali (Ma'na), Muhammad (Ism) and Salman the Persian (Bab). Alewites depict them as the sky, sun and moon respectively. Alawites deify Ali as the "last and supreme manifestation of God" who built the universe, attribute to him divine superiority, and believe that Ali created Muhammad and gave him the mission to spread Qur'anic teachings on earth.