Aliyiyism and the Qarsherskiyans, the Tree Of Wisdom, and the Carolina Parakeet.

Aliyite Muslims are followers of a religious movement known as Al-'Aliyiyyah (العليئية) or the Aliyite Sufi Tariqa. Aliyiyism is a Sufi order that exists within the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam. The Aliyite Muslim sect originated at some point during the mid-eighteenth century in Nigeria, but the exact date and source of the movement beginning will likely forever remain unknown. Aliyite Islam started out as a mixture of Sufi Islamic beliefs and the belief in the Orishas of the Ìṣẹ̀ṣe religion of the Yoruba people of West Africa. The early Aliyites of what is now modern day Nigeria reinterpreted the role of the Orishas of the Ifa religion, understanding them to be Imams, Angels, Prophets, and Saints instead of being divine spirits of deities like followers of Ifa believe. The early Aliyites emphasized practicing the Islamic concept of tawheed, rejecting polytheism and idolatry and worshipping only one All Knowing and Divine God, the God of Abraham and Moses, called Allah or rarely called Olodunmare. As the Sokoto Caliphate, also known as the Mali Empire, taught a more strict interpretation of Islam to it's subjects, some Aliyites were sold into slavery in North America, where the Ethnic Qarsherskiyan Tribe has kept the Aliyite sect from going extinct, cutting ties from Sunni Islam and making Aliyite Islam a movement within Zaydiyyah, accepting the Zaydi Imams of Yemen and Tabaristan as well as accepting the Theological and Cosmological beliefs of Zaydi Shia Islam and accepting the Wilayat of Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib, whom modern Aliyites usually believe is the same figure as Orisha Ogun, in the sense of a continuation of an ancient presence of an essence of Imam Ali, and not in the sense of a reincarnated being, which many Aliyites would consider contradictory to Islam and the Quran's teachings that all living creations of Allah shall taste death. The Prophet Jesus is believed by the Aliyites to be one with the Orisha Obatala, often called ObatAllah by the Aliyites, and the Aliyites also believe that Jesus's essence, or his soul, is also one with Imam Ali in the same way that Ali is one with Ogun. Some esoteric Aliyite interpretations teach that knowledge of the truth is this essence, which is passed down to every Zaydi Imam and continues to exist in the hearts of the believers. Today, the majority of the Aliyites are from the Ethnic Qarsherskiyan Tribe, a triracial ethnic group in the Eastern USA. There are also a number of conversions to Aliyite Islam which have occured in Brazil among former adherents to the Candomblé and Umbanda religions, as well as in Nigeria among some former adherents to the Ifa religion. There have also been a number of Lumbees and Melungeons who have became Aliyites, but there are not very many. The Qarsherskiyan Aliyite community emphasizes that Aliyite Islam is not an ethnoreligion and didn't originate among the Qarsherskiyan Tribe, and anyone can join the Aliyite faith and convert to Aliyiyism if they wish, and note that only around 40 to 50% of Qarsherskiyan people are Aliyite Muslims. The Qarsherskiyans and their ancestors in North America are the source of the Aliyite Sufi Tariqa becoming a Zaydi Shia Islamic Sufi Order instead of remaining within Sunni Islam, and it is likely that they learned about Zaydiyyah from a handful of Yemeni migrants in the USA who married into the Qarsherskiyan Aliyite community because they did not wish to marry non-Muslims and so they had limited available partners left in the area who met their desired criteria. Some Aliyites, mainly located in North America, hold a belief that Imam Ali came to North America during or before the time of Christopher Columbus and his voyages and first stepped foot on North American soil on top of a hill on the Lower Virginia Peninsula known as the Hill Of Wisdom. This is a solely oral tradition not based in any scriptures or religiously texts and the source of this is unknown. Some variants of this story claim he was carried down to the Hill Of Wisdom by an Angel, possibly Jibreel or Azrael, or another angel who may or may not be known, depending on which version of the story is being told. Another popular version claims Imam Ali sailed to North America himself on a ship and trotted up the shallow headwaters of a river or creek in the Poquoson River Basin until he reached the base of the Hill Of Wisdom next to a marshy section of the water body, and so he stepped out of water onto the dry land of North America on this hill. Sometime after this event, a seed from a gumball tree, more commonly called American Sweetgum, is said to have been planted on Hill Of Wisdom overlooking the water. It is not known if this was instantly after or hundreds of years later. The tree that grew from this seed is called the Tree Of Wisdom and marks the sacred location and is highly revered by some Aliyites who believe the oral traditions of Imam Ali visiting North America. The Ethnic Qarsherskiyan Tribe considers it a sacred symbol of cultural heritage, and many non-Muslims from the tribe visit the tree on the hill, which is at a highly gaurded and secret, undisclosed location somewhere on the Virginia Peninsula and not easy to get to. The tree is consideded to be a shrine of Imam Ali, Jesus, Obatala, and Ogun, who are all believed to be one continuos essence that God has allowed to inhabit the Earth as human beings throughout time. Aliyites pray to God while at the site of the tree on the hill overlooking the bald cypress swamps, and often hang banners, flags, and notes on the tree which are later removed by Qarsherskiyan Tribal leaders to avoid littering and to make the tree blend in with nature and not be noticed by illegal poachers who unknowingly prowl the area. The location of the tree of wisdom and the hill of wisdom on the Virginia Peninsula are top secret and nobody is allowed to publicly disclose where they are. Some Aliyite Muslims at the shrine have reported seeing Carolina Parakeets at the site of the Tree Of Wisdom. The Carolina Parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) is believed to be sacred by some Aliyites who believe the oral stories of Imam Ali visiting North America, although not all Aliyites believe this. The Carolina Parakeet is said to have copied sermons from Imam Ali, utilizing it's stunning ability to mimic human speech to fly around eastern North America, intentionally or unintentionally spreading the Dawah (preaching of the Imam) to various hard-to-reach and far away tribes, causing a few Native Americans to have allegedly heard these calls and converted to Islam. All Ethnic Qarsherskiyan people, regardless of their religions, consider the Carolina Parakeet to be a sacred symbol of the Qarsherskiyan Tribe deeply rooted in folklore and traditions and highly beloved, sometimes even venerated by a few individuals. The Carolina Parakeet is believed to have gone extinct in the early 20th century, but unverified sightings in Florida, the Santee River area of South Carolina, the Great Dismal Swamp in Virginia and North Carolina, and on the Northern part of the lower Virginia Peninsula, have contiued to occur in clusters of frequency ever since, with a few scattered sightings reported all across the Eastern USA and Southeastern Canada.