Ibn Nusayr

Abu Shu'ayb Muhammad ibn Nusayr al-Numayri (died c. 883), commonly known simply as Ibn Nusayr, was an Arab religious leader who is considered the founder of Alawism. He was a contemporary of Ali al-Hadi and Hasan al-Askari, the tenth and eleventh imams in Twelverism.

Born in Basra to the Banu Numayr tribe, Ibn Nusayr is viewed by his followers as the bab (representative) of al-Askari and sometimes of Hujjat Allah al-Mahdi, during the Minor Occultation. A rival of his in claiming to be the Bāb (Door) to the Imams was Abu Yaqub Ishaq, founder of the Ishaqiyya.

Ibn Nusayr claimed that Ali Al-Hadi held a "divine nature". The followers of Ibn Nusayr are known as the Nusayris (Arabic: نصيري) or, since the 1920s, the Alawites (Arabic: علوي). Ibn Nusayr was an Arab from the northern tribe of Banu Numayr (or of Persian origin) but was associated with the Arab al-Namir tribe.