Ḥāfiẓ al-Asad (b. 1930, al-Qardāḥa-d. 2000, Damascus) was president of Syria from 1971 until his death. He was Syria's first ʿAlawī president, and his religious affiliation was cause for criticism among Syria's majority Sunnī Muslim population, who generally do not consider ʿAlawīs to be Muslims. Al-Asad came from a poor peasant family. He was one of the leaders of the successful Baʿthist military coup of 8 March 1963, which brought the Baʿth Party to power, a position the party maintained for more than half