Islam Offers Something for Everyone in Syria

The outdoor cafe was crowded with men drinking beer when Osama bin Laden suddenly appeared on a television screen in the corner. The men rose, cheering and toasting, when Bin Laden said America would not know security until the Palestinians do.

Bin Laden says he is waging a jihad, or holy war, in the interest of Islam. So Abdel Razzak was a bit taken aback to see his friends and neighbors toasting the zealot with alcohol, which is prohibited by the Muslim faith.

“This shows that Islam is more of a nationalist position than a religious one,” said Razzak, a researcher and social scientist, who says that his observation holds true across much of the region, not just in Syria.

Even before Sept. 11, there was ample evidence of a religious resurgence in the Arab world. But after the terrorist attacks, the underlying nature of the revival has come into clearer focus.

Academics, political observers and religious leaders say that Islam is functioning in Syria as an umbrella movement, offering something for almost everyone--even those subscribing to once-competing political ideologies of the left and right.

And Syria provides an example of a seemingly contradictory trend in parts of the Arab world: as religious feelings increase, secular regimes such as Syria, and even Iraq, have earned broad Pan-Arab support because of their politics. On the other hand, religious governments such as that of Saudi Arabia are despised by many fundamentalists.

This is not to say that the Islamic awakening is void of faith; officials note that more people in the region than at any time in recent history are attending religious study classes, praying regularly and striving to live religious lives. But if Syria is a model of the region, as analysts here say it is, then a quest for piety is not the only driving force. Islam is also filling a void left by the collapse of communism, the failure of Pan-Arab nationalism and a general malaise that has left Arabs searching for identity, they say.

The rise of religious sentiment and its link to politics have many Arab governments concerned. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak recently decreed that 94 fundamentalists will be tried in military court, where they have no chance to appeal. That is a clear message that the regime won’t tolerate even a hint of organized fundamentalism.

At the same time, 23 men were sent to prison on charges stemming from accusations that they engaged in gay sex, an equally clear effort to demonstrate the government’s support for conservative religious values.

“There is an increase in religiosity, and in some ways that is good,” said Abdel Moneim Said, director of the Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. “In a religious context it makes people work together. But it may also create a radical fundamentalist left. That is the big sea where the terrorists fish.”

Secret Police Keep Faithful Under Control

Less than two decades ago, Syria crushed a militant Islamic movement. Today, it promotes religion as an antidote to the regime’s political, social and economic shortcomings. But it relies on its secret police to keep religion under control, fearful that if Islamic activists and the political opposition linked up, they could undermine the regime.

“Islam in our region is much more a manifestation of national identity, much more than real pious religion,” said Dr. Samir Altaqi, a former member of the Syrian parliament and a longtime political activist. That, he said, is why so many people are turning to religion.

Adib Yasserji, 31, a lifelong resident of Aleppo, is typical of Syria’s latest Islamic revival. He wears a neatly trimmed black beard and mustache and keeps a picture of his religious teacher over his office desk. When Yasserji speaks about his faith, he sounds like a political activist.

“What’s important to me is security, that people are not hungry, the environment, good education, proper employment, and I believe that Islam offers the ability to work on and achieve these goals,” he said. “People’s needs, regardless of time and place, are basically the same. People in the West try to express this in a political way. I am trying to express it through religion.”

Yasserji teaches education at Aleppo University but also runs a small publishing house that puts out what he calls religious books. Some recent titles are: “Islam and Democracy”; “Debating the Future of Human Rights”; “World Orders: Old and New”; and “A Life of Dissent.”

Syria’s late President Hafez Assad built a secular system that allowed his minority Alawite sect of Islam to control a country dominated by more conservative Sunni Muslims. Assad’s death and the succession last year of his son, Bashar, weakened the regime. Striving for legitimacy, the new leadership struck a two-pronged approach--politically vilify Israel and the West, and promote religion.

Today, the regime is as secure as at any time since the young Assad took office. Despite its secular nature, it has retained credibility within the rising Islamic movement by virtue of its politics.

“The secular anti-American, anti-Israel regimes are the most powerful,” said an opposition activist who said he was afraid to be identified because of recent political arrests in Damascus, the Syrian capital. “Even the Muslim brothers in Syria cannot make propaganda against the regime. They have a convergence of strategies. Syria did not make peace with Israel. It is that simple.”

If there is a center to the nation’s growing religious movement, it is in this northern city, Syria’s second largest and once a stronghold of militant fundamentalists. In June 1979, Islamists killed dozens of unarmed Alawite cadets at the Aleppo Artillery School, a massacre that presaged a five-year battle between guerrillas and Syrian military forces.

The regime turned to tanks and gunships to repress fundamentalism then, killing thousands of its citizens. It is now the main promoter of religion in Aleppo, in effect hijacking a resurgence in religious feelings that it was powerless to stop.

In this ancient metropolis, with a medieval walled fortress rising up in the center of town and a centuries-old marketplace, the vast majority of the women are covered in black from head to toe. They pass like ghosts along streets clogged with yellow taxis and stores that mimic the West with names such as Pizza House, or symbols identical to the yellow McDonald’s logo.

Hiyam Siddiq, 33, has lived most of her life in Aleppo and has never studied religion. But she never leaves home without her head covered, an indication that religious conduct remains a powerful symbol of identity.

She says that most of the women she knows are just like her. Some religious leaders say that this contrast from a decade ago, when many women were not covered and many even wore short skirts, represents the rise of cultural religious feelings and a reaffirmation of local customs.

Aware of this home-grown brand of religion, the government has tried to foster a vision of Islam that promotes allegiance to the regime.

Sheikha Amira, 21, holds twice-weekly religious classes with Siddiq’s friends to help them understand the theological reasoning behind local customs. Before she could hold a class or give a lecture, she had to get the permission of the secret police, who vet anything that might link religion with opposition to the government.

“When I first wanted to give religious lessons, I was summoned by the military security,” Amira said after a recent class. “They asked me what exactly my intention was, and I told them that my aim is to make people learn more about Islam and learn it the right way. Since then, I move with [permission from] security. Of course, every sermon I give in a mosque is previously approved by the security.”

Promoting a Humanistic Approach to Islam

Mahmoud Akkam, one of the most prominent religious scholars in Aleppo, is another of the regime’s approved religious teachers. He too has a free hand to promote religion as long as it remains strong on patriotism. “My most important position is I am a citizen in the Syrian Republic. This is my first. I undoubtedly love my country,” Akkam said as he introduced himself.

Akkam is a moderate by every measure. He does not always wear the formal robes most religious men of his stature wear, and he even shakes hands with women, a practice that is unheard of among orthodox Muslim men. He promotes acceptance of the regime, stresses dialogue with other faiths, or what he calls a humanistic approach to Islam.

Akkam acknowledges the conflicts involved in promoting religion at a time when people turn to it to fill all of their social, emotional, political and spiritual needs.

“The problem now is religion is wanted to support each person based on his position,” he said. “The politician, for example, wants religion to support him because religion has an effect on people.”

In spite of their efforts in support of the government, some of his younger followers have begun to push Akkam and others to fight the regime, an indication of the fine line Syria walks as it promotes religion while hoping to hold down fundamentalism. In the long run, it may be impossible to sustain.

About a year and a half ago, Syrian security forces infiltrated and dismantled a local group called Islamic Liberation, which agitated for a coup, for example.

One of Akkam’s younger followers is already calling for a confrontation with the authorities, although he said he is opposed to violence. He wants Akkam to stop being soft on the regime and to speak out against what he sees as its failings.

“We will definitely have confrontation with people, with the authorities,” said the young man, who was afraid to be identified. “Since there is a presence of Islamic faith here, we are trying to show people that there is a way to reach their goals through Islam.”