After Assad’s fall, acids learn to negotiate complex and contradictory freedoms
9 mins read

After Assad’s fall, acids learn to negotiate complex and contradictory freedoms

During Assad regime in SyriaFear kept people silently. Tempted to talk about your true beliefs? Your neighbors would threaten to cancel relationships, and you can get a visit from a state intelligence service. Call people to your religion? You would end up in jail – with a longer punishment if you spoke on behalf of versions of Islam that the Assad regime associated with its enemies.

It was a mixture of authoritarianism and secularism – admittedly a strange combination for those in the West, which usually associates secularism with the freedom to choose their own religion. In Syria, secularism posed political threats. It meant that you did not express your faith publicly or ask others to explain theirs.

Syria is a nation of extraordinary religious diversity: Muslims of all kinds; Christians of all kinds; And others who seem to combine the two religions. But during the old regime you simply did not talk about it. You engaged other acids by avoiding all discussion about religious beliefs.

The formula worked in a way. It gave people a false sense of harmony between communities. If you cannot challenge the belief from other communities, and they cannot challenge yours, you can conclude that acids are good at agreeing on their differences. Syrians are a tolerant people, but the national harmony – based as it was on fear of the state – was a fragile.

The old formula also meant that acids had little experience of religiously confronted. In the Western countries, all kinds of religious groups can turn on your door – or approach you in a public place – to invite you to leave your religion and embrace their. It can be annoying, but you learn to handle it. You’re moving off it. It is simply the price to be paid for freedom for everyone. But acids were not free to speak openly, and therefore they took it for granted that religious confrontation is not something that acid does.

Now the lid has come off.

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Salafism, the ultra-conservative trend in Sunni-Islam, was the first of the gates. They confront people on public transport. They run pick-ups around the city with speakers that blast out their message. They put up posters that lead women to dress throughout burka. They publish videos “disprove” heretics and unbelief.

Many were confused at first. This is not what acids do! Violence broke out in some cases. Was it because Salafi Partisans forced others to follow their preaching – or on humans, feel threatened, not know how to respond except for violence?

Syrians will face the price of freedom in their own way, but it will take time, and it will be a rocky way forward. Some capture the speed and shoot back. The most effective answer has come from women, from all religious backgrounds, who do not want Salafism to strip them from their decision -making power in public spaces. For example, in response to the Salafi poster about how women should dress, women have counteracted with A poster On how free Female dress – that is, as they choose. It effectively satirizes burka poster.

Islamization of national culture

Despite this, many are afraid that the group that threw the regime, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is Salafism-heavy. Ahmed al-Sharaa, The de facto Leaders for Syria since the case of the regime has made it clear that the economy is highest priority. He reaches regional and global leaders for investment. He also tries to merge the remaining rebel groups into a single national army, and he cooperates with the United States In order to free the land Islamic State.

But there is a feeling of creeping Islamization at the local level, with Salafism clearly on the way up, even if not the majority. Books on Salafism, Once prohibitedIs now plentiful in bookstores. Will this promote religious supremacism? Security forces are educated in Islam. The stated goal is to introduce morality into them, as opposed to the notorious corruption of the former regime. But it raises questions about the relationship between a doctrinally uniform military to a religiously pluralistic nation.

What many people find worrying is that al-Sharaa does not share their views. HTS -RANGERS Include Salafi Partisans Who expects to be rewarded for having overturned the regime with a rule of Islam. Al-Shara itself sets the stage for economic liberalization after decades of state administration, following the model of Türkiye-but as Türkiye’s leader, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, reining in ultra-conservative elements is not his priority.

New Syrian flags are sold in Homs

New Syrian flags are sold on a street in the city of Homs on January 22, 2025 in Homs, Syria. (Photo of Spencer Flat / Getty Images)

Liberalization of the economy and Islamization of national culture – is that what is available for free Syria? In several media interviews, Nazir Al-Qadri, Minister of Education defended the Islamization of the national curriculum. On the one hand, he has the right to remove material that glorifies the former regime. On the other hand, his response to requirements for clarification has been Cagey.

For example, the last verse in the opening chapter in the Qur’an refers to two groups: those with whom God is anger and those who are incorrect. Minister al-Qadri has said that from now on students will learn that the verse refers to Jews and Christians respectively. When challenged, he claims that it does not refer to all Jews and Christians, only those who do not follow the truth. But it does not take much to see that he means by truth dynies who do not embrace Islam.

Salafism’s partisans feel that they have a monopoly on what monotheism means. Everyone else – traditional Muslims included – think they worship one God, but they don’t actually. Thus, if the glory of Islam is to return to Syria, such religious deficiency must be eliminated. Salafism’s partisans believe it is their religious obligation not only to preach true monotheism, but to do so with antagonism against those who avoid it. Their goal is to establish a society in perfect conformity with Islam, as they understand it, not with violence – it is jihadism – but by actively Islamizing society with intense efforts for proselytization.

What is the future of free Syria?

At present, for average citizens, it is not clear what this means. They see the religious confrontations of Salafi party not as the price of freedom, but as proof that a religious authoritarianism will soon take the place of the secularist.

And Salafi partisans are ready. They have their call points to undermine all other beliefs. However, after several years of not talking about religion, people do not know what to say. (Friends in Aleppo ask me how to answer.) Christians are most vulnerable because unlike Druze they do not have a militia to keep Salafis out of their neighborhood. It is worth noting that Salafis directs much of their preaching against Sunni Muslims, who according to Salafism do not have its monotheism correctly.

The traditional religious facility shoots back, but they do what they did during Assad – by looking at the state to protect it from theological attacks and the clash over the control of mosques that the arrival of Salafism has brought to Syria.

The traditional religious leaders have received insurance from the new minister for religious issues such as The state recognizes them – In other words, it does not plan to make Salafism the state religion. But these traditional religious leaders try to square circle. They want all the freedoms in new Syria, but they also want the state to limit Salafism’s freedom.

Some Western expertsLike many acids, feel that the creeping Islamization is pointing to a future for religious authorism, not democracy. Such a view is short -term. First, if you choose economic liberalization, social liberalization is not far behind – although, in the case of Syria, its moral contours will not be the same as in Western countries. It is true that the new leaders have not been completely transparent on their views on the religious future of their pluralistic nation. They may be busy with monumental challenges in more pressing areas, especially the economy, but it is no excuse for religious cushioning.

Syria is still undergoing a learning process. The religious volatility on the ground is not the first signs of religious autitarianism but the first signs of freedom and the price that acids that other people have to pay for it.

Paul L. Heck is a professor of theology and Islamic studies at Georgetown University. His latest books are Skepticism in classical Islam: moments of confusion and Political theology and Islam: from the birth of the empire to the modern state.

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