Avoiding past mistakes: Seven key concerns about the Islamist approach in Syria - opinion

Can you imagine a country where the ruling regime drove its citizens to the point that it became perfectly normal for members of the same family to report each other to the security services? Imagine a place where a single word, said jokingly by a worker to his colleague or by someone to a neighbor could be politicized and lead the speaker to the depths of grave-like prisons or to eternal disappearance—or even to death.

Can you picture a state where citizens feel that birds need security clearance to sing, flowers need permission from the same security branches to bloom, and trees must obtain approval to bear fruit? This was Syria – a full and literal embodiment of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984.

For more than half a century, this has been the situation, from the rule of Assad the father to Assad the son. Matters worsened catastrophically after the outbreak of the Syrian revolution on March 15, 2011. The social contract in this country was based on an utterly bizarre equation: We take everything – the wealth, resources, economy, and power – and you get nothing except the air you breathe and the Captagon we smuggle to various parts of the world. They barely survive on meager remittances from those abroad. If not for them, people would die of hunger.

The horrifying scenes reported by global media from Sednaya Prison, as gruesome as they are, represent only a small fraction of the full picture of Syria’s reality under the rule of the Ba’ath regime, the Assads, and the Alawite sect. They turned Syria into two backyard gardens: one for Russia and the other for Iran, alongside militias such as the Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah. These militias carried out sectarian killings under various pretexts, the most prominent being their claim to resist Israel and protect the Arab and Islamic nations.

No regime on Earth has exploited the anti-Israel cause more than the Ba’ath regime and the Assads, both father and son.

I HAVE said this many times and will repeat it: Only those who have experienced tyranny truly understand its bitterness. Having endured it myself and paid the price, I still feel its bitterness in my throat. I deeply understand how the Syrians feel now, after more than half a century of murder, oppression, and complete domination. Finally, the Assadian tyranny has fallen.

Some of us, myself included, have legitimate fears of Syria becoming a large “ISIS house” or a hub for jihadists in the Middle East. However, these fears must not prevent us from sharing the Syrians’ joy in the fall of the tyrant Bashar al-Assad – a man who bombed his own people with barrel bombs and chemical weapons. Even if temporarily, until the situation becomes clearer, the Syrian people have emerged from the bottle and are breathing the fragrance of freedom not inhaled for half a century. This is a historic moment for them that we must respect and understand.

However, this joy compels us to ask many questions to avoid repeating the catastrophic failures of Islamist movements known by all non-Islamists in Jordan, Sudan, Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen, and Morocco – denied by Islamists but recognized by those who aren’t or who are neutral. I will highlight seven key concerns that represent the Islamist approach in a different way.

Al Aqsa Mosque

Some fighters, associates of Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Julani, appeared in a video declaring their intention to “enter Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Prophet’s Mosque, and the Ka’aba just as they entered the Umayyad Mosque,” meaning through combat.

Umayyad Mosque duplicity

Julani’s speech at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus starkly contradicted his interview with CNN. His speech adopted the rhetoric of jihadist groups that disregard nations, prioritizing the supremacy of the group, organization, or ideology. He attributed victory to the “mujahideen,” (jihadist warriors) not the Syrian revolutionaries, dedicating it to the Islamic nation as though Syria belonged exclusively to Islamists. This reveals that his statements to CNN were likely made with Islamic taqiyya (pretense) in mind—a concept everyone understands.

Islamic Taqiyya is the false adoption of various positions of deception based on a religious background of texts and hadiths. All political Islam movements adopt this approach; they deceive you in many matters, because you are an infidel. It allows and encourages them lie with a clear conscience. Lying for them is a means to reach a higher goal, which is the caliphate.

Invasion against non-believers

The Islamist figure Muhammad Al-Bashir, a member of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and the interim Syrian prime minister, delivered a sermon last Friday at the Umayyad Mosque. His alarming speech included statements like: “What happened in Syria is a great conquest. Syria was blessed by God and cleansed of tyranny to become the abode of faith and the hub of Islam.”

His use of the term conquest equates it to invasion in Islamic tradition, suggesting that Syria was a non-believing state. His claim that Syria is the “abode of faith and Islam” excludes all other components, erasing the diverse Syrian identity.

Islamic government takeover

The composition of the Syrian government, dominated by the Islamic current in all its forms, raises concerns. Where are the Kurds, Druze, Christians, Shia, and others? Additionally, some of the appointed ministers have records of terrorist and criminal activities.

Turkish Neo-Ottomanism

Ibrahim Kalin, Turkey’s intelligence chief, visited Damascus two days ago, marking the first visit by a foreign official to Syria. Kalin prayed at the Umayyad Mosque, indicating that it may become the new symbol of governance in Syria. This visit reminds me of Abdullah Gul’s trip to Egypt after the January 2011 revolution, raising the question: Has Iranian and Russian tutelage over Syria ended, ushering in a Turkish tutelage instead? Has Syria become a full-fledged backyard garden for Turkey, whose ruling regime seeks to revive the Ottoman Empire with “Neo-Ottomanism”?

Field executions

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that factions from the “Dawn of Freedom” operations room carried out field executions against dozens of injured military personnel belonging to the Manbij Military Council. The executions took place in a military hospital near the al-Tahouna roundabout, illustrating the exceptionally murky state of affairs.

Media duplicity

Julani’s appearance with Jumana Karadsheh on CNN, where he distanced himself from Sunni terrorist groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda, attempted to reassure Alawites and Christians, and presented his intellectual evolution, prompt us to ask: What is the correct application of Islam? When and during which period was Islam ever a humanitarian religion?

My hope lies not in Julani and his companions but in the young Syrian expatriates in Europe. These individuals have achieved remarkable successes and learned how nations are built on justice. They understand how to create a secular, democratic state that embraces everyone—a nation of freedom, peace, and equality.

The writer is a political analyst specializing in Middle East affairs and Islamic movements, an opinion writer and a member of the Swedish PEN Association. He lives in Lund, Sweden.