Syria for dummies

       In the article ‘Sunni Cleric Issues Appeal for World’s Muslims to Help Syrian Rebels’ from The New Work Times, Anne Barnard and Hwaida Saad reported about the call by a prominent Sunni Muslim cleric for Muslims around the world to help Syrian rebels in the embattled town of Qusayr. Sheikh Yusef al-Qardawi, the Muslim Cleric, also labelled Hezbollah and Iran, which support the Syrian government, as enemies of Islam “more infidel than Jews and Christians.” Tensions also heightened in Lebanon over the war in neighboring Syria. A mainstream Sunni Muslim organization called on Sunnis to join the fight against the Syrian government. The Muslim Scholars Association of Lebanon, a group of Sunni clerics, also issued a fatwa calling on its followers to support Syrian rebels “by words, money, medical aid and fighting, within legitimate restrictions under the ethics of Islam.” The group said it acted in response to Hezbollah’s increasingly intense and public intervention on the side of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria.

     Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, openly declared his military support for the Assad government. Syrian opposition groups, which aim to overthrow Basyar Al-Assad, condemned Nasrallah’s stand and called for his fighters to withdraw from Syrian soil. Some rebel brigade leaders threatened to retaliate against Hezbollah directly. A resident of Qusayr, who had fled to Baalbek, said doctors in Qusayr were sometimes forced to amputate limbs that had become infected because they had run out of sterilization supplies. He said more than 11,000 Hezbollah fighters were in town, burning apricot and apple orchards and shooting at wounded people trying to escape the violence.

         The conflict in Syria, to some people, is just a political issue. However, some other group of people regards this as internal conflicts between Muslims. This is why I found this article interesting. The writers were not only trying to inform people that the conflict in Syria is more that just a political issue, but also trying to give awareness that those who are fighting in Syria today are not between Muslims. What is happening in Syria is actually giving a very bad image about Islam to outsiders. Most people thought what is happening is all about Muslims fighting each other. To better educated people, they might assume that the conflict is between the two sects within Islam, Sunni and Shiite. However, the reality is, it is between Muslim Sunni and a non-Muslim group that call themselves as Muslims under Alawites Shia. The article stated that, Sunni Muslim clerics regard the Syrian Government and its followers to be the enemy of Islam. 

      Syria is currently ruled by an Alawite regime. The Alawites, with who Bashar Al-Assad is affiliated, is a minority group in Syria, which constituting around 12% of the population. About 70% of Syrians are Sunni Muslims. The Syrian Regime was built by Hafeez Al-Assad who ruled from 1970 until 2000 and was continued by his son, Bashar Al-Assad. He reserved top positions in military and intelligence services for Alawite to maintain his decades of dictatorship. This has generated unsatisfactory among the Sunni civilians. One thing to note, many Alawites are poor, and the military provides reliable income and food for them. Many of Alawites actually join the army for economic reasons, not because they love Bashar or because they love Syria. People are fighting because they lost a family member or they need the money, or they are afraid for their own survival.

         From my point of view, the problem actually rooted from the government itself. They regard themselves as Muslims while they are not. By using the name of Islam, they are destroying Muslims as a whole. Going back to the Alawites’ theology, their profession of faith itself does not reflect them as Muslims, at all. The Alawites’ profession of faith states: "I testify that there is no God but 'Ali ibn-Talib the one to be worshipped, no Veil but the Lord Muhammad worthy to be praised, and no Gate but the Lord Salman al-Farisi the object of love".

         God in Islam, is One and Unique. However, they regard Ali as God, yet Ali is a human being. In islam, the doctrine of tawhid or simply said, the oneness of Allah, is the main concept. Alawites not only regard Ali, a human, as a God, but also Muhammad and Salman Al Farisi are their Lord(s) as well. This concept of God is more likely similar to the concept of trinity in Christianity. Islam is supposed to be a monotheistic religion but this concept is not even near. I believe this is why most Muslim Sunni Cleric regards them as non-Muslims as they worship not only three gods, but their gods are human being. They worship creations instead of a creator. However, this is not the main reason why Muslim Clerics urge all Sunni to fight against them.

       Islam is a peaceful religion that never asks Muslims to fight others unless oppressed. Killing, in Islam, is a big deal. As the Quran states “…if any one slew a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people.” [Al-Qur’an 5:32]. The main reason Sunni Muslims are fighting is because they are oppressed. The oppression toward the Syrian residents is not new. In 1982, a massacre happened when Hafez Al-Assad, the father of Bashar Al-Assad, caused killing of 45,000 of civilians in the city of Hama. That was decades back.  Currently, more than 150,000 people have been killed within only three years since the conflict began on March 2011 Muslim Cleric urge Muslim to help the rebels to fight against the enemy of Islam. Enemy of Islam does not mean those who are having different faith but, as Islam is the religion of peace, its enemy is those who are doing violent and injustice.

      Sunnis are not trying to kill any Shiite anywhere for no reason. The major reason why Sunnis are unsatisfied with Shiites in Syria and those in Iran and Lebanon is because there are Shiites from those areas who are giving hands to the Syrian regime who is now oppressing the civilians. As I analyzed, there are many soldiers who actually have left the regime and side with the rebels as Free Syrian Army (FSA). The important question is, as many sides the civilians, who is aiding the government? Alawites are minority there, and most of the Syrian armies started to join FSA, but what makes the government still able to kill the majority civilians? Besides Rusia and China, Iran and Hezbollah are with Basyar Al-Assad. Iran and Hezbollah are both Shiites majority and they are helping the regime in their violence towards the civilians. That is why Sunnis are fighting against them. Not because of what they believe but mainly because they are helping those who are doing violent. In Islam, it is compulsory to fight to save the innocents from being oppressed and killed.

       The Quran commands to struggle in the path of God. In chapter 2, verse 190-192, it says; “Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors. And slay them wherever ye catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out; for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter; but fight them not at the Sacred Mosque, unless they (first) fight you there; but if they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith. But if they desist, then surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful” These are the verses, which most people misunderstood. To non-Muslims, they thought, as the Quran preaches the Muslims to fight, so that is exactly what Muslims are doing. This is the major misconception. The rebels in Syria are not fighting because Islam preaches violence. The Syrian regime and the rebels are not fighting against each other because they are both Muslims.

       Reality is, the regime is considered as non-Muslim by most Muslim cleric and they are now oppressing Muslims. The world views the Syrian government as Muslims but their actions prove the otherwise. In Islam, the rules of war do not allow Muslims to kill the monks in monasteries, and not to kill those sitting in places of worship. However, the Syrian Government, until today, had destroyed more than 800 mosques in the country. Firstly, they are not following the Islamic rule and second, they destroyed their own place of worship, if really they are Muslims. That is not all, according to Islamic rules in war; Muslims are not allowed to kill any child, any woman, or any elder or sick person. However, the truth is, more than 10,000 children have been killed in the Syrian civil war by airstrikes, bombs, poison gas attack, and many other ways of killings. Besides, sexual and other forms of violence were done against women. I strongly believe these are the reasons the Muslim scholar association called Sunnis to support the Syrian rebels, to help the innocents against violence by the Syrian government.

     To me, this article is very important as it clears up the misconception that the conflict in Syria is caused by the religious issues among Muslims. Ignorant Muslims around the globe, as I was, were confused with the stories. This conflict is not only polluting the image of Islam to the Non-Muslims, it also gives Muslims unacceptable reasons to hate each other. The war has raised the tension between Sunnis and Shiites in the neighboring Lebanon and Iraq. Sunnis started to hate Shiites for everything the Alawites did to Sunnis just because Alawites are Shiites, they said. At the same time, Shiites hate Sunnis as they see the spirit of Sunnis trying to fight against them. What a play.

         From my perspective, this crisis will never end until everyone understands, what is happening. The world needs to be aware that what happen in Syria today, is not because of Muslims practicing Islam that teaches them terrorism and violence but conversely, because they who call themselves Muslims are not obeying Islam, the peaceful religion. The regime’s violence is not portraying the real teachings of Islam. The rebels are fighting to end oppressions and to protect themselves from being next victim. Indeed, fighting injustice and oppressions does not necessarily should be done through killings and violent. However, in the case in Syria and as well in other countries such as Palestine, Kashmir, and Bosnia, they need to shed blood in order to kill those who had killed their families and the community to stop the ongoing grave violations against the civilian population. They have no other option. When people understand the reality, it is actually not only Muslims who are obligated to stop the violent but every human on earth should take the responsibility as well, to make this world a better place to live. People from anywhere can contribute to end the injustice and they do have options to stop the violent by peaceful ways, as the writers are doing.

          The authors did their effective job in taking care of the opinions from the rebels’ side. They are bias and not neutral. They side the anti-Syrian government, the Syrian rebels which actually is the majority population of Syria. It would be better if they discuss and explain more on the reasons Muslims clerics urge Muslims from the whole world to side the rebels and not the regime and what makes the Syrian government keep on oppressing its own civilians.