History repeating itself in Syria and the collapsed "fear and power" equation

Since Ahmed al-Sharaa and his team, who waged a struggle for 14 years in Syria, first under al-Nusra and later under the command of HTS, took over the administration of the country, the most important fear put forward has been that if they seized power, Syria would fall into an entirely different, Islamist-ideological spiral of violence. We had no doubt that such fears were an important propaganda tool for those who themselves ruled Syria with sheer violence and tyranny to sustain their power.

THE "FEAR AND POWER" EQUATION

The matter went on in this way within a complete "fear and power" equation. The regime, which for a century applied the greatest repression on the majority of the people (the Sunni-Arab people) and carried out a genocide against them, presented itself to the world through this equation as "malaria," thus ensuring that it was seen as the "lesser evil." Even if it committed genocide, even if it systematically perpetrated crimes against humanity like Sednaya, even if it turned the country into a captagon production center, even if it exported plenty of refugees to the world, the opposition fighting against it were, after all, "Islamist terrorists." This fear-and-power balance is unfortunately today the ideological product that all the regimes demonizing Islamists produce and sell best.

Although this product was produced systematically, it could no longer carry the Baath regime. The cadre that has taken over the administration in Syria today did not at all drag the country into a spiral of violence as was expected, and did not even go down the path of taking revenge on anyone.

We had said that there are scenes that should in fact shame those who insist today on "minority rights." Of course, first of all, these scenes are not virtues arising spontaneously from al-Sharaa and his team. They are nothing other than the most routine practices of the Islam they say they follow and for whose sake they struggled. The Muslims who ruled for 13 centuries in these lands and in other lands were never the perpetrators of savage practices against minorities; on the contrary, they had made them an inseparable part of Islamic civilization by leaving them free in their beliefs and cultures and autonomous in their communal life.

THEY MADE HORROR FILMS AND GAVE THE LEAD ROLE TO DAESH

For precisely this reason, those minorities today are able to continue their vitality without melting into the majority culture and without disappearing. The fears about Islamist groups were in any case a requirement of scenarios that they themselves produced and supported, giving the lead roles to organizations like Daesh. They produced and staged horror films. Their aim was to convey that Islam was a religion and outlook to be feared. Those who spoke in those films were not Muslims, but actors playing according to their own scenario.

Now real Muslim actors have stepped in, and they are staging a very different play from the one in those scenarios. This play represents an institutional practice with historical continuity, one that has emerged from the bosom of Islamic culture and civilization. In Afghanistan, those who came to power after the occupiers declared a general amnesty and did not create a settling of scores against anyone.

THERE IS A MIRACLE OF SOCIAL PEACE, AND IT BELONGS TO THE ESSENCE OF ISLAM

Likewise in Syria, the first thing those who reached victory in this struggle did was to turn a new page and declare that from now on Syria is a safe place for all Syrians. As a result, the state did not dismiss any employee other than the dissolution of the security junta and the sectarian army that for decades had exploited the citizens and used its weapons against them. In the other state offices, these duties were left open to everyone who wished to remain loyal to their post, their country and their responsibilities.

That a victorious group, after so much bloody and painful past, was able to make a sharp transition to such a practice is, from whichever angle one looks at it, a miracle of social peace, and this miracle does not belong to al-Sharaa's own person but entirely to the historical mission of Muslims. A practice that was repeated many times throughout history in Damascus, in Istanbul, in Antioch, in Cairo and everywhere Muslims lived is today recurring at short intervals in Afghanistan and Syria.

ISLAMIC EDUCATION AND FAITH EDUCATION: THE MINISTERS WHO CLEANED TOILETS

In Damascus, in a gathering attended by participants from the tribes and from the Damascus administration, we are chatting with two senior commanders who have served together with al-Sharaa since the beginning of the Idlib experience. They explain that the practices the whole world witnesses today are not exceptional and temporary, but the natural result of an Islamic upbringing to which the new administration is subject. Indeed, the first practices of today's administration were put forth in Idlib. There, as it were, by divine decree, a kind of apprenticeship was carried out for a greater mission: For example, the task of reviving and beautifying the mosques was declared in Idlib. For this, all of us, beginning with the command echelon, went, rolled up our sleeves and cleaned the toilets of the mosques. The discipline of the self that this created taught us far better that the victory we have reached today is only a trust from Allah. Even those of ours who are ministers now took part with us in cleaning toilets back then.

The commander explains the preparation for the conquest of Damascus by the mujahideen who took part in this process having gone through a faith education rather than an Islamic education. Without in the least neglecting or belittling the importance of Islamic education, he explained that it must necessarily be complemented by faith education. In fact, we see the concrete example of faith education today in the stance of the people struggling in Gaza. They believe only in Allah, trust only in Him and fight only for Him. It is to be conscious that victory is from Allah, and that even when He grants victory, He has laid it upon them not as a power but again as a trust.

AL-SHARAA TO THE AMERICAN JOURNALIST: IT IS WE WHO ARE IN A POSITION TO ASK, NOT YOU

Now the commander of the revolution, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, is representing his country at the UN. The dialogue between them, in a television program he took part in, when the American journalist asked "Have you changed?", is very telling. I am quoting part of it verbatim:

Margaret Brennan: Many officials I have spoken to about you describe you as pragmatic. But there are other skeptics; they say you change according to whatever you need in Syria at the moment. Are you saying you are a completely different person?

Ahmed al-Sharaa: I do not entirely agree with the definition of pragmatism, because in Arabic this word carries some negative connotations. The point is this: Regardless of what is said in the media, let us look at what is happening now. Today we have truly delivered the people from the oppression imposed by the tyrannical regime.

We have revived hopes for refugees or internally displaced people so that they can return to their country. We supported people being bombed with chemical weapons. At the same time we also fought DAESH. We removed the Iranian militias and Hezbollah from the region.

All these noble works we have carried out in Syria should in fact have been the duty of the international community.

But the international community could not free even a single prisoner; it could not break the siege of even a single town where people were dying of hunger. The international community failed to prevent the regime from using chemical weapons. So it should not be us in the dock; it is we who should ask the others:

Why did you remain silent while these terrible crimes were being committed in Syria?

I believe the world abandoned Syria, but now it must help. The world must not once more become a partner in the killing of Syrians, by delaying or blocking the lifting of sanctions or by preventing Syrians from rebuilding their country. Every party that opposes the lifting of sanctions is a partner in the killing of the Syrian people.