The events of the Syrian revolution, which led to the downfall of the sectarian terrorist regime (December 8, 2024), have revealed the brutality of minorities in the Arab world, and generally in the Islamic world.
The Colonial Invention of "Minorities"
Western colonizers raised the term "minorities" after the fall of the Ottoman Empire to achieve complete control over the Arab world by stirring up strife, hatred, animosities, racism, sectarianism, and partisanship. This was aimed at fragmenting and dismantling entities by emphasizing sectarianism and crushing the majority that had the capacity to resist colonial invasion and achieve independence.
The Historical Islamic Perspective on Coexistence
In Islamic civilization, the concept of minorities did not exist as we see it today. The Islamic authority dealt with its subjects, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, with a refined humanity that viewed its people as a single, equal team working and producing under the principle: "And We have certainly honored the Children of Adam and carried them on land and sea, and provided for them from the good things and favored them over much of those We created" (Al-Isra: 70).
The councils of the caliphs included Muslims, Christians, Jews, Sabeans, heretics, atheists, and Zoroastrians without discrimination or disdain; all thinking and working for the interests of the state, its existence, culture, and civilization.
The Sykes-Picot Agreement and the Division of the Arab World
With the Sykes-Picot Agreement following World War I, a deal was made between the two major colonial powers (France and England) to divide the Arab world. For instance, in the Levant, we witnessed the emergence of independent or semi-independent entities: the State of Damascus, the State of Aleppo, the State of the Alawites (Nusairis), the State of Lebanon, and entities living under semi-autonomous governance such as the Druze and Kurds, alongside the beginning of the Judaization of Palestine and attempts to seize Jerusalem!
Colonial Justification for Intervention: Protecting "Christian Minorities"
Then, the refrain of protecting Christian minorities, played by major colonial countries like France, England, and Russia, was amplified, with implicit support from Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, justifying these countries' right to intervene to protect church followers from the "wild Islamic majority," as they claimed!
The Rise of Minority Elites and the Suppression of the Majority
With this Western support, elites from minority groups rose to demand complete equality and the right to impose minority culture on the majority, depriving the majority of self-expression. Through the undermining of flawed democracy in some Arab countries, oppressive dictatorial regimes emerged that cater to the will of the minorities while crushing the identity of the majority, responding to sectarian or religious leaders or community heads more generally. This resulted in changes to educational curricula, weekly and annual holidays, the closing of mosques except for a limited time devoted to prayer, and the selection of imams and speakers who obey the orders, most of whom possess a low level of education. There was a pronounced emphasis on portraying the majority's religion as aggressive and terrorizing to society, following the removal of its mention from educational curricula except for general themes, and not including it in the total number of students in examinations!
The Role of Media and Leftist Groups in Marginalizing Islam
Media, press, radio, cultural institutions, cinema, and theater were effective tools in the process of excluding Islam and eradicating it from public life. Various leftist groups, including communists, Nasserites, Ba’athists, and those labeled as secularists, promoted terms that connoted Islam without naming it directly, such as "reactionism," "darkness," and "backwardness." They also assigned socially unacceptable titles to those who adhered to Islamic ideas, seeing them as the best path for a better life, terms like “Daeshism” and “Qaidism,” and names of certain individuals around whom disturbing debates circulated.
The Syrian Case: A Model of Minority Brutality
The Syrian sectarian system was a model of minority brutality and majority violation. The Alawite sect, represented by the Syrian regime that wears the garb of the Arab Ba'ath Party, makes up about 10% of Syria's population and is concentrated in the Syrian coast. This sect is generally poor and has been accused of betraying the majority and serving the French invaders. However, it fought to attain some positions and administrative roles and found in the Ba'ath Party, which advocates Arab nationalism and the overthrow of Islam, its opportunity to dominate the Syrian scene. Zaki al-Irsuzi (an Alawite) was one of the prominent theorists of the Ba'ath Party and had a significant influence on Ba'athists who were not part of the Alawite sect.
The Assad Dynasty and its Oppression
Hafez al-Assad was able to join the Air Force and received a scholarship for training in Egypt. He reached the position of Minister of Defense and orchestrated a coup in 1963, ruling Syria for over 30 years, and bequeathing the rule to his son Bashar after the mysterious death of his eldest son, Basil. Hafez participated in the 1967 war, withdrawing from the Golan Heights 36 hours before the enemy forces arrived, leading to much speculation. Officer Khalil Mustafa published a book discussing the meager price Hafez received for ceding the Golan. In the 1973 war, his army did not perform as required, leading to the disaster of the gap on the Egyptian front. Hafez solidified his rule over Syria with an iron fist, uprooting the overwhelming Sunni majority from influential positions and public administrations, granting important jobs to his sect's members and mercenaries from various other sects.
Playing on Minority Sentiments After the Revolution
He did not hesitate to kill around 40,000 people from Hama through his brother Rifaat al-Assad, as he perceived them as a threat to his regime due to their Islam. Thousands of women, widows, and families from Hama were displaced across the earth. Simultaneously, he created a generation of informants, report writers, and spies who would spy on their relatives and loved ones. The result was overcrowded Syrian prisons and intelligence centers filled with tens of thousands of innocents, with torturers practicing every form of torture and brutality against them!
Western Focus on Protecting Minorities Post-Revolution
His son Bashar did not fall short of following in his father's footsteps, using all forms of oppression and violence against the Sunni people. His planes bombarded cities, villages, hospitals, mosques, schools, and markets, as well as queues of people waiting in front of bakeries. The toll exceeded one million martyrs, killed by chemical weapons, barrel bombs, and other weapons. At the same time, Islam was practically prohibited for Muslims; mosques were subjected to security control, and the allowance for growing a beard required security approval! The media machine worked to place Islam within the scope of terrorism, blood, and violence. Of course, anyone who showed signs of true Islam, not Ba'athist Islam, was deprived of speech, expression, and participation in any intellectual or cultural activity.
Sectarian Accusations and Misrepresentations
The most dangerous aspect of all this was playing on minority sentiments and encouraging them against the majority or against each other, which we witnessed in some of its effects after the victory of the Syrian revolution and the tyrant's escape to Moscow. The Druze threatened federalism (division) if they were attacked or if educational curricula were changed (by omitting the Ottoman occupation) and called for the removal of the Minister of Education, urging massive protests to express their objections, while the minister stated that the changes were limited to removing praise for Assad!
The Notion of Coexistence and Harmony
The West has ingrained in the minds of minorities a culture that believes in subjugating the majority, causing the concept of security to overshadow the notion of coexistence and harmony. This has pushed the Nusayri community to seek support from external powers (Iran, Russia, and the coalition led by America, with France clearly standing out).
Focusing on Protecting Minorities
The Western delegations that visited Damascus following the revolution's victory focused on protecting minorities and their participation in governance. The French Foreign Minister did not hesitate to meet with those he referred to as Christian leaders in Damascus. In fact, some Western church figures in Arab countries openly condemned the revolutionary administration after the fall of the tyrant, accusing them of self-appointing themselves as rulers over the people without democratic choice! As if the revolution's leaders should hand over power on a silver platter to the sects that sought refuge in the West and its armies, while at the same time receiving support from the advocates of despotic thought who describe the revolutionaries as gangs of "ISIS terrorists" and hold them accountable for "Israel's" rampage and its operations in destroying Syrian sites prior to Assad's fall!
Sectarian Accusations and Misrepresentations
One sectarian person stated: "We heard that the new Syrian administration granted passports to 3,800 foreign fighters, naturalizing them as Syrian citizens," then he incited Arab authorities against them after falsely claiming that they burned a "Christmas tree" in several locations during the Christians' celebration of Christmas on December 25. The result, according to this fanatic sectarian, was massive Christian demonstrations carrying religious images and crosses to declare their rejection of these practices. However, our friend did not mention that these demonstrators did not protest against the majority being killed by napalm, chemical weapons, and barrel bombs; instead, he subtly suggested that Muslims are not the rightful inhabitants of the land.
Persecution of the Majority
He emphasized that the patriarchs, bishops, and priests there (in Syria) declared clearly that Christians (10% of the population) are of this land's origin and are not intruders, demanding the elevation of citizenship. He conveniently forgot that 90% of the Syrian Muslims found no one to stand by them as they were slaughtered, even in mere words, leaving them to their fate—the world has recognized it: killing, displacement, exile, imprisonment, and torture. It is clear that some sectarians are shameless!
Fanatical Sectarians
The fanatical sectarians met with the hollow defenders of tyrants and oppressors, arguing that the people did not revolt against the tyrant, and that someone brought the revolutionaries to Damascus on the wings of a mythical bird to seat them in a position of responsibility. They then converged in their discussions about national partnership, viewing the revolution as insincere in this context, as if they were threatening the Syrian people or its majority with a fate leading them back to Saidnaya and its infamous prison!
Revolutionaries Want to Rebuild the Whole Nation
When the revolutionaries say that they need members from all segments of society to build the Syria that has been destroyed by the tyrant in manufacturing, agriculture, trade, economy, culture, spirit, and material, they accuse the revolutionaries of lying for empowerment and claiming that they would become tyrants afterward. Do they want, for example, to rip open their chests to verify the truth of their words?
The brutality of minorities and the impunity towards the majority require a stance that restores things to their rightful order!
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