In Syria, an Attempt to Change the Textbooks
The head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — and now the de facto leader of Syria — is Ahmad Al-Sharaa. He has been making all the right declarations, about his having broken long ago with Al-Qaeda and ISIS, words meant to reassure both Western and Gulf Arab audiences. After all, Syria will need $350 billion to rebuild, and some of that money, Al-Sharaa undoubtedly hopes, will have to come from the West. Al-Sharaa has insisted that in the new Syria, its many minorities — Alawites, non-Alawite Shi’a, Christians, and Druze — will be treated as equals of the majority Sunni Muslims. However, there are here and there disturbing signs that not everyone is prepared to follow his lead. A Christian couple were found decapitated in northern Syria. Christmas trees have been set on fire. Alawites — and not just those known to have been Assad’s supporters — have been attacked by Sunni rebels. The Americans are still trying to decide what to make of Al-Sharaa, and whether to take him at his word. And even if he means what he says, there are many others — including some in HTS —who may not see things his way. So far the Americans are waiting to see what happens next; Washington is not ready to lift sanctions on the Syrian state quite yet.
Now there is alarming news about proposed changes in the Syrian schoolbooks that suggests the Islamists — a deceptive term that is best understood as referring to those Muslims who take Islam very much to heart — have more influence than we were led to expect by Al-Sharaa’s pronouncements. More on those changes that may be made to the books that will mold the minds of young Syrians can be found here:
Syrian gov’t proposes ‘Islamic path’ changes
to education system
Jerusalem Post, January
Syria’s education ministry published a list of planned changes to Syria’s school curriculum on Wednesday in a post on Facebook….
The changes include changing the phrases “path of goodness” to “Islamic path” and “those who are damned and have gone astray” to “Jews and Christians.”
What would a Christian schoolboy in Syria make of learning that the only “path of goodness” is the “Islamic path”? Or of reading that he, as a Christian, is “one of those who are damned and have gone astray”? Clearly, those proposing these changes want to put Islam back, front and center, in the national consciousness.
They redefine the word “martyr” from someone who died for a homeland to someone who sacrifices themself “for the sake of God.” The phrase “defending the nation” is set to be replaced with “defending Allah.” The phrase “God’s Sharia” was replaced with “Law of Justice,” and the phrase “human brotherhood” was changed to “faith brotherhood.”…
Additionally, there were several changes to references of the Ottoman Empire. The phrase “Ottoman Administration” will replace “Ottoman Occupation,” and references to the 1916 mass execution of Arab nationalists under the Ottomans were removed.
This is an attempt to remove any resentment, based on history, that may be felt for the rebels’ supporter, Turkey. The Ottomans are no longer to be described in the schoolbooks as having been the “occupiers” of Syria, but more acceptably, as the “administrators” of the country. The execution of Arab nationalists in 1916 by the Turks is no longer to be mentioned at all. Turkey, after all, has been the steadfast ally of HTS and of other Syrian rebels fighting Assad; nothing in Turkey’s past history may be mentioned that would damage that relationship.
We don’t know how many of these proposed changes to Syrian schoolbooks will ultimately be accepted. But the fact that they were made at all, and not rejected outright by Ahmad al-Sharaa, is surely worrisome for those who had hoped that Syria would, under new management, become a democratic and secular polity. These possible changes to the schoolbooks are one more reason for the Trump administration to hold off lifting sanctions on Syria, until the role of Islam in the country has become clear.
Another proposed amendment was to remove references to evolution from the science curriculum.
Many Muslims do not accept that man evolved over time and for them, teaching what they dismiss as “the theory of evolution” is anathema.
Education Minister Nazir al-Qadri said the curriculum is essentially unchanged and will remain the same until specialized committees are able to review and revise the proposed changes….
Al-Qadri may be able to prevent these worrisome changes that have been proposed from being adopted, but the very fact that they are now being considered should alarm those who thought that Al-Sharaa would manage to keep the Islamists — the truest of true believers — securely at bay. If the proposed changes to the schoolbooks are approved, that will be a sure sign that those Islamists have won.
Mar Boutros Qassis, the archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo, said in response to the changes, “There have been changes related to the Assad regime…which are understandable, however, there have also been amendments that [promote] the Islamic ideology of society and education,” according to the WSJ.
Of course the archbishop is alarmed. Like other Christians in Syria, he had been counting on Al-Sharaa’s reassurances about the treatment of minorities. But if the Islamist faction in the new government can succeed in making these changes to the schoolbooks, what other triumphs will they achieve at the expense of Christians?
So, do these changes indicate that Al-Sharaa is pretending to be more civilized than his predecessor, perhaps to buy time to strengthen Syria before attacking Israel? The references to Christians and Jews seem to indicate a long-term project of raising the next generation of Syrians to be as Satanic as Gazans. What do you think?
From Sharia judge to minister: Syria’s new justice minister tied to public executions
Two harrowing videos surfaced on social media in early January, exposing the dark past of Syria’s newly appointed Justice Minister Shadi Al-Wassi. Verified by FRANCE 24’s Observers, the footage documents the public execution of two women in the Idlib region in 2015. At the time, Al-Wassi was serving as a low-ranking Sharia judge and was responsible for overseeing these executions, in which the women were accused of prostitution.
Issued on:
The Observers were able to geolocate two videos of executions showing the new Syrian justice minister executing two women in public. © Observers
The first video shows a woman kneeling, surrounded by armed members of the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of al Qaeda. A man wearing a dark blue jacket and a black taqiyah – a traditional cap worn by some Muslim men –delivers the sentence in his capacity as a Sharia judge. The woman, accused of prostitution, is told, “She’s going to be executed.”
Several sources suggest that this public execution took place in Hafsarja, a village 23 kilometres northwest of Idlib.
FRANCE 24’s Observers were able to geolocate this footage by comparing it to another video from the same village, taken during an anti-regime protest in 2012. Cross-referencing the two videos, they identified identical buildings and structural elements, confirming the location.
By analysing the footage, we were able to identify several consistent elements in both videos, including a building entrance with a distinctive pillar (highlighted in red), several utility poles (marked in black and orange), and a centre road stripe (noted in blue).
In the video of an anti-regime protest, published on January 20, 2012, these same features are clearly visible, such as the central reservation in the road and the utility poles on the left.
These visual clues allowed us to pinpoint the location of the execution as the village of Hafsarja, specifically at a crossroads near the village mosque.
In the execution video, which FRANCE 24 has chosen not to publish, Shadi Al-Wassi can be seen reading out the sentence. Moments later, another man, dressed in black, approaches the kneeling woman and shoots her in the head at close range.
A second video documents another execution. This time, the victim is a woman wearing a black hijab and a red top. She, too, has been accused of prostitution. In the video, the woman can be seen pleading with Al-Nusra fighters to let her see her child one last time – a request they refuse. Instead, she is forced to her knees as the man in the dark blue jacket, believed to be Al-Wassi, announces the verdict. A second man, dressed in black, then steps forward and executes her with a gunshot to the head.
This second execution took place against a wall graffitied with the words: “The al Qaeda forces in Syria, Al-Nusra Front.”
Several posts on social media suggest that the second execution took place in the city of Ma’arit Misrin, approximately 10 kilometres northeast of Idlib.
Despite the poor quality of the footage, we were able to identify several buildings and pieces of street furniture that matched the location.
The timeline of these two executions has also been established. The first, in Hafsarja, occurred on January 20, 2015 and was documented by Syrian Human Rights observers. The second, in Ma’arit Misrin, was also reported by Arab media outlets at the time, including the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya, which published an article about the execution on January 16, 2015.
The individual presiding over both executions as the Sharia judge is now Syria’s justice minister, a revelation that has triggered widespread outrage on social media. The identity of Shadi Al-Wassi has been independently confirmed by the Syrian fact-checking organisation Verify-Sy.
Al-Wassi’s identity has been independently confirmed by the Syrian fact-checking organisation “Verify-Sy by HTS officials, who confirmed his identity.
Formerly a member of the Al-Nusra Front, Al-Wassi later aligned himself with the group’s leader, Ahmad Alsharaa. Alsharaa went on to found Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that seized Damascus in December, marking the end of the Assad family’s decades-long rule.
'It was not a rare incident in that era'
Although Shadi Al-Wassi was a relatively low-ranking Sharia judge at the time, the rulings he delivered reflect the broader policies of the Al-Nusra Front during that period, when public executions were a disturbingly common practice. Thomas Pierret, a leading expert on Islamist groups in Syria, explains:
These executions took place in a specific context known as the ‘Campaign for the Emirate’ between 2014 and 2015, when Al-Nusra acted even more ferociously in reaction to the caliphate declared by the Islamic State organisation in 2014.
Al-Nusra’s first response was to enforce Islamic Sharia law even more strictly, including filmed public executions. They sought to demonstrate a rigorous application of Sharia law and religious piety, particularly in the context of their heated rivalry with the Islamic State.
At the time, the situation was not favourable for Al-Nusra, as ISIS was the dominant military organisation and had the strongest ability to recruit foreign fighters.
These executions, in fact, formed part of Al-Nusra’s general strategy during 2014 and 2015.
I’d estimate that almost all members of Al-Nusra’s judicial system were complicit in this policy. These executions were not isolated incidents. We are discussing a very specific period and a highly particular context here.
Nevertheless, the leaders of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have been unable to fully distance themselves from the judges and fighters involved in such actions, despite this being the official policy of the group at the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment