POPULATION
22,530,746 (July 2012 est.)
GDP PER CAPITA
$5,100 (2011 est.)
RELIGIONS
Sunni Muslim (Islam - official) 74%, other Muslim (includes Alawite, Druze) 16%, Christian (various denominations) 10%, Jewish (tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo)
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ALSO IN MIDDLE EAST, NORTH AFRICA, AND THE CAUCASUS
Algeria
Armenia
Bahrain
Egypt
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Lebanon
Libya
Saudi Arabia
Tunisia
Turkey
Yemen
Syria
Syria has been a center of political, cultural, and religious influences for millennia. It hosted the earliest organized Christian church at Antioch, and Damascus became the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate in the 7th century. Contemporary Syria retains much of its religious diversity, with substantial numbers of Christians, a small Jewish community, and a prominent Alawite Shi'a minority coexisting with its majority Sunni population. Under the Ba'ath Party, Syrians have very limited civil and political freedoms, and religious communities operate under significant state surveillance. Nevertheless, religious minorities have been generally supportive of the Ba'ath regime, due in part to its secular character. President Hafez al-Assad (1970-2000) dealt harshly with religious dissent, most notably crushing the Muslim Brotherhood-led revolt in Hama in 1982. His son, Bashar al-Assad, came to power promising reform but stalled in its delivery, and he has faced dramatic challenges to his rule as part of the region-wide wave of protests in 2011 known as the Arab Spring.
ESSAYS ON SYRIA
Early History and the Ottoman Empire
Syria played an important role in both early Christian and Islamic history. Syria was home to the first organized Christian Church at Antioch after the faith was spread to Damascus during the ministry of Paul the Apostle. It was on the road to Damascus that Paul converted to Christianity, and Antioch was also the site of a momentous argument between the apostles Paul and Peter, known as the Incident at Antioch, over whether Gentiles could become Christian without observing Mosaic Law, definitively shaping the future course of Christianity. Islam spread with the Arab arrival in the seventh century, and Muawiyah I (661-680), the first Umayyad caliph, chose Damascus as the capital of the expanding Muslim domain. Muslim and Christian forces vied for control of various parts of Syria throughout the Crusades (1095-1291). Syria was integrated into the Ottoman Empire in the sixteenth century. Under Ottoman rule, Syrian society was organized around the millet, a system of autonomous religious communities. Although they were required to pay additional taxes to the government, Abrahamic non-Muslims were permitted to govern themselves according to their own religious laws, allowing each religious community to maintain a large degree of autonomy without interference from the government. Christian, Jewish, and Druze minorities were allowed to regulate all matters regarding birth, marriage, and inheritance, while all other religious groups were required to adhere to Muslim jurisprudence. This system continued under French occupation, which began in 1920 and lasted until Syria’s independence in 1946; however, during this time the French favored Syria’s Christian population.
Independence to the Six Day War
Despite French attempts to exploit the sectarian divides within Syrian society, resistance to colonial rule united Syrian Sunnis, Shi’as, Alawis, Christians, and Druze. Syria gained independence from France following the end of World War II but soon thereafter entered into a period of political instability marked by military coups that lasted into the late 1960s. With independence came greater state intrusion into religious communities. The waqfs, building or land plots designated for religious or charitable purposes, were taken away from Sunni religious leaders and placed under the control of the government in 1949 following the first coup d’état. The role of Muslim religious leaders in education also began to diminish as attendance at kuttabs, traditional mosque-affiliated schools, gradually declined. Syria united with Egypt to form the United Arab Republic in 1958, but the country seceded in 1961 and reestablished itself as its own state. The Ba’ath party took control of Syria in the 1960s and implemented a largely secular regime committed to Arab nationalism, socialism, and single party rule. Despite the secularization of the Syrian state, Syria's non-Muslim population experienced a deterioration of rights following the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. For example, in the autumn of 1967, over 300 private Christian schools were nationalized, whereas the same fate was leveled upon only 75 private Muslim schools. Additionally, heavy emigration of Christians has been documented since the 1960s.
Recent Developments
In November 1970, Hafez al-Assad, a leader of the Socialist Ba’ath Party, seized power in a bloodless coup. Under Assad’s dictatorship, Syria experienced both relative stability and social repression. In 1973, Syria and Egypt initiated the October War against Israel. Syria was defeated within three weeks, having failed to retake the Golan Heights. In 1976, Syria intervened militarily in the Lebanese Civil War to aid the struggling Maronite Christians against leftist militants. Syria was soon sucked into the conflict, beginning a partial military occupation that would last until 2005. Violent opposition to the Ba’ath regime arose in the 1970s, particularly from Sunni fundamentalists who rejected the Ba’ath party’s secular policies and rule by the minority Alawis, whom they branded as heretics. From 1976 to 1982, the Muslim Brotherhood led an armed insurgency against the regime following the government’s suppression of the Brotherhood’s stronghold in Hama. Although the Muslim Brotherhood received strong support in urban areas, rural areas and religious minorities, who both had witnessed unparalleled economic growth under the Ba’ath regime, were unsympathetic to the group’s aspirations. Membership in the Muslim Brotherhood is illegal, and affiliation with the organization is punishable by death, a sentence that is usually commuted to 12 years imprisonment. Although the Ba’ath party continues to demand a strict separation of religious groups from politics, the government has recently increased its support for the practice and study of moderate forms of Islam by broadcasting dawn and afternoon Muslim prayers and including recitations from the Qur’an on Syrian state television.
Contemporary Affairs
Current events in Syria center on the conflict between President Bashar al-Assad’s secular Ba’ath regime and the revolution that has resulted from the 2011 Arab Spring. Because the government severely limits the mobility of journalists, it is only possible to estimate the country’s death toll. As of June 2012, the number stood at just under 10,000 casualties. The Assad regime’s brutal repression of the revolution has generally taken the form of massacres in which women and children have been indiscriminately killed. In April 2012, the United Nations withdrew its observers from the country, asserting that the increased destabilization of the country made it unsafe for personnel to remain. By June 2012, a UN representative referred to the violence as a civil war, which represents a growing consensus among foreign policy leaders and activists. Religious diversity has only fueled this conflict. The Assad regime belongs to the Alawite sect of Shi’a Islam in a Sunni-majority country, and the ruling party’s status as a minority religion was responsible for a secular government. A desire to replace Assad has given Sunnis an opening to attain political power, and many sources predict that Sunni fundamentalists will be a key group in Syria’s future. The international community, including former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, has been very vocal in condemning the Syrian government’s response to protesters and has suggested international intervention to end the carnage.
Religious Freedom in Syria
The Syrian Constitution recognizes the right of its citizens to practice their religion free from government intervention. It also mandates that the Syrian president must be a Muslim and requires that the Syrian legal code draw its inspiration from Sharia. Syria’s religious minorities, including Catholics, Protestants, and Jews are allowed to follow their own personal status laws. Though non-Muslims adjudicate their own personal status disputes, the Syrian legal system discriminates against non-Muslims in issues of proselytism and conversion. Muslim women are not permitted to marry non-Muslim men, while non-Muslim women are permitted to marry Muslim men. Syria is home to Sunni, Shi’a, and Alawi Muslims and, while Syrian law makes no distinction between different Islamic domination, President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawi sect routinely receives special treatment from the government. The Syrian government persecutes Jehovah’s Witnesses and does not recognize their right to practice their faith. The government takes an active role in discouraging religious fundamentalism and outlaws membership in several religious organizations including the Muslim Brotherhood. Although Christian organizations struggle to receive official government recognition, in practice Christian-affiliated groups operate through universities and educational organizations. Jewish Syrians face systematic persecution and are barred from serving in high-level positions in the armed forces due to ongoing tension between Syria and Israel.
Religion in the Syrian Constitution
The Syrian Constitution of 1973, written and ratified under the secular Ba'athist regime, does not establish an official state religion. Moreover, it guarantees freedom of faith and requires that the state respect all religions. Freedom of worship is also guaranteed, as long as it does not disturb the public order. This equanimity is tempered by two provisions regarding Islam: the Constitution requires that the President be Muslim and establishes Islamic jurisprudence as the primary source of legislation. Although civil codes have been introduced in the past three decades, Syria continues to maintain a dual system of Sharia and civil courts, which has its roots in the Ottoman Empire's millet system.
