Syria: A Modern History
From 1976 until 1982, the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria organized revolts and an armed insurgency against Assad's regime. The government mobilized to crush the Muslim Brotherhood culminating in a massacre in Hama in 1982, and until March 2011, public displays of anti-regime activity were very limited. Currently, Bashar al-Assad's regime faces an ongoing uprising, which many believe was sparked by the Arab Spring -- a wave of protests in the Arab world that began in Tunisia in 2010. While the uprising is dominated by Sunni Muslims, there are protesters from Druze, Christian and even Alawite backgrounds, many calling for more political rights, social reform and regime change.
In the aftermath of World War I and the weakening of the Ottoman Empire, Syria functioned as a French protectorate heading toward independence. That independence would become official in 1946, following World War II. The decades of the 1950s and 1960s were marked by political instability and a series of military coups. In one of those coups, Hafez al-Assad and the secular Ba'ath Party ousted the civilian party leadership and Assad assumed the role of prime minister. He ruled Syria autocratically from 1970 to 2000 and was succeeded by his son Bashar al-Assad after his death in 2000.
Allied with the Soviet Union, the Syrian dictator established a secular state with a pan-Arab outlook, forging strong relations with Iraq. Though the head of state was required to be a Muslim, the nation was nominally tolerant of its Christian minority. Compulsory and free public education was established for both boys and girls; women served in government posts, and wearing of the niqab (a veil covering the face) was banned in public places like universities. As happened elsewhere, from the United States (where legislators added "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance) to Afghanistan (where religiously-inspired mujahadeen attempted to oust Soviet troops), the forced secularization was met with resistance from people of faith. The trend in Middle Eastern countries was that the initial resistance came primarily from faith-based political opposition, and Syria was no exception. From 1976 until 1982, the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria organized revolts and an armed insurgency against Assad's regime. The government mobilized to crush the Muslim Brotherhood culminating in a massacre in Hama in 1982, and until March 2011, public displays of anti-regime activity were very limited.
Today, Syria has a population of approximately 22.5 million people, about a quarter of whom live in the capital city of Damascus (the location of Houda al-Habash's school). Ethnically, the nation is approximately 90 percent Arab, with significant minority populations of Druze, Kurds and Turks. Religiously, about three quarters of Syrians identify as Hanafi (the oldest and largest denomination of Sunni Muslims). Another 12 percent, including the ruling Assad family, are Alawi (a heterodox Shiite Muslim sect). Approximately 10 percent of the country's population identifies as Christian. Until recently, there was also a significant Jewish community in Syria.
The nation shares large borders with Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, and also a short border with Israel. In the region, its strongest alliance is with Iran (which, like the Assad family, is identified with the Shiite practice of Islam).
Currently, Bashar al-Assad's regime faces an ongoing uprising, which many believe was sparked by the Arab Spring--a wave of protests in the Arab world that began in Tunisia in 2010. While the uprising is dominated by Sunni Muslims, there are protesters from Druze, Christian and even Alawite backgrounds, many calling for more political rights, social reform and regime change. The government responded with a violent crackdown and, according to a July 2012 report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 16,500 people have been killed in the uprising thus far.
In November 2011, the Arab League suspended Syria's membership in the alliance and called for political and security reforms, urging the Syrian army to withdraw its security forces from civilian areas and to release its political prisoners. The Arab League formed a "monitoring mission" to assess the regime's response to its mandate. In late January 2012, the Arab League suspended the mission due to a dramatic increase in violence. The diplomatic focus switched to the United Nations Security Council with the hope that it would vote on a draft resolution for a quick transition to an interim government.
As of the publishing of this page, violence against civilians in Syria continues, and the United Nations has failed to reach an agreement on appropriate action.
Caption: The day begins with recitation and prayer at the school at Al-Zahra Mosque
Credit: Itab Azzam
» Al Jazeera. "Q-and-A: Nir Rosen on Syria's Protest Movement."
» Central Intelligence Agency. "Syria."
» CNN. "Regime Backers Express Anger at Other Nations After Arab League Suspends Syria."
» Coutts, Adam. "Syria's Uprising Could Have Been Avoided Through Reform." The Guardian, May 18, 2011.
» MacFarquhar, Neil. "Arab League Votes to Suspend Syria Over Crackdown." The New York Times, November 12, 2011.
» NOW LEBANON. "Syrian uprising death toll tops 16,500, Observatory says."
» PBS Newshour. "Author and Activist Elie Wiesel: Syria Is 'a Bloody Center of History.'"
» U.S. Department of State. "Background Note: Syria."
Basic Islamic Beliefs
Islam is the second most common religion in the world after Christianity; it is one of the three major Abrahamic traditions (along with Judaism and Christianity). There are different denominations within Islam, but they all share some fundamental beliefs: that there is only one God ("Allah" means "God" in Arabic); the Qur'an is the word of God ; and Muhammad was the last in a series of prophets -- including Moses and Jesus -- who were sent to instruct humanity about how to live in accordance with God's law. Other tenets shared across the sects are the five pillars of the faith: the declaration of belief or shahada; reciting five daily prayers; giving to charity (Zakat); and fasting in the month of Ramadan; and making a pilgrimage to Mecca (also known as Makkah) Islam's holiest city.
Qur'an recitations are a year-round practice, although they hold an especially important significance in the month of Ramadan. Muslims believe that to be the month in which the Qur'an was revealed.
Caption: Ala'a and Teacher Anan pray at Al Zahra Mosque
Credit: Itab Azzam
» BBC. "Islam at a Glance."
» Frontline. "Muslims."
» Huffington Post. "HBO Film Follows Muslim Children in Quran Memorization Contest."
Muslim Women's Movements
Feminism is often assumed to be a Western construct, yet Muslim women outside the West have been active in modern forms of feminism since the 19th century. Different feminist movements reflect the cultural contexts in which they arise, and Muslim feminists have adapted their own ways of working within an Islamic framework, allowing women to counter gender oppression and expectations as a part of their faith. Umm Yasmin of the Centre for Muslim Minorities and Islam Policy Studies at Australia's Monash University defines a Muslim feminist as "one who adopts a worldview in which Islam can be contextualized and reinterpreted in order to promote concepts of equity and equality between men and women; and for whom freedom of choice plays an important part in expression of faith." Many Muslim feminists insist that violence against women is anathema to Islam, and that their faith does not condone it.
Muslim women's movements have also been traditionally aligned with nationalist, democratic and humanitarian movements, as well as postcolonial struggles and religious reform. In Egypt, which has been in the forefront of feminism in the Muslim world, the fight for women's rights dovetailed with the rise of secular nationalism and social justice.
Islamic Feminism
Because some secular Muslim feminists are less interested in reforming Islam and more concerned with promoting gender equality within a secular society, the term "Islamic feminism" arose to distinguish those women who work specifically within Islam.
The term Islamic feminism became popular in the 1990s, defining an emerging feminist paradigm by scholars including Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Mai Yamani, Nilufer Gole and Shamima Shaikh. As a global phenomenon, the movement strives to transcend binary notions of East versus West, secular versus religious and traditional versus modern, encompassing the Muslim diaspora around the world.
Islamic feminism also aims for the full equality of all Muslims, male and female, in both public and private life. Margot Badran of Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding asserts that Islamic feminism is more radical than more secular Muslim feminisms. She writes, "Islamic feminism, which derives its understanding and mandate from the Qur'an, seeks rights and justice for women, and for men, in the totality of their existence. Islamic feminism is both highly contested and firmly embraced."
A Global Movement
As the global Muslim diaspora grows, many Muslim women face struggles between the ways of life in their current countries and the traditional practices of their parents' culture. These women have developed their own feminist practices and ways of articulating their own concerns.
For instance, "veiling," the Muslim custom of wearing hijab, is often viewed by non-Muslim feminists as an oppressive act that silences Muslim women and exemplifies the myth of Islam as inherently sexist and patriarchal. Yet, growing religious revivalism in the Muslim world has led to an increase in Islamic dress, including head coverings. For many Muslim women, wearing the headscarf has become a feminist act, serving as a symbol of their identity and a way to counter cultural imperialism. This is just one example of how Muslim women are defining and developing feminism -- on their own terms.
Caption: 3 generations of women in the Habash family: Houda, Enas and Yazda
Credit: Laura Nix
This section is re-printed with permission from ITVS and Independent Lens. Visit http://womenandgirlslead.org/ to learn about ITVS' Women and Girls Lead, an innovative public media campaign designed to celebrate, educate and activate women, girls and their allies across the globe to address the challenges of the 21st century.
The Women's Mosque Movement
Houda's school is part of a resurgence of Islam across the globe known as an "Islamic revival." As secular Arab states have largely failed to meet the needs of their citizens for domestic political reform and economic growth, an Islamic resurgence has swept through the region. According to writer and anthropologist Saba Mahmood (author of Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject), "Islamic revival" can refer to the activities of state-oriented political groups, but the phrase also typically refers to a religious ethos or sensibility that has developed within contemporary Muslim societies over the last three decades.
Practitioners like Houda see their efforts to encourage a return to Islamic observance as social and not political. They do not insist on imposing Islam on others or in creating theocratic states governed by Islamic law, though they would like their governments to reflect core Islamic values (in much the same way that many American Christians have supported political leadership that reflects their faith).
The Islamic revival is not related to the trend of religious violent extremism sometimes labeled "Islamist" (in contrast to "Islamic"). In fact, Muslims like Houda adamantly disavow political violence in the name of Islam.
While Islam is also often associated with the subjugation of women, the mosque movement is seen by many Muslim women, including Houda, as liberating. It offers an opportunity to gain intellectual ownership of Islamic teaching -- women are active and they're asking questions -- and is seen as a return to a "golden" age of Islam, when Muslim women were known as great teachers, philanthropists and religious leaders. Mahmood points out that the women of the movement are focused on cultivating a practice of personal piety rather than focused on embracing politics. However, Maan Abdul Salam, a Syrian women's rights campaigner, explains that female Islamic prayer groups (like the conservative Islamic women's society Qubaisiate) recruit women differently, based on their social status. For example, wealthy, upper-class women are often taught how to influence politics.
According to a recent New York Times article on the Islamic revival in Syria, religious teachers in the country say the growth in the number of girls' madrasas (Islamic religious schools) has outpaced the growth in those for boys. Weekly religious lessons held at home slowly moved to mosques, and women began memorizing and studying the Qur'an and other Islamic teachings. . While there are no official statistics about how many of Syria's 700 madrasas are for girls, a survey of Islamic education in Syria published by the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat suggests that there are about 80 such madrasas in Damascus alone, serving more than 75,000 women and girls. About half of those schools are affiliated with the Qubaisiate (an insular and conservative Islamic women's society in Syria, which has recently started to export its brand overseas), though Houda's school is not.
Caption: Riham Baalbaki, center, listens to a lecture at Al Zahra Mosque
Credit: Itab Azzam
» Gatestone Institute. "Syria's Choice: Murderous Secular Regime or Islamic Fundamentalists."
» Jadaliyya. "Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject."
» The Light in Her Eyes. "Resources."
» Mahmood, Saba. Politics of Piety. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005.
» Wilson, Scott. "Religious Surge Alarms Secular Syrians." The Washington Post, January 23, 2005.
» Zoepf, Katherine. "Islamic Revival in Syria Is Led by Women." The New York Times, August 29 2006.