With the downfall of Assad’s regime, there is understandably concern about the status and future of Syria’s minorities (i.e. the ethnic and religious groups who are not Sunni Arab). Incidents of sectarian abuse and killing should be highlighted, but it seems as though supporters of the ‘resistance axis’ in particular seem to be fishing for any such news regardless of its veracity, not so much out of concern for those minorities but rather a desire to feel vindicated.
The Sayyida Zaynab shrine in the Damascus area proved to be a key rallying cause for many Shi‘a inside the country and foreign Shi‘a (Lebanese, Iraqis, Afghans and Pakistanis) who came to Syria to fight on the side of the regime, as the shrine was deemed to be under threat from ‘takfiris’ on the side of the insurgency. Such concerns during the earlier years of the war were not necessarily invalid, but the aftermath of Assad’s downfall has seen a general commitment from the new government and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s leadership in particular to protect the shrine and the Shi‘a community in Syria: a point that the Islamic State uses to attack the new government and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham as ‘apostates’, signalling (predictably) that its ‘jihad’ in Syria will not stop despite Assad’s overthrow.
Today’s interviewee is Mahdi Zahwe, a Syrian Shi‘i and resident of Imam Ja‘afar al-Sadiq neighbourhood in Damascus and regularly goes to the Sayyida Zaynab shrine. He describes the situation of the shrine and the Shi‘a community in the area.
Q: May I ask you in general about the situation in Damascus and Sayyida Zaynab?
A: The issue has a number of aspects to it:
(i) We in Syria were co-existing in security, peace and affection before 2011 and we will return as such by God’s permission but with awareness on the part of the people and awareness on the part of the scholars.
(ii) The provocation by the two sides has to be reduced- in particular on the part of the exiles. There is no reason for any page to broadcast internal strife: so-and-so says they attacked the Sayyida Zaynab shrine (peace be upon her), while so-and-so says the Sunnis will kill the Shi‘a, and so-and-so says the Hashd is ready, and so-and-so says such and such. All this is completely removed from the nature of the people, and I am not indulging in flattery, nor am I a hypocrite.
(iii) The nature of some of the youth who were born after 2000 and lived through the crisis from its beginning: among them are those who were motivated to bear arms on the pretext of protecting the shrines because Iran and the Hezb [Hezbollah] implanted that in their mind, and among them are those who were motivated to bear arms because the state’s population is majority Sunni and thus the state must be Sunni, and this is all regrettable. Firstly, the shrine is the one that protects us and we are not the ones who protect it, and the slogan: “We are all your Abbas, oh Zaynab” is false because there is only one Abbas and he is Zaynab’s trustee. As for conceiving of the state as Sunni, the nature of the people from the outset is that they do not know thr distinction between Sunni and Shi‘i, and we were co-existing and we will return as such by God’s permission. In the end, no marja [authority for Shi‘a], no cleric, no [Revolutionary] Guard, and no Hashd is capable of protecting the shrine. The sole protector is God and our Lord, leader and sayyid, the master of the age, and by the permission and help of God.
Q: Yes. There was talk about an incident where some armed me tried to enter the shrine. What happened exactly?
A: The entry was with chants of the takbir (Allahu Akbar), and when they reached the shrine they took off their shoes and called for God to be pleased with Zaynab, Ruqayya, al-Hasan, al-Husayn, Abu Bakr and Omar. And they prayed for and greeted some of the shrine’s servants and left.
But the pronouncement of the takbir has come to be seen as degrading in our community, so some thought it was an attack on the shrine.
Q: Yes. In general have the armed groups treated the people of Sayyida Zaynab well?
A: I will speak with clearness and transparency:
(i) Ahrar al-Sham and Tahrir al-Sham have committed to protect the shrines and minorities.
(ii) There are some extremist factions that have nothing to do with the revolution and are a danger to it just as they are a danger to the minorities. Most of these factions have withdrawn and they will all withdraw. Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham has committed to protect all.
(iii) Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham has said in a general sense that the one who has blood on his hands or participated in bloodshed will be held duly accountable and within judicial process, and the one who has something to be held against him is fleeing and travelling abroad or will be killed. What is meant by those who have blood on their hands are the commanders and leaders among officers and battalions affiliated with the bygone regime and those who were militarily loyal to it.
Q: There is talk about many of the foreign Shi‘a brethren leaving Sayyida Zaynab because of the regime’s fall. Is this true?
A: Among them are those who have travelled abroad out of arbitrary decision without justification and because of the broadcasting of fitna. Among them are those who have travelled abroad because of their being implicated, and among them are those who have found travelling abroad to be a safe alternative for their life and family’s life. The majority have stayed on their land and they will remain as one hand against sectarianism and chauvinism. And we will remain as one hand against those who try to sabotage our country, particularly after we have become rid of the yoke of servitude and its cordon that was established by the wretched Bashar.
Q: Of course there are many youth in the area who bore arms in the belief that this was for the sake of defending the shrine and the homeland. Is there now regret about this, particularly since Bashar al-Assad fled from the country without telling the people and explaining what happened?
A: I say what pleases my religion and pleases my creed and sect: all who bore arms were either deceived or acting out of belief in protecting the holy sites. Regrettably, the rapid development of the events put the youth in a state of going astray, for the days pass quickly and the events more so, and we have a generation of youth who were born during the crisis or raised during it. As for the wise and reasonable ones, they know full well that there is no sacrosanct imam from among our imams who rose up with the sword against any ruler except Imam al-Husayn, who rose up against an oppressive, tyrannical ruler in the view of all the sects. As for the rest of the imams, they did not call for fighting: this is only Khomeinist thought that was attacked by our senior marjas in that time, and God is the One who grants help.
In our creed, Bashar and those with him are deviant heretics, but fear for one’s life is a religious obligation, and this is what the reasonable ones resorted to, and this is what led to his being sanctified by the ignorant ones, who do not know the authentic religion.
Q: Yes. Finally what is your message to the Shi‘a brethren in the world and those who fear for you after the regime’s fall, especially those who support the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah on the basis that they are protecting the Shi‘a in the world?
A: I say what pleases my creed in which I believe and have preserved from the mothers of our holy books. Oh our Shi‘a, embrace silence and stay away from stirring up chauvinism, for perhaps the word of a Shi‘i in exile leads to fitna. We have no need for this, and beware of bloodshed, for the believer’s blood is in God’s eyes more dignified than the Ka‘aba, and this is what has come in our hadiths. There is no reason to raise banners of fighting and militarism before the noble appearance [of the Mahdi] that will fill the world with fairness and justice and not bloodshed and tyranny. Enough with distorting the truth about the redeemer whom all the religions await: namely, the Messenger of Mercy, not bloodshed and fighting. we ask God the Lofty, Merciful and Gentle to grant deliverance for our entire Ummah in the east and west of the world. We ask God for complete health for our worn out souls and tired out minds. God has sufficed as trustee and protector.
