{"id":1673,"date":"2012-12-22T09:22:00","date_gmt":"2012-12-22T09:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html"},"modified":"2012-12-22T09:22:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-22T09:22:00","slug":"which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html","title":{"rendered":"Which Islamists?: Religion and the Syrian Civil War"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Syria has been the bloodiest chapter of the Arab Spring.\u00a0It\u2019s estimated that in November alone, 3,400 Syrians were killed, with the total being estimated at between 30,000 to 50,000. \u00a0<\/div>\n
That it involves alliances and disputes betweens Arabs and Kurds, Sunni and Alawi Muslims, Salafis and secularists, peaceful protesters and armed fighters, only makes it a more complicated and fraught scenario.<\/div>\n
I sat down with Adnan Zulfiqar, Fellow at the Truman National Security Project and a doctoral candidate in Near Eastern Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, to hear his take on the conflict. Zulfiqar recently traveled to Turkey, meeting with Syrian opposition figures, religious scholars, rebel fighters, Turkish officials and Turkish think tanks, in an effort to get a handle on what\u2019s happening in the Syrian civil war as it approaches the two-year mark.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What did this trip tell you about the role of religion in the Syrian opposition?<\/strong><\/div>\n
Simply put, Syria is a religious country\u2014something even atheist defectors recognize. Practically speaking, religion\u2019s had a number of roles.<\/div>\n
First, it\u2019s the most potent rallying cry. Nationalism doesn\u2019t have the same appeal as other parts of the Arab world, because nationalist slogans are a mainstay of the ruling Baath party, and religious rhetoric also gives the revolution a higher purpose. Likewise, secularism is associated with the Assad regime, and is thus tainted by the regime\u2019s authoritarianism.<\/div>\n
Second, Friday congregational prayers were the only place Syrians could gather en masse at the revolution\u2019s start. The regime vigorously restricted citizens\u2019 activities to suppress dissent, but stopping people from going to the mosque on Fridays was impossible. Hence, Friday prayers became a challenge to the regime\u2019s absolute control.<\/div>\n
Third, videos of regime-backed forces demanding their captives chant \u201cthere is no deity but Bashar\u201d (a distortion of the Muslim testament of faith: \u201cThere is no deity but God\u201d) have gone viral, awakening passionate sentiments even among the least religious. They\u2019ve also furthered the narrative that this is a revolution against God\u2019s \u201copponents.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Syria has been the bloodiest chapter of the Arab Spring.\u00a0It\u2019s estimated that in November alone, 3,400 Syrians were killed, with the total being estimated at between 30,000 to 50,000. \u00a0 That it involves alliances and disputes betweens Arabs and Kurds, Sunni and Alawi Muslims, Salafis and secularists, peaceful protesters and armed fighters, only makes it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nWhich Islamists?: Religion and the Syrian Civil War<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Syria has been the bloodiest chapter of the Arab Spring. It\u2019s estimated that in November alone, 3,400 Syrians were killed, with the total being\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Which Islamists?: Religion and the Syrian Civil War\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Syria has been the bloodiest chapter of the Arab Spring. It\u2019s estimated that in November alone, 3,400 Syrians were killed, with the total being\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-22T09:22:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andre E. Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html\",\"name\":\"Which Islamists?: Religion and the Syrian Civil War\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-22T09:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-12-22T09:22:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\"},\"description\":\"Syria has been the bloodiest chapter of the Arab Spring. It\u2019s estimated that in November alone, 3,400 Syrians were killed, with the total being\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Which Islamists?: Religion and the Syrian Civil War\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/\",\"name\":\"Rhetoric Race and Religion\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc\",\"name\":\"Andre E. Johnson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andre E. Johnson\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Which Islamists?: Religion and the Syrian Civil War","description":"Syria has been the bloodiest chapter of the Arab Spring. It\u2019s estimated that in November alone, 3,400 Syrians were killed, with the total being","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Which Islamists?: Religion and the Syrian Civil War","og_description":"Syria has been the bloodiest chapter of the Arab Spring. It\u2019s estimated that in November alone, 3,400 Syrians were killed, with the total being","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html","og_site_name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","article_published_time":"2012-12-22T09:22:00+00:00","author":"Andre E. Johnson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andre E. Johnson","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html","name":"Which Islamists?: Religion and the Syrian Civil War","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-12-22T09:22:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-22T09:22:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc"},"description":"Syria has been the bloodiest chapter of the Arab Spring. It\u2019s estimated that in November alone, 3,400 Syrians were killed, with the total being","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2012\/12\/which-islamists-religion-and-the-syrian-civil-war.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Which Islamists?: Religion and the Syrian Civil War"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/","name":"Rhetoric Race and Religion","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/892ad446aed3fd242a430151516a83fc","name":"Andre E. Johnson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8740442d3e2978d7a9dd204585be3ed0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andre E. Johnson"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/author\/ajohnson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2251"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}