Religion in Syria: history and modernity

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

The Islamic factor has a tangible impact on the internal situation and foreign policy of many states in the Muslim regions. Recently, it has also acquired unprecedented significance in the international political arena. News agencies around the world report every hour about new events in a particular country of the world, in which Islamic religious and political groups took part.

The hearth, the territorial base of these groups is Syria. The religion of 90% of the citizens of this country is Islam, which encourages people to associate terrorism and the Islamic faith. In the media space, one can increasingly observe the cliches “Syrian terrorists”, “Syrian suicide bombers” and so on.

Such associations fuel conflict and stimulate a sense of "Islamic danger". Suffice it to recall the bloody history of "Charlie Hebdo", which was provoked by their religious cartoons, and the next attacks on official, peaceful Islam, they say, the rootsThe problems are in the Islamic creed. Traditional Islam, and specifically the moderate Islamic religion of Syria, has long been successfully integrated into the modern world, peacefully coexists with other religions and emphasizes its rejection of extremism with all its might.

A brief excursion into the pre-Islamic period of Syrian history

Syria is located on the line of contact of several continents at once: its continental part is in contact with Asia Minor, the south of the country borders on the Arabian Peninsula, and the north - on Asia Minor. Since ancient times, Syria has been the crossroads of the largest trade routes and the point of generalization of several religious systems at once: Palestine, Phoenicia, Mesopotamia and Egypt.

The main feature of the organization of the pantheon of gods on the territory of ancient Syria was its decentralization. Various Syrian cities had their own cults, however, there was also a mandatory, "official" cult: all, without exception, the kingdoms worshiped the gods Baal and Baalat.

Folk cults are mainly associated with gods favoring agriculture: the gods of rain, harvest, harvest, winemaking, and so on. One can also note the exceptional cruelty of the ancient Syrian cults: the deities were considered exclusively evil and harmful, which is why they had to be constantly coaxed with the help of victims, most often human.

Thus, the religion of Syria in the ancient period can be characterized as a system that combines private communal agricultural cultswith nationwide cults.

The story of the spread of Islam in Syria

In Syria, Islam began to spread at the beginning of the 7th century. Its emergence is associated with the development of monotheistic religions - Judaism and Christianity, as well as with the evolution of the religious consciousness of the population of Arabia. By the 7th century there were many people in Syria who believed in one God, but who nevertheless did not consider themselves Jews and Christians. Islam, on the other hand, perfectly fit into the situation, becoming the very factor that united the disparate tribes, "lay" the ideological basis for political, social and economic changes.

Already by the end of Muhammad's life, an Islamic state was formed, in which all secular and all religious power was in the hands of Muhammad. After the death of the prophet, a situation arose when the ruler should be a person who will hold both the religious and secular components in his hands, in other words, the deputy of the prophet on earth, the “caliph”. A new form of state is also emerging - the Caliphate.

The first four caliphs, according to Arabic historiography, were called righteous caliphs. All of them were companions of Muhammad. Only one of the caliphs - Abu Bakr - dies a natural death, the rest were killed. Before his death, Abu Bakr appointed his successor Omar. It was under him that Syria, Iraq, Egypt and part of Libya came under the rule of the Caliphate. The Arabian Muslim state could already be safely called an empire.

The first task facing the caliphate was to level the old tribal cults and redirect the energy of the Arabtribes with obsolete primitive traditions for a good cause. Conquest wars became such a thing. Some time later, as a result of these wars, a small religious system grew into a world-class civilization.

The entire territory of Syria was losing ground almost without a fight. The population was pleasantly surprised by the fact that Omar's troops did not touch the elderly and children, did not mutilate the prisoners and did not rob the locals. Also, Caliph Omar gave the order not to touch the Christians and to allow the population to choose their own religion. Syria has never known such a soft approach, and therefore the local population willingly converted to Islam.

The reasons for such a willing change of faith can be outlined by remembering which religion dominated in Syria immediately before the arrival of Omar. Christianity, by that time already quite widespread in Syria, was still incomprehensible to the people, who had only recently departed from tribal cults, while Islam was an understandable, consistent monotheism, moreover, respectful of the sacred values and personalities of Christianity (there are also Isa and Miriam - Christian Jesus and Mary).

Modern religious palette of Syria

In modern Syria, Muslims make up more than 90% of the population (75% are Sunnis, the rest are Alawites, Shiites and Druze).

Christian religion in Syria has 10% of its population (of which more than half are Syrian Orthodox, the rest are Catholics, Orthodox and adherents of the Armenian Apostolicchurch).

The most significant national minority in Syria is the Kurds. The religion of the Kurds in Syria is extremely diverse: about 80% of all Kurds are Sunnis, there are also many Shiites and Alawites. In addition, there are Kurds who profess Christianity and Judaism. The most extraordinary Kurdish religious trend can be called Yezidism.

Religious and political conflicts on the territory of modern Syria

In our time, the phenomenon of mass anti-Islamic psychosis is associated, for the most part, with the propaganda of the terrorists of the Islamic State. On the Internet, evidence of new "PR actions" of extremists from ISIS, Al-Qaeda and other transnational organizations based on the ideology of Islamic radicalism appears daily. This ideology is a decisive interpretation of Islamic doctrine in the context of the idealization of the early Islamic way of life and the political strategy based on it, aimed at the formation of a worldwide Caliphate, guided by Sharia law.

This ideologically justified alternative is precisely the theoretical basis for the war against the West and against their own fellow citizens who profess Islam of a different kind, declared by the terrorists of the Islamic State. This terrorist group is in fierce opposition to the Assad government, which adheres to more moderate religious norms and cooperates with Western countries.

Thus, despite the fact that the true Islamic religion of Syria is nowstained with blood, this blood lies on the conscience of terrorists, sponsors and accomplices of terrorism. The reasons for these bloody conflicts lie in the field of politics, economics (there are oil and gas reserves on the territory of Muslim states, which are of strategic importance for the economy of Western countries), but not in the field of Islamic faith. Islamic dogma is an ideological lever of extremists, a means of manipulation for their own geopolitical and geo-economic purposes.