The rise and fall of political Islam in Syria

Syria’s Islamic Movement did not initially emerge as a reaction to the Bath or to al-Asad’s rule, or indeed to the secularization and modernization attempts by the Bath regime in Damascus, though it did become more visible and partly radicalized – or one might say, politicized – during al-Asad’s first term. In fact, Syria’s religious scholars (‘ulama’­al-­din),4 recruited as they were from notable urban and merchant families, had long been influential actors on the Syrian political stage. And although they were significantly weaker than the Bath, the Muslim Brothers had to ward off the same political challengers as the latter.5 These included Syria’s domestic and regional environment, dominated as it was by Western powers; Syria’s diverse religious communities, which were believed to be responsible for an increasingly fragmented society and the resultant lack of an overarching national identity; and more importantly, an unstable economy troubled by high rates of social mobilization.6 However, it is important to reiterate that unlike the Bath Party, the Muslim Brothers defended and endorsed the socio-economic status quo in which they flourished, and were wary of the secularizing trends that permeated the country. It was in this context that a number of political associations, in particular social-welfare societies at first, gained considerable ground in the 1930s. These associations were primarily concerned with providing Islamic education and health care, though later switched their attention to broader cultural and political objectives. In their initial iterations, they believed that a sound Islamic education and a strong social-welfare net would re-establish Islamic culture in its true essence and thus remove the West’s unwelcome authority over Syria and the rest of the Arab world.7 These urban social-welfare organizations met regularly to discuss social reform, and were collectively known as Shabab­ Muhammad (Youth of Muhammad). Then in 1944, the Shabab­Muhammad joined together in a unified group under the name of the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria and Lebanon,8 at which point the movement began to shift from being a socialwelfare organization towards being an established political party.9