News Right Now: Internal Collapse

August 31st 2023 saw over 2000 people marching in the government held city of Sweida in southern Syria in an anti-regime protest. Witnesses said the movement is getting stronger as demonstrations have swelled with crowds joining in from surrounding villages in the last three weeks. The protests were initially directed at the government’s decision on August 15th to end fuel subsidies which has resulted in a 200% increase in prices, and is contributing to the deepening and widespread economic hardship that Syrians have been facing since 2011.

However on Friday demonstrators tore down a portrait of Bashar al Assad chanting, “may Bashar al Asad fall, Bashar al Asad we don’t want you.” They also smashed a statue of Hafiz al Asad before openly calling for the fall of the Syrian regime. A brutal government response is predicated in case of the protests spreading to other government controlled cities - including Derra province, where the uprising had originated.

The Syrian revolution saw more than 12 million people displaced and at least 6.8 million are still within Syria’s own borders. Twelve years of war have ravaged the Syrian economy, power and water cuts are frequent and often long-lasting; and salaries in Syria are abnormally low, whereby public workers earn on average only 12 Euros a month, with over 90% of the population living below the poverty line. The revolution erupted in 2011 based on theoretical demands. Bashar al Asad is, like his father Hafiz who ruled for 50 years before him, a well-known oppressor of Muslims who advocate for Islam. Both dictatorial leaderships were used to quash its proponents and actively work against the emergence of Islamic sentiments among communities and in society.

However, today the Syrian revolution is far from complete! Syria lies broken, through the warmongering of Assad’s forces against his own citizens, as well as that of Russia’s and Iran’s relentless bombing campaigns and the extermination of the honorable freedom fighters. Likewise the sanctions imposed by the global community, and the economic crisis in Lebanon which has spilled into Syria. Syria is now also grappling with widespread hunger across the country, and due to this, the demands of the people have obviously shifted to secure their basic rights to food, clothing and shelter. Hunger is driving people to ignite the original sentiments of the revolution and demand a government that will ensure the survival and facilitate the prosperity of the people - not annihilate the Syrian people at every opportunity, so it can hold onto unbridled power and gate-keep the emergence of Islam.

From an Islamic perspective, diplomacy can never be a strategy when dealing with a Kufr criminal regime such as Bashar al Asad’s. The US and her allies have orchestrated a proxy war within Syria for their own ends, as well as generated a multi-pronged clamp down involving many players, upon civilians, freedom fighters and Mujahideen. As such, Western Think Tanks like Rand and Chatham House who suggest a political solution for their governments to preach at the UN and in talks; clearly trivialise the bombing and massacres of entire villages who dared to speak against Assad, and ignore the torture of men, women and children who defied his desperate dictatorship by calling for change.

The blood of Muslims is cheaper than a Diet Coke to these vultures who wish to keep Assad in power to facilitate their own nefarious interests in the region, despite the terrible toll it takes on the innocent people. Yet for us as Muslims, even one drop of Muslim blood is greater than the Kaaba and its surrounding area, as Abdullah ibn Umar reported: I saw the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, circling the Ka’bah and saying,

«مَا أَطْيَبَكِ وَأَطْيَبَ رِيحَكِ، مَا أَعْظَمَكِ وَأَعْظَمَ حُرْمَتَكِ، وَالَّذِي نَفْسُ مُحَمَّدٍ بِيَدِهِ لَحُرْمَةُ الْمُؤْمِنِ أَعْظَمُ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ حُرْمَةً مِنْكِ؛ مَالِهِ وَدَمِهِ وَأَنْ نَظُنَّ بِهِ إِلَّا خَيْراً»

“How pure you are and how pure is your fragrance! How great you are and how great is your sanctity! By the one in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, the sanctity of the believer is greater to Allah than your sanctity, in his wealth, his life, and to assume nothing of him but good.” Source: Sunan Ibn Mājah 3932

So there is no question that this monster must be removed from office, regardless of who he is supported by - and he must be replaced with a just Islamic leadership. Regardless of the motivation of Syria’s protesters, the source of their pain and suffering is one. It is Bashar al Asad’s biting dictatorship, which must be understood for what it is and always was. The revolution’s aims must be unified to uproot this abomination that Syria has become at the hands of the colonialists. It is only the rightly guided Khilafah on the way of the prophethood that must be re-established to give relief, security and power once again to Muslims and Islam.

Ahmed narrated that the Messenger of Allah (saws), who conveys the meaning of Allah’s (swt) Ahkam in his (saws) own words as part of his Sunnah, who does not speak except that which is revealed to him (saw) from His Lord, declared -

«تَكُونُ النُّبُوَّةُ فِيكُمْ مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ أَنْ تَكُونَ ثُمَّ يَرْفَعُهَا إِذَا شَاءَ أَنْ يَرْفَعَهَا ثُمَّ تَكُونُ خِلَافَةٌ عَلَى مِنْهَاجِ النُّبُوَّةِ فَتَكُونُ مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ أَنْ تَكُونَ ثُمَّ يَرْفَعُهَا إِذَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ أَنْ يَرْفَعَهَا ثُمَّ تَكُونُ مُلْكًا عَاضًّا فَيَكُونُ مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ أَنْ يَكُونَ ثُمَّ يَرْفَعُهَا إِذَا شَاءَ أَنْ يَرْفَعَهَا ثُمَّ تَكُونُ مُلْكًا جَبْرِيَّةً فَتَكُونُ مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ أَنْ تَكُونَ ثُمَّ يَرْفَعُهَا إِذَا شَاءَ أَنْ يَرْفَعَهَا ثُمَّ تَكُونُ خِلَافَةً عَلَى مِنْهَاجِ النُّبُوَّة»

“Prophethood will last with you for as long as Allah wants it to last. Then there will be Khilafah according to the Method of Prophethood, and things will be as Allah wishes them to be. Then Allah will end it when He wishes. Then there will be biting (hereditary) rule, and things will be as Allah wishes them to be. Then, Allah will end it when He wishes. Then there will be an oppressive rule, and things will be as Allah wishes them to be. Then, Allah will end it when He wishes. Then there will be a Khilafah according to the method of Prophethood.” After this speech; then he (saw) fell silent.

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