The Sunni Religious Establishment of Damascus: When Unification Creates Division

The 2011 uprising in Syria, which still continues, changed the Sunni Muslim religious landscape of Syria’s capital, Damascus. The fractious religious institutes and individuals, which were forced into exile by the regime, have eventually united within a single opposition organization, known as the Syrian Islamic Council (SIC). The Baathist Party has ruled Syria for several decades, and through its entire tenure has tried to prevent the unification of Sunni Muslim religious establishments by playing these Islamic institutions against each other. This Islamic establishment, which is now united in exile, is disabled because of existing abroad and not being in Damascus itself. The regime may have succeeded in imposing its will on the myriad Islamic entities (mosques, educational institutions, and charities) of Damascus and subsequently fusing them into a cohesive religious establishment, but this establishment suffers from a glaring lack of popular legitimacy. The SIC has even established itself as a religious authority and educational network in Turkey, where millions of primarily Sunni Syrian refugees now live. This was done in close cooperation with Turkish Diyanet Foundation. For a regime keen to cement its control over the religious life of the capital and its environs, and for an exiled opposition determined to retain a link to its popular base, the clerics of the areas around Damascus would constitute a prized possession.