Minister vs. Mufti the struggle over ‘moderate Islam’ in wartime Syria (2011–2021)

Abstract

ABSTRACT In 2021, President Bashar al-Assad ordered the most significant reform of religious institutions in Syria’s modern history by abolishing the position of Grand Mufti and replacing it with a collegial body. Whereas most observers interpreted this move as a means to further subdue the Sunni religious elites, I argue that in fact, Assad’s decision addressed an old demand of the conservative Sunni ulama. For decades, the latter had asked for a collegial religious authority to be entrusted with the protection of ‘correct’ Islam not only from extremist ideas but also from modernist interpretations like those propagated by the last Grand Mufti himself. Getting rid of such ‘enlightened’ figures was all the more urgent, for the conservatives, that wartime circumstances had provided their rivals with new allies among paramilitary forces and pro-regime minority constituencies. In that context, ‘moderate Islam’ had become the focus of competing definitions by conservatives, who equated it with traditional Sunni doctrines, and modernists, who advocated innovative interpretations of the Scriptures and further secularization of law and education.