On this Christmas Day and First Day of Hanukkah, a Prayer for Syria’s New Opportunity for Religious Pluralism

​“He said his notion of the perfect place to live would be where the religions of the children of Abraham all tolerate each other and where, in the peace of that tolerance, and in the shade and fragrance of orange trees, we could all sit and talk about philosophy and poetry.”
- María Rosa Menocal
 
As we celebrate the holidays, Americans demonstrate how our First Amendment guarantees peaceful, pluralistic religious observances in this season. On December 25th this year, Americans are not just celebrating Christmas day, but also the beginning of Hanukkah. Earlier this month, Buddhists celebrated Bodhi Day, which commemorates the day Buddha attained enlightenment. Wiccans recently celebrated Yule, marking the beginning of winter and the promise of longer days.
 
In many nations, such diverse religious expression remains an impossibility – practically if not legally. Last week, Pew Research Group released its annual report on global religious restrictions. Afghanistan, Egypt, India, Iraq, and Pakistan scored poorly on Pew’s two primary metrics – social hostilities and government restrictions.
 
Also at the vanguard of religious intolerance is – or was – Syria, which, Pew writes, “continued to target opponents – most of them Sunni Muslims” that the now-overthrown Bashar al-Assad dictatorship associated with extremism. Religious persecution is common in societies fragmented by a “rich history of religious and ethnic diversity.” Syria is roughly 70 percent Sunni and 13 percent Shia (10 percent of whom are Alawites), with substantial Kurdish, Christian, and Druze minorities.
 
The 14 years of Syrian civil war that killed half-a-million people only intensified the cruelty and bigotry of Assad’s religious persecution. But that war is over, and Assad is now reduced to begging Vladimir Putin for a nice apartment in Moscow. While entertaining no naivete about the optimism-dashing nature of the Middle East, we should at least hope that the new boss might not be intolerant like the old one.
 
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is the rebel militia now running the show in Syria. They are considered a terrorist group by the State Department, but the Biden administration is reportedly considering reassessing that designation. HTS leader Ahmad al-Sharaa has emphasized a culture of tolerance under the new regime, declaring in one statement that “diversity is a strength.” In Syria’s Idlib region, where HTS has ruled for some time, Sharaa has permitted women to eschew the veil and to attend universities. In Aleppo, the group stated the city “is a meeting place of civilization with cultural and religious diversity for all Syrians.” And Sharaa has specifically forbade harassment of Kurds and Christians, who have thus far under HTS been able to peacefully observe holidays in Syria’s Idlib region.
 
Skepticism is certainly warranted. Sharaa is a former al-Qaeda and ISIS affiliate, and HTS certainly does not lack from its share of radical fundamentalists. Sharaa has also called for widespread involvement of the Syrian people in drafting a new constitution. One can hope for now, at least, that Sharaa’s statements are sincere, and that Syrians can craft a new nation that respects rather than represses people of different beliefs. After so many years of conflict, Syrians certainly deserve it.
 
But could such a thing happen? Perhaps. After all, it has happened before.
 
The late Yale University scholar María Rosa Menocal described how, after the Muslims conquered the southern Iberian Peninsula, they ruled Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the country they called al-Andalus. This medieval society cultivated for what at the time was a limited culture of religious tolerance, requiring Christians and Jews to pay a special tax but allowing them to practice their faith freely. In the wake of war and conquest, that’s a pretty decent result (save for the tax on minority religions). Could we see an even better dream come true in Syria?
 
It is easy to be cynical in the wake of the Afghani Taliban’s betrayal of its solemn promises for a liberalized regime in Kabul. But there is perhaps enough goodwill in the absence of the hideous Assad, and perhaps enough plasticity in the moment, for U.S. diplomacy to engage the new regime to consider genuine respect for religious pluralism. As Syrians draft their constitution, we hope they can draw inspiration from the guarantee of religious freedom in our U.S. Constitution. And as Muslims, perhaps they can draw inspiration from the orange-scented Islamic memory of al-Andalus.
 
It may be a long shot, but it is surely worth a try in the form of high-level engagement by the United States.

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