From “misguided of jihād” to His Excellency: the transition was really quick for Ahmed Husayn al-Sharāʿ, formerly Abū Muhammad al-Jūlānī. Yet, the ongoing “angelification” of the Syrian President does not convince us at all. Massive domestic propaganda exalts him as if Sharāʿ were an “idol” (shirk!), while praise and pampering abound from those whom he himself, not so long ago, used to condemn as tāghūt and murtaddīn, worthy of takfīr (that is, of being killed).
What lies behind the handshakes, the smiles, the invitations to prestigious conferences, and the photo poses worthy of a (Turkish) soap opera star?
It is entirely legitimate to enquiry, especially because, after the fall of the Assad regime, we entrusted Sharāʿwith our confidence, nurturing sincere hopes in him for the “good governance” of the Shām as the fulfillment of the Revolution and of the will of Allāh swt.
That confidence, however, was conditional on results. From this point of view, the course of events has so far been a bitter disappointment and we are now in the disenchanted stage of disillusionment, when figures appear to our eyes more clearly for what they are, rather than for what we would like them to be.
The initial proclamations inspired by the “Constitution of Medina”, in line with the Prophetic tradition, proved to be of media value only. Indeed, they were just functional to the construction of the image of Sharāʿ as an enlightened leader, who had definitively left behind the chapter of terrorism to take care of all Syrians, without sectarian discriminations. And yet, the reality has been anything but a model of “Concordia”!
Behaving in the usual way – from the time when Sharāʿ was fighting in the “anti-Islamic State of Terror” or leading Jabhat al-Nusra and Hayat Tahrīr al-Shām – have been the thousands of “misguided of jihād”, both natives and “immigrants”, who have been formally “integrated” into the structures of the new army and security forces.
Massacres have already been recorded, at least a couple within just a few months: first in the coastal region, and then in well-known Suwaydā. If their deployment was necessary to quell uprisings, the violence perpetrated in violation of every rule of conduct in the armed jihād has laid the groundwork for a de facto partition of the Shām, definitively jeopardizing every prospect of peaceful coexistence in the country.
“We cannot live with them”: this is the refrain heard everywhere from Alawites, Druze, Christians, Kurds, and others, referring to the Sunni Muslim majority, as it were composed of inhuman monsters. Is this what we are?
The predicament permeates daily life, beginning with the streets. Those who refuse to “bark” (yes, bark!) and are merely beaten may consider themselves lucky: cases of decapitation are in fact being recorded, carried out in the name of the Qur’an and the Sunnah! Astaghfirullāh…
Sharāʿ has so far limited himself to establishing inquiry commissions and saying that the culprits will be punished, but only as a way to buy time until the various cases fade away, while contining undisturbed his new life as the neo-sultan of Damascus in suit and tie, accompanied by a young wife.
Appearances, however, are deceiving. Far from being the heir of the long history of mujāhidīn going back to Prophet Muhammad saw and his Sahābah, the rise to power of Sharāʿwas made possible by an operation orchestrated by the intelligence services of the United States (CIA) and the United Kingdom (MI6), very likely with French involvement and of course in agreement with Erdoğan’s Turkey, Jūlānī’s great patron together with Qatar.
This emerges unequivocally from statements by the former American ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, who publicly revealed that he had been engaged by a British NGO to reconstruct the public image of “terrorist” Jūlānī, who was preparing to assume the garb and persona of Sharāʿ.
We are at the beginning of 2023, almost two years before the victorious march on the capital by Jūlānī’s militias of “misguided of jihād”. But the “rebranding” operation had already been launched earlier, in June 2021, with the interview granted in his Idlib stronghold to a journalist from a well-known American magazine. That was his debut wearing a Western-style jacket.
The most suspicious trace his understanding with the CIA much further back. For about five years, Jūlānī/Sharāʿ was held in a prison run by the U.S. Army in Iraq, Camp Bucca, from which he was released just as the civil war in the Shām was beginning. In Camp Bucca, he met Abū Bakr al-Baghdādī, the Amīr of the “anti-Islamic State of Terror”, with whom he closely collaborated before their separation and his return to al-Qāʿida’s ranks.
Coincidences? Allāhu aʿlam. Conspiracy theories have never fascinated us, but humanly speaking suspicion arises spontaneously, especially in light of the recent revelations that clearly link Jūlānī/Sharāʿ to the intelligence networks of Western countries.
And what about Israel? Did it also enable his empowerment? What is certain is that the rise of Sharāʿ has been a blessing for Netanyahu’s expansionist project. Netanyahu has seized the opportunity to advance territorially well beyond the disputed Golan, a few dozen kilometers from Damascus. Meanwhile, the so-called “David Corridor” is becoming more and more concrete, thanks to the tensions sparked with the Druze of Suwayda by the “non-inclusive” stances of the new Syrian government. Tensions that Israel has managed to exploit successfully for its wicked purposes.
On this and who knows on what other matters, Sharāʿand his emissaries are holding face-to-face discussions with Israeli representatives toward a comprehensive security bargain, while in the Gaza Strip, amid flames, death, and ruins, the final act of the genocide of the Palestinian population is being played out.
We therefore ask the following questions: what game is Sharāʿ playing and on whose behalf? It does not look like a game for the sake of a united Syria or the Syrian people he claims to represent.
“He needs time”, say his supporters, still blinded by his media “avatar”. But if the morning shows the day, we can already speak of a “Revolution betrayed”.
May Allah ﷻ have mercy on the Shām.
Jihād senza Spada 