Opinion | Columnists
Playing with religion can be dangerous
The genuine anger displayed by people over the offensive cartoons may have been exploited by some governments in the region
- By Marwan Al Kabalan, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 23:32 May 3, 2009
Last week, thousands of Syrians ended their demonstration in Damascus by storming the Danish and Norwegian embassies, setting them ablaze.
The Syrian protest was the most violent in a series of furious rallies by Muslims in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. At the heart of the protest: 12 caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) first published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten in September. The caricatures, which have been republished recently in several European newspapers, provoked a genuine and deep anger across the Islamic world.
The cartoons reinforced the belief among many Muslims that the West has genuine hatred towards their revered prophet and that the depictions were part of a relentless Western war against Islam.
Indeed, many Muslims were appalled by these images of their religion's holiest figure. Yet, the genuine anger displayed by crowds in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iran and elsewhere, may have been exploited or intensified by some governments in the region seeking to take advantage of Muslim anger to serve other purposes. The fact that the biggest riots occurred in Damascus raised questions about whether such a violent reaction could have happened without the approval of the Syrian government.
Undoubtedly, one cannot understand the scale of these protests and their meanings in isolation from the general political atmosphere in Syria and the entire region. Syria, under huge international pressure to change its regional policies, believes the Bush administration may have been seeking to overthrow its regime. Many in Damascus assume that regime-change might not be Washington's official policy yet, but all signs suggest preparations are being made to adopt it down the road.
Valuable tool
The Danish cartoons may have, hence, provided Syria with a valuable tool to launch a counter-attack to abort any plans targeting its regime. In fact, the demonstrations in Damascus were meant to serve three important objectives. Locally, the Syrian government sought to deprive the increasingly popular Islamists the opportunity to accuse it of being complacent about attempts to insult the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). Subsequently, Syria recalled its ambassadors from Denmark, called for boycotting Danish goods and allowed protesters to express their anger.
Regionally, the Syrian government sought to win the backing of Arab public opinion. Syrian President Bashar Al Assad has been trying over the past couple of years to position himself as the anti-American in the region.
Internationally, Syria wanted to convey to the west that what happened in Damascus might be just the sort of alternative the US might be seeking if Bashar is overthrown or weakened. The Islamic "genie" is once again being used to scare off any attempt for change or democratisation.
In fact and as a result of increasing vulnerability, the Syrian government has been pursuing a policy of Islamisation of state and society in recent months. The government believes, just like Saddam Hussain before the US invasion, that Islam could provide a shield against Western pressure.
Until recently, Syria was known to have had one of the most ardently secular regimes in the region. To understand the difference, one should recall the mild Syrian reaction to Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses in 1989, where the Syrian government almost totally ignored the issue at a time when the whole Islamic world was boiling in anger.
Indeed, Syria is not the only country in the region to have tried to exploit religion to achieve political ends. Egypt, one of the first to publicly criticise the series of cartoons, has also been critical of the Danish government for funding critics of human rights abuses. Yet, using religion for political purposes is synonymous to playing with fire. Former Egyptian president Anwar Al Sadat tried this but paid dear for it.
Dr Marwan Al Kabalan is a lecturer in Media and International Relations at the Faculty of Political Science and Media, Damascus University, Syria.
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