The Sheikh Al-Aql: How Suweida's kingmakers could decide Syria's future

Suweida, Syria - In the southernmost reaches of Syria is a province still fiercely guarding a distinct way of life through centuries of war, colonisation, and oppression.

The Druze, followers of an offshoot of Ismaili Islam that emphasises the oneness of God, have found refuge over the ages in the mountains hemmed between the Syrian desert and the border of Jordan, an epicentre of an isolated religious community scattered across the Levant.

Despite their relatively small size, at less than three percent of the population, the Druze of Syria have long punched above their weight, in part due to their feared reputation as warriors, an orientalist narrative, and shrewd political skills, a more Syrian one.

Historic Druze figure Sultan Pasha al-Atrash helped lead a Syrian nationalist movement against French occupation, while subsequent governments in Damascus have been careful not to push the people of Suweida too far. 

This historical fact was not lost on Bashar Al-Assad, who allowed Suweida a level of autonomy contrasting starkly with his cruel treatment of the neighbouring Sunni-majority Daraa province, large parts of it completely flattened in Russian air strikes and regime shelling.

Despite the overthrow of a regime widely despised in Suweida, many local leaders told The New Arab that they are still highly suspicious about the Salafi roots of interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, an Islamic movement that generally perceives the Druze as heretics.

Druze militias remain mobilised and their leaders are in discussions on how far the province should integrate into the new Syrian state, the consensus being that Suweida, still largely outside state control, should play a waiting game to see whether Sharaa’s rhetoric about inclusive governance is genuine.

Spiritual and political guidance among the Druze has traditionally derived from the religious scholars of the Sheikh Al-Aql, six gatekeepers of the faith, three of whom live in Syria and spoke with The New Arab about the country’s future. 

The milky-bearded Sheikh Hammoud al-Hinnawi, one of the current Sheikhs Al-Aql, narrates the story behind a painting of a great-grandfather, Abu Ali Kassem Al-Hinnawi, hanging on the wall of his majlis.

In 1857, this local leader bravely blocked an Ottoman cannon with his fez at the Battle of Qarasa, helping the Druze maintain an independent way of life in the mountains surrounding his villa, something the people of Suweida appear determined to maintain.

“We have been exposed to many confrontations and were able to overcome them. Battles took place between us and the Turkish rule and over the centuries of their rule… we suffered a lot,” the sheikh told The New Arab.

“Through our experiences of hundreds of years, we are good at reading the situation; we have bitter experiences both internally and externally.”

Like many figures The New Arab spoke to in Suweida, Hinnawi hopes that a democratic and pluralistic system emerges from this opaque transition period in Syria that respects minority rights, including the Druze, an essential component to ensuring political stability in the country, he says.

“Syria’s history is replete with coups and regime changes, often due to a lack of respect for pluralism and the diverse characteristics of the Syrian people,” he said.

“The Syrian people are a very diverse composition, and everyone must be respected and their rights preserved. They are like a beautiful mosaic that reflects the culture and diversity of society.”

The chief fear among many in Suweida is that the new government will cement Sunni hegemony in Syria by implementing sharia law nationwide, suspicions heightened due to the politics of decision makers in Damascus originating in a radical Islamist trend.

Few here also forget that interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa led Al-Nusra Front between 2012 and 2017, the hardline Islamist faction that was responsible for the killing of 20 Druze civilians in Idlib province in 2015, although the foreign commander responsible for the massacre was later punished.

Sheikh Yousef al-Jabrou, another Sheikh Al-Aql, said the massacres against Alawites on the Syrian coast in March were a stark reminder of this period and an apparent indication that government security forces remain highly sectarian, the presence of foreign fighters, many inspired by Salafi Jihadism, being a particularly sensitive issue for the Druze.

“The events, extremism, and sectarianism that have emerged in northern Syria have caused citizens to lose confidence in the new government, especially with the presence of some foreign nationalities within the army ranks. This creates a lack of trust in Syria in general and in Suweida in particular,” he told The New Arab.

“To avoid entering this situation and ending the prestige of the state and its efforts to bring about change, we must reassure the people of the province that those protecting them are from among the people of the province. Until the next stages, when we become a civil state agreed upon by all, we may move towards something better than this solution.”

Like many The New Arab spoke to, Jabrou said the government needs to establish a security force for Suweida that is representative of its people, to ensure the Druze can live in safety, and a stable situation can be created for economic growth.

This was an issue the Druze fought hard for during the war, with a medley of militias - such as Rijal Al-Karama - rebuffing the Islamic State (IS) group, the Assad regime, and army press gangers to keep the youth of Suweida largely shielded from the war. 

While some of these Druze militias were little more than criminal gangs, overall they made the province one of the least affected by the war, a security arrangement for the province that the Sheikh Al-Aql appear to want to continue.

“Our first demand from the [new] state… was to establish security and safety within the province and take on the role of state institutions, to economically empower its people and protect their livelihoods,” he told The New Arab.

"The most important thing today for our society is security and safety, followed by the economy.”

The third and probably most influential Sheikh Al-Aql is Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, viewed by many as the most important figurehead of the Druze community in Syria, who has spoken about his distrust of Sharaa, describing his administration as “radical”. 

Yet there have been criticisms of Hijri too after he was accused of backing Israeli designs for Suweida when, on 1 March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to advance his forces as far as Jaramana, a Damascus suburb with a large Druze population, on the dubious claim of protecting religious minorities.

Shortly before Al-Hijri hosted The New Arab at his home for a brief meeting, a throng of Druze civilians from the surrounding area held a rally at his compound in an apparently spontaneous show of support for the sheikh in light of recent controversies. Other journalists have reported similar scenes at his compound.

While the sheikh was reluctant to speak in-depth about the political situation in Syria, Tareq Al-Shoufi, the head of the Suweida Military Council, an armed group loyal to Hijri, appears sceptical about Sharaa’s newly found pragmatism on religious and political matters.

“The Syrian people are a lively civilised people with deep-rooted history, they should preserve the idea of the state and cancel the idea of a Muslim state in Damascus and dealing with extremist states to build a Muslim government in the country,” he told The New Arab, referring to the new government’s communication with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

“The regime in Afghanistan is not compatible with the Syrian people, even the Sunnis in Syria are secular, civilised, accept life, and do not accept extremism."

Underlining the immense political influence of the Sheikh Al-Aql in Suweida, Shoufi says he will follow Sheikh Hijri’s lead on relations with Damascus but is willing to integrate his forces into a national army, so long as a decentralised, secular, democratic state emerges in Syria.

“If [the government] meet our conditions and demands, we are ready to deal with them, [but] they completely excluded us,” said Shoufi.

“We have here [in Suweida] the Sheikh Al-Aql, headed by Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, we are working under his guidance and whatever he wants or accepts, we agree with him. We are not the decision-makers, we oversee the military decisions.”

Paul McLoughlin is the Head of News at The New Arab 

Follow him on Twitter: @PaullMcLoughlin