To the Syrians… Do Not Let Your Sacrifices Be Stolen Again
Power, Religion, and Civilization
Revolutions are stolen not only by tanks, but also when the homeland becomes spoils and weapons stand above the law.
You have paid a heavy price in blood, displacement, and destruction. Do not let anyone steal your sacrifices again—not in the name of sect, revolution, religion, or security.
For revolutions are stolen not only by tanks, but also when the homeland becomes spoils, when weapons stand above the law, when Islam is reduced to a group, and Syria to a faction.
Syria Has Never Been an Image of Extremism
Rather, it was a land of civilization: the Kingdom of Ebla, the Palmyrene Empire, the Umayyad Mosque, Aleppo, and Damascus… It was a beacon of learning, commerce, and culture, not an arena for slogans and new prisons.
More Dangerous Than Stealing the Revolution
More dangerous than stealing the revolution is clothing that theft in religion, so that objection becomes unbelief, criticism becomes treason, and despotism becomes “divine law.”
Islam is justice before it is a slogan, mercy before it is a banner, and consultation before it is a coerced pledge of allegiance. Whoever rules people through fear does not represent Islam, and whoever declares people unbelievers in order to rule them does not build a homeland.
Emerging from the Bottleneck
Reclaiming the meaning of the homeland. Syria belongs to all Syrians, not to a sect, a party, or an organization.
Building a state of institutions, not a state of individuals. No savior-leader, no warlord, and no ruler in the name of heaven.
Separating religious outreach from arms. Religion guides people, and arms protect borders; when both come into the hands of a single group, religion and the homeland alike are lost.
Rejecting revenge. There is no future with open-ended vengeance, and no justice without law.
Exposing external projects. Every state pursues its own interests, so do not make your land a bargaining chip.
Reviving Syria’s civilizational identity. An identity that makes the future, not one that lives solely on a discourse of victimhood and war.
The Enemy Awaits Division, Not Strength
Remember that the enemy lying in wait does not await your strength… but your division. Israel and other powers that do not want Syria to recover watch every fissure, capitalize on every disagreement, and exploit every instance of chaos.
Do not make your internal conflicts a free gift to your enemies, and do not let your blood pave the way for the projects of others.
When Syrians become preoccupied with one another, the land is lost, and those lying in wait advance. When voices unite, pretexts collapse, and those with designs on the country fail.
Do not let political disagreements become a war over existence, or intellectual disagreements become armed conflict; when the homeland weakens, everyone dares to move against it.
“Do not let the revolution turn from a quest for freedom… into a marketplace of power, and do not let Islam be hijacked to serve as a bridge to a new despotism.”