(…)the Jabhat has distributed other pamphlets too, including one a few days ago that called for replacing the tri-starred revolutionary flag with the Islamist black one: “Yes to choosing that the [black] banner … be the flag of the Syrian revolution and Syria.”
It upset a fair number of people, some of whom simply want a civil state. Others feared that it would serve as an excuse for the regime to brand the city’s residents as extremists, or place Raqqa on a list of Islamist targets in Syria that the U.S. is allegedly putting together for potential drone strikes.At least a few hundred publicly protested against the raising of the black flag in the square outside the governorate, while others complained inside the privacy of their homes. “We all pray, we all say, ‘There is no god but God,’ but I will not raise this flag,” an older man said. “Are they trying to break away from Syria? From the country of Syria? That [black] flag doesn’t represent me,” said another. “This is an insult to people who died for the revolutionary flag,” one young man said.
Another pamphlet pictorially depicts what is considered appropriate dress for Muslim women. Some of the Muslim women in the city wear jeans, tight shirts and hijabs although most wear abayas out in public. According to the pamphlet, trousers are out, as are wrist-to-ankle abayas or black cloaks that come in at the hip, or buttoned-up wrist-to-ankle overcoats that suggest a hip or shoulders. The only form of dress with a green tick beside it is an amorphous cloak of black material and a waist-length headscarf that also completely covers a women’s face. On a recent afternoon, five women passed around the pamphlet, before derisively dismissing it. “I won’t cover my face regardless of what happens!” said one. “This is our clothing,” said another, pointing to her long-sleeved, ankle-length, emerald green dress and lilac headscarf. “What’s wrong with this?”
For their part, the Jabhat and other Islamists say that nothing will be forced, and that they are merely presenting their ideas and offering a choice. “We, in Shari‘a, do not have something called an infidel dress code and a believer’s dress code,” says Sheik Abu Ali, who is at once part of Omana al-Raqqa Ahrar al-Sham as well as a Shari‘a official of Jabhat al-Nusra in Raqqa. “Our guide is that a woman should not dress in a way to entice a man.”
Regarding whether a woman should cover her face, he says the issue is undecided among religious scholars. “Islam in the Levant was not and will not be anything except a moderate Islam,” the sheik says, adding that Christian women could wear what they want, as long as they do not “entice men.”
via Syria: How Islamist Rebels Are Ruling a Fallen Provincial Capital | TIME.com.
And this is why I didn’t support Syrian revolution till now, whatever some friends of mine would say. Same as most western governments and population. One cannot make a revolution letting wolves lead the cattle with the hope that cattle will kick out wolves later. Even more… why do they want us to support an islamic revolution: Because Syrian people want it? … because they are religious people oppressed by a dictator? … Because human rights have been suppressed from them by the Assads? … because a sunni majority is ruled by an alawite minority?… because… ? … all these reasons can be ok but my main question would be:
IS THIS REVOLUTION GOING TO BRING SOMETHING BETTER FOR SYRIANS?
Replacing a tyranny for a new one is no benefit. Until now you could find unique situations in Syria, as christian and muslim sharing temples, banquets, prayer times, … until now women were not asked what to wear… until now we had a tyrant ruling, yeah… but what will come from THIS revolution, when those leading it and settleing are worst than what syrians have met, or simply have such a chaotic desunion that nothing as a solid political project seem able to come out properly… until now?
Just hearing abt this kind of news:
http://world.time.com/2013/03/26/in-syria-the-rebels-have-begun-to-fight-among-themselves/
or:
http://world.time.com/2013/04/01/syrias-civil-war-the-mystery-behind-a-deadly-chemical-attack/
or this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jun/08/alex-thompson-syrian-rebels
or in global…. this:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/01/would_captain_kirk_intervene_in_syria
All this said… I keep not liking what see in Syria. Perspectives of a triumphant revolution tell me abt a puppet of Qatar (much more involved than Saudi Arabia, whatever the world may believe, in all islamist expansion) or a puppet of the west that may eventually be set down due to lack of supports.
Of course also the option of a “necessary islamist catharsis” among arabs to discard deffinitely islamism as a way of government will be considered by many (this process has to happen in order to advance once we learn from it, they’ll say) but the cost can be extreme… Islam of the Levant is one of the most respectful, tolerant and useful for the world that I ever heard of, together with sufism.
That way of life would be the main victim…. A way of life that survived under a tyrant.
Or so I see!
And i don’t like it.
Al-Must'arib (the vocational Mossarab) 