cta-image

Donate

Donations from readers like you allow us to do what we do. Please help us continue our work with a monthly or one-time donation.

Donate Today
cta-image

Subscribe Today

Subscribe to receive daily or weekly MEMRI emails on the topics that most interest you.
Subscribe
cta-image

Request a Clip

Media, government, and academia can request a MEMRI clip or other MEMRI research, or ask to consult with or interview a MEMRI expert.
Request Clip
memri
Sep 20, 2016
Share Video:

Syrian Islamic Scholar Abd Al-Karim Bakkar: The Arab Revolutions Were Necessary, Even Though We Have Paid a High Price

#5693 | 06:04
Source:

In a recent TV interview, Syrian Islamic scholar Abd Al-Karim Bakkar talked about the issue of the revolutions in the Arab world, saying that "sooner or later, the Arab Spring will prevail, even though the 'Tyrants' Winter' lingers on." Speaking on the Turkish Dar Aliman TV channel on September 20, Bakkar said that before the revolution, the Syrians were "living a life worse than that of animals," adding that even a Dutch cow lives in better conditions. "We have paid a high price, and we will continue to pay a price. The Syrians are prepared to pay a price," he stated.


Following are excerpts


Interviewer:Are you in favor of a woman being in charge?


Abd Al-Karim Bakkar: I am not against it, because I believe that the shari'a is open with regard to this issue. Let's imagine the following scenario. In any democratic framework, there are competing political parties. Let's assume that a certain country has three competing parties, and one of them is headed by a woman. When the people consider for whom they should cast their ballot, they realize that this woman is more pious, more moral, and more capable than the leaders of the two other parties. Should we tell them to vote for the corrupt leader just because he is a man?


[...]


Interviewer: But some people might say that it's forbidden for women to have entered politics, to begin with.


Abd Al-Karim Bakkar: It's not forbidden. Women can head associations, organizations, or parties. There's no text that forbids her from...


Interviewer: Doesn't Islamic law prohibit her from participating in political activity?


Abd Al-Karim Bakkar: No, it doesn't.


[...]


In politics, in industry, in economy, and on the administrative level, we suffer from backwardness. Our backwardness is evident in the fact that we need others for every single thing. The glasses I am using to see you, for example, were not made by us. Our prayer rugs, the equipment we use in our minarets, and the machines we use to print our Quran books were not produced by us. This reality is obvious. This backwardness has accumulated over years and centuries, for various reasons.


Interviewer: What is the first step that countries have to take to emerge from this backwardness? Does it require individual efforts or efforts on the state level, or maybe both? What individual efforts should be made in order to achieve progress?


Abd Al-Karim Bakkar: If we consider this on an individual level, I said, in a Friday sermon yesterday, that some people are part of the problem and some are part of the solution.


[...]


On the (state) level, we are in need of political reform. Sooner or later, the Arab Spring will prevail, even though the "Tyrants' Winter" lingers on. Allah willing, it will come to an end. The Arab Spring was meant to bring progress to the political sphere, and this will be followed by progress in the economy and society.


Interviewer: Do you view it as an Arab Spring or an Arab Winter?


Abd Al-Karim Bakkar: An Arab Spring.


Interviewer: Despite all that is happening in Syria?


Abd Al-Karim Bakkar: Before the revolution, the Syrians faced two alternatives: to revolt or to die a slow death. We disagree on the definition of life. Before the revolution, the Syrians were not living a life of human beings. They were living a life worse than that of animals. The Dutch cow lives in a place that is air-conditioned, and is milked to the sound of music, and it lives 5, 10, or 20 peaceful years, without prison, without torture, and without forced disappearances.


In the prisons of Bashar and Hafez Al-Assad, thousands of people disappeared. There are 11,000 names documented, along with pictures, by the UN. So if people believe that the Syrians - and others - were really living, they are delusional. They were living a life worse than that of beasts.


Were these revolutions necessary? Yes, they were. One generation or another had to cut the shackles of oppression.


Interviewer:Even at the cost of such a catastrophe?


Abd Al-Karim Bakkar:Yes. Yes. In World War II, 50 million people were killed. 50 million human beings. The revolutions in Syria, in Egypt, and elsewhere broke out for the sake of principles - for the sake of freedom, justice, and dignity, and against oppression, corruption, bribery, and tyranny.


These were revolutions that arose because of principles, not out of hunger. Take WW II, in which 50 million were killed - what was its rationale? Was it waged over values and principles? No. The French Revolution lasted seven years, but it took France 80 years and 70 governments to become a democracy. You cannot plant an olive tree and expect to harvest olives after three months.


What we want to do is eradicate the deep roots of a corrupt state, and what's more, we are trying to do this in a world that is all corruption - Hizbullah, along with Russia, Iran, and America, are all allied against a wretched people. The Syrian people is a cultured, moderate... The Syrian people have not hurt anyone. They have not carried out attacks in another country and destroyed it. Yet you deny them the most basic rights, not allowing them to live even as the lowliest human beings. This shows that we live in an immoral world, but nevertheless, the revolution will ultimately prevail, Allah willing. We have paid a high price, and we will continue to pay a price. The Syrians are prepared to pay a price.


[...]

Share this Clip: