Deterioration… from university to mosque

Syria is in a state of increasing deterioration, and the situation of the rest of the Arab-Islamic world is no different. Syria has far more than 13,000 mosques (Sheikh Abdul Salam Rajeh). Of course, the number of universities is much smaller, and even the number of Quran memorization schools is much larger than the number of universities and technical educational institutes.

The question here concerns the relationship between deterioration and the number of houses of worship, and between the costs of houses of worship and the costs of educational institutions. We do not know the numbers on the destroyed schools and the cost of their restoration, but we do know a statement by the former Syrian Minister of Endowments, which included information on the cost of restoring the Endowments Mosque in Aleppo. According to the minister’s statement, the cost of restoration was estimated at 7.3 billion Syrian pounds, a number that shocked us!! If the cost of restoring the Great Endowments Mosque is this enormous, how much will the cost of restoring every mosque affected by the events of recent years? Another piece of information we have been unable to reconcile with is that it is said that the illiteracy rate in rural Aleppo is 100% among women and 98% among men, despite the presence of nearly 1,000 mosques in the Aleppo countryside. We do not wish to expand on the numbers, as what applies to rural Aleppo and the city of Aleppo applies elsewhere. What is the relationship between the large number of places of worship and the practice of religion and widespread ignorance and illiteracy? Why do we feel a sense of fear when we say that the abundance of worship is directly proportional to the abundance of ignorance, and inversely proportional to the abundance of knowledge and understanding? Why do clerics insist on the proliferation of houses of worship, which burdens very modest financial resources, in addition to its direct and indirect burden on the capacity for understanding and academic achievement? Can we progress at the hands of graduates of Sharia colleges and Quran  memorization schools, or is it necessary to utilize limited resources in ways that benefit life, rather than perpetuate death through poverty, disease, and ignorance?

The past, especially the last century, is characterized by an unclear horizon, and by manifestations of political prostitution and adultery between the previous authoritarian secular claim, which we did not believe, and some aspects of which cannot be denied, with the political  muslim Brotherhood. The surprise was the discovery of Kandahar in all of Syria, claiming secularis,  It is a catastrophic discovery. We discovered that Syria was on the verge of death, without realizing its infection with the incurable disease, which continues to this moment in its cancer, eating it limb after limb and part after part. It is the cancer of a dominant religion without a position. The experience of recent years with fundamentalism in its Sunni and Shiite forms, and with Sunnism, Alawites, and Shiites in politics, has not been able to enlighten us or clarify the state we were and still are in. We build mosques and restore damaged ones, while neglecting schools and universities, The city of Aleppo, which witnessed a massive destruction of its schools, mosques, and teachers’ quarters during the years of war, has not received the attention that houses of worship and the centers of graduation of new batches of fundamentalists and fundamentalists have received, The construction of religious education is protected by the deceitful and hypocritical authoritarian decision. It is not difficult to discover the falseness of the interest in science and knowledge, the role of science and knowledge, culture, and national awareness. It is not difficult to observe this intensified attention to houses of worship compared to the blatant neglect of schools. If the first round of demolition in Syria was not sufficient, then the second round will come, destructively.

Renovating places of worship at huge costs does not represent all forms of deterioration, deterioration has other aspects, for example the decision to cancel the Women’s Union which coincided in time with the licensing of the Qubaisiyat, When asked about the reason for this blessed step! The answer was that in view of the equality of women with men there is no need for a Women’s Union! But why does this not apply to the Qubaisiyat? Aren’t they women!! The matter in reality is nothing but a step towards restoring harmony and trust between the fundamentalists. They need each other. This is what their history says, and what history says in general!