For years, “Maria” (we’re using a pseudonym, given the political situation) thought little about her apparel or how to greet her colleagues. A Christian and longtime Syrian government employee, she kept her head uncovered and wore Western business-casual attire. She greeted her coworkers with “sabah al-khayr,” which means “good morning” in Arabic.
But an alliance of rebel forces, some connected to jihadist groups, has now seized government power. The new leaders in Damascus repeatedly say Christians, some of whom had allied with the Assad regime, face neither persecution nor displacement. Yet small aspects of Maria’s work life have already begun to change.
Recently, a new boss for her department informed the office that coworkers would now greet each other with “salamu alaykum,” Arabic for “peace be upon you.” That’s the standard greeting between religious Muslims. Maria wonders if changes might be gradual, that next week, or next month, or next year, she will be required to wear a hijab.
Maybe the new greeting requirement is a good sign. Since many radical Muslims refuse to exchange peace greetings with nonbelievers, maybe this new boss is inviting Maria into the traditional religious exchange. The new regime might be Islamic, but it might also be welcoming. Maybe.
Some gestures may have big meanings. The new government declared December 25 and 26 national holidays. Roughly 125 miles north of Damascus, in the Christian-majority town of Suqaylabiyah, hooded figures dressed in black burned the community’s Christmas tree two days before the holiday. Within a day, the new authorities vowed to replace the tree’s charred remains.
In Damascus, the country’s capital, residents of the Christian neighborhood of Bab Sharqi hung up a neon sign with “Merry Christmas” in cursive lettering. As in years prior, they set out Christmas trees on the “street called Straight” (Acts 9:11, ESV) a road which for centuries has commemorated the conversion of Paul.
But disturbed by Christmas tree arson, hundreds of Christians filled the Bab Sharqi streets on Christmas Eve, carrying crucifixes and Syrian flags. Some shouted, “We demand the rights of Christians.”
What are those rights? Pastor “Bassem,” who heads an evangelical church in Aleppo in northern Syria, watched a video of rebels entering a church in Latakia, a city on the Mediterranean coast that is also an Assad stronghold. They promised the Christians good treatment, but Bassem wonders how to interpret frequent declarations of religious tolerance.
Islamic law, Bassem noted, traditionally assures “people of the book”—Christians and Jews—of their place in a Muslim society. But for Bassem, behind such announcements rests an attitude of religious superiority: You are under our rules, but you will be okay. Maybe.
He does reflect on how, as the rebels advanced in November and early December, the clash between the fighters and military could easily have been violent. As forces advanced to the outskirts of Aleppo, Bassem gathered around 150 people in his congregation for a prayer meeting. Other churches in his evangelical network met similarly throughout Syria to pray that “there be no bloodshed.”
The new Syrian government’s consistent rhetoric of tolerance has some analysts asking: Is the talk merely an attempt to assuage a nervous international audience? Following the initial weeks of relative calm, the US removed a $10 million bounty on the new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly with al-Qaeda. But it kept in place economic sanctions enacted against the previous regime, pending further developments.
