Draft:Abu Abd al-Malik al-Shari
| Abu Abd al-Malik al-Shari | |
|---|---|
 | |
| name | Abu Abd al-Malik al-Shari |
| Personal details | |
| religion | Islam |
Abu Abd al-Malik al-Shari was the first Sharia official of Ahrar al-Sham in Syria. He received endorsement from figures such as Muhammad al-Amin. During this period, he initiated Salafi missionary activities and established contact with the terrorist group "Tawhid and Jihad" in Fallujah; however, due to the associated risks, he refrained from joining them. In 2004, he was arrested and sentenced to seven years in prison for his activities, serving his term at the Sednaya Military Prison. He was released one week before the 2011 street uprisings and joined the demonstrators at the Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque. A collection of his thoughts and positions has been compiled under the title "Turath al-Shaykh Abi al-Malik al-Shari".
Biography
Abu Abd al-Malik al-Shari was born in 1982 in Latakia. He served as the general Sharia official for Ahrar al-Sham and received endorsement from figures such as Muhammad al-Amin. In 2002, after completing secondary school, he enrolled at Tishreen University in Latakia. In 2003, he moved to pursue studies at the Islamic University of Medina.
Activities
Following the internal uprisings in Syria, Abu Abd al-Malik al-Shari traveled to the Yayladagi camp in Turkey for missionary work, where he began activities at a local mosque. Upon the establishment of the Ahrar al-Sham Battalion and subsequently the Ahrar al-Sham Movement, he assumed responsibility for the Sharia affairs of this rebel organization.
Thoughts and Positions
One of the interesting and effective points in understanding his positions is his apologetic description regarding the "Sarouriyya" movement. In this regard, he has presented Muhammad Sarur Zayn al-Abidin as a positive figure with distinguished intellectual and practical credentials. By noting that the title "Sarouriyya" was coined by opponents to refer to followers of this current and is not accepted by them, he has refuted and justified the accusations leveled against the "Sarouriyya" movement and criticized their passive and reactive approach. The accusations he denied include:
- Participation of the Sarouriyya in political parties and democratic elections;
- Expansion in the understanding of the jurisprudence of the oppressed, or in other words, exaggeration in self-perception as weak vis-à-vis the ruling regime;
- Hesitation and divergence in describing the reality of governance in Islamic countries;
- Excessive caution and exaggeration regarding most jihadist activities.
From his perspective, Muhammad Sarur Zayn al-Abidin permitted participation in electoral activities. He is also portrayed as having numerous criticisms of jihadist currents. In any case, he attributed the source of exaggerated accusations against other groups of harboring "Sarouriyya" tendencies primarily to followers of ISIS. Interestingly, Abu Abd al-Malik al-Shar'i, while criticizing partisanship and factionalism, identified the recruitment of young seminary students for issuing fatwas and serving as judges, prioritizing them over qualified and just individuals, as manifestations of such partisanship. This critique emerged amid internal challenges within many armed insurgent groups that appointed individuals as religious scholars and judges to administer territories under their control in Syria.
Amidst these developments, a crucial point is that he elevated the status of the Sharia Council above that of military commanders of armed and insurgent factions. Specifically, while rejecting democratic tendencies and the establishment of parliaments, he emphasized that the "Islamic Front" was formed following agreement on establishing an Islamic state and the supremacy of Sharia within it. Based on this premise, he highlighted that the Sharia Council holds precedence and superiority over commanders of this front, such as Abu Isa, Alloush, and Hamawi. Thus, decision-making on religious matters pertains solely to this council and not to any other individual. Furthermore, he deemed attaining the Rashidun Caliphate through domination (taghlub) as illegitimate, asserting that it can only be achieved legitimately through consultation (shura) and the choice of those who loosen and bind (ahl al-hall wa'l-aqd). From his viewpoint, however, insurgent groups like ISIS are averse to consultation and shura, limiting consultative processes at most to a very small circle of commanders. While rejecting secular states and democracy, he also declared civil states with secular and democratic orientations as illegitimate. Nevertheless, he did not consider the rejection of democratic approaches as an obstacle to emphasizing the shura model in Islam. Indeed, he permitted participation in democratic councils when motivated by religious considerations and sound assessments of public interest. Abu Abd al-Malik al-Shar'i, endorsing interest-based reasoning within a Sharia framework while rejecting non-Sharia interests, invalidated the model of pragmatic interest pursued by certain political currents, including among the Muslim Brotherhood and Egyptian Salafis.
Missions of Sharia Councils
In explaining the activities and missions of Sharia councils, he acknowledged that the capture of various regions in Syria by armed insurgent groups created a sense of need and necessity for establishing Sharia councils. This was because the disruption of conditions in captured cities and villages required appropriate administration. In this context, the participation of graduates of religious sciences in administering these regions gained significant importance. Consequently, the roles of preachers, speakers, clerics, and Sunni scholars were organized within these Sharia councils. Part of this involvement had social dimensions, while another part was political. Activities such as providing religious education to the public through designing and implementing diverse training courses, training Sharia instructors, enjoining good and forbidding evil, and judicial functions became the specific responsibilities of Sharia councils and the scholars working within them. For instance, the Sharia Council of Aleppo was established on December 15, 2012.
Abu Abd al-Malik al-Shar'i noted that this Sharia Council handled over 11,000 complaints and implemented Sharia penalties. He also cited the appointment of one hundred religious speakers and supervision over one hundred schools with 3,000 students as among the council's activities. Confronting certain criminals and their military operations was also included in this record of achievements. Moreover, he highlighted that numerous public services provided by this Sharia Council in occupied areas, alongside the suspension of administrative activities after their capture, complemented the religious and Sharia-related functions of these councils. Overall, he regarded the formation and establishment of these Sharia councils as the beginning of the emergence of an Islamic State.
Death
He was ultimately killed in the well-known Ram Hamran bombing near northern Idlib on September 8, 2014.
See Also
Sources
- See: Zabihollah Naeimian, Flow Analysis of Syria, Publication of the Assembly for Approximation of Islamic Schools of Thought, Qom, 1402 SH.