In light of the ongoing subjugation of Syria to the will of America and the international order, people feel robbed of their will, lacking their own decision-making power, and fearing for their future. To understand who decides matters in Syria and why we have lost our decision-making power, we must review the course of the Syrian revolution from its beginnings.

When the former regime used the army and security forces against the people, the revolutionaries resorted to forming groups to protect the demonstrators with light weapons. This developed into the formation of revolutionary factions that seized the regime’s weapons and were able to liberate 70 percent of the country. They raised the Rayah (banners of jihad) and called for the governance by Islam. Some of them even adopted the draft constitution proposed by Hizb ut Tahrir, which terrified international powers, led by America. They intervened to support the regime behind the scenes, which led people to launch a Friday march entitled “America, isn’t your hatred satisfied with our blood?” This indicates the people’s awareness of the former regime’s subservience to America and its support for it. This forced America to delve deeper into its deception, so it instructed its tools from neighboring regimes such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to intervene to contain the revolution by confiscating its decision through support with dirty political money. For this purpose, it established the MOC and MOM chambers. The goal of this support was to infiltrate the ranks of the revolution, seize its decision, control it, and direct it into side battles to exhaust it, especially since the support was ineffective weapons that were unable to stop the aerial, missile, and artillery bombardment. Salaries were meager, and they even became a means of corruption for leaders who found them a source of wealth, through various forms of corruption. This shackled the revolution of ash-Sham, which suffered from corruption and reliance on cold support, instead of the warm spoils of battles with the former regime, which had been the reason for its infliction, weakening it, and liberating the regions from it.

In this way, the revolution lost its independence and its decision-making power. Demonstrations erupted, demanding a course correction and the restoration of the right decision-making power. However, they were met with justifications and sycophants, just as is the case now, under the pretext of “Where will people eat?!” As if we were in a revolution of hungry people! The factions were preoccupied with support, backers, and the unification of factions through integration, but to no avail, as they became shackled by the orders of their backers.

The justifications of the factional leaders have always been that, “they will take the money, but will not carry out the orders of their backers.” This is the argument used by those who justify the policy of subservience and submission to American directives and its tools, which the new government in Damascus follows. However, this is a far cry from reality. The support has eroded the resolve of the factional leaders, who have carried out the instructions, surrendered territories, implemented the Sochi and Astana agreements, committed to de-escalation, and even waged battles of attrition against the sincere mujahideen who objected to the closure of fronts.

Similar to this is what is happening at the hands of the new government today, as it intervenes to prevent the mujahideen from achieving decisive victory in several battles, as happened in the battles of the coast and Suwayda. This is merely in compliance with the orders of the supporters, which has placed the people of ash-Sham in great dangers that could have been easily overcome and eliminated had the decision been made independently.

Yes, the deviation began from the beginning, mortgaged decision-making to the conspiring countries, led by America, and submitting to the directives of Thomas Barrack, the US envoy to Syria, who has become known as the “High Commissioner,” will only lead us to the abyss. The one who lacks decision-making power in the revolution will not be a decision-maker in power. This is because those who support him will control his decision-making and all he has to do is implement their decision. He has entered a lizard's hole from which he will not be able to exit except by cutting off the hands of his supporters.

The current Syrian administration has been preoccupied with the economic aspect at the expense of the revolution’s fundamentals, happy to share with the international order its capitalist economic system, which promises them skyscrapers, metro tunnels, and tourism projects that will further shackle them. Then they claim they will emerge from it into the shadow of Islam! Adhering to oppressors and kafireen (disbelievers) is a clear loss in this world before the hereafter, and it is not a path to truth and the establishment of Deen.

Hence, it was necessary to warn against neglecting the principles of the revolution and the sacrifices of the mujahideen, especially with America’s pressure on the current administration to exclude Islam from power and bring remnants of the former regime closer, returning many of them to their stances of work despite the great danger this poses. In addition, there are attempts to exclude honest people from positions of influence and integrate them with forces that do not want Islam, thus increasing the restrictions and obstacles to correcting the course.

Today, we must beware of the most dangerous decisions facing the Islamic Ummah, namely the justification for suspending Shariah and establishing the rule of law according to what Allah (swt) has revealed, under the pretext of incompetence, self-interest, and gradualism. This has led to a reversal of all the principles and slogans raised by the people of ash-Sham in their revolution. We have seen the concession of the Palestinian cause and the assertion that ash-Sham will not be a launching pad for fighting the Jews, and the acceleration of normalization with the Jewish entity, through secret and public meetings, promises of peace with the Jews, and entry into the Abraham Accords “when circumstances permit.” All of this is to restrain the Ummah from fulfilling what Allah (swt) has obligated it to do, which is to establish His Shariah Law and liberate Muslim lands, in implementation of the orders of the supporters and anesthetized by economic prosperity, under which the country’s resources are sold to greedy capitalist investors and companies.

Finally, whoever assumes leadership must be principled and champion the Islamic project in a clear and comprehensive manner, based on the Book of Allah (swt), the Sunnah of His Messenger (saw), the Unanimous Consensus (Ijmaa’) of the Companions (ra) and valid Islamic qiyas (Shari’ analogy) they convey. Whoever assumes leadership must be free from the influence of states and their dictates. Their dictates the Wrath of Allah (swt) and contradict His Shariah commands. This is a dangerous slide toward the abyss of dependency, subservience, and humiliation. Allah (swt) says,﴿وَلَا تَرْكَنُوا إِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا فَتَمَسَّكُمُ النَّارُ وَمَا لَكُم مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ مِنْ أَوْلِيَاءَ ثُمَّ لَا تُنصَرُونَ﴾“And do not incline toward those who do wrong, lest the Fire touch you, and you will have no protectors other than Allah, and then you will not be aided.” [TMQ Surah Hud:113].