Siyasa Sharia – What Don’t the Americans Understand?

Last week—timed, unsurprisingly, just before the Syrian president’s meeting with Trump at the White House—the regime announced an operation against ISIS fighters in Syria. It was part of Damascus’s ongoing effort to present itself as a legitimate partner to the West.

In recent days, Syria’s Justice Minister, Mazhar Al‑Weis— one of the  leading religious figure who shaped the worldview of Hizb al‑Tahrir al‑Sham, the terror organization led by Ahmad al‑Shar’a before he seized control of Syria—posted a lengthy message on his Telegram channel.

In it, he explains from a shar‘i (Islamic law) perspective the cooperation with the United States and the operations against ISIS. He writes that he does so “out of a desire to clarify matters, to prevent the confusion spread by some people, and out of integrity towards the youth, so that they may distinguish truth from falsehood.” Al‑Weis argues that “the root of the problem lies in the confusion between loyalty and political conduct, or between an alliance and political maneuvering. Not every contact or cooperation constitutes loyalty, and not every agreement or coordination is an alliance.”

In essence, Syria’s Justice Minister is saying that cooperation with the U.S. is not a binding alliance or dependency, but a technical engagement meant to achieve immediate benefit in repelling an aggressive enemy like ISIS. The worldview he presents is identical to the “Shar‘i‑political Salafism” ideology within Islam—considered even more extreme than the Muslim Brotherhood.

According to Al‑Weis, this is not genuine cooperation but merely temporary coordination, designed to advance the goals of Islamic sovereignty. He reminds his audience that even the “jihad fighters in Syria”—as he calls them—once fought against ISIS as part of the internal struggles among rebel factions, between ISIS and the forces of Julani. “The struggle against ISIS has its own independent religious justifications and motives,” he insists. In this context, he cites Islamic fatwas issued during Turkey’s military campaign against ISIS roughly a decade ago.

haria-based Politics – Siyasa Shar‘iyya

Al‑Weis invokes the doctrine of Siyasa Shar‘iyya, Sharia-based politics. He writes: “The state is permitted to weigh general considerations of benefit that are not available to the individual, because it bears the overall responsibility for the future of the nation and for far‑reaching consequences—so long as such considerations do not entail abandoning a religious principle or supporting a religious prohibition.” According to this Islamic concept, the implementation of sharia can even be carried out in stages, striking a balance between the overall goal and its gradual, practical application, weighing gains against losses.

The Syrian Worldview Revealed

The worldview expressed in the Syrian Justice Minister’s post highlights the deep disconnect and the vast gulf in understanding between the United States—which believes the Syrian declarations, and the Islamist regime in Syria, which perceives them entirely differently. When the U.S. president says of al‑Shar‘a (formerly Julani) that “everyone has a past,” for Trump this is merely history. For al‑Shar‘a, however, this statement of Trump is precisely the objective al‑Shar‘a wants to achieve at the present.

A Record of Support for Hamas

In a video previously exposed by Hakol Hayehudi, the Syrian Justice Minister delivered a speech of support for Hamas following the Simchat Torah massacre, during the period when he served in al‑Shar‘a’s “Syrian Salvation Government” in Idlib. “On this occasion I send greetings,” Al‑Weis declared, “greetings of appreciation, honor, and respect to our fighting men and to our mujahideen brothers in Gaza, in the beloved land of Palestine. This strip has achieved what Arab armies failed to achieve over decades of trading in slogans of Palestine. Yet it was those same Arab armies that conspired against this cause. The Muslim Palestinian people in Palestine in general, and in Gaza in particular, have proven their steadfastness in clinging to their cause. The ‘Al‑Aqsa Flood’ and this operation have revived the honor and self‑confidence of the Muslim nation.”  Al‑Weis was appointed to his current position after documentation surfaced showing that his predecessor, appointed by al‑Shar‘a, had personally overseen the execution of women.