President al-Assad to periodic meeting of Endowments Ministry: Essence of thought is religion because it enters all aspects of life

Damascus, SANA-President Bashar al-Assad said on Monday that the essence of thought is religion as it infiltrates  all aspects of life, in mentality, behavior and passion.This has happened  in the past,is happening now in the present and will also happen in the future.It is enough to destroy this thought in order to destroy societies.

“This has been taking place for nearly a century or more, and overall, after hundreds of years, enemies of those societies have managed to  achieve their goal  in this domain… and religion which descended upon humanity to be a tool for the development of societies, instead, has become a  tool to ruin those societies… Here I want to compare  the situation and the world in which we live as a large ocean… huge waves that strike in all directions… strike security through terrorism… strike economy through siege,” President al-Assad added during an expanded meeting held by the Ministry of Endowments for scholars at Al-Othman Mosque in Damascus.

He added that what defines the ability of societies to face destruction are the factors of stability and fortification that inhibit  mental infiltrations.

The President underlined that the assessment  of the society’s adherence to religion will be through assessing  the morals of society and the behavior of its citizens.

The president went on to say “let us start with our responsibility, normally, when an offence happens  to our beliefs and symbols, the first natural response to any assault or offence is  a decisive condemnation and a decisive stance.

“Why have no changes ever been made… why do those offences continue… because we only express outrage… we express outrage, but we don’t confront, and there is a big difference between anger and confrontation,” President Al-Assad said.

He affirmed that “We are in a state of war… this war might be economic, or it could be military, and it could come as an attack on our  thoughts, but if we want to confront, we have to be like a soldier at his post, the soldier must take the right position, direction and method in order to win the war.

“Anger can achieve nothing. We have to think of  how and where to start the confrontation… Confrontation starts by knowing the real enemy and his whereabouts… President al-Assad said.

He added that the danger always comes from inside, from extremism, backwardness and the inability to have the correct and right mentality.

“As for terrorism, I didn’t talk about it and I didn’t say that terrorism constitutes danger because terrorism is a mere result, not a reason,” President al-Assad said.

The President affirmed that terrorism is not an Islamic product. Western society has stirred terrorism in the region.A most important point is that part of terrorism, which strikes there in Europe, has no relation to the terrorism that exists in our region. They have imported the Wahhabi mentality in return for the petro-dollar, in return for money and they are paying the price now.

 “So, confrontation starts from knowing the danger and it also starts from knowing the points of weakness… defining the identity of the real enemy… this is the problem,” President al-Assad said.

The President added that modern liberalism now resembles the talk about democratic marketing regarding America.

 “They use democracy in order to dominate peoples and they use human rights in order to wage wars… They have used modern liberalism which began to develop since nearly five decades ago in a gradual and malicious manner like cancer,” President al-Assad said.

The President added that” Liberalism method” is to reject all beliefs demanding  from Man not to belong to any religion or belief. It’s method is to turn the individual from a collective society – as is the natural case for all humanity- into individuality.

 “So,a large part of the attack on the religious institution comes from outside… and we have to see the war on Syria and the war on the religious institution in a deeper context… this war is not separated, it is not “newly born” from the last 10 years and this is what we all have to understand,” President al-Assad said.

As for the self-evident concepts, the President added that there are a lot of self-evident points which represent values, traditions and thoughts on which any society is built, so it is very important to strengthen those concepts so our societies don’t  lose them. National  symbols ,belonging, traditions and also the family are pillars of society.

 “If they want to realize the political collapse, they have to realize social collapse… and here comes the role of religion… religion outside a suitable society has no real meaning,” the President said.

He added that at the same time, it is not possible to talk about a right application for religion without a right interpretation that expresses the challenges of this stage, It is the starting point to a right understanding and also to combating extremism.

As for Arabism, President al-Assad said that the role of Arabism is central and it is in the core of this culture. That means we can’t imagine the Islamic religion without the central role of the Arabs and this is a normal impact of the language and the culture.

“We all know that the war which used the religious idioms in Syria began before the military war. They hoped that the sectarianism will push people to carry weapons and fight, but when they failed, they decided to go towards terrorism,” President al-Assad said.

“Those who attack the religious institutions, based on ignorance rather than malicious intent, don’t know the positive role of these institutions in preventing sedition and division.. They don’t know its role in preventing sectarianism, extremism and in purification of the regions which were liberated from the remnants of the takfiri mentality… they don’t know that it has accomplished a modern interpretation that goes hand in hand with the challenges of this stage,” the President said   

Editor In Chief

Reem Haddad