Highlights of President Al- Assad’s speech during the periodic meeting of the Ministry of religious Endowments (Awqaf)

President, Al-Assad: The essence of thought is religion because it is included in all aspects of life. If the army fails, terrorism will triumph, and if the religious establishment fails, sedition will prevail.

President al-Assad: The Security and living issues are reversible affecting each other directly, while intellectual and ideological issues are complex issues. Therefore, in intellectual issues, what we may gain is difficult to get rid of, and what we may lose is difficult to recover.

President al-Assad:   It is natural, that attacks like the last attack on Prophet Mohammed peace upon him to offend our beliefs and symbols. It is natural in such cases that the first response is a decisive condemnation and a firm stance.

President al-Assad: There is no relationship between secularism and the separation of religion from the state because secularism is the freedom of religions and it is respect for religions at the same time.

President al-Assad: Religion should be taken as a whole without picking or choosing from it according to where our interests lie.

President al-Assad: When a language comes with a religion, and this religion prevails, it is natural within a short period that this language will become the dominant language, this is a self-evident thing. The existence of the Arabic language did not take place through occupation nor through oppression or exclusion, but it was a natural product.

President al-Assad:  The family is the smallest unit in our eastern societies, not the individual, as modern liberalism tries to market.” The family includes the customs, traditions, and culture.  Everything represents identity, we see in the family, and the individual is a member of it, and the family can only be based on altruism. Selfishness cannot build a family.

President al-Assad: A religion that is in constant dialogue with its sons and other religions is a strong religion. The person who is afraid of the opinion of others and of taking this opinion into consideration is a person with weak belief.

President al-Assad: The Awqaf (Endowments) institution has the main role in this particular war, I can say without exaggerations that you (The Ministry of Endowments) worked hand in hand with the army.

Raghda Sawas