As we have seen last week, Professor Mustafa Al-Sibaie had a very eventful life, as he served Islam on more than one front. He was in the forefront of struggle against colonial powers everywhere in the Muslim world which led to his imprisonment by the French in Syria and Lebanon, and by the British in Egypt and Palestine, and then by Gen. Shishakli, the Syrian dictator. He fought in Palestine and was at the forefront of the forces defending Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque. At the same time, he pursued his studies, receiving his Ph.D. degree in the same year as winning a seat in the first Syrian Parliament. He was the one to be credited with the establishment of a specialized faculty in Islamic studies at the University of Damascus, and mawsoo’at Al-Fiqh Al-Islami, or Encyclopedia of Islamic Fiqh, was his brainchild project. In all this we see a scholar of high academic achievement who lived the problems of his community and led the way in the struggle for improving the lot of his people.
Indeed, such improvement was always on his mind, particularly because poverty was the lot of a substantial section of the Syrian population as Syria was struggling to free itself from the French colonial rule and its subsequent independence. He realized that there were several types of social injustice inherent in society after a long period of decline in the Muslim world followed by foreign occupation. Hence, his social work was varied, aiming to help the poor in every way possible. He spoke out against unemployment, low wages, high prices, poor health and education services, etc. But he felt that no matter how strongly one speaks against such social ills, it was action that could bring about a change and set things moving for the better. Hence, he started evening schools for poor people. Students in these schools were mainly adults who had received little or no education when young, and were on subsistence wages. They could pursue their studies in such schools up to university entry standards. He also formed committees to raise funds to help the poor and needy. He also initiated other committees for different purposes, such as education, labor, student, medical and charitable committees. These aimed to serve the community in their specialized fields.
All this shows how much involved Mustafa Al-Sibaie was in the day to day problems of his community. What is more is that his action on all these fronts was motivated by his strong belief that Islam requires all this of Muslims, particularly those who were well educated in Islamic faith. The first parliamentary elections in Syria after independence elected what was first a constituent assembly which drafted and adopted the first Syrian constitution. When this task was completed, the assembly became the first Parliament. As we have seen, Mustafa Al-Sibaie was elected to this assembly and Parliament. He was also selected a member of the constitution drafting committee. As such he ensured that the new constitution incorporated the following principles:
The President must be of the Muslim faith; Islamic law is the basic and main source of legislation; The state guarantees freedom of belief, respects all divine religions, ensures freedom of religious practice, provided that such practices do not contravene public order; Personal and family matters are ensured for all dominations.
To establish these principles, Mustafa Al-Sibaie had to lead a hard struggle against secularists who were trying to give themselves an air of progress and civilization. When the struggle was hard, he carried it on from the Parliament to the public domain, and was able to show that the majority of the population was behind him.
On the other hand, Al-Sibaie’s activity in Parliament addressed social injustice in all its aspects. It is partly this keen sense of social justice and partly because of his fear that secular trends were trying to exploit such social issues to turn people away from Islam that led him to adopt the term socialism in some of his activities. Thus, he formed the Islamic Socialist Front and fought hard for the passage of the labor law in Parliament, giving workers clear privileges, such as improved wages, a maximum number of working hours, improved working conditions, an end to arbitrary dismissal, etc.
Similarly, he gave much attention to the plight of peasants. He formed medical committees, which recruited medical doctors and nurses, to visit rural areas and provide medical treatment on weekly basis. He also helped in the establishment of day clinics in some of the larger villages. He further campaigned for the provision of better services to villages, such as electricity, clean and drinkable water, schools and roads.
He wrote a book on Islamic social justice, which he called Ishtirakiyat Al-Islam, or Islamic Socialism. He was criticized by other scholars for using this term, but he defended his choice feeling that it would counter the attacks leveled at Islam accusing it of being capitalist or supportive of other economic ideas. What we can say about his choice of name is that in the circumstances prevailing at the time and in view of the trends taking shape in society and the various political parties and social theories competing to win supporters among young men, it is not difficult to discern the valid arguments that may be made in favor of Al-Sibaie’s choice. However, with hindsight and from a long-term perspective, it would have been much better if he did not choose to use this term either for his political group in Parliament in 1949 or in the title of his book on social justice. However, the contents of the book did not raise much argument. On the contrary, most leading scholars felt that the book served a great need and accurately outlined the Islamic method of eradicating poverty and establishing social justice. One aspect of his keen social interest concerns women. In the early twentieth century, few women could read and write. Moreover, social traditions gave women a definitely inferior position in society. But Mustafa Al-Sibaie felt that Islam addressed both man and woman at the same level, and that Muslim women played a prominent part in social affairs throughout Islamic history. Hence, he advocated a fuller participation by women in society and all its affairs. To do so, women needed better services, particularly in education and health. Moreover, he was in support of women participation in political and state matters. He supported not only that women should have the vote in parliamentary elections, but also women’s right to stand for Parliament.
We will look at Al-Sibaie as an author in the final article next week, God willing.