Freedom of Religion in Syria - Personal Status Laws

Personal Status Laws

The Syrian Constitution identifies "freedom" (hurriya) as a "sacred right" (haqq muqaddas). Moreover, the state has an obligation to protect the "personal freedom of the citizens" (al-hurriya al-shakhsiyya) and to safeguard their "dignity and security" (al-karama wa-l-amn). The state does not generally interfere with the internal affairs of religious communities, and is for this reason believed to respect the personal freedom and dignity of religious adherents. For example, the Armenian religious leader, Pastor Bchara Moussa Oghli, states that the scope of autonomy as enjoyed in Syria gives the community the ability to retain its specific Armenian identity. He says that an advantage of the Syrian system is that Armenian citizens are "fully integrated," but that there would be no need to be "fully melted." Armenian Bishop Armash Nalbandian comments similarly: "We do not see our identity as ‘Christians in Syria,’ but as ‘Syrian Christians,’ in that we generally enjoy equal rights and obligations just like all other Syrian citizens."
Syrian identity appears to be formed by a conglomerate of Syrianness, Arab and non-Arab multiculturalism including religion, as well as strong historic ties. The land of dignity, as Muslim Arabs call Syria for its cultural distinctiveness, is to Islamic scholar and Shaykh Muhammad al-Habash a "blessed land," where before the Arab Spring all three monotheist religions could flourish in harmony with each other.
The acknowledgment of an entire body of personal status laws mirrors the constitutional guarantee not to interfere in, or control, collective religious self-determination. For instance, the incorporation of personal status laws and the grant of judicial capacities made it possible to accommodate Christian communities’ hierarchical structures. As Archbishop Bedros Miratian says: "e do not have to seek a specific place in society. It was given to us long ago."
The institution of personal status law is an area of regulation in which the process of modernization has had the least effect. In present-day Syria personal status is governed by parliamentary enacted codes, religious rules or doctrines, custom, and practice. It refers to circumstance in which each legally recognized religious community runs its own body of institutions, including a court system. Eighteen religious cults are legally recognized.
Although Syrian public law allows religious communities to regulate and administer their own sphere of internal affairs, such activities must not contradict with generally applicable secular laws of land. Pluralism in the Arab Republic means that the personal status law of all Islamic communities is regulated by the shari‘a, whereas Christian rites are governed by the Gospel, and the Jewish community by talmudic law. Today, the Druze community, as a fully recognized religious organization, is subject to its own specific religious code. Personal status law issues of non-Syrian citizens are governed by their respective national law.
In Syria, two kinds of judicial systems exist: a secular and a religious one. Secular courts hear matters of public, civil and criminal law. Religious courts that exercise specialized jurisdiction are divided into shari‘a courts, doctrinal courts, and spiritual courts. They hear personal status law cases only. Shari‘a courts regulate disputes among Syrian Muslims, whereas doctrinal courts are empowered to guarantee the personal status decisions of members of the Druze cult. Spiritual courts settle personal status matters for Jewish, Christian and other non-Muslim groups. Decisions of all of the religious courts may be appealed to the canonical and spiritual divisions of the Court of Cassation.