A Tribute to Dr Hassoun, the former Grand Mufti of Syria
I’ll never forget the first time I met Dr Ahmad Badr Aldin Hassoun back in 2013 – then the Grand Mufti of Syria. It was on the last day of my first trip to Damascus. I had been there for a week, and it had been a hard week, and it had followed on the heels of an exhausting week spent in Lebanon. I had been part of an international peace delegation visiting both countries, but the week in Syria had been distinguished by the fact that we were unmistakably in a war zone.
We’d visit the hospitals and refugee camps by day, and we’d see the injured and hear their stories, and as we’d head to bed each night, we’d look out from our hotel room windows and see the distant glow of mortar fire encircling us in every direction.
As I say, it was our last day in Syria before heading home and, quite frankly, the thought of meeting yet another cleric at this stage of our journey was less than inspiring. If I’d been given the choice to sit that one out, I probably would have taken it. How glad I am that I was not given that choice.
Dr Hassoun had a presence about him that impacted me the very first time I saw him. He spoke to us about his desire for peace, and he told us how, when his young son had been murdered by rebel thugs only two years earlier, he’d preached forgiveness at the funeral, saying, “I forgive those who killed my son. I do not want revenge. I want peace for Syria.”
There I had been, impatient to get on my plane home, and now I was crying, connecting with this amazing man, and it wasn’t just his words. As I say, he had a presence about him – almost a glow! I’m sure that will sound ridiculous to some people but I’m far from the only person to have sensed this. I remember talking to a very excited American woman in Damascus a year later who had just had her first audience with Dr Hassoun, saying, “It’s the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God shines out of that man”, and I said to her, “Yes, I’ve met him too”.
‘The wind blows where it will,’ says Jesus (John 3:8), speaking of the movement of the Spirit of God. You don’t know where it’s come from or where it’s going but you can’t mistake it when it’s blowing. I just hadn’t been used to seeing the Spirit of God flowing through priests and bishops, let alone through sheikhs and muftis! I had a lot to learn.
I remember saying to Dr Hassoun some years later, after we had met together many times, “I feel like I’ve known you all my life. I think, from the first, the Spirit of God in me recognised the Spirit of God in you”, and he smiled and nodded.
My friend, Dr Hassoun, the former Mufti – graciously wrote the introduction to my book, “Christians and Muslims can be friends”, and I think that came out of the conversation we had where I asked him, “how many Christians are there in Syria?” He said, “twenty-three million”. I was puzzled and asked him, “well, how many Muslims are there in Syria?” He said, “twenty-three million. We don’t discriminate. I’m the Mufti of the Sunni, the Shia, the Christians, the Jews, and the Atheists too if they’ll have me”. That was the conversation as I remember it, anyway, and it was a response entirely consistent with the great man’s emphasis on equality and inclusivity. As he said in another interview with me, “When I speak to Christians, I speak to my brothers. When I speak to Jews, I speak to my cousins. When I speak to atheists, I speak to my fellow humans.”
Of course, this emphasis on inclusivity is also the reason that Dr Hassoun has so many enemies. Those who are intent on dividing people – on separating the true believers from the unbelievers and the heretics (the ‘takfir’) – they see Dr Hassoun as public enemy number one.
I made nine trips to Syria between 2013 and 2019, and I was privileged to meet with Dr Hassoun on every one of those visits. I also had the privilege of introducing him to my wife, to one of my daughters, and to my son, whom he told me reminded me of his son, Sariya – the one who had been killed. I also introduced many of my friends to Dr Hassoun – other Christian priests, and members of my boxing troupe. Every one of those I was able to introduce him to came away with the same sense of awe, knowing that they had met a true man of God.
And now our dear brother is in prison, has been tortured, and, following in the path of the Lord Jesus Himself, is apparently soon to be put on trial, though I’m praying that this is where the parallels will end. ‘Be gracious, Lord God. Set this good man free!’
I do pray for my friend, Dr Hassoun. I’ve been praying for him every day since I first met him in 2013. I pray for him because I love him and also because I believe he is the beating heart of Syria. I would change places with him if I could as I don’t think this world, and the nation of Syria in particular, can afford to be without him right now.
Dr Hassoun has been accused of so many vile things – of putting out fatwas to have people killed and encouraging violence, yet this is the same man who is on record as saying, “I have never called for war. I have called for love – even for those who misunderstand us.” (The Independent)
People who make these accusations don’t know him. I interviewed him specifically on some of these questions and I’ve posted my interviews publicly. He told me plainly that he believes in the separation of church and state (so to speak) and these accusations are completely inconsistent with the man I know who would never use his clerical office to encourage violence. As he said in his speech to the EU Parliament back in 2008, “Religion must never be a sword”, It must be a bridge.”
Dr Hassoun is not a young man anymore. I think he’s now seventy-six. I told him last time we met that he didn’t look his age, and he told me that ‘loving people kept him young’. That’s the man I know –full of grace, love, and forgiveness.
Join me please in praying for former Grand Mufti Hassoun. I don’t believe our world can’t afford to lose him.
God of justice and compassion, you see what is hidden, and you hear the cries of those who are silenced. We lift before you Dr Ahmad Badr Aldin Hassoun.
May truth prevail with mercy. May Your justice break through the darkness. Comfort his family, protect his body and stir the hearts of those with power to act. Amen.