Biography

When I was 6-years old, I used to ask too many questions. My uncle Badih, a smart and funny doctor, shut me up one day by telling me that if I talk too much, I would die because every human had a quota of words to say after which they died. So from the age of 6 until the age of 10, I asked no more and I talked no more. It is then that I learned how to listen, which today has faded because watching what is wrong with my Arab world and Islam, I have plenty to say.

I was born in Aleppo in northern Syria and grew up between Aleppo, Damascus, Riyadh, and Beirut. I come from a prominent Syrian family that included many politicians and civil servants. In 1982, I proudly became a US citizen.

Life Changing Experiences

By Accident, I visited Dachau outside Munich at the age of 13 where I learned about the history of the Holocaust after being taught to hate Jews. Seeing the ovens in Dachau was a life changing experience for me.

At the age of 17, I was arrested by the Syrian intelligence in Zabadani, outside Damascus, and imprisoned for civil disobedience. To this day, I am still pursued by the Syrian intelligence from this incident in 1971.

At the age of 34, I was pursued, in public, with a cane by the Saudi religious police (Motawa’a) because I refused to attend the evening prayer at the Great Mosque in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

All these experiences, and because of oppression in Arab countries, have given me the impetus to become more involved in changing the Middle East.

A Vision

Today, I believe that Syria’s political system is a breeding ground for terrorism. Peaceful transition to democracy is the answer supported by a strong Syrian army as a mechanism of transition. Syria needs to strike peace with Israel supported fully by both the Syrian and the Israeli peoples. For Syria to succeed, it must become the beacon for tolerance and acceptance in the Arab world and that is why I champion political, economic and religious reforms to change course and to usher more prosperous times to offset against the rise of fanaticism and terrorism.

Furthermore, I believe that because Damascus has a very important history as the capital of Sunni Islam, reformed Islam emanating from Damascus will have a great impact on the Levant region. Today, the most important three Islamic universities are educating a combination of extreme and exclusionary Islam to our youth.

This is one reason why I advocate building an Islamic university in Damascus whose role would be to ease the tensions between civilizations and to provide young Muslims with an alternative interpretation of the Holy Koran; one that permits other religions to flourish side-by-side with Islam. This would be revolutionary indeed but Damascus can be the only city able to “protest” the stagnant Islam many Muslims are enduring today. 

My Work

I have testified in the US Congress on extremism and freedom. I spoke at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Johns Hopkins University (SAIS), Harvard University, University of Virginia, the European Parliament, the French Parliament, the Belgian Senate, and in 2007, I was invited by the Israeli Knesset to address the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the first Syrian dissident ever to speak at the Knesset (Assad revoked illegally my Syrian citizenship as a result of that visit).

Today, I am actively involved in Syrian politics through the Reform Party of Syria I co-founded. I am also active in writing about Syrian politics and many of my articles appeared in mainstream publications and websites. Eventually, a book will emerge about Syria and my modest experiences as a reformer.

On the civic side, I served on several boards of commercial companies and the Board of Trustees of Norwood School in Bethesda, MD.