How did you leave Syria, and were you being pursued?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Well, I mean, leaving Syria!
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : How did it happen, with what!
The Shaykh : Leaving Syria was natural, without any planning for the future. I mean, I had planned in my heart that in the last of my life and age, and in a situation like Syria, as they say: "There is nothing left of the vine but firewood", do you know what this means?
I mean, the vine has dried up, nothing is left but firewood, and so it was with me in the last of my life. I said: What is left of my age, I must withdraw from people, and dedicate what is left of my age to completing my projects, or at least some of them. You know, in the Levant, I had a wide reach, meaning from Damascus to Homs to Hama to Aleppo to Idlib to Latakia. So I imagined that I would be occupied with people instead of completing my scholarly projects. So I went to a country where I am not famous, but the reality was completely reversed for me. And this is as they say in some Isra'iliyyat: "My servant, you want and I want, and it will not be except what I want", and this is the truth without a doubt.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The point is, I came for this purpose, to live here away from consultations and questions and so on, and to devote myself to knowledge. So my departure was completely natural.
The questioner : From the border, I mean?
The Shaykh : Ah.
The questioner : And there was no search or anything?
The Shaykh : What search? What would they search for?
The questioner : I mean, for example, after the events in Syria.
The Shaykh : I am telling you, I left before the events.
The questioner : I mean, from your departure after you entered, when they took you from here in Amman to Syria, did you leave to Lebanon?
The Shaykh : Well, and you did not enter Syria.
The questioner : You said you entered Damascus, was your name on the border list for arrest or something like that?
The Shaykh : When you entered from here to Syria?
The questioner : No, when I entered from Syria to Lebanon, on the basis that the revolution had started, I mean?
The Shaykh : When I left Syria, there was still nothing, because they had written a three-day grace period for me. If after three days I had not proven my status, I would have been pursued. I was already outside, meaning I had escaped from their hands.
The questioner : Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : Do you understand how?
The questioner : Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : Therefore, after I traveled, the request came for my son there. The watchmaker is under restriction. At the time, my descent from before now would not allow me to leave, and this is injustice without a doubt, because it is established with them that I have absolutely nothing against me from before, despite the fact that they imprisoned me twice. But this was political imprisonment, not, for example, crime or revolution or something like that. So my departure from Syria to Lebanon was within the same grace period that the intelligence system had set for me.
But when the grace period passed and they saw that I had not visited them as they requested, they started to search and ask. They first came to my son the watchmaker, "Where is your father?" I swear to Allah, I do not know. So they tortured him, meaning they forced him to visit the intelligence every month, despite the fact that he had nothing against him and absolutely nothing against him. So this is the answer to the question.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : How did it happen, with what!
The Shaykh : Leaving Syria was natural, without any planning for the future. I mean, I had planned in my heart that in the last of my life and age, and in a situation like Syria, as they say: "There is nothing left of the vine but firewood", do you know what this means?
I mean, the vine has dried up, nothing is left but firewood, and so it was with me in the last of my life. I said: What is left of my age, I must withdraw from people, and dedicate what is left of my age to completing my projects, or at least some of them. You know, in the Levant, I had a wide reach, meaning from Damascus to Homs to Hama to Aleppo to Idlib to Latakia. So I imagined that I would be occupied with people instead of completing my scholarly projects. So I went to a country where I am not famous, but the reality was completely reversed for me. And this is as they say in some Isra'iliyyat: "My servant, you want and I want, and it will not be except what I want", and this is the truth without a doubt.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : The point is, I came for this purpose, to live here away from consultations and questions and so on, and to devote myself to knowledge. So my departure was completely natural.
The questioner : From the border, I mean?
The Shaykh : Ah.
The questioner : And there was no search or anything?
The Shaykh : What search? What would they search for?
The questioner : I mean, for example, after the events in Syria.
The Shaykh : I am telling you, I left before the events.
The questioner : I mean, from your departure after you entered, when they took you from here in Amman to Syria, did you leave to Lebanon?
The Shaykh : Well, and you did not enter Syria.
The questioner : You said you entered Damascus, was your name on the border list for arrest or something like that?
The Shaykh : When you entered from here to Syria?
The questioner : No, when I entered from Syria to Lebanon, on the basis that the revolution had started, I mean?
The Shaykh : When I left Syria, there was still nothing, because they had written a three-day grace period for me. If after three days I had not proven my status, I would have been pursued. I was already outside, meaning I had escaped from their hands.
The questioner : Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : Do you understand how?
The questioner : Yes, exactly.
The Shaykh : Therefore, after I traveled, the request came for my son there. The watchmaker is under restriction. At the time, my descent from before now would not allow me to leave, and this is injustice without a doubt, because it is established with them that I have absolutely nothing against me from before, despite the fact that they imprisoned me twice. But this was political imprisonment, not, for example, crime or revolution or something like that. So my departure from Syria to Lebanon was within the same grace period that the intelligence system had set for me.
But when the grace period passed and they saw that I had not visited them as they requested, they started to search and ask. They first came to my son the watchmaker, "Where is your father?" I swear to Allah, I do not know. So they tortured him, meaning they forced him to visit the intelligence every month, despite the fact that he had nothing against him and absolutely nothing against him. So this is the answer to the question.