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Mouaz al-Khatib: The Imam Who Led the Coalition
From the pulpit of the Umayyad Mosque to the podium of international conferences — Syria's most respected religious figure became the face of a revolution he would resign from in despair.
Confirmed2 chapters1960
Mouaz al-Khatib's eight-month presidency of the Syrian National Coalition was defined by genuine moral authority, international recognition, and ultimately disillusionment with the world's failure to act.
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Chapter 01birth01 / 02
1960—2012-06Damascus, Syria
Imam of the Umayyad Mosque
1960 – 2011 — Damascus, Syria
Ahmad Mouaz al-Khatib al-Hasani was born in 1960 in Damascus into a distinguished Sunni religious family — his father, Sheikh Mohammed Abu al-Faraj al-Khatib, was a prominent Islamic scholar and preacher at the Umayyad Mosque. Mouaz studied applied geophysics at university and spent six years working for Al-Furat Petroleum Company, Syria's main oil producer. He then entered the religious scholarly path and eventually became imam of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus — Syria's most historically and symbolically significant mosque, built in 715 CE, the site where the head of Husayn ibn Ali is said to be buried, and for centuries a symbol of Syrian and Islamic identity. This post made al-Khatib one of the most visible Muslim religious figures in Syria. He was detained several times by Syrian intelligence for protest activities after the uprising began in 2011, and fled Syria in June 2012.
Confirmed(93%)Sensitivity: medium
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Chapter 02leadership02 / 02
2012-11-11—2013-04-22Doha / Istanbul / Paris / Geneva
Founding the National Coalition
November 11, 2012 – April 22, 2013
On November 11, 2012, in Doha, al-Khatib was elected president of the newly formed National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces — elected on the same day the coalition was created. The coalition was immediately recognized as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people by France, the United Kingdom, Turkey, the Gulf states, and eventually over 100 countries. Al-Khatib championed an explicitly moderate, pluralist vision: he worked to preserve the revolution's non-sectarian character, actively protected Christian and other minority communities' representation within the coalition, and worked to develop a framework for Islamic governance that could counter fundamentalists. He met with US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, represented the opposition at the Geneva II preparatory discussions, and became the most internationally credible Syrian opposition voice. On April 22, 2013, al-Khatib resigned, citing regional actors trying to co-opt opposition decision-making and the international community's failure to provide adequate support. George Sabra served as acting president until Ahmad al-Jarba was elected in July 2013.
Confirmed(95%)Sensitivity: medium
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