religious figure

Sheikh Mohammed Said Ramadan al-Bouti

الشيخ محمد سعيد رمضان البوطي

Journeys

Sheikh al-Bouti: The Scholar Who Stood With Assad — and Died for It

Sheikh al-Bouti's life and death are a parable about how the Assad regime instrumentalized religion — using the legitimacy of Syria's greatest scholar while he lived, and his corpse as a propaganda weapon after he died.

Biography

Sheikh Mohammed Said Ramadan al-Bouti (1929–2013) was Syria's most senior Sunni Islamic scholar — author of over 60 works including the foundational 'Dawabit al-Maslaha' and the anti-Salafi 'Al-Lamadhhabiyya.' A public supporter of the Assad regime throughout 2011-2013, he was killed in a suicide bomb attack at the Iman Mosque in Damascus on March 21, 2013 (84 dead). No perpetrator was ever identified. Multiple analysts noted the regime was the primary political beneficiary of his death.

Documentation Status

VerificationConfirmed

Journeys1

Key Facts

Born:1929-01-01

Place:Jilka, Siirt Province (now Turkey)

Died:2013-03-21

Nationality:Syrian