Al-Abad : On the Ongoing

This article focuses on the word al-Abad , literally meaning forever, infinite and immor-tality, and how it was deployed by the Syrian regime. The word is used excessively in different discursive mediums within Syria’s political culture, either in the form of ban-ners, graffiti, photos, slogans or songs. The article seeks to analyze al-Abad through its different dimensions: its literal meaning in language, its position as a stagnant social structureand‘aneternal’politicalsystem,itsconnotationsasakillingorextermination mechanism, and finally, al-Abad as Syria itself. My research sheds light on how author-itarian regimes use language as an important instrument of power and a mechanism to shape the political landscape. I demonstrate how terms and words are in constant flux and adjust in circulation depending on space, time and the political landscape. The changing relationship of a term or word is dependent on new layers of meaning that change its significance on multiple levels.


Al-Abad in Language
To appreciate the importance of the term al-Abad and its various dimensions, other Arabic temporal words, namely al-Amad, al-Azal and al-Sarmad, must first be explained. In this way, we can understand why the term al-Abad, and not any other, was used in the Assad regime's famous slogan Ila al-Abad ya Hafez al-Assad [Forever Hafez Assad]. Al-Amad is a time between two points with a limited beginning and end (Al-Munjid Dictionary 2008: 39). Al-Azal is a noun, and Azali is an adjective that means continuing with no beginning. It generally refers to God when it is said as al-Azali (Al-Munjid Dictionary 2008: 21). Al-Sarmad is the ongoing span of time that does not stop and has no beginning or end (Al-Munjid Dictionary 2008: 666). It is the combination of al-Azal and al-Abad. However, al-Abad means a time that lasts and never ends, and the start is unclear (Al-Munjid Dictionary 2008: 2). What distinguishes al-Abad from other terms, it ignores the concept of beginning while affirming longevity and lasting, just as in the case of the Assad regime. Al-Abad, in the Assad context, confirms that it has a known point of beginning but an unknown end. Accordingly, by using such an expression, the Assad regime is not emphasizing its beginning but instead the regime's continuation.

Al-Abad as a Religious Term
Al-Abad is related to the Islamic faith, conceived within the everyday language of Arabic. An example of its use in this context is '  ‫د‬  ‫ا‬  ‫ئ‬  ‫م‬  ‫ا‬  ً  ‫و‬  ‫أ‬  ‫ب‬  ‫د‬  ‫ا‬  ً  ‫ل‬  ‫ا‬  ‫ا‬  ‫ل‬  ‫ه‬  ‫إ‬  ‫ل‬  ‫ا‬  ‫ا‬  ‫ل‬  ‫ل‬  ‫ه‬ ' [always and forever, there is no god but God]. This is a saying that Muslim believers use to profess their faith, meaning 'all the time and forever there is no god but God' . Here 'Dāʾiman wa-Abadan' repeatedly confirms the continuity of the oneness of God. In this sense, 'Dāʾiman wa Abadan' are complementary words that go hand in hand to mean the durability of the oneness with God, as confirmed by the faith of those speaking it. The term's cultural ubiquity made it readily available for propaganda and familiar to Syrians of all socio-economic backgrounds. Additionally, despite its simplistic character, the term can be interpreted on different levels, and the final Dal [d] has a rhythmic ending identical to Assad. These qualities made al-Abad a very useful and popular term for the regime. In all the time-related words discussed above, only al-Abad is mentioned in the Dictionary of Frequency, further illustrating its importance within the Arabic language (def. Abad Buckwalter and Parkinson 2011 201: 62).
Through al-Abad's use, the regime is conveying it has no end and will last forever, much like God. This is a common trope, as Al-Kawakibi noted when he said: 'each and every tyrant takes on an attribute of sanctity which is with God' (al-Kawakibi 2006: 47). Al-Abad's rhythmic similarity to al-Assad is not chosen coincidently. Other temporal words in the above paragraph with the same 'd' ending could have been used instead. One interpretation for choosing al-Abad could be its resemblance to the al-Ikhlāṣ sura in the Quran, confirming the absoluteness, unity, the oneness of God and that no one is participating with Him, purportedly similar to Assad ruling Syria. This idea, resembling the rhyme of al-Ikhlāṣ sura, is apparent on one of the banners raised on a Syrian building in 2011, which is blasphemous (Al-Bawwāba 2011). In his book, Adonis tries to explain Arab politics and leaders through a metaphor of Shahrazad from The Arabian Nights (Adonis 1993). After Shahryar's discovery that his wife was unfaithful, he decided to marry a virgin each day and execute her at the day's end, thereby securing that she would never betray him. This metaphor in Adonis' chapter entitled 'Shahrazad' emphasizes the technique employed by Shahrazad to postpone her death-narrating stories to Shahryar, who waits patiently each day to hear a new story. Adonis says, 'hey spectators, audience, you are dead if you do not speak' (Adonis 1993: 135). He continues that what a ruler wants or thinks he can do, is based on killing his subjects (Adonis 1993: 135). Similarly, to Shahrazad, the only way to postpone the execution of a subject is by al-kalām [the speech], which is accomplished by 'deluding the ruler that he is the absolute lord, the best representative, the most reverend and the most capable to endure and last to rule' (Adonis 1993: 136). In other words, a righteous ruler is one who can threaten subjects with death, but the latter prevents this by cherishing the ruler as a cult leader or a godlike figure, as is the case with Hafez Assad. The continual negotiation of offering al-kalām to the ruler as a plea for mercy or to halt execution further reinforces his perpetual or everlasting rule. Performing al-kalām or facing execution as Shahrazad does is an al-Abad dimension characterized by the policies of violence, waiting, anticipation, left in limbo and murder and its memory through the echoes of not executing the subjects once they speak about the reverend leader. Therefore, the fact that killing does not happen in the future guarantees ongoing compliance, domination and violence. Similarly, Ismail's analysis of violence and remembering is a policy that 'works through the [effect] and elicits cognitive and affective states formative of Syrian political subjectivities' (Ismail 2019: 160). This effect of killing for remembrance and the threat of killing all the time functions as the God who gives forgiveness or takes lives when it is needed. As Adonis said, 'a nation is one body (…) the members of this nation are the organs of the body (…) the body does not revolt against the organs. It is clearer that the nation does not revolt against its president; (its head) (…) there is only one in heaven and only one on earth' (Adonis 1993: 140). From Adonis' description of the Arab ruler, we can surmise there is only one ruler. He is the only one who resembles the oneness of God, which will be discussed later with some examples of praise for Assad.

Al-Abad as a Stagnant Social Structure and an Eternal Political System
The complicated layers and multiple contexts of Syria's 'al-Abad' are manifested in the postponing of the execution. He or she may never be executed if they know how to behave. Within the repetition of al-kalām during everyday life in Syria, al-Abad becomes an abstract concept that is socially constructed to maintain an eternal political rule for Assad. The use of al-Abad is a successful strategy because it asserts Assad's eternal political rule during an ongoing sectarian conflict among various Syrian sects and ethnicities, creating the pretext of the regime as the only peacemaker and savior of all. Al-Abad signifies that peaceful co-existence is only possible if the regime is the sole protector of the people and minorities, as al-Abad claimed. Yassin al-Haj Saleh (2019) :  ‫ع‬  ‫اج‬  ‫ئ‬  ‫ب‬  ‫ه‬  ‫ا‬  ‫و‬  ‫ب‬  ‫د‬  ‫ا‬  ‫ئ‬  ‫ع‬  ‫ه‬  ‫ا‬  ‫م‬  ‫ث‬  ‫ل‬  ‫أ‬  ‫ه‬  ‫ر‬  ‫ا‬  ‫م‬  ‫م‬  ‫ص‬  ‫ر‬  ‫و‬  ‫ح‬  ‫د‬  ‫ا‬  ‫ئ‬  ‫ق‬  ‫ب‬  ‫ا‬  ‫ب‬  ‫ل‬ (Al-Munjid 2008: 2). It's usually associated with archeological sites maintained and preserved up to the present day. These are wonders because they resisted the erosion of time and survived through many changing political eras. The concept of durability is connected here to al-Abad, as these structures remain standing in situ, and continue enduring much like the Syrians sects. This sense of eternality and durability is used by Al-Haj Saleh to describe the Syrian sects as Awābid [archeological wonders] because they have endured and lasted for several decades in Syria. Al-Haj Saleh uses the plural of al-Abad as Awābid, which is similar to the stem of the word, but not the grammatically correct plural form-Aābād ‫آ‬ ‫ب‬ ‫ا‬ ‫د‬ or Ubūd ‫أ‬ ‫ب‬ ‫و‬ ‫د‬ (Al-Munjid 2008: 2). Awābid is the plural of the word Aābida, meaning a wonder, unlike al-Abad, which has a different plural form and definition. Al-Haj Saleh probably wanted to combine the archeological sense of Awābid and with the meaning of al-Abad in order to intensify and multiply its meaning. An interesting point from his description, those who are Awābid are inflexible, rigid, and solid to the core; however; in reality, they are very pliable as the regime used them to sustain itself within Syria. Thus, Assad has bricks (structures or Awābid) making it endure eternally, thereby extending the meaning of al-Abad from a formal temporal timeline that starts but continues into a political and social system based on the core sect.

Al-Abad as an Extermination Machine
Another meaning of al-Abad can be denoted from the verb Abāda, meaning to commit genocide. Despite the different stems of either words, both reference time to emphasize a committed act that occurred and lasts. Abāda is not connected only to the mere act of killing but the symbolical; performative side of violence as well. This dimension of al-Abad is essentially connected to executions and their postponement as it is related to al-kalām, as suggested by Adonis. According to al-Haj Saleh, a main component for Assad's al-Abad to endure and last, in addition to the Awābid ‫أ‬ ‫و‬ ‫ا‬ ‫ب‬ ‫د‬ represented by inflexible sects in Syria, is the commitment to genocide. This dimension of al-Abad is illustrated by perpetuating atrocities and the performative dimension of the Assad regime's symbolic violence (Ismail 2019;Bader Eddin 2018). This violence does not depend on killing Syrians only but also relies on the echo of previous massacres, a more successful strategy than committing new atrocities, other than when necessary. In the same way that Ismail illustrates the performative aspects of violence through narratives, prisons and schools throughout Syria, the echoes and rumors say, in an abstruse way, look what would happen if we do not act in compliance with the regime. The reality that a massacre following the example of Hama could happen again is reflected in the performance of violence, thus forcing Syrians to feel the 'anticipation of a massacre' (Ismail 2019: 167). This strategy has been employed by the regime on different occasions, including the Hama massacre, the Qamashli massacre of 2004, the Sweida protests in 2000, and the numerous massacres after 2011. Violence was used not only to perpetuate the act of killing but also to be remembered as a lesson for the public. It was a lived experience in the minds of Syrians before facing death or after the act is rendered, constructing the main basis for the eternal reign, or al-Abad for the Assad regime. In this sense, al-Abad is a strategy Assad regime uses to rule, dominate, and seize power by eliminating any chances to change in order to obtain a specific stability. A stability resembles an ongoing and never-ending regime. Al-Haj Saleh explains al-Abad as 'the negation of history and negation of any social and political change. It imposes a present that does not change [,] and the term of [the] state is used as a military power that is used to prevent the future to come' (Al-Haj Saleh 2018). Conceived from al-Abad as a temporal instant meaning and its relation to publicness and lived experience, this military power highlighted by al-Haj Saleh is accompanied by the excessive use of symbolic violence, maintaining the Syrian al-Abad and a discursive practice constructed through a repertoire of many other aspects, especially slogans.

Al-Abad in Slogans
The aforementioned layers of al-Abad as a concept were used discursively and took shape in different media, e.g., banners, music, slogans and the language of everyday life (Bader Eddin 2018). The use of al-Abad did not appear suddenly within the Syrian public space, it gradually spread, culminating in the last fully developed stage with Assad, the eternal godlike figure, during the 1980s (Wedeen 1999(Wedeen , 2019Cook 2007;2017;Bader Eddin 2018;Ismail 2019 Syria as a metaphorical prison) or they were obliged to be forever in exile. This prison or exile of al-Abad is identical to the one of Assad, and it is based on his ongoing political system and non-stop use of al-kalām that Adonis discussed.
Questioning the meaning of al-Abad, especially for the exiled and imprisoned, raises an important question, does it have an end? The political al-Abad of Assad ends when the political rule of Assad ends. However, for now, it is an eternal rule (al-Abad) because it is not identified when it finishes in the short or long term. Regardless of the length of Assad's rule, the effects of al-Abad on exile and imprisonment will last longer than its true products. One day, al-Abad, the ongoing political system of Assad, will cease, but the literature of prison and exile will endure and achieve the literal meaning of al-Abad. In this case, al-Abad of exile and prison is a metaphor, an inherited characteristic of not only the exiled people but of the generations that witnessed these terrors through oral narratives. This oral al-Abad is experienced from within Syria, the geographical place, and divided between exile and prison, or al-Abad from contiguous traumas endured from one generation to the next, even if they never live in Syria again. Contrary to that, al-Abad of Assad might be remembered only through the different layers of meanings, and all the discursive loads will gradually stop once the Assad al-Abad dissipates.

Conclusion
Al-Abad is one of God's attributes that Assad took for himself. Al-Abad functions not only as the immortal leader but it describes an ideology, political order, system and a fixed (so far) ongoing span of time. This is why al-Abad literally means permanent and does not finish or stop, while in practice, al-Abad is a term that can be called continuing the status quo, enduring, ongoing and derives its functionality from binaries. There is no al-Abad without the regime's stagnant rule opposed by Syrians who refuse it. A further dimension related to al-Abad, political temporality, is an important factor in its understanding because the essence of comprehending al-Abad is time. Assad occupied Syrian public space with different terms and words related to the concepts of time and eternity. The relationship to the temporal meaning of al-Abad and its functionality in this article is not fixed but changeable. It works to serve the ongoing political reign of Assad beginning in the 1970s and continuing today as a fixed and stagnant political era. Gilber Achcar explains that the revolutions and revolutionary acts starting in 2011 are in process, and different episodes will take shape, similarly to the English and French revolutions that occurred during different historical points and continued the previous revolution (Achcar 2012: 5-10). In this sense, the temporality of al-Abad as never-ending and ongoing has an equal and opposite al-Abad that endures with the protests of 2011 and the acts of resistance thereafter. Those episodic revolutions in opposition to al-Abad function in a comparable way to al-Abad itself. They continue-neverending and overlap. They represent a process that contains waves propagating just as the Assad al-Abad. In this context, al-Abad (a political system) itself as an abstract concept is defined by its binary of al-Abad from the revolution and revolutionary acts. As long as Assad's Abad continues, the Abad of revolution will continue and last as a binary to Assad al-Abad and the ongoing status quo of Syria.