Issam al-Attar ( ar, عصام العطار) is a former

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

leader, a symbol of resistance to

Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad ', , (, 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from taking power in 1971 until his death in 2000. He was also Prime Minister of Syria from 1970 to 1 ...

, and in exile in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

, Germany since the 1970s. He was born in 1927 in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. He was the second Supreme Guide of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, taking over from its founder,

Mustafa al-Siba'i Mustafa al-Siba'i ( ar, مُصطَفى السِّبَاعِي, Muṣṭafā as-Sibāʿī) was a Syrian politician and activist. He was dean of the Faculty of Islamic Jurisprudence and the School of Law at the University of Damascus. From 1945 to ...

, in 1961. His sister,

Najah al-Attar Najah Al-Attar ( ar, نجاح العطار; born 10 January 1933) is the Vice President of Syria, since 2006. She is the first Arab woman to have held the post. Previously she was Minister of Culture from 1976 to 2000. Early life and education A ...

is the

Vice President of Syria The Vice President of Syria ( ar, نائب رئيس سوريا) is a political position in Syria. The Constitution states that in the case of the president's temporary disablement, the vice president may become acting president. Multiple people ...

and is the only woman to have served in the post, which she has held since 2006. Previously she was Minister of Culture from 1976 to 2000. His wife was assassinated by a

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are ...

sent by Assad. Attar was denied re-entry to Syria by the newly installed Ba'athist government following a

hajj The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...

trip to Mecca in 1963, and has lived in exile in Germany since the 1970s. Attar was in turn removed from his position as Supreme Guide in 1980 as a result of poor health and due to repeated government victories in the

Islamic uprising in Syria The Islamist uprising in Syria comprised a series of revolts and armed insurgencies by Sunni Islamists, mainly members of the Muslim Brotherhood, from 1976 until 1982. The uprising was aimed against the secular Ba'ath Party-controlled governm ...

. He has led the Talaa’i organization in Germany since the late 1970s, which works mostly with non-Syrian Muslims. He still consults with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood on Syria related issues.

References

External links

Muslim Brotherhood, Syria
1927 births Syrian Sunni Muslims Syrian exiles Muslim Brotherhood of Syria politicians Living people People of the Islamic uprising in Syria People from Damascus Syrian dissidents Syrian Salafis Syrian expatriates in Germany {{Syria-politician-stub

See also

References

External links