DAMASCUS // Little more than nine months ago, the Syrian government summarily sacked hundreds of teachers for wearing the full Islamic face veil, saying such a display of religious conservatism was incompatible with a modern education system.
This week, under pressure from clerics, that decision was reversed and the teachers told they could have their jobs back, in one of a series of steps designed to win over Syria's Sunni Muslim majority and stop it from joining growing anti-government protests.
The ban on niqab-wearing teachers had angered many in the country's Sunni community, not so much because of the numbers involved - only some 1,200 staff had lost their jobs, and most Syrian Muslim women prefer white headscarves to all-enveloping black veils. But the firings were seen as a vindictive and symbolic attack that had little to do with concerns about quality of education.
That the measure was introduced without prior consultation, or any consideration of a teacher's performance, only added to the sense of injustice.
The issue had also touched the raw nerve of sectarianism, a taboo subject in Syria. The education minister, Ali Saad, is from a minority Shiite sect, closely linked to Syria's ruling Allawite elite. While the authorities have long insisted they are secular, their critics say the country is actually run on sectarian lines, designed to perpetuate Allawite rule over a Sunni majority.
Rather than calling for freedom or an end to draconian emergency laws, recent protests in the city of Banias specifically demanded a reversal of the niqab ban, an indication of how controversial it had been.
Other recent government steps had similarly offended Sunnis, including the opening of a casino on the outskirts of Damascus, despite national legislation that specifically outlaws gambling.
Muslim activists had moved to have the Ocean Club casino closed, since betting is forbidden under Islamic law, and on Wednesday a government-run newspaper reported it had been shut down.
In fact, the gaming tables and slot machines at the Ocean Club were impounded by authorities more than a month ago, long before public dissent erupted, but the move had never been formally announced. The government rarely advertises policy reversals.
That the closure was heavily publicised this week is, analysts say, a sign that authorities wanted to exploit what had been an embarrassment and turn it to their favour.
More importantly, Syria's political leadership has made a point of having face-to-face discussions with Sunni clerics, including Mohammed Said Ramadan al Bouti, one of the country's most respected Islamic scholars.
In his latest weekly address on state-run television, Mr al Bouti said Bashar al Assad Syria's president, had agreed to a series of measures called for by clerics, including lifting the niqab ban, authorising an Islamic university and setting up a religious satellite television channel, something he had long been lobbying for.
Mr al Bouti also said he had been promised political reforms, including moves to end the Baath Party's decades-long monopoly on power, increase civil liberties and tackle corruption.
In mosques across the country, pro-government imams have been issuing similar messages: assuring worshipers reforms are on the way and urging the community to give the government more time.
"Last Friday at prayers the imam asked us to trust him and said the government had promised to release our arrested sons, and to make reform," said a Sunni who attended mosque in a Damascus neighbourhood. "He said to us, 'give them time and do not demonstrate after prayers.'"
So far major Sunni population centres, including Aleppo, Syria's second largest city and a bastion of Islamic conservatism, seem to have accepted that message and have stayed away from protests.
But mosques have become focal points for demonstrators, indicating that government control is far from complete, and may be eroding. Some imams have reportedly been refusing to give the government-approved sermon and have instead departed from the script to openly criticise the authorities.
"Until now the big Sunni cities have not moved and maybe the regime has given them enough to keep them quiet, at least for now," said one Syrian political analyst. "What we do not know is if that can last, or if the concessions have come too late."
A Syrian opposition party leader who like the analyst spoke on condition of anonymity said he believed it was only a matter of time before Sunnis came out against the government.
"At the moment the Sunni Arabs are waiting to see if the regime will actually change and give more freedoms," he said. "In the end, though, I don't think those reforms will come, and that means the big Sunni cities will join the protests. They are waiting for the right time."
The Syrian man who heard his imam plead for patience last Friday echoed that assessment. "He can tell the people to give the government time but he cannot make the same request forever," he said.
"If we don't see reforms and the political prisoners being freed, we will reach the point when no one will listen to the imam anymore, unless he tells the truth about the situation."
