Title Commitment for Strategy: Religious Entrepreneur Networks inSyrian Shi’ite Religious Tourism

Author(s) Yasuda, Shin

Journal 上智アジア学, (31)

Issue Date 2013-12-27

Type 紀要/Departmental Bulletin Paper

Text Version 出版者/Publisher

URL http://repository.cc.sophia.ac.jp/dspace/handle/123456789/35829

Rights

The Journal of Sophia Asian Studies No.31 (2013)

Introduction

Before the contemporary political crisis in Syria, Sayyida Zaynab Shrine and other

related Shi’ite shrines in Syria were sites that were filled with religious visitors from the

Islamic world. Every year, more than three million visitors came to Sayyida Zaynab shrine,

which is located in al-Sayedah Zeinab town, and the primary Shi’ite religious site in Syria

[Maltzahn 2013: 196]. Most of the visitors were Shi’ite people from outside Syria, and most

used the tourism industry and religious tour operators who undertook religious tours to

Syria, and journeyed in groups.

Many of these religious sites are closely connected with the tragedy of Karbala, the

story based on the battle of Karbala and the martyrdom of Imam Husayn and his

companions in 680 AD. The following religious sites are related to the tragedy of Karbala:

Mashhad al-Ḥusayn (al-nufarā) in Umayyad Mosque; Sayyida Ruqayya shrine in Old

Damascus; some related tombs in Bāb al-Ṣaghīr cemetery outside Old Damascus; Sayyida

Sukayna shrine in Dārayyā; Sayyida Zaynab shrine in al-Sayedah Zeinab (Qabr al-Sitt);

Maqām ‘Alī Zayn al-‘Ābidīn in Hama; and Mashhad al-Ḥusayn (al-nuqṭa) and Muḥsin bin

al-Ḥusayn shrine (al-ṣaqt) in Aleppo [Calzoni 1993; Maltzahn 2013: 183]. Other sites

related to Islamic and Shi’ite history are also visited: the tombs of the prophet Yaḥyā (John

＊ 安田慎、帝京大学経済学部講師 ; Deputy Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics, Teikyo University

Commitment for Strategy:Religious Entrepreneur Networks in Syrian Shi’ite Religious Tourism

YASUDA Shin＊

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the Baptist) and Ṣalāf al-Dīn in Umayyad Mosque; Arba‘īn mosque in Mount Qasioun; the

shrine of Ḥujr bin ‘Addī and his six friends in ‘Adhrā; Abā Zarr al-Ghifārī shrine in Homs;

Bilāl al-Ḥabashī shrine in Aleppo; and the shrines of Ammār bin Yāsir and ‘Uways al-

Qaranī in Raqqa [Muḥammad a.d.; Maltzahn 2013: 183]. These religious sites were

historically maintained by local people, both Sunni and Shi’ite, until the end of the

nineteenth century, although some of them did not even exist before this time [Calzoni

1993; Zimney 2007].

These religious sites were gradually recognized among Shi’ite people, and some

people began to visit them as individuals [Mervin 1996; Zimney 2007]. Sayyida Zaynab

shrine in particular became popular among Shi’ite people from outside Syria during the

renovation: donations rose from the beginning of the twentieth century onward, and it

gained a central role in Syrian Shi’ite visits (ziyāra) [Mervin 1996; Zimney 2007]. In the

process of the renovation, the shrine received many donations from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and

other areas as well as from Damascene and Syrian people [Zimney 2007: 700, 701].

From the 1970s, after Hafez al-Asad gained power in Syria, the situation of Sayyida

Zaynab shrine and other related religious sites began to change. Hafez al-Asad and the new

regime recognized the network of prominent Shi’ite figures as one of the important bases

for domestic administration and Syrian diplomacy [Talhamy 2009]. In order to express their

political and religious authenticity, the regime gave Sayyida Zaynab shrine a prominent

role, and fostered it as the hub of Shi’ite scholars’ networks [Mervin 1996]. Sayyid Ḥasan

al-Sīrāzī from Iraq, Mūsā al-Ṣadr from Lebanon, and ‘Alī Sharī‘atī from Iran were the

famous figures in this network, and enhanced their relationships through their

communication around Sayyida Zaynab shrine(1) [Mervin 1996; Maltzahn 2013: 23-28].

Khomeini and the Iranian revolutionary regime also became actively involved in

Sayyida Zaynab shrine after the Iranian revolution in 1979. They made various kinds of

donations and investments toward the shrine, and improved the shrine and related

infrastructures [Mervin 1996; Ababsa 2001; Pinto 2007; Maltzahn 2013]. From 1983

onward, the Iranian government organized special religious tours for the family members of

martyrs to Sayyida Zaynab shrine and other related places [Ottaway 1983].

From the 1990s, Shi’ite people from Lebanon, Iraq, the Gulf States, South Asia,

Central Asia, and Western countries, as well as Iran, began to undertake religious visits to

the shrines in Syria, and Sayyida Zaynab shrine and other related sites expanded their

activities. In particular, al-Sayhedah Zeinab town developed dramatically, and its population

rose from ten thousand to 150 thousand [Zimney 2007: 699; Naṣīrāt 2005].

This historical process of the development of Shi’ite religious sites in Syria is often

connected with the influence of the Iranian and Syrian governments. Previous literature has

focused on the development of Sayyida Zaynab shrine and its relationship with the Iranian

and Syrian governments [Calzoni 1993; Mervin 1996, 2007; Ababsa 2001; Pinto 2007;

Sindawi 2009; Szanto 2012, 2013; Maltzahn 2013]. In order to express their ideologies

towards Shi’ite and Syrian people, both of these governments improved the authorization

and centralization of religious activities through religious scholars both inside and outside

Sayyida Zaynab shrine [Calzoni 1993: 191]. Khomeini and related Iranian figures have

engaged in religious activities within Sayyida Zaynab shrine, including Friday sermons,

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religious management, and consultations inside the shrine. The shrine also became the place

to express political and religious propaganda, particularly for the Iranian regime and related

organizations such as Hizbullah [Maltzahn 2013: 180; Pinto 2007]. The activities of these

figures have influenced Shi’ite people both inside and outside Syria.

Recent literature, on the other hand, has emphasized the diversification and

individualization of the religious activities in al-Sayedah Zeinab town, and shown this in

contrast to the authorization and centralization of religious practice inside the shrine

[Mervin 2007; Pinto 2007; Adelkhah 2009; Szanto 2012, 2013; Maltzahn 2013]. In

particular, the development of tourism industry, notably of the religious tour operators

specializing in religious tours to Syrian Shi’ite sites, has led to a growth in “religious

tourism” (al-siyāḥa al-dīnīya), and a growth in the variety of religious visitors and activities

in al-Sayedah Zeinab town [Adelkhah 2009; Maltzahn 2013].

Sabrina Mervin notes that various kinds of religious practices among Shi’ite people

have flourished in al-Sayedah Zeinab town, and that they are diverse rather than centralized

[Mervin 2007]. Paulo Pinto has shown that the consumption of religious commodities and

the spread of objectified religious systems in Syrian Shi’ite sites has allowed individualized

forms of piety and religious identity to emerge among Shi’ite people [Pinto 2007: 122, 124-

125]. Edith Szanto also describes how the variety of non-centralized religious activities,

including religious practices and miraculous healings in al-Sayedah Zeinab town, have

flourished: these are separate from the two authorities and the religious scholars who

dominate the shrine [Szanto 2012; 2013].

In terms of the diversification of religious activities, Fariba Adelkhah and Maria von

Maltzahn focus on the development of the tourism industry and religious tourism in Syrian

Shi’ite sites, and insist that Shi’ite people who engaged in religious tourism have promoted

their own version of religious ideologies [Adelkhah 2009; Maltzahn 2013]. Adelkhah

analyzes the Iranian religious tour to Syrian Shi’ite sites that she participated in, and shows

that the participants of this tour did not follow the ideologies supplied by Iranian regime or

the related Shi’ite religious scholars, but that they developed their own religious activities

and thoughts during the process of the tour. Therefore, she summarizes that the Iranian

religious tours to Syria are activities that actually do not conform to the Iranian regime, but

rather expand “civil society” and “moral economy” to the Iranian masses [Adelkhah 2009].

She also notes the variety of visitors’ motivations and interests like relaxation and

commercial activities in the tour [Adelkhah 1999; 2009].

Maria von Maltzahn builds upon Adelkhah’s argument that religious tourism in Syrian

Shi’ite visits promotes the diversification and individualization of religious activities both

inside and outside the shrine, which is in contrast to the ideological propaganda of the

authorities and related Shi’ite figures [Maltzahn 2013: 180]. She emphasizes that Iranian

visitors engaged in religious tourism have various kinds of motivations, including relaxation

and cultural interests, and they enjoy their own activities such as shopping, sightseeing, and

Syrian cultural experience programs, as well as religious activities [Maltzahn 2013: 197-199].

Despite some previous literature focusing on the importance of religious tourism in

Syrian Shi’ite visits, these researchers have only examined the phenomenon in fragments

based on their own fieldworks, and have not described how the religious tourism influences

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Syrian Shi’ite visits as a whole. This paper, therefore, looks at the culture of Syrian Shi’ite

religious tourism, with a special focus on the managements of religious tour operators. The

construction of the religious tourism system and the stakeholders’ views about religious

activities in religious tourism will be focused on in the sections that follow.

First, this paper summarizes the management of religious tour operators involved in

religious visits to Syrian Shi’ite sites. In order to show how they are managed, this paper

first describes the discussion of religious tourism in pilgrimage and tourism studies,

especially focusing on the transformation of the analysis method from objectivity, through

subjectivity, to entrepreneurship and network analysis. Then the following section maps the

development of religious tourism and religious tour operators in trips to Syrian Shi’ite sites,

and shows their management of religious tours. The next part examines the relationship

between the religious tour operators and the Sayyida Zaynab shrine through the

development of religious activities in al-Sayedah Zeinab town. The discussion will focus on

the relationship between religious activities, figures, and places in religious tourism. The

final section will summarize the discussion, and conclude the paper.

Ⅰ. Discussion of Religious Tourism: From Objectivity through　 Subjectivity, to Entrepreneurship and Network

Literature on religious tourism has long been based on the pilgrim-tourist dichotomy,

and showing the similarities and differences between pilgrims and tourists [Olsen 2010:

848, 849]. However, recent literature has tended to note that the pilgrim-tourist dichotomy

is an outdated argument, because creating a polarity between these two things becomes

meaningless at a field level [Olsen & Timothy 2006; Collins-Kreiner 2010a; 2010b; Olsen

2010]. Instead, recent literature has focused on “religious tourism,” and has observed the

mixture, bricolage, and ambiguity between traditional pilgrimages and contemporary

tourism [Cohen 1992; 1998; Nolan & Nolan 1992; Smith 1992; Rinschede 1992; Vukonić

1996; Tomasi 2002; Raj & Morpeth 2007; Stausberg 2011]. In existing literature,

researchers have emphasized that the motivations, experiences, and meanings of visitors are

not homogeneous and can be categorized differently: they are often highly diverse and

ambiguous, including curiosity and psychological relaxation as well as devotion [Collins-

Kreiner 2010b: 451]. As a result of these discoveries, researchers began to focus more on

individual subjectivity rather than the objectivity of a community [Collins-Kreiner 2010b:

446-448]. Researchers began to focus on the individual “inner experience” of each visitor,

such as motivation, discourses, and meanings, and show them as individual, subjective, and

pluralistic phenomena [Collins-Kreiner 2010b: 447]. As a result, each person may interpret

his/her own experiences differently, and it is no longer sufficient to focus solely on the

experience offered by the objective. In this way, current research strongly emphasizes

subjectivity [Collins-Kreiner 2010b: 448].

However, the subjectivity of each visitor is also influenced by his/her surrounding

environment. As Keran Shinde notes in the case of India, “indigenous religious

entrepreneurs” who engage in religious activities, drive religious tourism, and have shaped

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“inner experience” of each visitor, by directing financial and physical resources in new

ways, creating new economic combinations by introducing new products and new functions

for these products, opening new markets, and reorganizing an industry [Shinde 2010: 524].

He shows that these entrepreneurs in religious tourism develop new products and expand

the cultural economy of rituals and performances to suit people’s demands, by using

religious hegemony, social status, and networks [Shinde 2010: 523, 524-526]. In order to

enhance their entrepreneurship, each indigenous religious entrepreneur makes their own

network with related figures that fit his or her own management strategy. As a result, the

new forms of entrepreneurship shape new patronage relationships between religious actors

and related stakeholders, which in turn establish the contemporary framework for religious

tourism [Shinde 2010: 533]. In short, the development of marketing strategies and activities

of religions entrepreneur has strongly shaped individual “inner experience” through his/her

own religious commitments formed by religious entrepreneurs.

Therefore, it is useful to focus on an entrepreneur and their network formation in the

process of the development of religious tourism, instead of simply analyzing objectivity and

subjectivity in religious tourism. This analytic perspective enables a holistic understanding

and conceptualization of religious tourism.

Ⅱ. Development of Religious Tourism in al-Sayedah Zeinab Town

In the case of Syrian Shi’ite visits, religious tour operators, who organize religious

tours for their customers, have been entrepreneurial in developing religious tourism in their

field. Their management strategies have reorganized the network of stakeholders like hotels,

transportations, religious scholars and local societies. In order to show how the religious

tour operators have been entrepreneurial, the following section describes the history of

religious tourism to Syrian Shi’ite sites.

The development of religious tourism to Syrian Shi’ite sites began in the 1980s. This

first emerged as the tourism industry became increasingly involved in visits to religious

sites. In March 1982, after the Iranian Revolution, Syria and Iran signed trade and tourism

agreements, which marked the beginning of the expansion of Syrian Shi’ite religious

tourism. In these agreements, Syria obtained the right to source oil from Iran free of cost,

while Iran obtained the right to send religious tourists, comprising up to one thousand

visitors a week, to Syria [Ottaway 1983; Hirschfeld 1986: 113].

After signing the agreement, the Iranian revolutionary government selected the

participants and even gave each of them a cash advance of $200 to $250 from the

government budget and the funds of religious organizations. These tourists visited the holy

Shi’ite shrines in Damascus and its suburb, such as the Sayyida Zaynab shrine and Sayyida

Ruqayya shrine, over a one-week period. On its part, the Syrian government provided the

visitors with hotel accommodation, food, and ground transportation during their stay. The

limit on the number of Iranian religious visitors increased throughout the decade [Ottaway

1983; Miller 1984].

The Syrian government entrusted the operation of the Iranian visitors’ project to

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TRANSTOUR—a prominent tour operator in Syria—and supported the company with

financial aid. During the 1980s, TRANSTOUR handled the project on an exclusive basis. It

carried out a tourism development project for the Sayyida Zaynab shrine in cooperation

with the Syrian Ministry of Tourism and other related ministries. TRANSTOUR and the

Syrian Ministry of Tourism also established the al-Sayedah Zeinab Company for Tourism

and Visits (Sharika al-Sayyida Zaynab li al-Siyāḥa wa al-Ziyāra) in 1988, and the company

went on to become the leader in religious tourism [anon. 1996a; 1996c].

The number of Shi’ite visitors from outside Syria also increased throughout the 1980s.

At the end of the Iran-Iraq War, after August 1988, with the liberalization of external trade

and the rapid rise in unofficial cross-border trading, the development of innovative tourism

saw an increasing number of Iranians traveling to Damascus [Adelkhah 2009: 39]. The end

of the civil war in Lebanon and the ensuing regional stability also contributed to the

increasing number of visits to Syrian Shi’ite religious sites [Shaery-Eisenlohr 2007: 24].

As a result of the development of Syrian Shi’ite religious tourism, many tour operator

companies that organized religious tours to Syria were established outside of Syria. These

companies are typically known as ḥamla or qāfila, and are profit-oriented organizations that

benefit from organizing, selling, and operating religious tours. They also arrange personal

religious tours and supply tourist services to their customers; however, almost all of their

revenue is derived from religious tours. Most of these operators that conduct Syrian Shi’ite

tours are actually Iranian. However, there are also many religious tour operators in Lebanon,

the Gulf States, Iraq, Europe, America, South Asia, Central Asia, and other regions,

depending on the presence of Shi’ite residents. Some of these companies were established

in the 1950s; however, most of them began to operate religious tours to Syria in the 1990s,

after the liberalization of the tourism industry and the establishment of regional stability

[JICA 1998; Adelkhah 2009: 39].

There are three types of owners of these tour operators: specialists in Syrian Shi’ite

sites; related figures of religious schools and organizations; and tourism companies. The

first type of tour operator is dominant here, but the other two types are also significant

[Shaery-Eisenlohr 2007: 25]. Shi’ite religious tours are also undertaken in Iraq, Iran, and

Lebanon, and the ḥajj and ‘umra in Saudi Arabia. In addition, they organize “Islamic tours”

such as Islamic-compliant travel and tours to Islamic heritage sites and communities around

the world, including those in Spain, India, and China. Almost all of these companies are run

by either individuals or families who are familiar with the industry [Shaery-Eisenlohr 2007:

25]. However, some of them are large enterprises with several employees and branches in

various cities.

These companies organize tours at least once a month, but their frequency varies

according to the company’s staff size and capability. Nonetheless, all of the religious tour

operators organize special religious tours in the Shi’ite religious season: during ‘ashūra’

and arba‘īn. Some also plan special religious tours during ramaḍān, ‘īd al-fiṭr, ‘īd al-aḍḥā,

and other Islamic and Shi’ite religious holidays. The duration of most tours ranges from one

to two weeks, but there are also one-day and one-month tours. The prices range from $100

to $1,000, depending on the tour duration and itinerary.

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Ⅲ. Marketing Strategies of Religious Tour Operators

Religious tour operators have promoted service marketing in their management as they

have developed in the visits they offer to Syrian Shi'ite sites. The religious tours offered by

these operators cover two types of services: religious services (al-khidmāt al-dīnīya) and

tourist services (al-khidmāt al-siyāḥīya). The operators develop these services in response

to customer demand and, in turn, acquire customers by selling these religious tours. In order

to attract customers, the tour operators have made efforts to improve their own marketing

strategies, and advanced their segmentation of the market.

According to their marketing strategies, the tour operators first improve their touristic

services and supply more comfortable tours to their customers through cooperation with

local operators and tourism companies in Syria. As a result, they have created various kinds

of touristic services. In particular, luxury religious tours are called “VIP ziyāra” or “VIP

religious tours.” Customers stay at four- and five-star hotels, travel by VIP coaches or

business and first-class flights, and are accompanied by special guides, cameramen, or

cooks. On the other hand, some operators provide cheaper options, offering economical

accommodation and services in order to attract a wider range of customers. They also

expand their destinations to include both religious sites (al-amākin al-siyāḥīya) and other

sites of religious significance (al-amākin al-dīnīya) [Shaery-Eisenlohr 2007: 25]. In the

case of Syrian tours, the destinations include numerous places like Christian sites, such as

Ma‘alūlā and Ṣaydnāyā, tourist sites such as the National Museum in Damascus, Zabadānī,

Burdān, Lebanese touristic sites like Bayrūt and Ba‘albek, and Turkish ones, in addition to

Shi’ite religious sites.

The improvement of services in the industry has attracted customers and led to the

development of this specific field in Syria. In order to continuously enhance the quality and

quantity of their services, the tour operators need to promote investments to upgrade

infrastructure, human resources, and relationships with various actors, companies, and

organizations in the field. The operators connect with investors and administrators that

belong to the larger tourism industry. These stakeholders support the various tourist

services, including hotels, food, transportation, and other logistical requirements for

religious journeys.

The development of religious tour operators has promoted the touristic aspects of the

religious trips. Both Syrian and foreign investors, companies, and tourism organizations are

eager to participate in Syrian Shi’ite religious tourism in order to enjoy the mass economic

benefits.(2) The liberalization of the tourism industry led to greater options for tourists and

increased their chances of participating in religious tours. Many ground operator companies

and tourism enterprises that own hotels and tourist transportation began to emerge, as they

are able to foster cooperation with religious tour operators outside Syria. There are also

many hotels, restaurants, and related tourism companies that promote Syrian Shi’ite

religious tourism. As a result, many enterprises have been established since the 1990s.

Further, many investors, religious tour operators, and tourism companies invest in

tourism to fulfill their customers’ demands. The two top luxurious hotels in the area, Safir

al-Sayedah Zeinab Hotel and Qaṣr al-Ḍiyāfa Hotel, are the two best examples of this in the

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context of Syrian Shi’ite religious tourism, and have established excellent reputations

among religious visitors. As a result of these sorts of investments, the range of choices for

tour operator companies has continued to widen through the creation of networks.

As the management of religious tour operators has developed, related industries have

also grown and religious tourism has become a specialized industry. Touristic services have

become increasingly differentiated, established their own networks with the tourism

industry, and increased the amount of choice available in visits to religious sites. As this

choice has increased, Shi’ite people have begun to consider their own religious tourism

networks in terms of each religious tour operator, according to their economic status and

their attitudes toward religious tourism. Shi’ite people who have a high economic status

prefer to take part in more luxurious or restful tours, and seek various kinds of cultural

experiences as well as specifically religious ones. As a result, as we have seen above, the

religious tourism industry has created various networks and small groups in accordance

with varying tastes, and Shi’ite visits in Syria have become more diverse and individualized

[Pinto 2007; Adelkhah 2009; Maltzahn 2013].

Ⅳ. Religious Services and Shi’ite Figures in ReligiousTourism Networks

As Syrian Shi’ite religious tourism has developed, religious tour operators have begun

to promote marketing strategies in their religious packages as well as their more generally

touristic packages. In order to attract customers, the operators shape their religious

characteristics in accordance with their religious attitudes and connections.

The tour operators make strong ties with religious figures such as Shi’ite scholars,

reciters, organizations, local intellectuals, and other related people. The relationship

between religious tour operators and Shi’ite figures ranges from people supervising

religious packages to managing the companys’ operations. For instance, Lebanese religious

tour operators have developed connections with certain religious figures, while avoiding

other ties in their management structures [Shaery-Eisenlohr 2007: 25]. Some tour operators

make connections with Hizbullah or AMAL movement, while others connect with

prominent Shi’ite scholars such as Muḥammad Ḥusayn Faḍl Allāh, Abū Qāsim Khū’ī, or

‘Alī Shīstānī [Shaery-Eisenlohr 2007: 25].

As the Syrian Shi’ite religious tourism industry has developed, Shi’ite people have

begun to reflect their religious status and attitudes toward both religious and touristic

services. Customers have reflected their individual commitments toward religious sites by

using religious tour operators and Shi’ite figures that they trust. These operators provide

various types of religious services, including religious guides, religious experiences such as

rituals and special meetings (typically called munāsaba), and the opportunities to attend

sermons or lectures to enrich the customers’ religious experiences during the tours. Shi’ite

figures, therefore, commit to these services by advising, supervising, educating, guiding,

and operating them. As the commitments of Shi’ite figures have risen in religious tourism,

they have developed individual networks with certain religious tour operators.

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In this situation, Shi’ite figures have promoted their own strategies and commitments

in the use of religious tourism services and networks. For Shi’ite figures, religious tourism

networks have expanded the possibility of spreading their own Shi’ite interpretations and

gaining more support from Shi’ite people. In order to strengthen the networks, in addition

to forming connections with religious tour operators, they also establish religious

infrastructures like ḥawza (Shi’ite religious schools), ḥusaynīya (Shi’ite meeting places)

and scholars’ offices, and related organizations around the shrine. In the beginning of the

1990s, some religious scholars began to open their own infrastructures in the town(3)

[Mervin 1996; Sindawi 2009]. Each religious infrastructure is controlled by a certain Shi’ite

figure, and various kinds of religious services, such as munāsaba, lectures, and other

religious events are held. In addition, each ḥawza and ḥusaynīya establishes religious

organizations such as charitable foundations that support managements of each religious

infrastructure, event, and service. Their members are local people, religious students, and

foreigners who are located in the town. The organizations also support religious tourism

networks by offering hospitable treatment to religious visitors. As a result, religious

activities in al-Sayedah Zeinab town have become diverse and diffused at the field level. As

Sabrina Mervin has mentioned in her article, al-Sayedah Zeinab town is now home to a

mixture of religious practices from various areas, and forms something of a showcase of

religious practices [Mervin 2007].

Ⅴ. Religious Commitment in the Administrative Strategy inSayyida Zaynab Shrine

As Syrian Shi’ite religious tourism has developed, each stakeholder has chosen a

suitable place within the religious tourism network, and each promotes their own religious

commitment suitable for their strategies. In this environment, Sayyida Zaynab shrine has

begun to shift its administrative strategy to adjust to religious tourism by ensuring strong

networks and communication with each Shi’ite figure who is related to the shrine, and by

accepting various different ways for the Shi’ite masses to become religiously involved.

Sayyida Zaynab shrine has promoted its own administrative strategy since the 1950s,

in order to encourage more religious visitors to the shrine [Murtaḍā 2005: 350]. In 1952, the

shrine established its own administrative committee, named the Higher Committee for

Sayyida Zaynab Shrine (Lajna Ashrāf ‘alā Maqām al-Sayyida Zaynab), and began to

actively deliver its strategy [Murtaḍā 2005: 352]. Although its activities were strongly

controlled by the supervision of Ministry of Religious Endowments (awqāf) and the

domestic and diplomatic strategy of the Syrian government [Böttcher 2002; Murtaḍā 2005:

337-339], the committee has promoted its development projects by establishing various

organizations, such as Sayyida Zaynab Office for Visit and Touristic Guidance (Markaz al-

Sayyida Zaynab li al-Ziyāra wa al-Irshād al-Siyāḥī), as well as undergoing renovation

activities [Murtaḍā 2005: 256, 258].

As religious tourism networks in the field have developed, the committee promoted a

communication strategy with religious tourism networks, as well as improving the quality

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of its own infrastructure. In particular, the committee enhanced communication with

specific Shi’ite figures as well as religious tour operators, as communication building in this

way reduced its transaction costs. Although the committee has charged the Iranian regime

and related Shi’ite figures for performing religious activities in the shrine since the 1980s

[Mervin 1996], it has also encouraged specific networks with other related figures. In

particular, the committee established Sayyida Zaynab Institution for Information and

Research (Majma‘ al-Sayyida Zayab li al-Ma‘lūmāt wa al-Abḥāth(4)) in 1996, and has

organized various kinds of academic events and lectures [anon. 1996b: 297, 298; Murtaḍā

2005: 360]. In its activities, the institution has invited prominent Shi’ite scholars who were

involved in the shrine to hold lectures(5) [Murtaḍā 2005: 360. 374], and develop strong

connections with the shrine. The shrine also developed relationships with other Shi’ite

scholars and organizations by allowing them to perform religious and other related events

inside the shrine [Pinto 2007: 114-115]. As a result, the shrine achieved continual

communication with these figures.

By involving various Shi’ite figures who themselves had strong connections with

religious tourism networks to be part of the shrine’s administrative strategy, Sayyida Zaynab

shrine has produced a receptive environment for activating various different kinds of

religious commitment toward it, and enhanced its popularity, visitors and economic

benefits. In this environment, the related stakeholders have interpreted the meaning of

religious commitment in their own ways according to their strategies. For instance,

donations to the shrine have been interpreted in various ways. Although a Shi’ite person

may explain a donation as the expression of their belief and supplication, some show that

their donations are a part of political and social propagandas, and the other emphasize them

as the development of Shi’ite or Islamic civilization in Syria. On the other hand, religious

tour operators supply donations as a part of their religious packages, Shi’ite figures see

donations as a result of their interpretation, and a religious site recognizes them as a deed

related to its own economic and religious development. As a result, the different groups

involved do not have a shared standard for religious commitment, and it is impossible to

measure their quality.

However, the actual quantity of religious commitments in the shrine has increased in

significance among the related stakeholders in religious tourism. Each actor takes a

quantitative approach, considering, for instance, the amount, frequency and scale of their

religious commitments, and shows their degree of religious commitments to the public. This

approach enhances competition and interaction among stakeholders and networks through

different forms of religious commitments such as engagement in religious commodities and

rituals [Pinto 2007: 120-123]. In this system, the related stakeholders recognize Sayyida

Zaynab shrine as having religious significance for them.

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Conclusion

This paper has looked at the culture of religious tourism to Syrian Shi’ite sites with a

special focus on religious tour operators. In particular, it focused on the construction of the

system of religious tourism and the stakeholders’ views about religious activities within

religious tourism.

In terms of the construction of religious tourism, religious tour operators have been

entrepreneurial in developing religious tourism, and have improved their own networks

based on their service management and marketing strategies in order to gain their own

customers. In its marketing strategies, each tour operator has mediated with certain Shi’ite

people, religious figures, and religious sites in its religious service management, according

to its own management policy and segmentation. As a result, various networks have

appeared in the religious tourism industry, and have made strong ties among their

stakeholders.

In terms of the stakeholders’ views about the system of religious tourism, each

stakeholder has acquired the ability to become more religiously involved in the religious

visits by using the religious tourism network, and has promoted its own strategy according

to its views about religious services, even though some of these activities are controlled by

other stakeholders. For Shi’ite people, the development of religious tourism networks has

enabled them to reflect their own views on their religious visits, and Shi’ite figures have

sought to spread their own interpretations and thoughts among Shi’ite people through their

networks. These two actors have spread their own methods of religious commitment

through the religious services supplied by religious tour operators. Sayyida Zaynab shrine,

as an example, accepts various different kinds of religious commitment in order to enhance

its religious importance in Shi’ite societies. The administrative strategy of the shrine has

connected a wide range of religious tourism networks with the religious site, and has

accepted their various different types of religious commitment. This environment in the

religious tourism networks has led to more religious commitment from the stakeholders.

However, what religious commitment actually includes is interpreted in diverse ways and is

diffused in accordance with each stakeholder’s strategy.

In conclusion, therefore, the system of religious tourism to Syrian Shi’ite sites has

encouraged various kinds of religious commitment, based on each network. In this

environment, the quantity of religious commitment in the shrine has gained more

significance among related stakeholders, and the quantitative expansion of religious

activities has become influential, in accordance with the strategies of religious tourism

networks and their stakeholders. The increasing amount of religious commitment has

produced more religious tourism networks that are connected to the shrine, and enhanced

the shrine’s religious significance among its stakeholders in Syrian Shi’ite religious tourism.

As a result of their entrepreneurship, religious tour operators have succeeded in shaping the

culture of religious tourism to Syrian Shi’ite sites.

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Notes

(1) These figures also strengthened their relationships with the Syrian government,

especially with Hafez al-Asad, in order to promote Shi’ite political movements in each

country [Talhamy 2009; Matlzahn 2013: 23-28].

(2) The Syrian government began to encourage liberalization of tourism investment in the

1980s in order to develop Syrian tourism industry as a whole as well as Shi’ite

religious tourism. The government eased many regulations in the industry, for example,

by passing the Decree of the Supreme Council for Tourism No. 186 in 1985, Decree

No. 198 in 1987, and other related laws, such as Law No. 10 in 1991, to facilitate the

expansion of the tourism industry and the Syrian national economy [Pölling 1994;

JICA 1998; Gray 1999; 2001]. Following this liberalization, many tourism companies

offering Syrian Shi’ite religious tours, as well as supporting establishments such as tour

operators, hotels, transportation companies, and those providing related services, were

established.

(3) Ḥasan al-Shīrāzī established the first ḥawza in al-Sayedah Zeinab town in 1975; this

was called “Ḥawza al-Zaynabīya” [Sindawi 2009]. In the 1980s, Khomeini opened his

own ḥawza, named “Ḥawza al-Imām al-Khumaynī” in the southern part of the town

[Mervin 1996]. In the 1990s, five other ḥawzas were established: Ḥawza al-Murtaḍā by

Muḥammad Ḥusayn Faḍl Allāh in 1992, Ḥawza Musṭafā li al-‘Ulūm al-Qur’ānīya by

Iraqi scholar al-Shaykh Jamāl al-Wakīl in 1996; Ḥawza Ahl al-Bayt by Iranian scholar

al-Sayyid Muḥammad al-Mūsaqī in 1996; Ḥawza al-Imām al-Shīstānī by Iraqi scholar

and agent of ‘Alī al-Shīstānī al-Shaykh, Ḥalīm al-Bahbahānī, in 1996; and one other

[IISS 2008: 77]. In the 2000s, more than ten ḥawzas and related infrastructures and

organizations were established; Ḥawza al-Imām ‘Alī and al-Ḥawza al-Khaydarīya by

Muḥammad Ḥusayn Faḍl Allāh in 2003, Ḥawza al-Imām Jawād al-Tabrīzī by al-

Shaykh ‘Abbās al-Nazzāl in 2003; Ḥawza al-Imām al-Ṣādiq, Ḥawza al-Rasūl al-

A‘ẓam, Ḥawza al-Imām al-Mujtabī by an Indian figure, and Ḥawza al-Imām al-

Ḥusayn, Ḥawza al-al-Imām Zayn al-‘Ābidīn, Ḥawza Qamar Banī Hāshim, Ḥawza Imām

al-Zamān al-Ta‘līmīya, Ḥawza al-Shahīdayn al-Ṣadīqayn, Ḥawza al-Imām al-Mahdī al-

‘Ilmīya li al-Dirāsāt al-Islāmīya by an Indian figure, ‘Alī Bāqir Taṣawwar, in 2002;

Ḥawza Fiqh al-A’ima al-Aṭfār by Muḥammad al-Fāḍil al-Lankarānī; and a ḥawza

established by Saudi scholar Ḥasan al-Ṣaffār in 2005 [IISS 2008: 126].

(4) Sayyida Zaynab Institution for Information and Research (Majma‘ al-Sayyida Zayab li

al-Ma‘lūmāt wa al-Abḥāth) was established in 1996, with financial aid from a Lebanese

figure named al-Ḥājj Fahd al-Dā’ikh. This institution aims to gather and preserve data

and documents related to Sayyida Zaynab shrine and ahl al-bayt for academic use, and

to publish the research outcomes through lectures and books [anon. 1996b]. It also

holds cultural lectures and events related to Sayyida Zaynab and ahl al-bayt.

(5) The following related Shi’ite scholars undertook lectures at the association: al-Sayyid

Muḥammad Ḥusayn Faḍl Allāh, al-Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn Faḍl Allāh, Shaykh

Ḥusayn Aḥmad Shahāda, al-Qāḍī al-Shaykh Aḥmad al-Zayn, and al-Duktūr Ḥasan Naṣr

Allāh from Lebanon; al-Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥasan al-Amīn, Shaykh Ja‘far al-Muhājir,

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al-Sayyid Aḥmad al-Wāḥidī, al-Shaykh Nabīl Ḥalbāwī, and al-Sayyid ‘Abd Allāh

Niẓām from Syria; al-Sayyid Nūr al-Dīn al-Ishkūrī, al-Shaykh ‘Abd al-Ḥamīd al-

Muhājir, al-Duktūr Muḥammad Ḥusayn al-Ṣaghīr, and al-Sayyid ‘Abd al-Karīm al-

Qazwīnī from Iraq; ‘Abd Allāh al-Gharīfī from Bahrain; al-Shaykh Ḥasan al-Ṣaffār

from Saudi Arabia; and al-Shaykh ‘Abd al-Laṭīf Birrī and al-Shaykh ‘Abd al-Laṭīf al-

Khafājī from the United States of America [Murtaḍā 2005: 360, 374].

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