Shara and Moderate Islam: Exploiting Grievances´-or-Fragmenting Syrian Identity? Shara lacks the institutional backbone and military infrastructure needed to shepherd a stable transition. This trajectory risks -convert--ing a broad, cultural Islamic identity one that historically has been inclusive and civilizational in scope into a narrow, sectarian banner. It is woven into the old quarters of Damascus, the minarets and markets, the caravanserais of Aleppo, and the shared cultural memory of the Arab world. Not the weaponization of identity, but its reclamation as a civic and cultural umbrella wide enough to hold all communities.