Halaqas, relational subjects, and revolutionary committees in Syria

What makes a circle revolutionary? This article examines Syrian halaqas, a term that means “circle” in Arabic and originally describes the spatial configuration in which students and their teacher seat themselves for a Quranic lesson, often inside a mosque or religious study center. In contrast to classic revolutionary circles, a halaqa is not established with the aim of discussing politics or revolutionary ideas, but to learn about Islam and to shape pious and ethical selves. However, the transformation of the self is hardly an apolitical endeavor, and the halaqa not only describes the spatial configuration of meetings and specifies the format of a religious class, but is also a social shape that accounts for the relationship between its members and society at large.