“Political decisions in ISIS garb”: A nude model shakes up Damascus

Editor’s note: This translation has been edited and abridged from the original Arabic for style, clarity and concision. 

The nude body has always been a fundamental part of the world’s art. “It is the temple in which the soul reveals its most complete beauty,” remarked the world-renowned sculptor Auguste Rodin.

By contrast, Dr. Fouad Dahdouh, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Damascus University, took a stance far removed from Rodin’s words. On August 14, 2025, Dahdouh issued a controversial decree, under the name Directive No. 25, which bans the use of nude models in the graduation projects of fourth-year students studying sculpture, painting, photography, and engraving. The decision threatened non-complying students with a failing grade of zero, claiming the measure was taken “in line with moral and societal constants.”

In a direct and outspoken response, the community at the Faculty of Fine Arts rejected the dean’s decision outright, insisting that the ban represents a major setback for artistic and academic freedom. 

Students and faculty members organized a series of protests, starting with a social media campaign on the very day that the decision was announced, followed by a sit-in in front of the dean’s office. Yet according to protesters, the dean’s response was nothing more than shallow promises with no genuine commitment to addressing their demands.

Several protesting students told Raseef22 about their intention to scale their movement to a wider civil campaign, holding firm that “artistic freedom is our right and a duty upon the teaching staff.” They stressed the educational and historical importance of nude models, describing it as “a cornerstone of the art of ancient civilizations” and an inseparable part of the artistic anatomy curriculum, which is approached “with utmost seriousness and scientific objectivity.”

According to visual artist Youssef Abdelke, the ban on nude models at Damascus University’s Faculty of Fine Arts was a “political decision” that fell within the ruling regime’s attempts to drag society into the orbit of extremist ideology.

Protesters warned that eliminating this curriculum strips students of an essential body of knowledge, arguing that “the nude model does not harm moral principles.” Rather, banning it is “the real moral disgrace,” as it treats the human body as a flaw or something shameful instead of as a subject of serious study and artistic respect.

These developments come amid rapid transformations in Syria’s cultural and social landscape, following the political changes that began in December 2024, after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the transfer of power to President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

Reports have documented “a series of measures that infringe upon public freedoms, most notably the closure of nightclubs and restaurants in Damascus, tighter controls on shops selling alcoholic beverages, alongside practices restricting personal freedoms, such as banning the wearing of shorts in public spaces.”

Justifying a “decades old” decision

In an attempt to quell the outrage over the ban, Dahdouh issued a controversial clarification, claiming that “the nude model has not existed since 1974,” and that the deputy minister’s instructions merely “reaffirmed decisions made decades ago.”

He defended the ban by citing what he described as “the wishes of many students’ families, who submitted official requests to prevent the use of nude models,” asking: “Where is the harm if this matter relates to the wishes of students’ families? Will art in Syria collapse and recede because of it?”

Dahdouh also launched a sharp rebuke against what he called “objecting voices,” stressing that the faculty is “an executive institution, not a legislative one,” and that the legislative authority lies with the Ministry of Higher Education and the Council for Scientific Research — an attempt to deflect responsibility for the decision.

Speaking to Raseef22, Dahdouh revealed a new approach to dealing with the arts scene, describing the graduation project as a “joyous gathering” which should not contain anything “indecent” in the presence of families. He justified the cancellation of the nude model as being the result of the “twinning agreement with Cairo” after Al-Azhar abolished it in the 1970s, insisting that it had also been abolished in Tunisia and Lebanon – an attempt to provide a regional rationale for the local decision.

Artists take action

The decision faced sharp criticism from leading visual artists in Syria, who considered it a retreat from the foundational principles of academic art.

Visual artist Muneer al-Shaarani revealed new details about the ban on the nude model at the Faculty of Fine Arts, pointing out that the decision was based on a “note from an assistant to the Minister of Higher Education,” a non-specialist, while the role of the college dean was merely to draft, sign, and forward the directive to department heads, appended with an indirect threat to students.

Al-Shaarani believes this mechanism reveals two fundamental points: first, that the decision “comes in response to a higher policy that tramples on academic foundations, in an attempt to paint society with a single color based on a hardline Salafi orientation.” Second, that “the dean was subjected to external pressure, which led him to issue a circular that violates internationally recognized curricula and academic programs.”

Elias stressed in his interview with Raseef22 that, despite the controversy the decision may stir, the ban nude models opens the door to a deeper conversation about the nature of art and its role, and how to construct a contemporary cultural identity that respects heritage without being imprisoned by it. 

In his interview with Raseef22, Al-Shaarani refuted the official justifications for the decision, stressing from his personal experience as a former student at the college that “no such ban was issued in 1974.” He recalled that at the time, there were several male and female models, including an Egyptian model named ‘Umm Nabil’ and her daughter, as well as a man known as ‘Abu al-Fawz’, all of whom received regular wages. He also disclosed that he personally used a nude model in his own graduation project in 1977.

He explained that what actually happened was an “unwritten restriction in 1982,” introduced for political reasons related to appeasing the religious movement loyal to the authorities at the time, but without issuing an official ban. Al-Shaarani also dismissed the argument of “parental complaints” as an unacceptable interference in academic affairs, describing the justification that “students do not know how to draw the model” as “a flimsy defense, since this problem – if it exists – is a natural result of depriving students of training in anatomical drawing in the first place.”

“Ibn Muqla laid down the rules of Thuluth calligraphy script in the Abbasid era, modeled on the human body, which confirms the organic link between fine art and human anatomy,” said Al-Shaarani. He revealed unprecedented interference by “an individual affiliated with a non-academic government body, who frequently visits the college dean, intervenes in its affairs, and even participates in media interviews on academic matters,” a sign, he argues, that is “blatant intervention by the ruling authority in the college’s affairs” in an attempt to impose a unilateral Salafi vision on the educational and creative process.

Academic decisions in ISIS garb 

Abdelke described the ban on nude models at the Faculty of Fine Arts as a “political decision” that falls within the ruling regime’s attempts to drag society into the orbit of its extremist ideology, dismissing talk of moral sensitivities as “nothing but a pretext.”

In his response, he stressed that the decision did not originate from the dean or the deputy minister but is instead “deeply connected to the reigning Syrian regime” that has been in power for months, describing it as an “ISIS-like right-wing jihadist regime with nothing to do with the Syrian majority.” He noted the irony that the dean himself, Dr. Fouad Dahdouh, is against the decision given his own arts background, which confirms that the measure was imposed from a higher authority.

“This is a multi-headed regime, where various armed factions compete to appear as the most hardline and extremist, in a desperate attempt to lead society according to their ideas,” he said, adding: “Syrian society is strong and deeply rooted, and it can overcome these attempts.” 

Abdelke argued that the new authorities “are not stupid” and will not impose all their concepts at once, but they are ultimately trying to ban everything. Meanwhile, “they continue to display different actions that surprise us,” he said, expressing his conviction that “they have truly come from the Middle Ages.”

Concluding his remarks to Raseef22, he firmly rejected any discussion of social heritage as a hindrance or obstacle, affirming that “the freedom of the artist is sacred” and stressing that the collective of independent visual artists will not relent in their efforts to “rebuild the stolen freedom of the individual.”

Marginalizing and alienating the Arab art scene

In artist Karim Awad’s opinion, the relationship between the living body and the visual artist is the essential secret that leads to the ultimate goal of art: the human being, existing. Without the expressive energy that the body provides, a work of art becomes nothing more than lines and colors.

Speaking to Raseef22, Awwad stresses that “neutralizing and marginalizing the recent decision is of utmost importance, so that we do not, unintentionally, become a tool of promotion for those behind it. We must work seriously and institutionally to graduate a new generation of Syrian youth who carry a deeper artistic concern and strive to highlight our true humanity.”

Awad will focus on opening avenues of cooperation and cultural exchange between Austria, Switzerland, and the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus by inviting European artists to participate in various cultural conferences in Syria. The aim, he explains, is to bring young students closer to modern visual art and to bridge the historical and social gap between Arab and Western societies.

The controversy over the nude model at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Damascus appears to be more than just a dispute over academic curricula; it is a reflection of a broader struggle over Syria’s cultural identity and the boundaries of academic freedom in an exceptionally sensitive and precarious transitional period.

In “The Formation of Islamic Art,” scholar Oleg Grabar offers an alternative approach to the traditional narrative surrounding the “prohibition” of figurative representation, reshaping our understanding of this issue through its broader historical and theological contexts.

Grabar argues that there is no explicit Qur’anic text that categorically forbids such representation, pointing out that what developed instead was “a cumulative stance emerging from jurisprudential interpretations and theological concerns over imitating God’s creation, rather than from a direct Qur’anic prohibition.” He explains that this stance was, in part, a way for the young Islamic community to build its own distinctive visual identity in contrast to the Byzantine and Sasanian empires, where it served as “an ideological statement against neighbors and enemies. 

It was a way of saying: ‘We are not like them.’”

One of Grabar’s deepest contributions lies in his view that this avoidance of the body in Islamic art was not a void or vacuum, but a form of creativity in its own right: “Muslim artists redirected their creative energy away from imitating nature toward inventing a universal visual language of geometric and vegetal forms, a language that could be understood anywhere across the vast Islamic world.

“The core concern was never with the image itself, but with its theological implications. The primary fear was that humans might claim the divine power to bestow a soul upon an image, which could lead to idolatry. Thus, the avoidance of representation was framed as a safeguard for monotheism, not as a rejection of beauty itself.”

It appears that the controversy over the nude model is more than just a dispute over curricula; it is a reflection of a broader struggle over Syria’s cultural identity and the boundaries of academic freedom in an extremely sensitive and perilous transitional period.

As the students’ statement declared: “A university run by sanctions and restrictive guardianship loses its meaning. 

“Our position today is not just an objection to a decision, but an affirmation of a fundamental principle: there is no university without freedom, and no education without academic independence.”