[2] Al-Ashmar gathered about 40-50 of his men from al-Midan to form part of the civilian volunteer units backing the Syrian forces against the invading French Army at the Battle of Maysalun on 24 July.

He was a part of the first Damascene delegation to al-Atrash, who was based in the Hauran region, along with Nasib al-Bakri and Yahya al-Hayati.

[3] On 17 October 1925, al-Ashmar, along with commander Hasan al-Kharrat, led a rebel assault against the French military in Damascus.

[6] Later that year, al-Ashmar went into exile in Transjordan to escape an arrest warrant for his alleged responsibility in the killing of five French officers.

[11] Upon his return to Syria, al-Ashmar agitated for the establishment of a state governed by Islamic law and free of Western influence.

[12] He lent his support to Shukri al-Quwatli in the 1943 presidential elections because of the latter's promise to allow Muslim activist organizations more political freedom in return for al-Ashmar's help in gaining votes from the al-Midan quarter.

They formed movements aimed at removing Quwatli from power and opposing his social liberalism, particularly his permission for cinemas and cabarets to open in the country.

[1][14] On 19 May 1944, he addressed a crowd of hundreds of conservative Syrian Muslims at the Tankiz Mosque in Marjeh Square, Damascus, strongly condemning the increasing prevalence of unveiled women, cinema and the city's hosting of a charity banquet at the French Officers' Club sponsored by the French-Christian "Drop of Milk" society and the wife of then-education minister, Nasuhi al-Bukhari.

Months later, al-Ashmar strongly condemned the Quwatli administration's participation in a women's suffrage conference in Cairo, Egypt in December 1944.