UAE FIRST LADY SPEARHEADS CAMPAIGN TO CLEAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 002715

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/04/08
TAGS: PREL PGOV TC
SUBJECT: UAE FIRST LADY SPEARHEADS CAMPAIGN TO CLEAN
UP THE MOSQUES, LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY



1. (U) Classified by Ambassador Marcelle M. Wahba for
reasons 1.5 (b) and (d).


2. (C) SUMMARY: UAE First Lady Shaykha Fatima Bint
Mubarak briefed the Ambassador on her personally-
designed campaign to literally and figuratively clean
up the UAE's many mosques. With her customary
extraordinary attention to detail, Fatima has arranged
everything from the provision of refrigerators to the
need to lock the mosques after the day's last prayers
so as to keep troublemakers from spending the night
and turning mosques into their safehavens. The
campaign, which includes the participation of Al-Azhar
notables, also features evening lessons at mosques,
Quran memorization courses and the establishment of a
one-year training course on oratory skills for imams.
Since the wrenching events of 9/11, Fatima has taken a
personal interest in the negative influence of
fundamentalism in the UAE. She has worked closely
with her sons, particularly State Security Director
Hazza, to monitor the country's mosques, schools and
judicial system. In so doing, she has earned herself
some internal enemies and told the Ambassador she has
been the target of at least one smear campaign in an
Arabic-language paper published in the U.S. END
SUMMARY.

CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS
--------------


3. (C) On 5/30, the UAEG launched a week-long mosque
construction/renovation and religious education
campaign throughout the country's seven emirates. The
campaign, titled "Construction of Houses of God
Symbolizes Faith and Civilization," was spearheaded by
UAE First Lady Shaykha Fatima Bint Mubarak, wife of
President Zayid. In a 6/3 private meeting with the
Ambassador Shaykha Fatima shared that the campaign had
been her personal initiative, i.e. not instigated by
one of her six sons, aka the Bani Fatima -- Chief of
Staff Muhammad, MFA Minstate Hamdan, State Security
Director Hazza, Presidential Court Director Mansour,
Infomin Abdullah or Zayid's Private Department Head
Tahnoun, who represent a formidable decision-making
clique.


4. (c) The UAE First Lady spoke with evident pride
about the campaign's success, noting it was designed
to improve "performance" at the mosques and included
the participation of four imams from Cairo's
prestigious Al-Azhar University. Fatima wanted the
campaign to emphasize the need for cleanliness and
security in the UAE's houses of Muslim worship. For
instance, she ordered the installation of refrigerated
units at each mosque to provide cold water and
instructed that the areas for washing before prayers
be kept clean and the mosques be closed and locked
after the last evening prayer until the next morning's
prayer to ensure that no "trouble makers" camp out.
Fatima noted to the Ambassador that undesirables had
made a habit of spending the night at mosques and
turning them into safehavens. Fatima told the
Ambassador that her next goal is to clean up the
municipalities; for instance, she wants to replace
open garbage cannisters -- which pose a health and
security hazard (as people can place dangerous
objects, i.e. explosives) into them -- with closed
bins.

HELPING MUSLIMS BETTER UNDERSTAND ISLAM A KEY GOAL
-------------- --------------


5. (U) According to local press reports, the campaign
will include the construction and renovation of
mosques and an "activation" of their role in society
through religious education. The UAEG opened two bank
accounts to receive donations in support of mosque
construction and renovation. The religious education
campaign will be carried out through Friday sermons,
evening lessons at mosques, Islamic lectures and
seminars aimed at helping Muslims better understand
Islam, new Holy Quran memorization courses at 350
Islamic centers, and the distribution of more than
40,000 copies of the Holy Quran. The Ras Al Khaimah
Department of Islamic Affairs and Awqaf also announced
a one-year training course on oratory skills for 166
imams to help increase their knowledge of Islam.

COMMENT: FATIMA'S INFLUENCE FAR REACHING
--------------


6. (C) Fatima has been a key behind-the-scenes player
in UAE decision-making circles, particularly since the
wrenching events of 9/11 and the shattering revelation
that two Emiratis were among the 19 hijackers. She
was among the first UAE leaders to emphasize the need
to assess the impact of extremist thought on UAE
society. Fatima carefully tracked the leadership's
appraisal of the fundamentalist threat, guiding her
son Hazza to look at the country's mosques and
education and judicial systems. She used her personal
relationships with the northern emirates' rulers and
their wives to obtain their buy-in of Hazza's actions
in their territories. The results have included the
unprecedented sidelining of at least 150 individuals,
all of them Emiratis, who were deemed to have
fundamentalist tendencies. Fatima's latest campaign
is very much in keeping with the UAEG's decision to
maintain tight control over the country's 500 mosques.
This means that no detail is left unaddressed by the
First Lady -- from the temperature of the water served
to parishioner to the contents of books distributed as
part of religious education.

WAHBA