Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05AMMAN5761
2005-07-19 11:27:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

NEXT STEPS AFTER AMMAN'S ISLAMIC CONFERENCE

Tags:  PGOV PTER KISL KPAO 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 005761 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2010
TAGS: PGOV PTER KISL KPAO
SUBJECT: NEXT STEPS AFTER AMMAN'S ISLAMIC CONFERENCE

REF: AMMAN 5760

Classified By: Charge David Hale, Reasons 1.4 (B) & (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 005761

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2010
TAGS: PGOV PTER KISL KPAO
SUBJECT: NEXT STEPS AFTER AMMAN'S ISLAMIC CONFERENCE

REF: AMMAN 5760

Classified By: Charge David Hale, Reasons 1.4 (B) & (D)


1. (C) Summary. Jordan's King is planning next steps to
advance the moderate, anti-violence message of the recent
Islamic Conference held in Amman. These include further work
to de-legitimize extremists' use of "psuedo" fatwas to
justify terrorism, development of a core canon of books which
will create an educational background resistant to extremism,
and outreach to Muslim communities and other faiths in the
West. In response to the London bombing, the Hashemites are
preparing a document summarizing the condemnations of it by
leading participants in the Islamic Conference. It will be
made public, endorsed by the OIC and reinforced through a
fatwa of the OIC academy of Islamic jurisprudence. End
Summary.


2. (C) The King and his team, led by his pious cousin Prince
Ghazi bin Muhammad, are planning next steps to build on the
July 4-6 Islamic Conference in Amman. That event brought
consensus from a sizable group of well known establishment
and popular Muslim leaders, including Ayatollah Sistani,
behind certain principles designed to blunt the ability of
extremists to use the language of Islam to justify terrorist
attacks (reftel). In this embryonic period, and given the
broad cross-section of participants, the initial focus of
this initiative is on the basics: no one can call an
adherent to the major eight schools of Islamic jurisprudence
an apostate; fatwas can only be issued by qualified clerics,
with checks and balances; and if a Muslim living in a
non-Muslim society enjoys safety and the right to worship, he
must abide by the laws of that society.


3. (C) In the next phase, lower level experts will meet in
Amman with particular focus on the issue of what constitutes
a legitimate fatwa ) with the aim of educating Muslims that
the fatwas of such extremists as Osama bin Laden and Abu
Musab Zarqawi have no standing. The Jordanians argue that
while it will take time for this campaign to have an impact,
the religious establishment's failure to challenge the right
of these figures to issue fatwas had contributed to
extremists' popularity. The experts are putting together a
document codifying appropriate procedures and qualifications
for fatwa issuance, to be endorsed by the OIC and presented
to the UN as a document of the OIC members. Another step
entails gaining an agreement on a "book of books;" Ghazi
described this as a canon of works to be read at all levels
of study, from kindergarten to the doctorate level, which
scholars agree encapsulates the correct, moderate, tolerant
message of Islam. Students taught from such works will be
unlikely to be swayed by extremist rhetoric. The Jordanians
will be seeking help in production and particularly
distribution of such works.


4. (C) The King is working closely with Malaysian partners to
advance this overall process. While some Saudi resistance
has been encountered, the King maintains that he has a green
light from Crown Prince Abdullah, who is said not to be
displeased by an outside initiative that challenges his own
radical religious fringe. Prince Ghazi will form a follow up
group of forty activists from each Muslim state; Gulf
financing is supporting the initiative.


5. (C) Separately, they are working on a conference of
Iraqis, secular and religious, to bring Sunni and Shia
together to build on the Islamic Conference message. The
main objective will be release of fatwas forbidding the use
of violence against fellow Muslims, and denying that any
member of the major schools of Islamic jurisprudence can be
called an apostate, one source of alleged legitimacy for
Sunni/Shia violence.


6. (C) The Jordanians are also seeking to use this process
to reach out to Muslim audiences in the West, and to call for
coexistence and non-violence among the major faiths. King
Abdullah's September travels in the UK and U.S. will give him
ample opportunities to address Muslim and non-Muslim
audiences on these themes. Meanwhile, they are developing a
sharper media strategy to draw attention in the West to this
initiative.


7. (C) Following up the King's own strong statements of
condemnation in the wake of the London bombing, the
Hashemites are preparing a document detailing similar
statements by the principal conference participants. Once it
is ready, they will ask the OIC President to make it a public
document of the organization, and ask that the OIC's academy
of jurisprudence endorse it through a fatwa.
HALE