READING, WRITING, AND QUR'ANIC RECITATION: THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 KUWAIT 003267

SIPDIS

FOR NEA/ARPI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2015
TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL KISL SCUL KWMN KIRF PINR KU ISLAMISTS
SUBJECT: READING, WRITING, AND QUR'ANIC RECITATION: THE
ISLAMIST INFLUENCE IN KUWAIT'S EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM, PART I

REF: A. KUWAIT 1660

B. KUWAIT 1306

C. KUWAIT 656

D. KUWAIT 264

E. 03 KUWAIT 482

Classified By: CDA Matthew H. Tueller for reasons 1.4 (d).

This is part I of a two-part message.


1. (U) Summary and Introduction: The January shoot-outs
between Kuwaiti security officers and extremist militants
placed new emphasis on the debate over the Islamic religious
education curriculum in public schools, an already
politically divisive issue at the best of times. As Kuwaitis
wrestle with the reality of homegrown extremists, liberals
and other critics of the current system contend that students
must endure a heavy course load of religious indoctrination
in conservative religious ideologies throughout their school
years, which leads to intolerance and hatred of non-Sunni
Muslims. Islamists view the current curriculum as
appropriate and necessary for all students. While the GOK is
making efforts to upgrade and reform the entire curricula,
including religious education, Islamists, particularly
graduates from the ultra-conservative Shari'a College who
make up almost half of the religious education teachers, are
seeking to mandate Islamic religious education classes in
private schools -- a requirement from which private schools
have historically been exempt.


2. (U) Kuwaiti Islamists have played a significant role in
the historical development of the public school curriculum,
most notably the religious education components. Because of
their influential role, which by most accounts continues
today, Islamists have had a strong hand in directing the
content of religious education in Kuwait. While the
decades-long involvement of the Muslim Brotherhood is
understood, Salafis and other conservatives are joining the
call to maintain or increase current levels of religious
education in schools. PolOff met separately with several
academics including two former ministers, two former senior
officials in charge of educational curriculum at the
Education Ministry, the current Dean of the College of Social
Sciences at Kuwait University, and a current member of the
Faculty of Shari'a and Islamic Studies to discuss the state
of Kuwait's educational curriculum and the Islamist influence
on the system. Their willingness to offer candid critiques
of the role of religion in the public education system is
typical of the openness of debate in Kuwaiti, but
conservative religious views have strong roots in the society
and attempts by reformers to institute dramatic changes will
quickly run up against the strength of religious feelings and
identity. This overview of the Islamist influence in Kuwaiti
education continues Post's examination of the role and
influence of the Islamist movement in Kuwaiti society. End
Summary and Introduction.

The Curriculum and the Controversy
--------------


3. (U) The official religion of Kuwait is Islam and as a
result, all Kuwaiti public school children from elementary
through high school are required to take Islamic religious
education classes. Religious classes are held four times a
week in primary school and three times a week for all older
students. The courses, which critics claim propagate a
conservative brand of intolerant Islam to Kuwait's youth,
consist of lessons on the Holy Qur'an, general Islamic
studies and, more recently, Qur'an memorization.


4. (U) Since the involvement of several Kuwaiti extremist
militants in the January 2005 shoot-outs, many in society
have publicly called into question the role and influence of
religious education in Kuwait. Many critics claim that
public schools indoctrinate Kuwaiti children in an intolerant
form of Islam. For years, Kuwaiti liberals have called for
the reform of the system, accusing the GOK of permitting
intolerant forms of Islam to be taught in public schools.
They claim that socially conservative religious
interpretations and militant definitions of jihad must be
removed from schools and that more emphasis should be given
to math and science. Most Islamists believe, however, that
students are taught the right amount of religious education
and that it makes them better citizens and Muslims.


5. (SBU) Former Education Minister Dr. Ahmed Al-Rubei told
PolOff that the religious programs in public schools do
promote religious intolerance and that the curriculum must be
reformed. He said another problem often overlooked was that
students do not spend enough time in school. Kuwait's public
schools are in session for 132 days each year and students
attend classes five days a week from 7:30 AM - 13:00 PM, one
of the shortest school years, he explained, of any nation
with a modern, developed school system. Al-Rubei pointed to
the volume and ideology of religious education and the brief
school year as the largest problems facing any educational
reform.

6. (SBU) Mubarak Al-Adwani, a liberal and a former
Undersecretary of Information, told PolOff that the problem
was not just the content of what was being taught in the
schools, but also the "size of the dose." He explained that
religion was invading many aspects of public education.
Al-Adwani said that the Kuwaiti schools, since his youth,
have replaced courses on world history with courses on
"Islamic" history. The same happened with geography, he
said, which became geography of the Islamic world. He
pointed out that despite the presence of millions of Muslims
in America, the U.S. is not included in geography classes.
He added that even Arabic language classes, which used to
teach famous poetry, now only focus on religious passages or
lessons in morality. Al-Adwani said no matter where you turn
in public schools you are bombarded with religion and much of
what is taught is inaccurate.


7. (SBU) Dr. Mansour Gholoum, former Assistant Undersecretary
for Planning at the Education Ministry and now the director
of a progressive computer-based "e-learning" private school,
said that religious propaganda was found throughout the
public schools. He said that in public school classrooms,
there are so many billboards and posters highlighting the
Qur'an that they resemble an "Islamic Hong Kong." He also
said that while in charge of curriculum at the Education
Ministry, there was a move, which he resisted, to add even
more Qur'anic verses to schoolrooms and textbooks, including
math books.


8. (SBU) Former Information Minister and Professor of
Linguistics at Kuwait University Dr. Saad bin Tefleh Al-Ajmi
said that every public school now has a mosque attached to
it, contrary to the system decades ago when schools, had, at
most, a room used for prayer. He said that some teachers
even "terrorize" other teachers to get them to pray at the
mosque during prayer times. He complained that the school
system was producing only untrained bureaucrats who know
their Qur'an and who are more accepting of intolerant
interpretations of Islam.

Critics Claim System Teaches Intolerance and Fear
-------------- --------------


9. (SBU) Dr. Humoud Al-Hattab, a retired 24-year employee of
the Education Ministry and former member of the Muslim
Brotherhood who served as General Supervisor for Islamic
Education in the early 1990s, told PolOff that from the very
start of a child's primary education, religious textbooks
were too large and too complicated. He said much of the
material in primary school books dealt with concepts such as
hell and punishment, locking children into a "fearful
mentality." He said another problem was that at a young age,
children did not question their teachers, a significant
problem when the topics being taught were complex religious
issues that required discussion and reflection. He added
that many of the ideas taught in schools "choke the children."


10. (SBU) Gholoum said the current public school curriculum
teach too much religion, especially from an Islamist
perspective. He told PolOff the story of a Shi'a woman who
begged him to the point of tears to accept her son into his
private school because she wanted him out of the public
school system immediately. She told Gholoum that the
religious education teacher taught the students in her son's
class that all Shi'a were kafir (unbelievers) and that the
Qur'an said to kill them all. She was greatly distraught, he
explained, that government schools were teaching her son that
his family should be killed.


11. (SBU) Conversely, Dr. Bassam Al-Shatti, editor-in-chief
of the Salafi weekly magazine "Al-Furqan" and professor at
the ultra-conservative Shari'a College, insisted the
religious material being taught in schools was age
appropriate and that heavier theological topics such as hell
and torture were not taught to young children, but were only
addressed in the upper grades. He said there were already
music and art lessons every week for students and that those
classes were not in jeopardy of being removed. (Note:
Kuwait University Political Science Professor and columnist
Dr. Ahmed Al-Baghdadi was convicted of insulting Islam
because of language in a column in which he called for more
music classes and less religious education (ref b). End
Note.) He said that contrary to charges that the amount of
religious education was increasing, the only change in recent
years to the religious education program was the addition of
a Qur'an memorization course. He compared the proposed
curricula changes to the anti-terror campaign, stating that
both "compromise the fundamentals of Islam," and expressed
concern that the teaching of religious "fundamentals may be
revoked by fearful members of the National Assembly." Using
the issue of jihad as an example, he said that it was a tenet
of Islam and should not be excluded from the educational
system.

12. (SBU) Regarding religious education instructors,
Al-Hattab said that approximately 40 percent were graduates
of the Shari'a College while the rest were mostly general
education studies graduates. He complained that the Shari'a
graduates were too conservative in their religious beliefs
and did not know enough about teaching to do it well, and
that the general education graduates did not know enough
about religion to teach it to others. He lamented that the
religion teachers instructed the students in their own
individual styles and had no oversight. He added that some
students received a Muslim Brotherhood interpretation in
their classes, others a Salafi perspective, and still others,
although probably few, a Shi'a viewpoint.

A Peek Inside The Textbooks
--------------


13. (SBU) Al-Hattab told PolOff the religious education books
are substandard. He explained that, in his opinion, they
dealt with matters of secondary importance in Islam and
presented the lessons in harsh and complex ways. He also
said that the authors of the books generally were not trained
or highly educated in religious scholarship. The authors of
some, according to Al-Hattab, were Kuwait University
instructors, activists from the Awqaf Ministry, and school
principals. Al-Rubei separately told PolOff that some of the
books used in public school religious education were acquired
by the curriculum board at the Ministry through Muslim
Brotherhood organizations in Egypt.


14. (SBU) Shi'a MP Dr. Yousef Al-Zalzala conducted a detailed
study of the public school educational curricula focusing
primarily on anti-Shi'a material used in grades eight through
twelve. The examples cited in his study were from books used
in Kuwaiti classrooms during the 2004-2005 school year.
Al-Zalzala was outraged at what he discovered, and has since
been a constant voice in support of efforts to change the
curricula. He said publicly that the victims of the January
2005 shoot-outs with militants were also victims of extremist
teachings promoted by the Kuwaiti educational system. He
argued that his study revealed that "part of the curriculum
is false" and that some parts "openly contradict the
(Kuwaiti) constitution and Islamic teachings."


15. (SBU) In his 80-page report, Al-Zalzala asserted that
some of the Kuwaiti textbooks were written by Wahhabi-style
conservative Sunnis and taught an extremist ideology. One
text Al-Zalzala's study examined taught that many commit the
mortal sin of shirk (associating other beings with God) when
they follow "non-Islamic practices" such as wearing amulets,
fearing the dead and the djinn (demons),and visiting
graveyards and shrines, acts that some Muslims, particularly
some Shi'a perform. It continued, claiming that some forms
of shirk are "punishable by death and eternal hell."
Al-Zalzala commented in his report that other texts accused
some Muslims, especially Shi'a, of being polytheists
deserving death. He said these teachings incite young
children to "hate and reject others."


16. (U) Other lessons, his report explained, specifically
praised Wahhabi Islam labeling it as one of the movements
that call Muslims back to pure Islamic practices. One
section in a Kuwaiti high school text pointed to the Salafi
Revival of the Islamic Heritage Society and the Muslim
Brotherhood's Social Reform Society as examples of effective
charitable organizations throughout the world, with specific
mention of their activities in Africa. (Note: Charitable
branches in Asia of both organizations are known to have ties
to terror funding. End Note.)


17. (U) According to the report, the textbooks teach that it
is "sinful to eat any food that has been sacrificed in a name
other than God." Al-Zalzala reported that the way the
information is presented implies that it is forbidden to
share food or meals with non-Muslims. Another lesson teaches
that it is sinful to shake hands or touch a woman who is not
related, and that mixing between men and women is haram
(forbidden). Additionally, some textbooks repeat that women
cannot travel alone and must wear a veil.


18. (U) Speaking on the hegemony of foreign cultures, one
eighth-grade religious education textbook stated "because
Muslims abandoned God's book and Sunna which teach building
and developing, the enemy invaded us after it had prepared
itself very well both scientifically and militarily and was
able to take possession of our land and our wealth. The
enemy then paved the way for its culture and morals, which
are contrary to God's law, by oppressing Islamic culture and
establishing foreign schools and universities in our
countries." It continued, saying that "many Muslim countries
gave in to Western culture at the expense of their own
culture, ignoring the fact that cultural colonization is more
dangerous than the colonization of the land."

19. (U) Additional controversial excerpts found in
Al-Zalzala's study include:

- "Men are the providers for women for her own interest and
that of the children. Had the woman been the provider she
would have unwittingly harmed herself and her children."

- "The mixing of the sexes is something rejected by healthy
instincts and wise minds because the veil protects the
woman."

- Freedom of opinion is "guaranteed by Islam as long as it
doesn't contradict the Qur'an or the Sunna."


20. (U) A June 8 edition of the liberal news weekly
Al-Talee'a published additional excerpts from a tenth-grade
Islamic education book used during the 2004-2005 school year.
The newspaper added its critique of the religious
instruction by challenging the merits of the lessons.

- "To protect her honor, the woman must wear the legislated
hijab to cover her provocative nature from strangers and not
expose herself as was done in the first ignorance." (Note:
The "first ignorance" is a reference to the jahiliya (the
pre-Islamic period). End Note.) The news weekly suggests
that linking hijab-wearing to a woman's honor will encourage
students to question their mother's honor if she is not
veiled.

- "Mixing of the sexes is forbidden." Al-Talee'a asks how
students should interpret this when many of them start
careers in institutions in which men and women work together.

- The textbook outlines the procedures for addressing someone
if they leave the Islamic religion. "First, religious
scholars must talk to this person and see if the person will
repent. If the person does not repent, the Muslim ruler
sentences him to 'ridda' or capital punishment for apostasy."
The article's author asks rhetorically "please tell me who
says such a thing in our day and age, or is it so popular in
our society that we must engage in excommunication and
murder?"

End of Part I.

*********************************************
Visit Embassy Kuwait's Classified Website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/

You can also access this site through the
State Department's Classified SIPRNET website
*********************************************
TUELLER