MOSQUE SERMONS FROM SAUDI ARABIA - MARCH 10 AND 3:

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 JEDDAH 000220

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SIPDIS

RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN; DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARPI
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/14/2015
TAGS: ECON KISL KWMN PGOV PREL PTER SA
SUBJECT: MOSQUE SERMONS FROM SAUDI ARABIA - MARCH 10 AND 3:
ISLAM ADVOCATES JUSTICE, THE MEDIA IS TAINTED, IMAMS
CONDEMN BLOODSHED, AND COMMENT ON WOMEN AND WEALTH


Classified By: Consul General Tatiana Gfoeller, for
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

FROM THE EASTERN PROVINCE: ISLAM ENDORSES JUSTICE, NOT
PREJUDICE


1. (C) On March 10 from the Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal Mosque in
Khobar, Imam Shaikh al-Qahtani spoke to an audience of
approximately 500. During the first part of his sermon, the
imam talked at length about tolerance and why and how Muslims
must practice it. He illustrated his homily with examples
from the life of the Prophet. His lesson was that Islam is
about fairness and justice, regardless of religious
affiliation, race, color, sex or ethnic background. He
called on the congregation to follow this rule and never side
with another Muslim purely on the basis of religion, adding
that justice applied to all, including followers of other
faiths.

IMAM ATTACKS BOOK FAIR AND MEDIA


2. (C) Al-Qahtani followed this plea for tolerance with a
fiery attack on a major Saudi daily newspaper and its editor
and others involved in the Riyadh Book Fair. The imam
accused the organizers of the Riyadh Book Fair of using the
opportunity to attack anything Islamic. Although he used no
names, listeners easily identified the subject of the imam's
wrath as Turki al-Sudairi, editor-in-chief of al-Riyadh, one
of the Kingdom's leading dailies. The "editor," as the imam
referred to al-Sudairi, had no business criticizing the
Islamists who had voiced concern with the way the fair was
organized. He questioned the Saudi Press Association and the
way its members had been elected, indirectly accusing Turki
al-Sudairi, Mohammad al-Wail and others of secularism
because, "people who don't pray the morning prayers in
mosques should never be elected in the first place." He also
implied that the press association is an "old boys' network."
He claimed that newspapers and satellite TV channels are
filled with and run by the same old faces, adding that he saw
no hope of change unless the door is opened to others
(interpreted by the congregants to mean Islamists.).
COMMENT: The reference to satellite TV is believed, by the
informant, to be a jibe at another veteran and well-connected
journalist, Abd al-Rahman al-Rashed, now head of the
Dubai-based Saudi all-news channel, al-Arabiya TV.
Al-Arabiya also employs other Saudi journalists-in-exile:
Dawoud al-Shirayan, formerly al-Hayat's bureau chief in
Riyadh, Husain Shobokshi, formerly of Okaz and Turki
al-Dakheel.


3. (C) No report on the March 3 mosque sermons in the
Eastern Province was received.

REFORM AND MODERATION


4. On March 10, speaking from Mecca, Shaykh Salih
Bin-Abdallah Bin-Humayd offered a sermon on the issues of
reform and openness and the need to renounce differences,
fight injustice and corruption, and pursue centrism and
moderation. Men of knowledge and reformists must "define its
(reform's) features and rules. The tragedy," according to
the imam "is that some Muslims of opinion, ideology, and
education are misunderstood or misinterpret matters
intentionally or unintentionally." He then called for
adherence to religion and application of the teachings of the
Prophet.

WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND PROBLEMS


5. (U) The imam then undertook to clarify the matter by
discussing woman's rights and problems, noting that many talk
or write about the woman's rights in a "crooked and confusing
manner." He stressed that woman, like man, has rights and
duties and that it is necessary "to help women obtain and
protect their rights.... A woman suffers from many forms of
injustice, oppression, exclusions, marginalization, and
encroachment on her right to a decent life, education,
marriage, maintenance, custody, fair treatment, and respect."
He asserted that "woman has the right to participate in
decision-making and to have a fair share in inheritance,

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wealth, and grants in accordance with the pure Islamic Law."

WOMEN AND FINANCES


6. (U) The imam continued saying that finances in this age
are considered the most important factor for a better social
life, and that in accordance with this view a woman is
required to work and support herself. The imam argued that
the dominance of the financial factor destroys the family and
destabilizes the society. He called for the media "to
reinforce the positive role of women in constructing and
developing the society" and opposed all forms of exploitation
of women in any area. In his second sermon of the day, he
criticized Muslim media organs and writers that would plunge
the Muslim woman into all areas without any reservation or
precaution, urging the Islamic nation to preserve the
familial balance and to adhere to the Koran and the Prophet's
tradition.

MECCA IMAM PREACHES AGAINST BLOODSHED, CONDEMNS TERRORIST
ATTACK


7. (U) From the Holy Mosque in Mecca on March 3, Imam Shaykh
Usamah Abdallah Khayyat preached a sermon warning Muslims
against bloodshed. "Undoubtedly, the most evil and wicked
aggression is shedding spared blood and killing a Muslim
whose blood, property, and honor are spared by God.
(K)illing him is viewed as a cardinal sin, and the
perpetrator will be punished with permanent torture in
Hell.... (T)he same also applies to the killing of
non-Muslims, who have entered into a peace agreement with
Muslims. Those killing innocent men, women, children and
patients and destroying institutions and economic
establishments will receive severe punishment."


8. (U) Referring to the recent terrorist attack on the
Abqaiq Oil Processing Facility, he denounce "aggression on
the country. The aggression, which has targeted this
country, is denounced by every honest believer who fears the
Day of Judgment, seeks God's mercy, and calls on everybody
tarnished by the dirt of such an action to turn to Almighty
God in repentance and not to follow the steps of the devil."
He also warned, "one should not be used as a tool by the
enemies of his religion, his homeland, and his nation." His
sermon concluded: "We thank Almighty God for giving success
to our brothers, the security men, in aborting the plans of
those who have committed this sin and indulged in that
aggression, which only benefits the nation's enemies and
those lying in wait for Muslims."

FROM MEDINA: MUSLIMS AND WEALTH, THE SANCTIFIED POOR


9. (U) In a sermon from Medina on March 10, coinciding with
a sudden, and, for many neophyte Saudi investors, frightening
downturn in the previously hot stock market, Imam Shaykh Abd
al-Muhsin al-Qasim, preached that God has created wealth and
poverty to show how much the wealthy are thankful and how
much the poor are patient, warning that money may discourage
Muslims from their religion and that the poor will enter
paradise 500 years before the wealthy. The remainder of the
lecture was devoted to the advantages and disadvantages of
money, urging the wealthy to spend their money in the right
way.

IMAM SPEAKS AGAINST THE EMANCIPATION OF WOMEN


10. (U) On March 3 Shyakh Abd al-Bari al-Thubayti, in Medina
spoke out against the emancipation of women. He asserted
that God "having honored women and guided us to the right
path, (women) have gained unprecedented dignity and honor,"
as a mother, wife or daughter, and she has every right to be
respected. The imam insisted that some people "have been
deceived by the material civilization into believing that the
key to progress is to emancipate women; some allege that
women's rights are linked to their disassociation from
religion. They have forced women to abandon the veil and mix
with men, destroying her chastity and her honor and depriving
her of everything in the name of freedom and emancipation.
This denies women her basic duty of bringing up children,
adding that Almighty God assigned to her duties in harmony

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with her physical stature and that allowing women to compete
with men "will lead to the collapse of families and to the
spread of unemployment."

Gfoeller