Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KUWAIT1135
2006-04-02 12:07:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kuwait
Cable title:  

FREEDOM AGENDA: MUNICIPAL COUNCIL DECISION SPARKS

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KIRF KU FREEDOM AGENDA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO9673
PP RUEHBC RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHLH RUEHMOS RUEHPW
DE RUEHKU #1135/01 0921207
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 021207Z APR 06
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3784
INFO RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 001135 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/02/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF KU FREEDOM AGENDA
SUBJECT: FREEDOM AGENDA: MUNICIPAL COUNCIL DECISION SPARKS
RELIGIOUS DEBATE AND BUREAUCRATIC CONFUSION ABOUT CHURCHES

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 001135

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/02/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF KU FREEDOM AGENDA
SUBJECT: FREEDOM AGENDA: MUNICIPAL COUNCIL DECISION SPARKS
RELIGIOUS DEBATE AND BUREAUCRATIC CONFUSION ABOUT CHURCHES

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


1. (SBU) Summary and Comment: The Kuwait Municipal Council
denied on March 20 a Catholic group's request for land to
build a new church. The denial caused a vigorous public
debate over the limits of religious freedom for non-Muslims
in Kuwait. All agreed on freedom of conscience, but some
argued that Islam forbids the building of churches on the
Arabian Peninsula while others criticized the hypocrisy of
demanding Muslim rights in non-Muslim countries and then
denying those rights to non-Muslims in Muslim countries. The
Kuwait Municipality and Municipal Council are only supposed
to review the technical aspects of land requests, and some
members made statements about the technical reasons for
denying the Church's request. Individual Municipal Council
members did not refrain, however, from giving their opinions
about whether they thought new churches should be built,
thereby causing some doubt as to whether the technical
justifications were excuses for other agendas. The Church
finds itself in the confusing intersection between arguments
about religious principles, technical bureaucratic
procedures, complex inter-agency relations, the realities of
a state where connections have traditionally been the way of
getting things done, and traffic jams. End Summary and
Comment.

Church's Request for Land Denied
--------------


2. (U) The Kuwait Municipal Council denied on March 20 the
request of the Greek Catholic (Melkite) Church of Kuwait for
a piece of land to build a church. The Church's members are
Syrian and Lebanese expatriates. The Municipal Council did
not provide an official reason for the refusal. (Note: The
Municipal Council has authority to make all grants or leases
of government land in Kuwait. Approximately 95% of Kuwait's
land is owned by the government, according to a Kuwait
Municipality source. End Note.)

Public Debate: Arguments Against Church-Building
-------------- ---


3. (U) Newspaper coverage of the issue featured a number of

MPs and other prominent Islamist-leaning figures declaring
their opposition to the construction of churches in Kuwait:

-- Municipal Council member Abd Al-Aziz Al-Shayiji told the
Al-Watan daily newspaper that non-Muslims could practice
their religions in their homes or places of work, but that
they could not establish their own houses of worship, even in
rented facilities.

-- Salafi Islamist Adil Al-Damkhi, an Islamic studies
professor at Kuwait University and a co-founder -- along with
Islamist MPs Fahd Al-Khanna and Ahmad Baqer -- of an Islamic
Human Rights NGO, gave a newspaper interview in which he
asserted that no new churches should be built in Kuwait,
quoting the Prophet Muhammad "there are not two religions on
the Arabian Peninsula." He added that existing churches did
not have to be destroyed.

-- Al-Khanna added another quotation from the Prophet:
"expel the mushrikeen (polytheists/idolators) from the
Arabian Peninsula." (Note: Islam generally considers
Christians and Jews not to be polytheists, so Al-Khanna's
statement represents a particular interpretation of Islam.
Al-Khanna is affiliated with Kuwait's Salafi movement. End
Note.) Al-Khanna went on to say that non-Muslims were free
to believe what they wanted, but that practicing their
rituals was not permitted. He told Al-Watan that the
presence of existing churches "violates Allah's book (the
Qur'an) and the way of his Prophet (sunna)."

-- Youssef Al-Sanad, an Islamic scholar and speaker, said
non-Muslims could be granted their rights as long as they did
not threaten the security and strength of the Muslims. He
continued that there were enough churches in Kuwait, given
the percentage of Christians.

-- Professor of Sharia, Dr. Bassam Al-Shatti, said Muhammad
had forbidden the destruction of churches that had been built
before Islam, but also forbade the building of churches after
the coming of Islam. He repeated that Muhammad said there
was only one religion on the Arabian Peninsula and that
anyone who facilitates the building of a church commits a
sin. He noted that those who argue for allowing churches on
the basis of pluralism are mistaken. According to the UN, he
argued, the number of houses of worship should be in
accordance with the number of citizens of a particular
religion. Since there are not more than 110 Kuwaiti

KUWAIT 00001135 002 OF 003


Christian citizens, the 10 official and 25 unofficial
churches are more than sufficient. This latter argument was
brought forward by many others as well, including Municipal
Council members Muhammad Ibrahim Al-Mufrij and Zaid Al-Azmi.

Public Debate: Arguments For Church-Building
--------------


4. (U) Other Kuwaitis defended the right of Christians to
build places of worship:

-- Pro-American, liberal political science professor Dr.
Shamlan Youssef Ali wrote an opinion piece in the Al-Seyassah
daily criticizing Muslims for demanding their rights to free
worship in countries where Muslims are minorities, but then
restricting the same right to non-Muslims in their own
countries.

-- MP Badr Al-Farisi echoed the sentiment: "Houses of
worship are guaranteed to all. We must respect (other)
religions, just as we ask the West to respect our religion."

-- The Dean of Islamic and Sharia Studies at Kuwait
University, Muhammad Al-Tabtabaei, put forth the argument
that Islam does not force people to enter into it, and that
non-Muslims have been protected in the Muslim world. He said
it was the responsibility of those in power to weigh the
costs and benefits to the Muslims of establishing new
churches on a case-by-case basis.

The Church's View
--------------


5. (C) The initial decision refusing the Church's request
had come the week prior to the March 20 decision. Church
representative Pier Maloof told PolOff at that time that a
Municipal Council member had told him that the Coptic Church
(an Orthodox, primarily Egyptian Church with approximately
85,000 adherents in Kuwait),which is in the process of
establishing a church in the same neighborhood where the
Greek Catholic Church wanted to build, was sufficient for the
Christian community's needs. He brought up the oft-repeated
argument made by Kuwaitis that there is no need for more
churches since there are only about 100 Kuwaiti Christians.
(Note: The expatriate Christian community, including all
denominations, consists of 250,000 - 300,000 members. It is
hard to quantify the number of churches. Estimates range
from 5 - 25 places of worship, with many groups sharing
facilities or operating out of private homes.) Maloof told
PolOff in a March 27 meeting that the Church had sought help
through Shaykha Fariha, a half-sister of the Amir and
full-sister of the Crown Prince, whom the Church said was
instrumental in helping the Copts establish their church and
whom the Church views as a great supporter. Maloof said she
had spoken with the Minister for Municipal Affairs and
reported back to the church: "don't worry." Church officials
clearly seemed worried, however. Church leaders requested
Post's intervention, and Emboffs regularly discuss religious
freedom with GOK contacts.

The View from the Municipality
--------------


6. (SBU) Musa Al-Sarraf, Assistant Undersecretary for
Performance Auditing at the Municipality, told PolOff in a
March 11 meeting that all requests for land must come through
the relevant government body, and not directly to the
Municipal Council or Municipality. The Municipal Council and
the Municipality are then supposed to review the technical
and planning aspects of the project. Al-Sarraf described
this as a procedure to limit pet projects and other corrupt
practices. (Note: The Municipal Council is an elected body.
Until 2005, it controlled all land grants and leases, with
the Kuwait Municipality as its technical arm. Due to
allegations that the Council had too much power to easily
whisk through pet projects, a 2005 law gave the Municipality
a veto on all land decisions. Conflicts between the
Municipality and the Council are referred to the Council of
Ministers, Kuwait's cabinet. End note.)


7. (C) Dr. Fadhel Safar Ali, a first-term Municipal Council
Member and Islamist-leaning Shi'a, told PolOff in a March 22
phone conversation that the Church had applied directly to
the Council. He said it should reapply through the Ministry
of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs. PolOff advised Maloof and
Church leader Father Boutros Gharib of this technical
requirement. They expressed doubt as to the efficacy of this
strategy, since the land lease would have to ultimately be
approved by the Municipal Council. They fear the Municipal
Council is ideologically set against them, a fear that is

KUWAIT 00001135 003 OF 003


reinforced by the public statements of some of the Council
Members. Gharib also noted that the Ministry of Awqaf and
Islamic Affairs had told Protestant leaders in Kuwait that it
would have nothing to do with licensing a church.


8. (C) Ali told PolOff that the decision was based on one
of the Council Member's argument that a plot had been
allotted the previous year for a similar purpose (i.e. the
Coptic Church). Without prompting, he then went on to say
that if the Church could not pray in the same place as the
other church because of sectarian differences "like
Sunni-Shi'a they should have presented that argument to the
Council. (Comment: The fact that Ali knew the Church's
counterargument to why another church was necessary is
significant. It could be a signal of willingness to approve
a plot of land for a new church, but not at the expense of
the normal legal process. On the other hand, it could signal
that the Council does not favor approval and is looking for
technical excuses so it does not have to explicitly forbid
the construction of a church. End Comment.) In response to
PolOff's question about the prominent declarations that
church-building in Kuwait is illegal, he responded that the
Kuwait constitution guarantees freedom of worship and that
church-building is permissible in Kuwait.

Mosques Also Denied Construction Permits
--------------


9. (U) Municipal Council members Al-Azmi and Al-Mufrij also
noted that Hawally, the district where the Church wanted to
build, is experiencing overcrowding and traffic congestion.
They said some applications for mosques had also been refused
in Hawally for the same reasons.

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For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s

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