Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07KUWAIT875
2007-06-05 08:21:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Kuwait
Cable title:  

KUWAIT'S ISLAMIC MODERATION INITIATIVE UNDER THE

Tags:  PGOV PTER KISL EG MR SU KU ISLAMISTS 
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VZCZCXRO5412
PP RUEHBC RUEHDBU RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHLH RUEHPW RUEHROV
DE RUEHKU #0875/01 1560821
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 050821Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9292
INFO RUCNISL/ISLAMIC COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 000875 

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

FOR NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2027
TAGS: PGOV PTER KISL EG MR SU KU ISLAMISTS
SUBJECT: KUWAIT'S ISLAMIC MODERATION INITIATIVE UNDER THE
MICROSCOPE

REF: A. 06 KUWAIT 4610

B. 06 KUWAIT 4416

C. 06 KUWAIT 4178

D. 06 KUWAIT 1741

Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 000875

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

FOR NEA/ARP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2027
TAGS: PGOV PTER KISL EG MR SU KU ISLAMISTS
SUBJECT: KUWAIT'S ISLAMIC MODERATION INITIATIVE UNDER THE
MICROSCOPE

REF: A. 06 KUWAIT 4610

B. 06 KUWAIT 4416

C. 06 KUWAIT 4178

D. 06 KUWAIT 1741

Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary and Comment: Kuwait recently launched a
public relations campaign to further its "moderation"
initiative, which seeks to foster tolerance and moderation
among Muslims and to convey a moderate image of Islam to
non-Muslims. The materials used in the campaign are of high
quality and contain a positive message. The effort to get
the message to the Kuwaiti public has been ineffective,
however, though not for lack of financial resources.
Kuwaitis from a broad spectrum of political persuasions have
recently weighed in on the moderation initiative. Kuwaiti
liberals criticize the moderation project as dominated by
extremists while Shi'as see it as biased toward Sunnism.
Sunni Islamist MPs have sharply rebuked the Awqaf and Islamic
Affairs Minister over the project, citing administrative
irregularities and a lack of clarity in the project's goals.
In general, however, Islamists have not publicly objected to
the project itself, preferring instead to brand their own
practices as the embodiment of Islamic moderation. While
Kuwaitis express serious criticisms of the project's
implementation, they broadly agree that it is a good idea and
there has been little criticism of the content thus far. The
travails of the "moderation" initiative are mirrored in
similar outreach efforts around the world, and point to the
need for caution in attempting to define and promote
"moderate Islam" or "moderate Muslims." End Summary and
Comment.

Moderation Campaign: Solid Message, Weak Implementation
-------------- --------------


2. (U) Kuwait's Higher Committee for Moderation recently
launched a public relations campaign to promote Islamic
moderation in Kuwait. The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic
Affairs formed the Higher Committee in 2005 at the behest of

the Amir and charged it with leading its "moderation"
initiative, whose goals are to encourage moderation and
tolerance among Muslims and to show the moderate, tolerant
nature of Islam to non-Muslims. In the fall of 2006, it
launched the World Moderation Center to take over the work of
implementing the moderation initiative's goals (ref C). The
current campaign, nicknamed "Aman" (Arabic for security,
safety, or peace) -- consists of a series of public town hall
meetings where the moderation leaders present the moderation
initiative to members of the public through speeches, videos,
and written materials.


3. (SBU) The moderation materials used in the Aman campaign
have been of high quality. For instance, the World
Moderation Center commissioned a series of nine monographs by
prominent Islamic clerics (such as Abdullah Bin Bayyah of
Mauritania) and writers (such as Fahmi Huwaidi of Egypt).
The monographs attempt to show Muslims that Islam encourages
moderation, tolerance, and non-violence. The Aman campaign
also includes a well-produced video on the danger to Kuwaiti
society of youth being seduced into extremism and the
importance of respecting differences of opinion and turning
conflict into dialogue.


4. (C) The attempts to get the message out through the Aman
campaign's townhall events have been clumsy, however.
PolOffs attended an Aman town hall event recently at an
ornate reception hall in downtown Kuwait City. A smattering
of imams dotted the nearly empty hall. The imams watched the
moderation video and listened stoically to speeches by Awqaf
Undersecretary Dr. Adel Al-Falah and MP Marzouq Al-Ghanim.
The event ended without any interaction with the audience,
which quickly dispersed and headed for the generous buffet
dinner provided by the Awqaf Ministry. Shi'a MP Hassan
Jowhar told PolOff that he had received a last-minute
invitation to speak at a similar townhall event in his
district. He said the event had an embarrassingly low
turnout, which was indicative of the project administrators'
lack of commitment and/or competence.


5. (C) Whether the intended message is getting through to
its audience is also questionable. PolOffs spoke with one of
the imams at the Aman townhall meeting, an Egyptian recently
arrived in Kuwait to work in a downtown mosque. He said that
he had not been particularly interested in the meeting but
had understood from the ministry that he should attend. When
asked about the moderation project in general, he noted he
had attended the mandatory Sunni imam moderation training

KUWAIT 00000875 002 OF 003


(ref B). He commented that some imams were receptive to the
ideas but that many others assumed the moderation project was
American propaganda.


6. (SBU) The international moderation conferences organized
by the Awqaf ministry provide another example of how a
potentially beneficial message has been lost due to poor
public relations. The ministry held conferences in London
and Washington in 2006 to communicate with non-Middle Eastern
Muslims. Awqaf contacts report that the London conference
revealed a great deal of extremism among European Muslims and
prompted the Kuwaiti government to set up a center for
combating extremism in Manchester. The Washington conference
(ref A) intended to allow American Muslims to voice their
concerns in order to prepare for a subsequent conference that
would try to correct what they see as the inaccurate
portrayal of Muslims in the U.S. and the West. Many Kuwaitis
are very concerned about the image of Muslims in the West as
violent extremists. However, the government has been
unsuccessful in conveying the purpose of these conferences to
the Kuwaiti media and public, which routinely criticize the
conferences as wasteful boondoggles.

Criticisms of Moderation: Hiring and Spending
--------------


7. (C) Liberals, Shi'as, and Salafis all complain that the
leaders of the moderation campaign have Muslim
Brotherhood-leaning backgrounds, though for the liberals and
Shi'as this means the project is too conservative and Sunni
while for the Salafis it means the project is not Sunni and
conservative enough. Liberals and Shi'as object to figures
such as the World Moderation Center's leader, Dr. Esam
Al-Bashir, a Sudanese ex-Muslim Brotherhood member who served
as Awqaf Minister under Hassan Al-Turabi. A liberal
newspaper columnist told PolOff that even if Dr. Al-Bashir
has moderated his views, the choice of someone with such a
past is a signal that the project will not stray too far from
conservative Islamist positions. Shaykh Ahmad Hussein, one
of the few Shi'a clerics included in the moderation
initiative's official activities, echoed the liberals'
criticisms of the moderation committee's makeup as too Sunni
and too extremist. He noted a television program in which
Al-Bashir presented all the expected moderation sound bites,
but then responded to a question about Shi'a practices by
saying that they were dangerous and it was important to
prevent Shi'a from spreading their ways. From the other
side, an Islamist contact told PolOff that the Salafis see
the Awqaf Minister as hostile to them. They think he is
trying to keep Salafis out of the moderation initiative and
the ministry in general, and have been vehement in their
public criticisms of the ministry's hiring procedures.


8. (SBU) The critics of the moderation initiative have also
lambasted the Awqaf Ministry for its extravagant spending and
its 50 million-Dinar (USD 173 million) budget. In meetings,
parliamentary questions to the Awqaf Minister and newspaper
articles, Kuwaitis repeatedly criticize the remuneration
package and frequent travel of World Moderation Center
Director Al-Bashir. The Salafis, in a recent attempt to oust
the Awqaf Minister, accused the minister of corruption, and
demanded to see evidence that the contracts for the
moderation conferences held over the past several years were
tendered in a fair, transparent manner. While the Salafis
relented in their quest to grill the minister immediately, as
recently as June 4 several Salafi MPs met with the finance
committee to pursue these allegations of financial wrongdoing.

Criticisms of Moderation: Too Little Focus on Kuwait
-------------- --------------


9. (SBU) Kuwaitis from across the political spectrum have
loudly complained about the government's renting out hundreds
of rooms in five-star hotels in Washington and London rather
than focusing on issues closer to home. While expensive
international conferences move forward with ample budget and
resources, an important study on how young people are
attracted to extremism, which was scheduled for release in
May 2006 (ref D),still has not been released. One liberal
complained to PolOff that the World Moderation Center never
responds to the frequent immoderate rants in the Kuwaiti
papers.

Despite It All, Moderation Project Still Welcomed
-------------- --------------


10. (C) Despite the criticisms coming from across the
political spectrum (with the notable exception of the Muslim
Brotherhood),Kuwaitis of all stripes universally agree that

KUWAIT 00000875 003 OF 003


they like the basic idea behind the moderation project. For
instance, the Revival of Islamic Heritage Society (RIHS) -- a
Salafi charity based in Kuwait but whose branches in Pakistan
and Afghanistan are listed as terrorist financiers by the
U.S. and the UN -- recently met with the Amir and described
part of its goal as spreading moderation. Liberals like the
idea of attacking extremism at its roots. Shi'as welcome the
message of tolerance for minorities. Furthermore, for all
the criticisms of the staffing and administrative practices
of the project, there have been few if any substantive
criticisms of the content of the moderation initiative's
materials or programs. The initiative represents an
important effort to fight extremism and its message will
likely be welcomed in Kuwait, but the government still has
not found a way to successfully convey its message.

********************************************* *
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/
********************************************* *

LeBaron