KUWAIT'S ISLAMIC MODERATION INITIATIVE UNDER THE

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