Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ADDISABABA1675
2009-07-15 13:43:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Addis Ababa
Cable title:  

COUNTERING WAHABI INFLUENCE IN ETHIOPIA THROUGH

Tags:  KPAO KISL KIRF SCUL PROP ET 
pdf how-to read a cable
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INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNSOM/SOMALIA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUZEFAA/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEPADJ/CJTF HOA PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ADDIS ABABA 001675 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/15/2019
TAGS: KPAO KISL KIRF SCUL PROP ET
SUBJECT: COUNTERING WAHABI INFLUENCE IN ETHIOPIA THROUGH
CULTURAL PROGRAMMING

REF: 08 ADDIS ABABA 3230

Classified By: Ambassador Donald Yamamoto for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).

THIRD OF THREE CABLES ON COUNTERING WAHABI INFLUENCE IN
ETHIOPIA

-------
SUMMARY
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ADDIS ABABA 001675

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/15/2019
TAGS: KPAO KISL KIRF SCUL PROP ET
SUBJECT: COUNTERING WAHABI INFLUENCE IN ETHIOPIA THROUGH
CULTURAL PROGRAMMING

REF: 08 ADDIS ABABA 3230

Classified By: Ambassador Donald Yamamoto for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).

THIRD OF THREE CABLES ON COUNTERING WAHABI INFLUENCE IN
ETHIOPIA

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) Every culture that has adopted Islam has its own
unique traditions and practices for expressing their Faith.
This is manifested through shrines, literature, faith
rituals, and objects that include manuscripts, art, and even
clothing and other accoutrements. In countries with mixed
faith traditions, tolerance and mutual respect are usually
enshrined in theological teachings, but foreign missionaries
and other external influences can undermine that balance and
force change on the teachings. This &cultural imperialism8
can be countered through cultural programming that focuses on
places, objects, and traditions as they relate to indigenous
Muslim communities. Similarly, it is important to help local
Muslim leaders resist these external forces intellectually by
providing materials written by Muslim authors that support a
more orthodox interpretation of Islam in local languages.
Doing so supports U.S. foreign policy objectives and may
contribute to countering Islamic extremists. END SUMMARY.

-------------- --------------
THREE-PRONGED STRATEGY: PLACES, OBJECTS, AND TRADITIONS
-------------- --------------


2. (C) By recognizing Wahabism as &cultural imperialism,8 a
strategy for countering this influence presents itself. This
strategy is three-pronged, centered on places, objects, and
traditions. In any situation where an indigenous culture is
being threatened by external cultural influences, cultural
pride (or lack thereof) can be the determining factor as to
whether the indigenous culture loses the battle. In the case
of Ethiopian Islam, there is great cultural pride in
Ethiopia's Islamic history and Muslim faith and practices, so
it is vital to reinforce that pride and assist the local
culture in asserting itself in the face of these foreign
influences.


3. (C) Here in Ethiopia, this strategy of countering Wahabi

influence through cultural programming has been done through
the following grants and programs from FY-06 to the present:

PLACES:

a) The Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP)
grant to restore the Sheikh Hussein Shrine in Bale;
b) AFCP grant to restore the Teferi Mekonnen Palace in Harar
(although the childhood home of Emperor Haile Selassie, the
Palace now houses the City Museum, which is heavily focused
on Muslim life in Harar);
c) AFCP grant to restore the Muhammad Ali House in Addis
Ababa, the home of a prominent Muslim merchant that reflects
the heavy influence of Muslim merchants and trade with the
Middle and Far East in the 19th century.

OBJECTS:

d) Public Affairs Section (PAS) grant to establish an
&Islamic Manuscript Preservation Center8 at the Teferi
Mekonnen Palace in Harar;
e) PAS grant to the Institute of Ethiopian studies (IES) to
purchase several Ethiopian Orthodox icons and Islamic
manuscripts that were in danger of leaving the country;
f) PAS grant to the American Friends of the IES to pay for
materials that will be used for the storage and preservation
of Islamic manuscripts in Addis Ababa and for teaching
Ethiopian experts how to process them;
g) PAS grant to a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to do an assessment
of over 1,000 Islamic manuscripts in Harar and develop a work
plan for establishing the Center there (see &a8 above).

TRADITIONS:

h) PAS grant to send a group of three Harari experts to the
Foxfire Fund in Mountain View, Georgia, to learn about

ADDIS ABAB 00001675 002 OF 004


developing an oral history program for high school students;

i) Finally, providing two books written by a Muslim-American
scholar (&The Place of Tolerance in Islam8 and &The Great
Theft,8 both by Khaled Abou el-Fadl) in the local languages
of Amharic, Oromifa, and Somali.

--------------
RESTORING ) AND RESPECTING ) THE PLACES
--------------


4. (U) The restoration of the Sheikh Hussein Shrine through
the AFCP directly impacts the tens of thousands of pilgrims
who visit the shrine every year. Shrine caretakers readily
publicize the role of the U.S. in rescuing the shrine and for
facilitating the visits of pilgrims who venerate the tomb of
Sheikh Hussein every day. Post is currently planning a small
booklet that will be produced, printed, and distributed at
the shrine that will give the shrine's history, along with
publicizing the role of the U.S. in preserving it. Besides
American concern for the historical and cultural value of the
shrine, pilgrims also perceive that the United States
respects Sheikh Hussein, something the Wahabis absolutely do
not.


5. (U) The FY-09 AFCP grant to preserve the Teferi Mekonnen
Palace was also very well received by the people of Harar.
In an announcement ceremony on June 25 in Harar, the PAO
highlighted President Obama's Cairo speech and noted that
this grant and a second grant for preserving Islamic
manuscripts is putting the President's words into action
right in their city. By showing that the U.S. cares about
Harar's Muslim heritage and is taking concrete action to
preserve and protect it, these cultural programs are clearly
resonating with the people of Harar and with the larger
Ethiopian Muslim community, which sees Harar as its spiritual
center.


6. (U) The Islamic Affairs Supreme Council (IASC) invited the
PAO to visit the Jama Negus Mosque in Dessie in the hope that
the Embassy might do a large grant to preserve that complex.
That visit was detailed in Part I of this cable series. The
IASC strongly hopes (as expressed by both the current
leadership and the last leadership) that the Embassy will
submit an AFCP proposal in FY-10 for this project and
explained why doing so will help them to counter Wahabi
influence.

-------------- ---
JAMA NEGUS AS A COUNTERPOINT TO WAHABI INFLUENCE
-------------- ---


7. (C) This particular site is illustrative of how cultural
programming can counter Wahabi influence. As the first place
in Ethiopia where the Birthday of the Prophet was celebrated,
the site today is a center of moderate, Sufi, Ethiopian
Muslim life. As local Muslim clerics and intellectuals there
and in other places in Ethiopia have repeatedly told the PAO
and other interlocutors, &Wahabis hate Moulids; they think
they are unislamic.8 Moulids are, however, critical to the
spiritual life of Sufi communities around the world and are a
vital aspect of indigenous Muslim cultural expression in all
those places where Sufis are numerous. Likewise, tombs of
&Muslim saints8 and pilgrimages to such shrines are also
vital to both Sufi and Shi'a communities and Wahabis have
often attacked and destroyed these shrines as being
&unislamic.8 In the same vein, the practice of &zikrs,8
the rhythmic prayers chanted by groups of devotees in
communal worship, are also condemned as &unislamic,8 even
though these are also sincere expressions of the local
culture's practice of Islam. As reported in reftel, Wahabis
destroyed more than thirty such shrines in the Bale region
before finally stopping their campaign in the face of
virulent public opposition. Foreign Wahabi missionaries in
the Wello zone thus doubly criticize the Jama Negus Mosque in
Dessie as both a pilgrimage destination and the center of
Moulid celebrations in Ethiopia.


8. (C) Arab (e.g., Saudi, Kuwaiti, and Qatari) NGOs active in
Ethiopia have refused to provide any assistance to supporters
of the Jama Negus Mosque, in spite of requests from Muslim
leaders in the region and the activity of those NGOs in
supporting new mosque construction throughout the area.

ADDIS ABAB 00001675 003 OF 004


These NGOs are almost exclusively Wahabi in orientation.
This repeats a pattern already demonstrated in the Bale and
Harar regions where it was only U.S. support (through the
AFCP and PAS grants) that helped Ethiopian Muslims to
preserve their historic shrines and manuscripts.

--------------
PRESERVING THE OBJECTS ) ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPTS
--------------


9. (U) Manuscripts are an especially important part of this
strategy. Ethiopian Muslims in general, and Hararis in
particular, are especially proud of the long history of
Islamic learning and thought that existed in Harar over many
centuries. Unique styles of calligraphy, manuscript
illuminations, styles of bookbinding, and even unique
contributions to Islamic thought are all characteristic of
Islamic culture in Harar and the surrounding region.


10. (U) However, unlike Christian manuscripts, Muslim
manuscripts are in great danger and their loss to Ethiopia
removes them completely from their historical context. There
are several reasons for this. First, Islamic manuscripts are
almost exclusively written on paper as Harar was a great
trade center in centuries past and paper could be easily
purchased from India and the Orient. Christian manuscripts,
on the other hand, are almost always written on skins, which
are much more durable than paper and do not break down nearly
as fast as paper does. Christian manuscripts are also
written in Ge'ez or Amharic, so no matter where they end up
in the world, it is obvious they were produced in Ethiopia.
Muslim manuscripts, though, are almost exclusively written in
Arabic, so once removed from Ethiopia, their provenance is
almost always unknown and it is no longer clear that they
were produced in Ethiopia ) especially when the author's
name is recorded and it is an Arabic name, as most Muslim
names in Ethiopia are.


11. (U) Where this becomes a real cultural issue is when
Ethiopian Muslim writers with Arabic names write books on
Islamic law, Muslim traditions, Sufi holy men and women,
etc., and the books are removed form the country and
collected/studied abroad. When this happens, it may not be
at all clear that the author was an Ethiopian or that the
book was produced as part of a Harari school of Islamic
thought. As a result, Ethiopia's historical status in the
larger Muslim world is reduced and knowledge of &African
Islam8 is reduced.


12. (U) Post's strategy in this phase is first to assess the
manuscript holdings at the Teferi Mekonnen Palace by sending
Fulbright Scholar Sean Winslow to Harar for three weeks to
assess those holdings, as well as to visit a few of the
200-plus shrines in Harar to get an idea of the holdings that
may be extant under the control of the IASC in Harar. A
&Manuscript Preservation Center8 will then be established
in the second floor of the Teferi Mekonnen Palace (after the
AFCP project is completed),with a PAS grant providing for
supplies and equipment needed to restore and preserve the
manuscripts currently held there.


13. (U) Several Ethiopian manuscript experts are also being
trained in preservation techniques at the Institute for
Ethiopian Studies, with PAS providing a small grant to
purchase supplies and equipment for the training session.
This will not only help to preserve the Islamic manuscripts
in Addis Ababa, but it will also help to provide the
critically-needed expertise in Ethiopia for preserving these
manuscripts.

-------------- ---
RECORDING THE TRADITIONS ) ORAL HISTORY IN HARAR
-------------- ---


14. (U) Pride in one's heritage is critical to resisting
cultural imperialist influences. In Southern Appalachia, the
Foxfire Fund teaches high school students how to gather and
report oral history and that history is integrated into the
high school curriculum so that children gain a greater
appreciation for their heritage. Through a PAS grant, three
Harari history specialists spent a week at the Foxfire Fund
in Mountain View, Georgia, learning about these techniques
and developing ideas for how they can promote the collecting,

ADDIS ABAB 00001675 004 OF 004


recording, and study of oral history traditions in Harar,
including dance, music, and other artistic traditions.


15. (U) Post expects that this group will be submitting
proposals for small grant support in the months ahead and
will give them due consideration as part of its ongoing Faith
Communities Outreach strategy.

--------------
CHALLENGING WAHABISM INTELLECTUALLY
--------------


16. (C) As part of a broad Faith Communities Outreach
strategy, cultural programming can contribute significantly
to the achievement of foreign policy objectives. In the case
of Ethiopia, these include stability, co-existence of Muslim
and Christian communities, rejection of Islamic extremists by
the population, and a firm stance from Ethiopian Muslim
leaders that rejects Salafist teachings and practices. While
no one will argue that all Wahabis are Salafists, there is
clearly a link between the growth in Salafism and the spread
of Wahabism by foreign missionaries and Arab NGOs. Ethiopian
Muslim traditions, as in most African countries where Islam
has been a factor, are mainly derived from Sufi faith
traditions. With an emphasis on tolerance and mutual respect
for &the People of the Book8 (Jews, Christians, and
Muslims),a stress on internal ) not external ) Jihad, and
customs and practices that often seem to mimic Christian
practices, many Sufi traditions come under direct assault
from Wahabi activists who see them as an impediment to the
imposition of Wahabism in areas of strategic interest to them.


17. (C) Cultural programs that strengthen the indigenous
Muslim community against foreign encroachment ultimately help
to preserve the delicate balance between faith communities
that has developed over the centuries, especially in Africa.
Doing so also demonstrates to the rest of the world that a
great religion such as Islam can come in many &flavors8 and
that every culture can adapt itself to Islam while adapting
Islam to itself without corrupting the essential core beliefs
of the Faith. There is not one version of Islam that applies
to all, but rather it is a faith rich in diversity and all
forms of it should be respected ) not just one.


18. (C) Any culture is usually proud of its contributions to
the world's religious heritage and efforts to protect and
preserve those contributions are widely appreciated within
that culture. Such cultural programming does not have to be
very expensive, especially when considered within the larger
context of U.S. assistance, but it can have significant
Public Diplomacy payoff for the United States and contribute
measurably to foreign policy success. When well-considered
and executed creatively, cultural programming can make a real
difference in turning back Islamic extremism and turning
public opinion against activists who seek to overturn the
existing order and import a brand of Islam that breeds
conflict through its corrosive teachings that run counter to
more orthodox interpretations of the Koran.
YAMAMOTO