Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09RIYADH888
2009-07-06 12:01:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Riyadh
Cable title:  

EMBASSY RIYADH'S EXPANDING RELATIONSHIP WITH IMAM MOHAMMAD

Tags:  KPAO PGOV PINR OEXC SCUL SA 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6640
PP RUEHDE RUEHDH RUEHDIR
DE RUEHRH #0888/01 1871201
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061201Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY RIYADH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1120
INFO RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH 0214
RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 000888 

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

SIPDIS

NEA/PPD FOR PAGNEW, DBENZE, NEA/ARP FOR JHARRIS, ECA/A/E/NEA FOR
DIVES, ECA/A/S/A FOR CDANZ

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO PGOV PINR OEXC SCUL SA
SUBJECT: EMBASSY RIYADH'S EXPANDING RELATIONSHIP WITH IMAM MOHAMMAD
BIN SAUD ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

REF: RIYADH 00887

SUMMARY
-------

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 000888

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

SIPDIS

NEA/PPD FOR PAGNEW, DBENZE, NEA/ARP FOR JHARRIS, ECA/A/E/NEA FOR
DIVES, ECA/A/S/A FOR CDANZ

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO PGOV PINR OEXC SCUL SA
SUBJECT: EMBASSY RIYADH'S EXPANDING RELATIONSHIP WITH IMAM MOHAMMAD
BIN SAUD ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY

REF: RIYADH 00887

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


1. (SBU) Programming in Saudi Arabia can be an exercise in
frustration, but paradoxically, as some doors shut, others seem to
open wider. One prime example is the deepening Embassy relationship
with the once-ultraconservative Imam Mohammed bin Saud Islamic
University, and its increasing willingness to work with the Embassy
on programming. This appears especially true of some of the younger
religious faculty committed to King Abdullah's initiatives for
interfaith dialogue, and the increasing number of faculty who teach
secular subjects, and who are largely Western educated. Imam
University is eager to shed its reputation as a breeding ground for
extremist religious thought, and also to become (and be recognized)
as a full scale university, and not just as the equivalent of a
seminary. Imam is engaged in a massive, USD 300 million building and
expansion program on its huge main campus. Imam has 65,000 students
(40,000 men and 25,000 women). (End Summary)

GROWING RELATIONSHIP WITH IMAM MOHAMMED UNIVERSITY
-------------- --------------


2. (SBU) Embassy, working primarily through Public Affairs, has made
important progress in building a constructive relationship with Imam
University, once a noted breeding ground for extremist religious
thought. It is the leading school in Saudi Arabia for training
religious leaders and judges, and the Saudis aspire to see it viewed
as the equal of Egypt's AL-Azhar. Its faculty and students have a
profound influence on Saudi academia as well as the country's
religious and political leaders. It has some 61 institutes across
Saudi Arabia, and affiliates in Al-Khaima (U.A.E.),Mauretania,
Djibouti, Indonesia and Japan, and previously in the U.S. Embassy's
relationship began when the Ministry of Higher Education nominated a
young (at the time 35) Assistant Professor of Sharia, Dr.
Abdulkareem Al-Sayegh, to participate in a PAS Single Country (SCP)
International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) for religious
educators in 2006.



3. (SBU) In November 2007, Dr. Abdulkareem was appointed the first
dean for the Center for Contemporary Islamic Studies and Dialogue
among Civilizations founded at Imam University, the first center of
its kind in Saudi Arabia. The Center's main objectives include
promoting peace and understanding between the Muslim world and the
West; promoting peace and tolerance within the Muslim world;
fighting terrorism; and supporting emerging efforts within the
Kingdom towards greater plurality and dialogue. PAS maintained its
contact with Dr. Abdulkareem, and in March, 2008 arranged a
Voluntary Visitor (VolVis) program for him for March, 2008 to learn
more about how American institutions promote, initiate and develop
interfaith dialogue. PAS funding was also provided for him to meet
Imam Dr. Bashar Arafat, Founder of the Civilizations Exchange and
Cooperation Foundation in Baltimore, who, as Embassy's Ramadan
speaker in 2007, had visited Imam University.


4. (SBU) In August 2008, Embassy again hosted Dr. Arafat as its
Ramadan speaker. Dr. Abdulakareem arranged an official meeting with
Dr. Sulaiman Aba al-Khail, the rector of Imam University, and hosted
at his home two meetings for Imam Arafat, one with a group of
Islamic Scholars and one with the staff of his Dialogue Center
attended by then Ambassador Fraker and PAS Counselor, as well as Dr.
Abdulakareem's young (about 37) associate, Dr. Fahad Al-Homoudi. It
was in fact Dr. Abdulkareem who had suggested Dr. Fahad as an
excellent candidate for the 2008 Fulbright Interfaith Community
Action Program. (See Reftel) Embassy is now working with Dr.
Abdulkareem and Dr. Fahad on an SCP for Imam undergraduates as part
of our program for religious educators.

PROJECT FOR EMBASSY EXHIBIT AT IMAM UNIVERSITY
-------------- -


5. (SBU) The Ambassador's dinner meeting with Dr. Fahad (Reftel)
also appears to have given the final necessary push to a project we
had been discussing with him. After viewing PAS' exhibit "Picturing
America" at the National Museum, Dr. Fahad suggested bringing it to
Imam University, which would be a first. He believed the students
needed to be exposed to more and different cultures. Shortly after
the dinner, Fahad informed Embassy that he had discussed the idea
with the rector of Imam University and that the rector welcomed the
idea. While "Picturing America" is now in Libya and booked for the
next two years, PAS is working with Dr. Fahad and Imam University
(through the proper channels, he was clear to note) to bring a
different exhibit (probably on Abraham Lincoln) to Imam University
during the new academic year, and with Washington to restage
"Picturing America" in a slightly different form.

RIYADH 00000888 002 OF 002



FROM A BREEDING GROUND FOR EXTREMISTS
TO A MORE OPEN, GENERALIST UNIVERSITY
--------------


6. (SBU) Undoubtedly, Imam University is under royal orders to
change its image (and the country's) as a breeding ground for
extremists. Dr. Abalkhail was named rector in March, 2007. His
appointment may well be connected to those efforts to change Imam.
He told PAS last year that he had been working as an advisor to the
Ministry of Interior on terrorism issues, including Guantanamo
returnees. In January of this year he traveled to Tokyo with an
official delegation from Imam University to participate in a seminar
hosted by the Japanese Christian University, Doshisha, where he
spoke about Islam and future of interfaith dialogue. But some of the
religion faculty are also sincerely committed to greater openness
and pluralism on a more personal level. Imam's rapid expansion and
desire to become a full-profile university (in addition to Arabic,
Sharia/Law and various other Islamic disciplines, it offers degrees
in linguistics, English language, science, computer science,
management, economics) also means that an increasing proportion of
its faculty are western-educated (two of six vice-rectors) and know
the value and necessity of greater openness and contact with the
U.S. and the West.


7. (SBU) One result is that the influence of the extremely
conservative Islamists (almost none of whom were educated outside
Saudi Arabia) is beginning to decline. Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalaf,
Dean of Graduate Studies and Scientific Research at Imam (M.A.,
University of Pittsburgh; PhD, Indiana) welcomed the April visit of
the State Department's director for Mid East Fulbright programs,
Donna Ives, and tried to put Imam's best face forward. Imam still
has a very long way to go, and one should not exaggerate the
possibility of rapid progress here or anywhere in Saudi society. But
there is definitely a major opening for continued careful engagement
with the U.S. Embassy and other foreign and Western institutions.
ERDMAN