SUDAN'S TURABI ON "INTERNATIONALISM OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 07039 E.O. 12356:DECL:OADR TAGS: PREL KISL SU SUBJECT: SUDAN'S TURABI ON "INTERNATIONALISM OF ISLAM," AL BASHIR ON "A NATION OF MESSAGE" ¶1. CONFIDENTIAL - ENTIRE TEXT. ¶2. SUMMARY: THE LEADER OF SUDAN'S NATIONAL ISLAMIC FRONT SPELLED OUT TO THOUSANDS OF HIS FOLLOWERS HERE SEPTEMBER 14TH, THE INTERNATIONAL CHARACTER OF ISLAM AND, IN PARTICULAR, THE NEED FOR MUSLIMS TO USE THE RELIGION AS A SHIELD AGAINST THE POWER OF THE WEST. END SUMMARY. ¶3. IN A LONG SERMON BILLED AS A LECTURE IN THE QURAN UNIVERSITY'S SEMINAR ON THE "INTERNATIONALISM OF ISLAM," NIF LEADER DR. HASSAN AL TURABI TOLD AN OVERFLOW CROWD THAT ISLAM ENCOMPASSES EVERYTHING IN LIFE AND IS A WIDELY SPREADING FAITH ALL OVER THE WORLD. HE SAID MUSLIMS SHOULD PROSELYTIZE WITH THEIR RELIGION JUST AS OTHER RELIGIONS PRESENT THEMSELVES TO THE MUSLIM WORLD. HE URGED MUSLIMS TO "UNDERSTAND ISLAM PERFECTLY" AND TO WORK FOR UNITY, JUST AS HE SAID THE WEST HAS DOING. ¶4. TAKING ON THE NEW WORLD ORDER, TURABI TOLD HIS AUDIENCE THAT MUSLIMS SHOULD BE MOTIVATED TO ESTABLISH AN "ISLAMIC SYSTEM" IN THEIR COUNTRIES BECAUSE OF ATTEMPTS BY THE WEST TO "IMPOSE" THE NEW WORLD ORDER, ITS OWN SYSTEM, ON THEM. THE WEST, HE SAID, INTENDED TO EXTEND THE NEW WORLD ORDER UNIVERSALLY; "NO COUNTRY HAS THE RIGHT OR OPTION TO APPLY ANOTHER SYSTEM." ¶5. TURABI UNLOOSED A STREAM OF CRITICISM OF AMERICA AND WESTERN EUROPE. CALLS FOR DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE WERE HYPERCRITICAL, HE SAID; THE WEST DOES NOT IN FACT PRACTICE THESE. INTERNATIONAL LAW, ITSELF A WESTERN CONCEPT, IS APPLIED BY THE WEST ONLY WHEN IT SERVES WESTERN ADVANTAGE. ¶6. TURABI GAVE FOR AN EXAMPLE THE CASE OF THE LIBYANS ACCUSED OF BOMBING PAN AM 103. THE CASE SHOULD HAVE GONE TO THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE BUT THE WEST INSTEAD USED THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL, WHICH IT "DOMINATES," AS ITS TOOL TO PRESS LIBYA. THE SECURITY COUNCIL, HE ELABORATED, HAD "A SMALL COUNTRY LIKE ENGLAND" "PRIVILEGED" TO HAVE A PERMANENT SEAT WHILE INDIA AND NIGERIA WITH LARGER POPULATIONS DID NOT. ¶7. AS HE HAS OFTEN DONE BEFORE, TURABI HEAPED SCORN UPON LEADERS OF MUSLIM COUNTRIES WHO "SURRENDER" TO THE WEST AND "ABANDON ISLAMIC GUIDANCE." TURABI SAID THESE MEN (HE NAMED NO NAMES) FED FALSE INFORMATION TO THE WEST TO "DISFIGURE" ALL ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS. THESE LEADERS, HE SAID, CARE ONLY FOR POWER AND POSITION, BOTH OF WHICH THEY WILL LOSE WHEN ISLAMIC RULE COMES TO THEIR COUNTRIES. ¶8. CALLING ON THE SUDANESE TO LIVE THEIR LIVES IN ACCORD WITH ISLAM SO AS TO SERVE AS MODELS FOR MUSLIM PEOPLE EVERYWHERE, TURABI CONCLUDED BY WARNING ALL MUSLIM NATIONS TO APPLY ISLAM AS A SYSTEM TO PROTECT THEMSELVES AGAINST THE NEW WORLD ORDER AND THE UNITY OF THE WEST. ¶9. DOUBTLESS TAKING HIS CUE FROM DR. TURABI, SUDAN'S PRESIDENT, LT. GEM. OMAR HASSAN AL BASHIR IN A SERIES OF SPEECHES FOLLOWING THE "INTERNATIONALISM" SEMINAR, SOUNDED CONVERGENT THEMES. TO A MASS RALLY OF STUDENTS ON THE 15TH, AL BASHIR SAID SUDAN'S REVOLUTION SOUGHT TO "UNLEASH THE ENERGIES OF THE SUDANESE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY WILL BE A SOURCE OF VIGOR AND POWER TO ALL THE OPPRESSED PEOPLES ON THE EARTH." THE SUDANESE, ASSERTED AL BASHIR, ARE AN EXAMPLE TO BE FOLLOWED BY THE OPPRESSED COUNTRIES AND "A NATION OF MESSAGE." ¶10. ON THE 20TH, TO A QURAN FESTIVAL, AL BASHIR CALLED FOR "STRENGTHENING TIES BETWEEN ISLAMIC PEOPLES SO AS TO SPOIL THE INTRIGUES PLANNED AGAINST THE ISLAMIC PEOPLES BY THE POWERS OF AGGRESSION AND ATHEISM." CITING THE WEST'S INDIFFERENCE TO THE SUFFERING OF MUSLIMS IN BOSNIA AND HERCEGOVINA, IRAQ, LIBYA AND SOMALIA, HE SAID THESE COUNTRIES' SITUATIONS REVEAL "INTRIGUES AGAINST ISLAM AND THE MUSLIMS," ALL BEING "WITNESSED BY THE NEW WORLD ORDER." ¶11. COMMENT: TURABI'S THEMES, AND THEIR FAITHFUL ECHO IN THE PRESIDENT'S REMARKS, ARE NOT NEW. NOR IS TURABI'S PREFERRED ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL IMAM. HIS SERMONISING STYLE SUITS THOSE SUDANESE, WHO, LIKE SOME OTHER FUNDAMENTALISTS, ENJOY A ROUSING PREACHER GOING AFTER SIN AND THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL. AL BASHIR, NO ORIGINAL THINKER, BUT A USEFUL SIDE-MAN FOR AMPLIFYING A THEME, ADDS HIS PART. BUT TURABI'S MESSAGE IS NOT BENIGN AND THE DEVIL HE IS ATTACKING IS US. PETTERSON