US embassy cable - 05AMMAN5761

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 005761 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2010 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, KISL, KPAO 
SUBJECT: NEXT STEPS AFTER AMMAN'S ISLAMIC CONFERENCE 
 
REF: AMMAN 5760 
 
Classified By: Charge David Hale, Reasons 1.4 (B) & (D) 
 
1.  (C) Summary.  Jordan's King is planning next steps to 
advance the moderate, anti-violence message of the recent 
Islamic Conference held in Amman.  These include further work 
to de-legitimize extremists' use of "psuedo" fatwas to 
justify terrorism, development of a core canon of books which 
will create an educational background resistant to extremism, 
and outreach to Muslim communities and other faiths in the 
West.  In response to the London bombing, the Hashemites are 
preparing a document summarizing the condemnations of it by 
leading participants in the Islamic Conference.  It will be 
made public, endorsed by the OIC and reinforced through a 
fatwa of the OIC academy of Islamic jurisprudence.  End 
Summary. 
 
2.  (C) The King and his team, led by his pious cousin Prince 
Ghazi bin Muhammad, are planning next steps to build on the 
July 4-6 Islamic Conference in Amman.  That event brought 
consensus from a sizable group of well known establishment 
and popular Muslim leaders, including Ayatollah Sistani, 
behind certain principles designed to blunt the ability of 
extremists to use the language of Islam to justify terrorist 
attacks (reftel).  In this embryonic period, and given the 
broad cross-section of participants, the initial focus of 
this initiative is on the basics:  no one can call an 
adherent to the major eight schools of Islamic jurisprudence 
an apostate; fatwas can only be issued by qualified clerics, 
with checks and balances; and if a Muslim living in a 
non-Muslim society enjoys safety and the right to worship, he 
must abide by the laws of that society. 
 
3. (C) In the next phase, lower level experts will meet in 
Amman with particular focus on the issue of what constitutes 
a legitimate fatwa ) with the aim of educating Muslims that 
the fatwas of such extremists as Osama bin Laden and Abu 
Musab Zarqawi have no standing.  The Jordanians argue that 
while it will take time for this campaign to have an impact, 
the religious establishment's failure to challenge the right 
of these figures to issue fatwas had contributed to 
extremists' popularity.  The experts are putting together a 
document codifying appropriate procedures and qualifications 
for fatwa issuance, to be endorsed by the OIC and presented 
to the UN as a document of the OIC members.  Another step 
entails gaining an agreement on a "book of books;" Ghazi 
described this as a canon of works to be read at all levels 
of study, from kindergarten to the doctorate level, which 
scholars agree encapsulates the correct, moderate, tolerant 
message of Islam.  Students taught from such works will be 
unlikely to be swayed by extremist rhetoric.  The Jordanians 
will be seeking help in production and particularly 
distribution of such works. 
 
4. (C) The King is working closely with Malaysian partners to 
advance this overall process.  While some Saudi resistance 
has been encountered, the King maintains that he has a green 
light from Crown Prince Abdullah, who is said not to be 
displeased by an outside initiative that challenges his own 
radical religious fringe.  Prince Ghazi will form a follow up 
group of forty activists from each Muslim state; Gulf 
financing is supporting the initiative. 
 
5. (C) Separately, they are working on a conference of 
Iraqis, secular and religious, to bring Sunni and Shia 
together to build on the Islamic Conference message.  The 
main objective will be release of fatwas forbidding the use 
of violence against fellow Muslims, and denying that any 
member of the major schools of Islamic jurisprudence can be 
called an apostate, one source of alleged legitimacy for 
Sunni/Shia violence. 
 
6.  (C) The Jordanians are also seeking to use this process 
to reach out to Muslim audiences in the West, and to call for 
coexistence and non-violence among the major faiths.  King 
Abdullah's September travels in the UK and U.S. will give him 
ample opportunities to address Muslim and non-Muslim 
audiences on these themes.  Meanwhile, they are developing a 
sharper media strategy to draw attention in the West to this 
initiative. 
 
7.  (C) Following up the King's own strong statements of 
condemnation in the wake of the London bombing, the 
Hashemites are preparing a document detailing similar 
statements by the principal conference participants.  Once it 
is ready, they will ask the OIC President to make it a public 
document of the organization, and ask that the OIC's academy 
of jurisprudence endorse it through a fatwa. 
HALE