US embassy cable - 05MAPUTO1372

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 001372 
 
SIPDIS 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/PD (LMING, PEHRNMAN); AF/S (HTREGER; 
ECA/PE/V(CPETERSON) 
PARIS FOR ARS 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AMGT, OIIP, KPAO, KISL, SCUL, MZ, International Visitors, Islam 
SUBJECT: MUSLIM IV SAYS AMERICAN ISLAM CAN TEACH MUSLIM 
RECONCILIATION 
 
1. SUMMARY. The American experience subtly changes Islam for 
the better by erasing many of the schisms that plague 
Muslims elsewhere, according to returning International 
Visitor and Islamic Council member Bayano Valy. Leading a 
roundtable discussion at PAS based on his recent 
participation in the IVLP, "Islamic Leadership," he argued 
that the American Muslims offer a model of Islamic 
reconciliation under one roof, whether divisions are 
theological or ethnic. Valy's remarks and the subsequent PAS- 
hosted Iftar received significant press coverage, including 
by the local Muslim radio station. Hats off again to 
ECA/PE/V for producing a timely, well-organized program. END 
SUMMARY 
 
2. On October 11, PAS hosted a roundtable discussion on 
Islam in the United States, led by Bayano Valy, a journalist 
and researcher who also serves as press officer for the 
Islamic Council of Mozambique. Valy participated in the 
recent International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) 
"Islamic Leadership," and used the roundtable to present his 
impressions. He spoke to an invited audience of about 25 
Muslims and journalists. 
 
NO MUSLIM UNDERCLASS 
3. Valy opened by dispelling the common impression that 
Muslims form an underclass in the U.S. He listed figures to 
the contrary, citing high income and educational levels. In 
fact, Iranian-Americans are among the most successful 
immigrants in American history. Taken together, he averred, 
Muslims represent perhaps the fastest growing religious 
group in the U.S., now outnumbering Jews and many individual 
Christian denominations. 
 
E PLURIBUS UNUM, SORT OF 
4. What struck Valy most, however, was not American Islam's 
size, growth, or affluence; it was its relative lack of 
internal discord. The sectarian and ethnic schisms that 
plague Islam in the Middle East and Africa simply don't 
exist in the U.S. Typically, American mosques encompass 
many ethnicities and both major sects without distinguishing 
one from the other. He noted that the practice of treating 
all Muslims equally reflects the original Islam of Mecca 
before the Sunnis-Shia split emerged. American Islam, thus, 
presents Muslims around the world a model of unity and 
internal reconciliation. In this context, he told Muslims 
to stop thinking of America either as a mission field or 
simply beyond the holy pale, and to begin to see that 
American Islam has something important to offer 
traditionally Muslim societies. 
 
AMERICANS IN NEED OF A RELIGIOUS IDENTITY 
5. How did American Muslims get to this point? Largely by 
the fact that many are immigrants, suggested Valy, and their 
subsequent economic success. As with most immigrant groups, 
Muslims immigrants have tended to assimilate as they and 
their offspring become more culturally American. The 
challenge of the American mosque, Valy noted, lies in 
maintaining an Islamic community, particularly among youth. 
It must accentuate what believers share, rather than their 
differences. Moreover, American converts, including African 
American Muslims, simply don't care about Old World 
divisions. As a result, American Muslims of all backgrounds 
tend to see themselves as Muslims, not Sunnis or Shias. 
 
6. He was careful to point out, however, that there is no 
such thing as a Muslim community per se in the U.S., but 
rather that it is a hodgepodge of ethnic and linguistic 
communities ranging from immigrant groups to the Nation of 
Islam. Overall, Muslims remain a minority in a predominantly 
Christian culture. Minority status encourages unity, the 
notion of One Islam under One Roof helping to define a 
community in an alien context. 
 
EDUCATE THE IMAMS 
7. Prompted by audience comments about the low level of 
education among Mozambican Muslims, Valy called for more and 
better education in general. American Muslims, he said, 
succeed in part because of their education, both practical 
and liberal. One explanation for the unity of American 
Islam lies in its well-educated leadership. Unlike 
Mozambican imams, their education is not limited to 
theology. Valy said he met American imams with doctorates 
in political science and other social sciences, and most 
hold undergraduate degrees. 
 
8. Average American Muslims also have access to education 
and thus appreciate to some degree the need to maintain the 
intellectual underpinnings of the faith. By contrast, it is 
the lack of education for Mozambican Muslims that stands as 
their greatest obstacle; until 1990 there was not a single 
Islamic school in the heavily Muslim north. He concluded 
that it is precisely their ignorance that makes Mozambican 
Muslims ripe for manipulation by an ill-educated clergy. 
 
EDUCATION AND WORK FOR WOMEN IS A NECESSITY 
9. Valy challenged the commonly held notion that Islam 
discourages women from work. Even in Saudi Arabia, he 
averred, women work within the home. The question is not 
whether women will work, it is rather what kind of work they 
will do. Educate women, and the country and Islam will move 
forward. Leave them ignorant, and they will hold back the 
community and the country. 
 
SEPTEMBER 11 
10. Valy called September 11 a short-term problem for 
American Muslims, but a long-term blessing in disguise. The 
fear that followed the attacks led to numerous incidents of 
discrimination and even violence against Muslims. Yet it 
was these incidents that forced non-Muslim Americans to 
recognize the Muslims in their midst, and that they too were 
fellow Americans. September 11, therefore, had the 
paradoxical result of transforming terrorists' hatred of 
things American into a deeper American understanding and 
acceptance of Islam. 
PRESS COVERAGE 
11. Radio Imame, a Maputo radio station for the Islamic 
community with an audience of about 15,000, recorded and 
later aired extended segments of the discussion, noting also 
the PAS-hosted Iftar that followed. Radio Capital, a 
Christian station with about 25,000 listeners, aired a story 
using recorded segments of the session. O Pais, an 
influential independent weekly with a print run of 20,000, 
also published a story on October 14. 
 
A BROADER SPECTRUM OF IVLP PARTICIPANTS WOULD BE BETTER 
12. In a separate debriefing, Valy made one criticism of the 
IVLP. The other participants were either imams or were 
perceived as religious leaders in their countries. He felt 
alone in his more journalistic and in many ways secular 
approach to the program. He suggested inclusion of Muslims 
with broader backgrounds (such as journalism) for balance in 
such future programs. 
 
13. COMMENT. Valy spoke not as a religious leader, but as a 
Muslim journalist. He carefully sidestepped theological 
questions, choosing to focus on American Muslims 
politically, socially, and economically. By painting a 
picture of a sophisticated American Islam, he has 
contributed to the Mozambican Muslim community's overall 
reassessment of the United States, assisted by our highly 
visible outreach program. 
LA LIME