US embassy cable - 05MADRID3752

UNCLAS MADRID 003752 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR EUR/WE -- CLEMENTS AND HALL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KISL, SP 
SUBJECT: LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH FROM SECRETARY GENERAL OF 
THE ISLAMIC COMMISSION OF SPAIN 
 
REF: MADRID 3671 
 
1. At Embassy Madrid's Iftar dinner on October 13 (see 
reftel), the Ambassador received a letter from the Secretary 
General of the Islamic Commission of Spain (ICS), Mansur 
Escudero, addressed to President Bush. Post is engaged in an 
active program of Muslim Outreach, and in this area, Escudero 
is one of our most important contacts. A Spanish convert to 
Islam, Escudero is a moderate Muslim who as head of the ICS 
is the Spanish government's primary interlocutor on religious 
issues with the Muslim community in Spain. Given the 
importance of this contact, post would appreciate some sort 
of response to the letter. Translated text follows. 
 
2. Begin text of letter: 
 
Dear Mr. President: 
 
On celebrating iftar today, the 10th day of Ramadan, at the 
Embassy of the United States in Madrid, I want to send you my 
cordial regards for the American people and a message of 
goodwill from Spanish Muslims. 
 
On March 11th, the Islamic Commission of Spain, the highest 
representative body of Spanish Muslims before the Spanish 
State, issued a fatwa against terrorism, declaring it alien 
to the spirit and the letter of Islam, and specifically 
condemning Al Qaeda terrorism, which falsely pretends to base 
itself on the Sacred Qur'an and the Sunna of the Prophet 
Mohammed, may God bless and save Him. 
 
I must tell you that, as a representative of a small Muslim 
community with deeply rooted historic ties to Christianity 
and Judaism, the fatwa against terrorism is an express 
declaration of our faith in Islam as a religion of peace and 
harmony, totally incompatible with any form of aggression or 
terror, capable of accepting all prior revelations and an 
excellent paradigm of civilization for these turbulent times. 
 
That same fatwa expressly condemns the claim on Al Andalus 
(Andalusia, Spain) issued by Al Qaeda, clearly showing, from 
a spiritual and legal standpoint, the contradiction inherent 
in such a claim. We say the tragedy of Al Andalus is in the 
hands of God, the best of judges, the Lord of History; and 
the Treaty of Cooperation signed between the Spanish State 
and the Islamic Commission of Spain in 1992 opened a new 
chapter in the relationship between the Spanish State and 
Spanish Muslims, based on the recognition of the contribution 
of Islam to Spanish identity and the desire for mutual, loyal 
cooperation to the benefit of all Spaniards. 
 
Moved by the same spirit that brought us to draft the fatwa, 
we write to you to ask you to lead a project of peace and 
prosperity in the world in which, as the prophet Isiah says, 
"swords are converted to ploughshares and spears to pruning 
knives, where people do not rise up against people nor are 
they schooled in war." 
 
This is the project that America is called to take upon 
itself in this decisive century, the project of consolidating 
Peace and Justice in the world. This is the project that 
Muslims desire and to which we invite all the powerful of the 
earth, since we believe that all Power comes from God and 
there is no Authority but His. 
 
For Muslims, Islam means peace, health and harmony. I invite 
you, therefore, to Islam, to promote good and reject evil, to 
put the immense material and spiritual capital of your nation 
to work in favor of peace, justice and world prosperity. 
 
In this endeavor you can count on Spanish Muslims, aware that 
the world demands entry into an era of global wellbeing in 
which peace, justice and freedom are the best of businesses 
and where delirium and hate give way to sanity, to peaceful 
coexistence and freedom. 
 
May God illuminate you in your responsibilities to govern and 
bless America and all the peoples of the earth. 
 
 
 
(signed: Mansur Escudero) 
Mansur Abdusalam Escudero 
Secretary General of the Islamic Commission of Spain 
 
SIPDIS 
MANZANARES