Cablegate: American Imam Challenges Image of a Bush Hostile To

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

020537Z Nov 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 001427

SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/PD (LMING); AF/S (HTREGER); IIP/G/AF
(SSITTON)
PARIS FOR ARS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AMGT KISL OIIP KPAO MZ
SUBJECT: AMERICAN IMAM CHALLENGES IMAGE OF A BUSH HOSTILE TO
ISLAM

1. SUMMARY. American Imam Darryl Wainwright's description of
a President Bush not hostile to Islam was one paper's
headline in an otherwise low-key whirlwind Ramadan visit to
Maputo. Wainwright - a salesman by background -- portrayed
American Muslims as mainstream and drawing from the well of
common values that have built up the U.S. American Islam,
he said, is healthy and growing, in part because the U.S. is
a pluralist, tolerant society that makes it possible for a
faith to sell itself based on values and ideas. Eight area
mosques welcomed Wainwright to pray, share Iftar, and speak
about Islam in the United States. He pointedly avoided
commenting directly on U.S. foreign policy, though he did
ask his audience to recognize that it was mainly Arab
Muslims - not Americans -- killing Muslims in Iraq. Maputo
would strongly welcome Wainwright back to Mozambique. END
SUMMARY.

ISLAMIC COUNCIL PLAYS HOST
2. American Imam Darryl Wainwright, aka Abu Haamid, gave a
series of programs in the Maputo area October 22-26. To
facilitate programming, PAS coordinated with the Islamic
Council of Mozambique to set up activities in a variety of
Maputo-area mosques. Accordingly, he attended prayers and
spoke in eight different mosques ranging from wealthy and
predominantly South Asian in ethnic makeup to relatively
poor and black Mozambican, a spectrum that reflects the
variety of the Islamic community. He also met with a
Supreme Court justice and ruling Frelimo party
parliamentarian, both Muslims.

RELIGIOUS COMPETITION NOT A ZERO-SUM GAME
3. Wainwright's message was consistent and upbeat. He
emphasized that Islam not only existed in the U.S., but was
alive and well to the extent of claiming some eight million
adherents, and growing. In particular, Islam appeals to
African-Americans, and he described briefly his own
experience within the Nation of Islam. Muslims can owe the
health of their faith in the U.S., he averred, to the fact
that Americans are tolerant and accepting of religion in
general, leaving each faith sink or swim on the strength of
its message in what amounts to a marketplace of ideas. He
cautioned that Islam's success is not a zero-sum game, the
economic term he invoked repeatedly. All faiths gain by one
faith gaining strength because the entire marketplace
expands, challenging competitors to sharpen and adapt their
messages.

IMAMS NEED REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE
4. Wainwright also wove his own professional background into
each talk as an example of the need for Muslims to obtain as
broad an education and practical experience as possible. He
noted that he studied Islam in the Middle East, and
accordingly learned Arabic on the way to becoming an imam
(he was comfortable speaking courtesy Arabic to imams, and
was able to make numerous references to the Arabic
original). But he was also in the business world. He
studied business and psychology, and has made a career first
as a car salesman and then as a personnel consultant. This
practical grounding has made him a more effective imam, he
said. He strongly suggested that Muslim education include
the liberal arts and sciences, declaring that theology
without worldly experience does not pass muster.

TOUGH QUESTIONS ON IRAQ
5. On October 24, PAS hosted Wainwright for a roundtable,
which included non-Muslim journalists and the Catholic
Archbishop of Maputo. In addition to discussing American
Islam, he handled several questions on U.S. foreign policy.
What did he think of U.S. weapon killing the faithful in
Iraq? He answered that his response was contradictory. On
the one hand, he was an American (and Navy veteran), and
felt called to defend his country and its actions. On the
other hand, he suffers each time that a Muslim is harmed.
Keep in mind, nevertheless, who's doing most of the killing,
he added; it's Arab Muslims killing other Muslims. A non-
Muslim reporter asked him to explain "holy war," or jihad.
Wainwright responded with a scholarly explanation of jihad
as a striving for something better. Mozambican Muslims, he
said, ought to launch a jihad for education of their own
people. A PAS-hosted Iftar followed the roundtable.

GO NORTH, IMAM
6. Invariably Mozambican Muslim leaders asked Wainwright if
was traveling to the predominantly Muslim north. When they
realized that he was only in the Maputo area for this visit,
they invited back to focus on the north the next time. (In
fact, with more lead time, PAS would have programmed him in
the north as well.) He left Maputo with an open invitation
to return.

PRESS COVERAGE
7. Post did not make general media coverage a priority since
the Islamic community itself, not the broader Mozambican
public, was the intended audience. Thus, Radio Islam, which
airs to a Muslim audience of about 15,000, carried excerpts
of Wainwright's PAS roundtable. Nevertheless, the
independent daily Diario de Mozambique (press run of 10,000)
ran an October 28 story headlined, "American Muslim
Challenges Idea of a Bush Hostile to Islam."

8. COMMENT. Wainwright established a person-to-person
relationship for the Islamic leadership with an American
imam, exactly what Post sought. He succeeded in showing a
human face of an American Islam rooted in the African
American community. We would enthusiastically support a
return visit.
La Lime

© Scoop Media