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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 DAMASCUS 000102 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA 
LONDON FOR MILLER, PARIS FOR NOBLES 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/03/2020 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KISL KPAO SCUL SOCI SY
SUBJECT: GRAND MUFTI'S COMMENTS ON PROPHET SPARKS RARE 
PUBLIC ATTACKS 
 
REF: 09 DAMASCUS 00806 
 
Classified By: CDA Charles Hunter for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Reporting on a January 19 meeting between 
Grand Mufti Ahmad Hassoun and a George Mason University 
delegation, London-based daily Al-Quds al-Arabi attributed 
remarks to the Mufti that sparked outrage in certain 
conservative Islamic circles.  As a result, a public campaign 
against the Mufti, led by conservative cleric Sheikh Said 
al-Bouti, squared off against a clutch of secular writers and 
liberal clerics who support the Mufti.  International 
anti-regime elements, like the Muslim Brotherhood, have also 
waded in to the fracas.  The SARG, while tolerant of the 
debate in general, has punished imams who have attacked the 
Mufti in their Friday sermons. End Summary. 
 
------------- 
Who Said What 
------------- 
 
¶2. (C) On January 19 Syria's Grand Mufti, Ahmad Badr al-Din 
Hassoun, met with a group of graduate students led by 
Professor and Rabbi Marc Gopin, Director of the Center for 
World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution (CRDC) at 
George Mason University's Institute for Conflict Analysis and 
Resolution.  Gopin has been working in Syria on and off since 
¶2003.  His primary on-the-ground facilitator is Hind Qabawat, 
who has close ties to the government but is active in both 
conflict resolution and interfaith dialogue.  Qabawat and 
Gopin have conveyed to us that they view the Mufti as a 
moderating influence in the country, and as someone with the 
political leverage to bring various religious leaders and 
civil society activists together in dialogue.  Gopin told us 
he hoped to use the CRDC's connection with the Mufti to 
promote citizen diplomacy and interfaith dialogue, both of 
which he viewed as a crucial components in the regional peace 
process. 
 
¶3. (C) Following the Mufti's session with Gopin and the 
students, Kamel Sakr -- a Damascus-based writer with Al-Quds 
al-Arabi who was not present during the meeting -- ran an 
article that quoted the Mufti as saying, "If the Prophet 
Muhammad asked me to disbelieve in Christianity and Judaism, 
I would disbelieve in him, and if he ordered me to kill 
people, I would tell him that he was not a prophet." 
 
---------------- 
Apology Demanded 
---------------- 
 
¶4. (C) The published quote set off a firestorm of indignation 
accompanied by calls -- published on the Internet and by 
international press agencies -- for the Mufti to apologize. 
Gopin and Qabawat expressed surprise over the reaction from 
other clerics.  Homs Archbishop Isidore Battikha told us in a 
separate meeting that Damascene Sunnis did not like the Mufti 
because he hailed from Aleppo.  Battikha had not heard of the 
controversy until we raised it with him, but he suspected 
this antipathy might have contributed to the flap. 
 
¶5. (U) A group of conservative clerics reportedly headed by 
Sheikh Said al-Bouti (ref A) led the charge in Syria, and 
were soon joined by other international groups.  Muslim 
Brotherhood spokesperson Zuheir Salem issued an official 
statement to LevantNews.com asking the Mufti to admit his 
mistake and apologize.  On January 27, Abu Basir al-Tartusi, 
a Syrian Salafi cleric living in London, posted a threatening 
criticism of the Mufti, accusing him of being a "heretic" and 
"henchman" of a repressive regime: "You, Hassoun, are the 
mufti of tyrants.  You are the mufti of the sectarian 
Ba'athist regime that is suppressing the Syrian people with 
iron and fire . . . I would like to say to you: be prepared 
for your doom.  Nobody has dared to slander or insult the 
Prophet without facing grave punishment in the religion and 
the hereafter." 
 
¶6. (U) Defending himself in a January 22 Friday sermon in 
Aleppo, the Mufti denied having made such remarks, claiming 
he had simply informed the students that the Prophet 
commanded Muslims to respect all religions and not to kill 
 
DAMASCUS 00000102  002 OF 002 
 
 
people.  He reportedly told his congregation that he reminded 
the students that "before you were Americans and before I was 
Syrian, we had been brothers in God." 
 
----------- 
The Defense 
----------- 
 
¶7. (C) Liberal clerics and secular civil society activists 
quickly banded together to defend the Mufti.  Asma Kuftaro 
(daughter of former Islamic Institute director Mahmud Kuftaro 
and granddaughter of the former Grand Mufti, Ahmad Kuftaro), 
the Muslim cleric Muhammad Walid Falyoun, civil society 
activists Hind Qabawat and Yahya al-Ous (protect all), among 
others, published web-articles at Thara.com explaining how 
the Mufti's remarks in no way contradicted the Qur'an.  They 
praised the Mufti's tolerance and ability to break down 
barriers between religions. 
 
¶8. (SBU) While the SARG has remained on the sidelines of the 
dispute, it has taken punished an imam for statements made 
against the Mufti that were deemed too derogatory.  Sheikh 
al-Yaaqoubi, Imam of al-Hasan Mosque in Damascus, attacked 
the Mufti during a January 22 Friday sermon.  The Ministry of 
Religious Endowments immediately stepped into the fray and 
dismissed Yaaqoubi from his position. 
 
¶9. (C) Comment: How the Mufti's comments were leaked to the 
press is unclear.  An apology from the Grand Mufti, 
nevertheless, is unlikely.  The Mufti is the source from 
which Sunni religious authority flows in Syria.  Capitulation 
to his detractors could irreparably compromise his power and 
would certainly tarnish his image.  The Ministry's swift 
action against the Friday imam reflected the strength of the 
ministry's relationship with the Mufti.  Public calls for an 
apology will probably remain permissible, but ad hominem 
attacks, we assess, will be viewed as an assault on regime 
legitimacy and punished as such.  An ironic outcome of the 
scuffle is an alignment between anti-Ba'athist groups like 
the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Tartusi with more 
regime-friendly clerics like al-Bouti.  Equally strained is 
the shared protective mission of civil society activists and 
the Ministry of Religious Endowments.  Such odd bedfellows 
demonstrate, at least for the moment, how religious issues 
can cut across normally divisive political positions.  Should 
the chorus of expatriate, anti-regime Muslims grow louder, we 
expect the SARG will be forced to tamp down public outcry in 
Syria for the sake of appearances.   End comment. 
HUNTER