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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 KUWAIT 003266 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR NEA/ARPI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2015 
TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL KISL SCUL KWMN KIRF PINR KU ISLAMISTS
SUBJECT: READING, WRITING, AND QUR'ANIC RECITATION:  THE 
ISLAMIST INFLUENCE IN KUWAIT'S EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM, PART II 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 1660 
     ¶B. KUWAIT 1306 
     ¶C. KUWAIT 656 
     ¶D. KUWAIT 264 
     ¶E. 03 KUWAIT 482 
 
Classified By: CDA Matthew H. Tueller for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
This is Part II of a two-part message. 
 
The "Ikhwan Ministry" 
--------------------- 
 
¶21. (SBU) The Education Ministry, the GOK department 
responsible for the religious education program and 
textbooks, is perceived by many to be a bastion of 
conservative Sunni ideology, mainly that of the Sunni Muslim 
Brotherhood (Ikhwan Al-Muslimeen).  Few question the role of 
the Muslim Brotherhood in the historical development of the 
educational system in Kuwait.  There are disagreements, 
however, over the effect of the Brotherhood's influence and 
whether or not its involvement led to the promotion of 
intolerance and violence. 
 
¶22. (SBU) Dr. Ali Al-Tarrah, Dean of the College of Social 
Sciences at Kuwait University, told PolOff that the Muslim 
Brotherhood controls the Education Ministry and the Kuwait 
Teacher's Association.  He said that the Education Ministry 
is known as the "Ikhwan Ministry," with members of the Muslim 
Brotherhood are found throughout the organization.  Al-Tarrah 
is prone to exaggerate for effect, however, all other 
academics with whom PolOff spoke agreed generally with this 
assessment, although some differed on its meaning and 
relevance. 
 
¶23. (U) In the 1950s and early 1960s, Egyptian President 
Gamal Abdel Nasser launched a campaign against members of the 
Muslim Brotherhood after a 1954 assassination attempt, which 
caused many members of the organization to seek refuge in 
other countries.  Saudi Arabia was at odds with Egypt's world 
view because of President Nasser's encouragement of 
revolutionary notions, visions of pan-Arab, secular 
nationalism, economic socialism, and his growing relationship 
with the Soviet Union.  Because of this animosity between the 
two nations, many members of the persecuted Muslim 
Brotherhood fled Egypt to Saudi Arabia, a country that proved 
tolerant of their beliefs, and also to other welcoming parts 
of the Gulf, including Kuwait. 
 
¶24. (SBU) Al-Hattab, a former member of the Muslim 
Brotherhood, said that because the fleeing members opposed 
Nasser, they were taken in and treated well, quickly assuming 
posts in religious education.  Before long, he explained, all 
Kuwaiti religious education was guided by the ideology of the 
Muslim Brotherhood, including the ideas of founder Hassan 
Al-Bana and Sayyid Qutub, considered by some to be the father 
of modern Islamic extremism. 
 
¶25. (SBU) Al-Ajmi said the growth of conservative and 
intolerant Islam in Kuwait's educational system was 
symptomatic of bigger societal developments.  He explained 
that the problem was that the GOK, like Saudi Arabia, after 
the 1979 storming of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, tried to 
"outmaneuver the extremists by becoming more extreme" by 
advocating state policies that gave support to conservative 
and ultra-conservative Muslim groups and ideologies.  Al-Ajmi 
said that this has proven to be an ineffective approach and 
suggested that regional governments are no longer capable of 
outmaneuvering the extremists. 
 
¶26. (C) Al-Rubei said that during his tenure as Education 
Minister in the mid-1990s, the majority of officials in the 
ministry were members of the Muslim Brotherhood.  He said, 
that although Muslim Brotherhood members were still 
prevalent, there is a greater mix of ideological beliefs in 
the ministry including some liberals, and a notable increase 
in the number of Salafis.  He told PolOff that the GOK was in 
large part responsible for the growth of the Muslim 
Brotherhood in Kuwait and said that Crown Prince Shaykh Saad 
Al-Abdullah Al-Salem greatly supported their rise and agenda. 
 
Politics Constrain GOK Role; Private Schools Threatened 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶27. (SBU) Within the Ministry of Education there is a board 
that has great authority over the content of the curriculum. 
Al-Hattab, who oversaw the board while in charge of religious 
education at the Education Ministry, said the board, composed 
mostly of members of the Muslim Brotherhood, opposed many of 
his efforts to reform the system.  He said board members 
often obtained their positions based not on their expertise, 
but because of their seniority in the Ministry, gained, he 
said, through connections to the Muslim Brotherhood. 
 
¶28. (C) After liberation during the early-to-mid 1990s, 
Al-Hattab told PolOff that he began making efforts to reform 
the religious curriculum and that even the media began to 
support his efforts to change the system.  He met with stiff 
opposition, however, from the Higher Consultative Committee 
for the Finalization of the Application of the Provision of 
the Islamic Shari'a.  This body, part of the Amiri Diwan, 
asked the Education Minister to add more courses and Qur'anic 
verses to the Islamic education program.  The Committee told 
the Education Minister that the Amir supported this program 
proposal although, according to Al-Hattab, the Amir never 
endorsed the decision.  (Note: The Committee, which reports 
directly to the Amir, was created to review Kuwait's laws to 
ensure compliance with Shari'a.  Its findings are provided to 
the Amir and include suggestions on how to change legislation 
to bring it into compliance with Islamic law.  End Note.) 
The Education Minister eventually succumbed to the pressure 
from the Amiri Committee, and Al-Hattab's efforts to reform 
the system ended.  Al-Hattab, told PolOff that after his 
reform effort failed, he was removed from his position. 
 
¶29. (SBU) The curriculum debate now threatens to extend to 
private schools, traditionally excluded from religious 
education requirements.  There is a move underway from 
Islamists to require private schools to teach mandatory 
Islamic studies and Qur'an courses.  Private schools 
currently do not abide by a GOK requirement to teach Islamic 
religious studies to students because of an official decision 
made in the 1990s by then-Education Minister Al-Rubei that 
Islamic education should be "taught in public schools." 
Because the ministerial decision did not mention private 
schools, they were assumed to be exempt from the requirement. 
 Some private schools, however, provide Islamic religious 
education lessons as an optional course.  Salafi professor 
Al-Shatti believes that religious courses should be mandated 
in private schools because most of the students are Muslims 
and because the teaching of the Qur'an is "essential." 
 
¶30. (SBU) Al-Tarrah told PolOff that the Shari'a College is 
now putting pressure on private schools to allow Shari'a 
graduates to teach religious studies courses to private 
school students.  The graduates from the college, he 
explained, are now trying to be placed into private schools 
to teach Islamic Studies despite the fact that, according to 
Al-Tarrah, the private schools are not interested in having 
ultra-conservative Sunnis teach their students their 
interpretation of Islam. 
 
Shari'a Studies 
--------------- 
 
¶31. (SBU) Many religious education teachers are graduates of 
the conservative Sunni-Islam based Shari'a College.  The 
Shari'a College was initially only a department in the 
Faculty of Law at Kuwait University, but has since expanded 
in importance and influence.  Because of its reputation for 
producing ultra-conservative religious "scholars," public 
discussion revived after the January shoot-outs about merging 
the college into the Faculty of Law as a department.  To 
date, the College remains an independent academic institution. 
 
¶32. (SBU) The Faculty of the Shari'a College is composed of 
approximately 70 professors who teach Islamic studies at 
Kuwait University and there are approximately 1,250 enrolled 
students with 200-250 graduating from the program every year. 
 The College was created in 1981 and was modeled, according 
to Shari'a professor Al-Shatti, after the Islamic University 
of Medina, Saudi Arabia.  Al-Shatti said the Amir sought the 
help of the Egyptian Faculty of Shari'a at Al-Azhar when 
developing the idea for a Kuwaiti Shari'a College.  He said 
Kuwaiti Islamist Ajeel Al-Nashmi developed the curriculum for 
Kuwait.  Al-Nashmi is former dean of the Faculty of Shari'a, 
former member of the Fatwa Department at the Awqaf Ministry, 
and holds vehemently anti-U.S. views. 
 
¶33. (U) The College, divided into the departments of 
"Fundamentals of Religion" and "Fundamentals of 
Jurisprudence," began offering an MA program in 2000, and 
intends to offer a Ph.D. in Islamic Law in 2006.  All courses 
focus on the Islamic elements of each discipline to include 
topics such as sociology, psychology, and the media.  He 
estimated that 86 percent of the students attending the 
College were Kuwaiti and the remaining 14 percent were 
foreign students representing 60 nations, mostly, however, 
from the GCC.  He said there are no Americans studying at the 
Shari'a College. 
 
¶34. (C) Al-Tarrah remarked that the curriculum at the Shari'a 
College was very easy, further commenting that if it were 
more difficult, many of the students would leave the school. 
He said that approximately 20 percent of the student body is 
from the Army and that over 90 percent are Bedouins from the 
rural tribes, an inherently conservative sector of society. 
He said there was a pending proposal to add requirements for 
foreign language proficiency and liberal arts courses. 
Al-Tarrah supported this proposal, saying a more challenging, 
well-rounded curricula would force many of the more 
provincial and less serious students to drop out.  Al-Ajmi 
expressed greater concerns about the institution, describing 
the College as a "haven of extremists."  He mentioned that 
one of the courses was entitled "The Groups that Went 
Astray."  He said this course, along with many others like 
it, reveals the biased nature and ideology inherent in the 
teaching at the College. 
 
The GOK Acknowledges Some Need To Change 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶35. (U) The Education Ministry recently approved a new 
educational plan for primary school students, which will 
begin with the 2005 fall term.  Some changes in the curricula 
are expected:  a new national studies program to promote 
national loyalty, a life sciences course to teach students 
about Kuwaiti traditions and lifestyles, and more computer 
studies.  The new school year will be divided into four 
quarters with exams coming at the end of the second and 
fourth quarters, and there is discussion of reducing the 
amount of homework for primary school children.  Students 
will now have 35 classes per week, instead of 32, and all 
students will attend school from 7:30 AM - 13:20 PM, a 
slightly longer day for most. 
 
¶36. (U) Dr. Mohammed Al-Musaleem, Assistant Undersecretary 
for Research and Curriculum at the Ministry of Education, 
speaking in July on the revised curricula, said publicly that 
inculcating patriotism and an awareness of national heritage 
was essential.  The new curricula for all students, projected 
to go into effect in the 2006-2007 school year, is expected 
to reduce the number of books students use and improve the 
quality of their content.  He also said that computers will 
be used increasingly as a teaching tool.  Educational 
consultant Dr. Ibrahim Karam, speaking about the books to be 
used under the new program, said that most are revised, have 
a new look, and are "appropriate." 
 
¶37. (U) The GOK has been studying many proposals on how best 
to address the problems in the curriculum, of which the 
religious education debate is the most contentious part. 
Prime Minister Shaykh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah appointed 
chairmen, all leading academics at Kuwait University, to six 
committees to examine educational reform options.  Al-Tarrah 
oversees the committee seeking to propose methods to 
integrate elements of modernity into the societal identity. 
The other committee chairmen are Dr. Abdul Reda Aseeri, 
liberal professor and Chairman of the Political Science 
Department; Dr. Saleh Jassem, Faculty of Education; Islamist 
Dr. Abdullah Al-Shaykh, professor and Dean of the Faculty of 
Higher Studies; Dr. Nabil Al-Loghani, Faculty of 
Administrative Sciences; and Dr. As'ad Ismail, professor and 
Dean of Admissions and Registration. 
 
¶38. (SBU) Al-Tarrah told PolOff that his committee 
recommended that educational reform address the whole system 
and not just the religious aspects.  He said the system 
itself was flawed and to be successful at revising the 
religious elements, the entire curricula must be changed. 
His committee proposed several reforms including courses on 
life skills (how to act in society), international 
civilization (including human rights issues), and national 
education (emphasizing a Kuwaiti national identity.)  His 
proposal also included more music and computer classes, 
oversight of teachers, and revised approaches to disciplining 
teachers.  He recommended that any change be approved by the 
Cabinet to ensure that future Education Ministers are not 
singularly able to overturn the changes.  Al-Tarrah's 
committee traveled to Malaysia and Singapore to study how 
other countries have integrated aspects of Islam into the 
educational system. 
 
GOK Willingness to Challenge Islamists on Reform Suspect 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶39. (C) Comment: Some critics have focused on the teaching of 
violent interpretations of jihad to express their discontent 
with Kuwait's religious education system.  While this is a 
topic of great concern, many opponents of the system are just 
as concerned about the volume of conservative social 
teachings that are spread through the schools.  The reforms 
suggested by the GOK do not appear to adequately address 
either. 
 
¶40. (C) The GOK has acknowledged a plan to reform or replace 
textbooks, to de-emphasize violence, and to increase 
teachings on tolerance, however, it has not engaged in any 
serious public discussion on these matters.  It is trying to 
reform the educational system with recommendations from 
academics and consultants without actually debating openly 
the merits of the changes or the ills of the past.  In all 
public pronouncements there are few specifics given as to 
what exactly has been changed outside of the addition of a 
few new courses and a "new look" to some of the books.  The 
candid public discussions about teaching jihad and the 
influence of religious conservatives following the January 
shoot-outs have since waned and been replaced by GOK 
statements ensuring that revised books and lessons will be 
"appropriate to the context." 
 
¶41. (C) Some GOK officials  are aware that something needs to 
change; however, the solution appears to be the one with the 
smallest ripple effect and the least political resistance. It 
is doubtful now whether the GOK is willing to confront the 
Islamists directly on the issue of religious influence in 
society, and whether, if they are, such a confrontation will 
take place over the curriculum, rather than over other social 
or political issues. End Comment. 
 
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