VZCZCXRO3416
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHJI #0180/01 0601404
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 011404Z MAR 06
FM AMCONSUL JEDDAH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8862
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1299
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1373
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 6218
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JEDDAH 000180 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
RIYADH, PLEASE PASS TO DHAHRAN; DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ARPI; 
PARIS FOR ZEYA; LONDON FOR TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2015 
TAGS: KISL PREL PTER SA
SUBJECT: MOSQUE SERMONS FORM SAUDI ARABIA:  FEBRUARY 24 - 
CONDEMNATION OF RELIGIOUS STRIFE IN IRAQ, ENDORSEMENT OF 
STOCK EXCHANGE, AND PRAISE FOR JIHADISTS IN PALESTINE 
 
 
Classified By: Acting Consul General Hector Morales, for reasons 
1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
FROM MECCA:  IMAM CONDEMNS COMMUNAL STRIFE IN IRAQ 
 
¶1.  (U) On Friday February 24, in a sermon from the Holy 
Mosque in Mecca, Imam Shaykh Salih Bin-Muhammad al Talib 
delivered a sermon calling for Muslims to listen to their 
hearts.  "The heart is the spring of feelings, source of 
emotions, motivator of manners, and guardian of actions. 
When the heart is good all manners and actions are good."  He 
asserted "a sound heart is one that is filled with piety and 
faith and overflowing with goodness and charity."  Then, he 
continued:  "The Muslim does not harbor ill will or grudges 
against fellow Muslims.  How can he hope for success, when 
his heart is full of grudges against his fellow Muslims?" 
 
¶2.  (U) After that preamble, the imam referred to the attacks 
on holy shrines and mosques in Iraq, saying "What took place 
recently in Iraq, such as the clear provocation and blatant 
aggression by one faction against another by attacking two 
shrines is a provocation and an aggression that are not 
condoned by any religion or supported by any logic, but a 
cause for sedition, bloodshed, and further attack on Iraq's 
frail body."  He appealed:  "Some 170 mosques were burned and 
destroyed, worshipers were killed in them and others were 
dragged in the streets.  These are only seditions whose fire 
is sparked by criminals whose victims are the peaceful.  In 
this decisive phase of their history, Iraqis need to control 
their anger, show self-restraint, place public interests 
above private interests, and avoid what might further weaken 
their country and souls.  Otherwise, if evil befalls them, it 
will not distinguish between one community and another.  O 
people of Iraq, your brother Muslims appeal to you in the 
name of God to hold off and lay down your arms, fear God, and 
come to terms with one another."  In conclusion, he prayed: 
"O God, straighten out the conditions of Muslims in Iraq, 
spare their blood, maintain their security, guide them on the 
path of peace, and restrain their enemy." 
 
IN MEDINA:  IMAM ENDORSES THE STOCK MARKET 
 
¶3.  (U) In the Saudi Arabia TV2 broadcast from the holy 
Mosque in Medina, Imam Shaykh Husayn Bin-Abd-Al-Aziz 
Al-Shaykh's sermon addressing the propriety of Muslims 
participating in the stock market.  The sermon began by 
reminding the listeners that "whoever gets rich through 
forbidden ways, such as usury, ends up in hell."  However, 
the sermon continued:  "O Muslims, with this introduction, 
dealing in the Stock Exchange Market has spread among 
Muslims; both in terms of subscription and transaction.  It 
is the duty of Muslims to know God's ruling on such dealing 
and to make sure what the Shar'iah rulings say.  The Muslim 
must be careful of any unilateral efforts based on interests 
that conflict with the ruling of the Shar'iah.  O Muslim, you 
must know that there are different types of companies.  Some 
invest in allowable fields and are free of forbidden things. 
Therefore, there is no objection to subscribing and 
transacting in such companies.  But this should be without 
ulterior motives and in a market that is free of any unclear 
methods that harm people.  Beware, O Muslims, of falling for 
markets, where there is monopoly that causes harm.  Those who 
inflate prices in the markets in a manner that conflicts with 
Shar'iah rulings, ethical rules, and economic principles, 
must fear God.  They must avoid methods of fraud, deception, 
and cheating." 
 
¶4.  (U)  After an interruption due to technical difficulties, 
the sermon continued:  "When you buy bonds you have to be 
sure that the company, from which you buy bonds, goes by the 
laws of God Almighty and the laws of the Sunnah of our 
prophet, and by the Shar'iah.  He says you have to be careful 
of the bonds from those companies that indulge in usury.  You 
should not participate in buying their bonds." 
 
¶5.  (U)  This sermon concluded with a plea to "the people of 
Iraq asking them to go back to the book of God Almighty and 
the Sunnah of our prophet, may peace and blessings of God be 
upon him, and to stop fighting.  If they go back to God 
Almighty and the Sunnah of our prophet, may the peace and 
blessings of God be upon him.  God Almighty will alleviate 
 
JEDDAH 00000180  002 OF 002 
 
 
the crisis they are going through." 
 
KHOBAR SERMON DEDICATED TO JIHADIST ORGANIZATIONS, 
SECULARISTS AND THE DOLLAR 
 
¶6.  (C) In a sermon to about 500 worshipers at the Imam Ahmad 
bin Hanbal Mosque in Khobar, the imam, Shaykh al-Qahtani 
offered congratulations to Palestinians and Arabs for HAMAS' 
historic victory.  He spoke about HAMAS, its achievements and 
successes, and criticized the secular Palestinian 
organizations, primarily Fatah, adding that these 
organizations had long been compromised and "bought off" with 
American dollars.   He praised HAMAS and other Jihadist 
organizations, saying that these had stood by their 
principles and that Jihad was the only way for Palestine to 
remove Jewish occupiers.  "If not Jihad, what choice do the 
Palestinians have?"  He answered:  "The Palestinians can 
stand their ground, even if this means they'll be denied the 
basic necessities of life, and fight their way to freedom 
without compromising an inch of their territories... or, they 
can stick with Fatah or any of the other secularist 
organizations that will sell their soul for a few meters of 
land that they can never hope to control, and whose weak 
leaders are denied not only freedom of movement within the 
so-called territories, but are people who cannot step out of 
the privacy of their own homes without prior Israeli consent. 
 The heroic Shaykh Ahmad Yaseen and many of his followers... 
if they had wanted to live like that, they'd be living in a 
palace instead of the graves where they are buried right 
now."  The sermon concluded with a call for the congregation 
and Arab governments to support their Palestinian brethren. 
Morales