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DE RUEHAS #0066/01 0211634
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211634Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY ALGIERS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6889
INFO RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 2659
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 7517
RUEHBP/AMEMBASSY BAMAKO 0841
RUEHNK/AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT 6635
RUEHNM/AMEMBASSY NIAMEY 1822
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 9165
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 3013
RUEHCL/AMCONSUL CASABLANCA 3628

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ALGIERS 000066 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/PI - SSAEED, CBOURGEOIS, KBARTELS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KWMN KISL SOCI SCUL AG
SUBJECT: ISLAMOFEMINISM: FINDING A FEMINIST AUDIENCE IN 
ALGERIA 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Two recent American Bar Association (ABA) 
seminars on sharia law held in Algiers and Oran featured 
lectures using the theological tenets of Islam to support 
arguments in favor of gender equality. The lectures, by 
Islamic feminist scholar and Richmond University law 
professor Hazizah al-Hibri, reached an audience largely 
comprised of women lawyers from around the country, including 
Algiers, Blida, Setif, and Bejaia.  Al-Hibri defended her 
points by citing the Qur'an and sharia law rather than 
relying on modern interpretations of feminism and Islam.  Her 
views blending sharia law and secular concepts of government 
represented a novel approach in contrast to more conservative 
Islamist thinkers in Algeria, who generally stress Islam's 
incompatibility with modern governance. 
Moderate-conservative views like hers may find an audience 
here, particularly among Algeria's female professional cadre. 
 END SUMMARY. 
 
DEMOCRACY IN HEAVEN 
------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) Hazizah Al-Hibri, a Fulbright scholar and law 
professor at Richmond University, spoke at two ABA-sponsored 
events in Algeria on the theme of gender equality in the 
Muslim world.  Al-Hibri is the founder and president of a 
Muslim-women lawyers' organization called Karamah, which 
addresses human rights issues for Muslims.  She began her 
presentations by exploring Islamic cultural traditions and 
religious hierarchies, and by describing the democratic 
foundations of the first Islamic community, supporting her 
claim with direct references to the Qur'an.  For example, she 
referred to Qur'anic passages related to the relationship 
between angels and God as proof that Islam and democracy are 
compatible institutions.  She argued that, according to the 
Qur'an, angels do not sin, but they argue with God.  That 
shows us that "there is democracy, even in heaven." 
 
ISLAM'S MODERN COMPATIBILITY 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) Al-Hibri also outlined her interpretation of the 
Islamic world view and its relationship to modern society. 
She argued that sharia law and modern societies are not 
incompatible, and that states must only satisfy two 
conditions to meet Islamic standards.  First, she said, the 
political process must be based on elections (baya't) and the 
elective and governing processes must be based on broad 
deliberation (shura).  Secondly, she argued, states must 
protect the dignity of all people.  Again quoting the Qur'an, 
she explained that because God gives dignity to all people, 
human institutions must also treat all people with dignity. 
Accordingly, she argued, men and women alike deserve to be 
treated with equal justice.  "If you read the Qur'an, you 
will understand that everything is about el-mizan (balance)," 
Al-Hibri insisted.  To illustrate this balance, Al-Hibri 
further outlined her conception of women's rights in Islamic 
societies, emphasizing that equality in marriage is a 
necessary element of any such discussion.  "Marriage is not a 
service contract," she said.  "You are not hiring a cook or 
someone to wash your dishes.  You are getting a companion." 
 
¶4.  (U) Al-Hibri also made the case that gender equality is 
found in Islam's theological tenets.  She used the Islamic 
tale of the creation of Satan as a parable of gender 
prejudice.  In the story, Satan, who was originally one of 
God's angels, refuses to bow down to man, GodQ,s latest 
creation.  He became arrogant, Al-Hibri said, because he was 
made of fire while man was made of mere clay, and Satan would 
not bow down before a creature made of clay.  Al-Hibri argued 
that Satan's sin was to believe in his superiority over man, 
and thus, she extrapolated, there is an equal sin in 
believing in the superiority of one's own gender over 
another.  She concluded, "Regardless of race and heritage, we 
all have the same metaphysical origin.  Do not be like Satan; 
do not think you are better because you are one thing and 
someone else is another.  That goes for both male and 
female." 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
ALGIERS 00000066  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Although al-Hibri's academic credentials are 
impressive, her theological views were the primary draw for 
much of the audience.  A lawyer from the court in Bejaia told 
us, "This is the first time that I have encountered a true 
feminist whose arguments come from the Holy Qur'an."  Sabrina 
Ouared, Secretary General of the female advocacy group SOS 
Femmes en Detresse, also explained to us, "It is extremely 
rare to encounter such a modern perspective on sharia law." 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Al-Hibri's discussion of sharia law and its 
compatibility with modern concepts of governance is a 
noteworthy departure from the views expressed by other 
conservative Islamist voices in Algeria.  Much of the 
conservative religious discourse here, espoused by clerics 
like Ali Ferkous and Abderrahmane Chibane of the Muslim 
Scholars Association, emphasizes the incompatibility of 
Islamic tenets with modernity and secular government.  In his 
most recent fetwa interpreting sharia law, Ferkous said that 
democratic regimes represent "the ways of the non-believers," 
and that "such regimes attempt to replace the sovereignty of 
the Creator and His right to absolute legislation."  But 
while these "mainstream" Algerian religious scholars may be 
promoting a very conservative brand of Islam tinged with 
anti-democratic or anti-Western sentiment, the audiences 
drawn to al-Hibri's lectures may indicate that there is room 
in Algeria for other viewpoints also based on tradition and 
which promote a more balanced concept of gender relations, in 
this case. 
PEARCE