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### Viewing cable 09BARCELONA154, MUSLIM PARLIAMENTARIAN DISCUSSES ISLAM IN SPAIN

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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin
--- | --- | --- | --- | ---
09BARCELONA154 | 2009-11-06 14:02 | 2010-12-17 12:12 | UNCLASSIFIED | Consulate Barcelona

`

    VZCZCXRO1316
    RR RUEHLA
    DE RUEHLA #0154/01 3101419
    ZNR UUUUU ZZH
    R 061419Z NOV 09
    FM AMCONSUL BARCELONA
    TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1228
    INFO RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID 1189
    RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 0001
    RUEHLA/AMCONSUL BARCELONA 1415

` `

    UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BARCELONA 000154

    SIPDIS

    STATE FOR EUR/WE MCKNIGHT AND ZERDECKI

    E.O. 12958: N/A
    TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PINR SMIG SOCI SP MO
    SUBJECT: MUSLIM PARLIAMENTARIAN DISCUSSES ISLAM IN SPAIN

    ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: Spain's first Muslim Parliamentarian
    discussed with POLOFF Muslim relations in Spain and stressed the
    importance of grassroots activism to integrate Muslims into
    Spanish society. Noting the vast increase of Muslim immigrants
    into Spain in recent years, Mohammed Chaib cautioned against
    radical and fundamentalist trends in the country. In addition
    to xenophobic political attitudes, Chaib faulted the lack of
    unity within the Muslim community as a barrier to developing a
    more positive role for Muslims in Spain. He also criticized the
    divided Muslim leadership for not collaborating to build an
    official mosque in Catalonia, which has more Muslims than any
    other region in Spain. On a positive note, he said that the
    Arab world has high hopes for President Obama. END SUMMARY

    ¶2. (U) POLOFF met on October 29 with Mohammed Chaib, a
    socialist party deputy elected to the Catalan Parliament in 2003
    and, more notably, the first Muslim Parliamentarian in Spain. A
    Moroccan born immigrant whose family moved to Barcelona when he
    was a small child, Chaib shared his views on the state of Islam
    in Spain, and stressed the importance of immigrants integrating
    into Spanish society. He said that the high rate of Muslim
    immigration into Spain has greatly changed the Islamic community
    over the past 15 years, and noted that more Muslims live in
    Catalonia than in any other region of Spain. Approximately 1.3
    to 1.5 million Muslims live in Spain, roughly half of whom are
    from Morocco. The number of Muslims in Spain has nearly tripled
    since 2003, when the population was estimated at only 525,000.
    Less than 30 percent are Spanish citizens, including descendents
    of immigrants and Spanish converts to Islam.

    DIVISIONS WITHIN THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY

    ¶3. (U) The Islamic Commission of Spain (CIE), created in
    1992, is the official entity representing Muslims in Spain. The
    CIE has outlined cooperative agreements on education, prayer in
    the workplace, imams and other policies to help manage Muslim
    relations with Spanish society. According to Chaib, however,
    these agreements were never fully developed and have been poorly
    implemented. He said that competing interpretations of Islam,
    coupled with cultural differences between Arab, Pakistani,
    sub-Saharan and Spanish Muslim converts create further
    divisions. He added that much of the discordance within the
    Muslim community stems from the competing interests of the two
    administrative bodies that comprise CIE - the Federation of
    Islamic Religious Entities of Spain (FEERI) and the Islamic
    Community Union of Spain (UCIDE). Chaib explained that FEERI
    was originally created to serve Spanish Muslim converts, while
    UCIDE was oriented toward Arab immigrants. He said that the two
    federations need to unite under one secretary general with a
    common mandate to integrate Muslims into Spanish society.
    Chaib, who participated in a State Department International
    Visitors Leadership Program on immigration in 2002, noted,
    "Islam is the same. However, the administration of Islam is
    very different."

    ¶4. (U) Chaib faulted the Islamic institutions for not
    adapting to the changes and rapid growth of the Muslim
    community. He warned of the "dangers of many different
    religious movements from all over the world" competing for the
    attention of Muslims in Spain, explaining that a unified,
    moderate religious leadership is necessary to fight radical
    views. Chaib is a staunch proponent of Muslim integration, and
    he said that his primary struggle is "against those Muslims who
    want to stay un-integrated." He explained that two types of
    radicalism exist in Spain-political radicalism, which is an
    anti-modernization, fundamentalist movement led by the
    Moroccan-based Justice and Charity group, and religious
    radicalism, which is characterized by Salafists who advocate a
    separatist, strict interpretation of Islam. Promoting his
    modern, moderate views, he declared, "we are living in the 21st
    century, not in the era of Muhammad."

    ¶5. (U) Having grown up in Barcelona, Chaib's first
    languages are Catalan and Spanish, and he said he did not learn
    to speak Arabic until he returned to Morocco to attend high
    school. He maintains strong ties with Morocco and recently
    traveled there with the mayor of Barcelona on an official visit
    to discuss the Moroccan community in Catalonia. Adding that
    Moroccans comprise half of the Muslim population in Spain, he
    stressed the importance of Spanish-Moroccan relations to combat
    radicalism and cautioned that Morocco needs to stay vigilant
    against extremism to prevent "what happened in Algeria."

    BARCELONA 00000154 002 OF 002

    NO MOSQUE IN CATALONIA

    ¶6. (U) Although Catalonia has more Muslims than any other
    part of Spain, no proper mosque exists in the region. Muslims
    in Catalonia congregate in approximately 170 neighborhood prayer
    rooms and oratories, many of which are informal operations run
    out of garages or commercial spaces. In 2006 a proposed mosque
    in the beachfront Badalona neighborhood of Barcelona was
    defeated by a campaign directed by Partido Popular activists who
    gathered 4,000 voters' signatures against the mosque. (Note:
    Another ongoing proposal to build a mosque in the city of Lleida
    has faced similar opposition for the past eight years. End
    Note.) Chaib also cited the anti-immigration Platform for
    Catalonia party as "racist and anti-Muslim". Much of the
    blame, he added, stems from the lack of unity within the Muslim
    community as the different factions cannot agree on the
    characteristics of an official mosque. While Chaib did say that
    relations between Moroccans and Pakistanis in Catalonia are
    good, he believes that the Pakistani community resists
    integrating and being more open to Spanish society. Chaib said
    that his goal is to have a "Muslim community that lives in peace
    within Spanish society, and has a true mosque."

    ¶7. (U) Chaib said that until several years ago many of the
    imams in the informal prayer centers did not have residency
    permits, and obtaining religious-based visas was difficult. He
    credited the Spanish government in recent years for recognizing
    the importance of legalizing the immigration status of religious
    leaders, and said that most of the roughly 170 imams in
    Catalonia are now legal residents. Chaib said that as the
    number of Muslim immigrants increased, traditional fathers
    increasingly voiced their concerns with their daughters
    receiving a westernized education. As a result, the Spanish
    government recognized the importance of promoting moderate
    religious leaders to explain the role of Islam in a western
    society.

    COMMUNITY RELATIONS

    ¶8. (U) Chaib also stressed the importance of educating
    Muslim youth and Spanish born children of immigrants to be
    politically active and participate in society. The founder of
    the Ibn Batuta Socio-Cultural Association, a secular
    organization that aims to improve relations between Muslims and
    Spanish society, Chaib is active at both the political and
    grassroots level. The Ibn Batuta center - named after the famed
    14th century Moroccan explorer - organizes cultural activities,
    neighborhood dialogues, workshops on Islam, and job assistance
    programs. Chaib said that because of the high number of
    immigrants that typically work in Catalonia's now struggling
    construction industry, the economic crisis has hurt Muslims
    particularly hard. He added that economic woes and unemployment
    create more tensions than do religious and cultural differences.
    Noting that Latin American immigrants in Spain can vote in
    municipal elections - unlike most Muslim immigrants- Chaib
    mentioned the importance of the Spanish government signing
    bilateral accords with Morocco, Pakistan and other countries to
    allow non-citizen immigrants to participate in the political
    process.

    ¶9. (U) Chaib, who excused himself three times during the
    hour and a half long meeting to vote on different resolutions in
    the Catalan Parliament, spoke highly of his 2002 visit to the
    U.S. and like many interlocutors these days was hopeful that
    President Obama would visit Barcelona next year. Before
    concluding the meeting with a tour of the Parliament building
    and introductions to several other socialist deputies, Chaib
    said that Arabs have both high hopes and high expectations for
    President Obama, noting "the doors of hope are opening, and it's
    easier to work in that environment.
    CROUCHG

`