Tolerance ‘is key to a successful country’
Minister spells out UAE’s strong belief in inclusion for all
DUBAI // A country and its economy cannot be successful without tolerance at all levels of society and government, Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi said yesterday. “And when we talk about economy we are talking about diversification, where eventually you celebrate the last barrel of oil rather than be dependent on it, and you create that by inviting in great minds,” the Minister of State for Tolerance told the World Government Summit in Dubai.
Sheikha Lubna, who was appointed to her post last year, said the UAE was a welcoming society that focused on common core values of all religions and cultures.
“We need to make sure there is good education and we need to make sure that the lifestyle is acceptable for all,” she said.
Another contributing factor to the success of the UAE was its eagerness to focus on the youth and coming generations, Sheikha Lubna said.
“The youth are at the core of everything we do,” she said. “Kids and youth today can be isolated. They can be sitting with us in the room, but their world is totally different with modern technology.
“The influence of radicalisation can hit them in their house without their parents’ knowledge.”
Sheikha Lubna said religion should be delivered to children in a way that is different to how it was presented to previous generations.
“Today the Islamic curriculum is being delivered without value and spirituality,” she said. “When you approach religion, do not take it by text and verses but by its values.” Omar Ghobash, UAE Ambassador to Russia, said he tried to address young people’s unanswered questions about Islam in his book, Letters to a Young Muslim.
“When I was 15, I was trying to
‘ When you approach religion, do not take it by text and verses but by its values Sheikha Lubna
live in the modern world while given 7th century conceptual tools,” Mr Ghobash said. “In 2016-2017, I find that not much progress has been made to bridge the gap between the modern world and past generations.
“I tried to put myself in the place of a 15- year- old in the Muslim world and see if the questions I had when I was that age were answered, and they haven’t been.
“So I put my own answers forward for some structure for my son and his generation on how to approach religious texts and authority in general.” Mr Ghobash and Sheikha Lubna agreed that with tolerance should come positive thinking, especially when it comes to Friday sermons.
“The sermons in the Emirates no longer have aggression, which I remember clearly in the 1980s and 1990s,” said Mr Ghobash. “The Government came in to realign them and this is a choice we made as a society, and no one protested that change to positive thinking.”