Friday sermons extol the UAE message of tolerance

▶ Before unification in mosques, ‘extremists spread hate messages,’ says social foundation

As residents across the UAE attend mosques to listen to sermons every week, a message of tolerance throughout the country is vital.

Dherar Belhoul Al Falasi, Emirati writer, political analyst and director general of the Watani Al Emarat Foundation, a social development programme that promotes national identity and the practice of good citizenship, said Friday sermons and the leadership of the UAE were the main contributing factors towards tolerant attitudes among the country’s citizens and residents.

“It started with the leadership and their governance – Friday sermons and prayers are an embodiment of tolerance. During Friday prayers, everyone, regardless of status, colour and nationality, sits side by side to listen to the sermon and pray,” Mr Al Falasi said.

Sermons are translated into many languages and are listened to or read by hundreds of thousands of people. The promotion of tolerance has always been significant but after the unification of the Friday prayers, the message the UAE worked so hard to spread became even stronger, said Dr Amal Belhoul, the foundation’s community affairs adviser.

Before the unification of the Friday sermon, “many extremists ... with personal agendas used the sermon to spread hate messages”, Dr Belhoul said. The Muslim Brotherhood hijacked the pulpit and, unfortunately, this still happens in many mosques in Europe where they continue to spread hatred, she said.

By making the Friday sermon universal across the country’s mosques, the UAE has avoided extremism.

“The UAE, a country where [more than 100] nationalities, and different religions, coexist, is a role model and a symbol of tolerance,” Mr Al Falasi said.

“We display tolerance when we communicate with people and these are the essential foundations of the National Tolerance Programme, Islam, the UAE Constitution and the legacy of the late Sheikh Zayed.”

The international centre to confront extremism, Hedayah, was inaugurated in Abu Dhabi in 2012. In 2015, President Sheikh Khalifa issued the Anti-Discrimination Law, which prohibits contempt of other people’s religions, hate speech and discrimination because of religion or beliefs.

In 2016, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, announced an unprecedented restructuring of Government, issuing legislation and laws that criminalised terrorism, extremism and incitement to hatred.

“We have learnt from events in our region over the past five years … [that] we need to study, teach and practise tolerance – and to instil it in our children, through education and our own example.

“We have learnt from hundreds of thousands of dead and millions of refugees in our region that sectarian, ideological, cultural and religious bigotry only fuel the fires of rage,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

The Watani Al Emarat Foundation last year launched the Caravan of Tolerance campaign of lectures and workshops. “We will continue to spread the message of tolerance and now we can measure our progress every year,” Mr Al Falasi said.

Everyone, regardless of status, colour and nationality, sits side by side to listen and pray DHERAR BELHOUL AL FALASI Watani Al Emarat Foundation