In a country such as the UAE where the population is so varied, the death of Osama bin Laden has led to many a debate between people of different nationalities and religions.
Some Emiratis and other Arabs were particularly upset by the celebrations that erupted in the United States after bin Laden's death.
Ali Alsaloom, an Emirati cultural adviser who writes The National's Ask Ali column, tweeted on Monday: "To every Expat friend: plz remember not to over react celebrating bin ladins death around some of ur Muslim friends".
He followed up with another directed at Emiratis and Arabs to not "react strongly against any cheering attitude by ur expat colleague at work becuz of bin ladins death news!".
Effusive celebration of bin Laden's death, he said, could be seen as an attack against Muslims.
"Non-Muslims have to understand that probably over 99.9 per cent of all Muslims around the world will be definitely against his actions, if they really can see and prove that bin Laden was responsible [for 9/11]," he said.
"People have to understand that this region is very emotional, we won't have any other interpretation except that it is a celebration against Islam."
The tweets struck a chord with many Arabs. Zahra al Dahmani, a 30-year-old senior manager in a private company in Dubai, said the news of bin Laden's death was "definitely painful for Arabs" as "nobody knows if he is really a terrorist".
Therefore, she said, people "have to reconsider celebrating or talking about the subject."
It came down to respect, she explained.
"It depends on people and how much they appreciate culture, and the amount of respect they have for rules, regulation, and people."
T al Dossary, 27, a Saudi-British resident of Abu Dhabi, said a colleague had made an ignorant comment towards him after bin Laden's death was revealed.
"There was one, from Kenya, saw me as Saudi, only me at the office, he came to me and said: 'They caught your man!'" he said. "But I wasn't very bothered, or took it personally."
It was best to ignore such comments, he said.
"I wouldn't want to have anything to do with them if they express those opinions around me.
"If I have to work with them, I have to work with them. In my opinion, I would just say hi, not because I like bin Laden, but because there is no intelligence behind what they are saying."
To Ali Alsaloom, Mr al Dossary's calm reaction is the best course.
In the same way, his advice for non-Muslims would be to stay "modest".
"I am not telling you not to celebrate this occasion, not telling you what to do or not, but please try to be very modest to show emotions in front of Arab and Muslim friends. Remember that some Muslims might misinterpret reasons for celebration."
He does not feel the news shook the Arab world as much as had been portrayed. "I think most people are not really saying anything, even westerners. I know in our workplace they are very careful with what they say.
"If Egypt and Tunisia is yesterday's news, what about bin Laden? Suddenly they have found him and killed him, but people don't have much to say because people have already forgotten about him. We haven't heard about him in so long, so we thought he was gone anyway."
Although many Arabs have said they felt insulted by celebrations at the killing, Dr R V, an American professor at a university in Abu Dhabi, had his doubts.
"I don't think many Arabs would think this was directed against the population as a whole, any more than the Middle East subscribed to al Qa'eda 10 years ago," he said.
He said he understood why people wanted to celebrate the death of bin Laden, but did not necessarily agree with them.
"This is a time for everybody to behave with a measure of dignity," he said. "Everybody owes this situation a private conversation rather than a public one."
A killing, he said, was not something that should be celebrated. "Celebrating the death of anybody is a delicate matter, regardless of how we perceive a person and no matter who that person is. A little extra care and attention is needed."
