DUBAI // All levels of society and government must show tolerance in order for a country and its economy to be successful, said Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi.
Speaking on the second day of the World Government Summit in Madinat Jumeirah, the Minister of State for Tolerance explained the reasoning behind the Government’s decision to create the position she holds.
“The UAE started with wealth – a small nation and oil. The first part was educating the nation, the second to establish an economy, 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 great minds.”
Sheikha Lubna, speaking during a talk on Co-Existing: Transcending Borders of Culture, Race and Religion, said the UAE is a welcoming society that focuses on the core values that all religions and cultures have in common.
“We need to make sure there is good education, and we need to make sure that the lifestyle is acceptable for all,” said Sheikha Lubna, who was appointed in 2016.
Another contributing factor to the success of the UAE was its keenness to focus on the youth and coming generations, said the minister.
“The youth are at the core of everything we do [in the UAE],” 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 differently to how it was presented to previous generations.
“Today the Islamic curriculum is being delivered without value and spirituality. 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 the unanswered questions young people have about Islam in his book, Letters to a Young Muslim.
“When I was 15, I was trying to live in the modern world while given 7th century conceptual tools. In 2016-2017, I find that not much progress has been made to bridge the gap between the modern world and [past generations],” he said.
“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 [to present to my] son and his generation on how to approach religious texts and authority in general.”
Both 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.”
dmoukhallati@thenational.ae
