Vatican City: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, has said consolidating efforts for peace, security, stability and development in the world is one of the UAE’s main objectives.
It stems from its core belief that achieving peace and security is a prerequisite for reaching comprehensive and sustainable development for all people of the world.
Speaking on the occasion of his visit to the Vatican on Thursday, Shaikh Mohammad said the UAE, under the leadership of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, does not hesitate to participate actively with the international community in all that is pertinent to achieving security, stability and development, as well as in promoting the values of peace, coexistence and justice in different parts of the world.
During his visit to the Vatican, Mohamed bin Zayed says UAE values Pope Francis’s efforts to confront violence and extremism— أخبار محمد بن زايد (@MBZNews) September 15, 2016
"The UAE serves as a role model for coexistence among different cultures that are represented by the millions who live in the UAE"— أخبار محمد بن زايد (@MBZNews) September 15, 2016
Shaikh Mohammad also expressed his pleasure in visiting Vatican City and holding discussions with Pope Francis, saying it would be an important opportunity to strengthen mutual consultation and exchange of views on ways to strengthen bilateral relations, as well as consolidate the values of dialogue, coexistence and acceptance of others, which he described as a system of shared values.
“We are working together on promoting and enabling in order for peace and stability to prevail throughout the world,” Shaikh Mohammad said.
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He added that the tendency for militancy and extremism, which the world has recently witnessed, is in part due to the absence of a culture of coexistence, dialogue and acceptance of others.
There is, he said, an urgent need to strengthen cooperation between all countries and regional, international and UN organisations in order to formulate strategies that promote constructive dialogue between cultures, respect different beliefs and religions, and spread the culture of peace, as well as address attempts at religious defamation and inciting religious hatred.
Within this framework, Shaikh Mohammad said the UAE will spare no effort in working to build the foundations of dialogue and coexistence among different civilisations, cultures, religions and peoples, based on the values of tolerance and openness, and far from any tendencies towards confrontation, extremism, intolerance and violence.
Protecting sanctity of religions
The UAE, he added, also stresses the need to develop international legislation to protect the sanctity of religions from abusers and conspirators who provoke tension and hostility between followers of different faiths.
Shaikh Mohammad went on to say that the UAE has been able to create a model for coexistence among more than 200 nationalities who live on its land with a spirit of love, harmony and understanding, despite differences of culture, race, and religion.
It is this umbrella of safe coexistence, he said, which allows all to live and worship freely. He noted that the law against hate crimes and discrimination, which was issued by Shaikh Khalifa last year, reinforces this concept.
The law, he pointed out, includes clauses that ensure equality among different segments of the society, and criminalises discrimination on the basis of religion, creed, doctrine, denomination, sect, race or colour.
The law is also significant, he concluded, in the struggle against hate speeches, incitement and the practice of ‘takfir’ (describing the designation of others as apostates).
Shaikh Mohammad said the UAE appreciates the efforts undertaken by Pope Francis to confront the ideas of intolerance, extremism and violence as well as attempts to defile places of religious sanctity.
He also praised the continuous initiatives of Pope Francis to deal with various challenges and crises facing the world, such as poverty, ignorance, violence and the culture of hatred, these being inseparable from worsening intolerance and extremism. These are a major priority also for the UAE, he said.
Comprehensive strategy
He added that the UAE is working to address these challenges effectively, through a comprehensive strategy based on the promotion of the values of tolerance, moderation and acceptance of others and through humanitarian initiatives and projects to provide assistance to those in need in underprivileged areas and other areas experiencing armed conflict or exposed to natural disasters, with the objective of helping the development of these areas and ridding them of their crises and problems.
This grows, he said, out of the UAE’s belief that these crises represent one of the most important sources of threats to global stability, creating fertile environments for the growth of extremism, violence and the ideas of terrorism.
Shaikh Mohammad pointed out that Islam is a religion of tolerance and moderation, which calls for peace, dialogue and cooperation between human beings, adding that bloody terrorist groups that claim to speak in the name of Islam are deviant groups, far from a proper approach to religion, the Sharia and the correct teachings of Islam.
The UAE, he said, confronts such groups with a comprehensive vision — whether they be active engagement in any international or regional moves to confront them, or enhancing efforts to refute the ideas of these terrorist groups.
He added that the first step in defeating these groups is by viewing them as having connection to any religion, race or geographic area.
There is no doubt, he added, that it is an injustice to consider these groups as representing Islam, the Arabs and Muslims. If some people use the bloody practices of terrorist groups to incite against Muslims and insult what Muslims believe to be of religious significance, it is important to involve religious institutions in tackling such incitement in order to preserve world peace and stability and safeguard the relationship between peoples. In this process, he concluded, Pope Francis has a pivotal role to play.
