Abu Dhabi: Islam categorically condemns all forms of religious compulsion and ensures universal freedom for people of all faiths and no faith, a prominent scholar said on Wednesday.
Dr Mohammad Mokhtar Gomaa, Egypt’s Minister of Religious Endowments, or Awqaf, told a packed house at the majlis of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Almighty Allah made human beings into different groups and people. “But Islam limits the purpose of these distinctions to differentiation and knowing each other. This is not meant to be a source of false pride as is the case with tribalism, nationalism, colonialism, and racism,” Dr Gomaa said.
Refuting arguments of extremists, Dr Gomaa stressed it was time anti-Islam bigots stop ignoring common sense and join Muslims to make the world a more peaceful, compassionate, and educated place.
Dr Gomaa said pre-emptive war is categorically un-Islamic, stressing that Islam has condemned killing for faith.
The scholar also rebuffed the concept of caliphate in the extremist ideology. “Islam did not impose a specific system of governance, but set rules for good governance. So any regime that achieves justice among people, fights corruption, works for the good of the people and ensures religious freedom is an Islamic rule.
“Jihadists mandate the restoration of a Caliphate, conceived as an expansionist Islamic state under a single leader, or Caliph, from which to recover Muslim land and unite Muslims globally under one interpretation of Sharia.
Jihadist ideologues further maintain that only an Islamist state — one that implements shari‘a, and rejects cooperation with non-Muslim states — can provide the necessary security and legitimacy for its Muslim residents.
Dr Gomaa called for teaching Muslim youth moderate values from an early age to promote a centrist form of Islam that is different from political Islam, otherwise known as Islamism.
“Islam should not be part of politics because the role of religion should only be about preaching a moral public life and for the betterment of society,” Dr Gomaa said.
Dr Gomaa further called for deconstructing extremist ideology and instilling a sound teaching of Islam in children by all individuals and entities involved in their upbringing was required to ward off any appeal of radicals.
Dr Gomaa argued that religious institutes cannot do this alone. “A combined effort is required from the educational, cultural and media institutes,” the scholar said.
Referring to similar groups such as Al Qaida and Boko Haram as terrorist would help lessen the appeal of these organisations for western Muslim youth, Dr Gomaa said.
Dr Gomaa said: “How could people who burn people to death, rape, torture and loot think they are going to heaven?”
Gomaa added that providing justice and religious freedoms and meeting needs for citizens were essential in keeping stability.
