Shunning hate in all its manifestations

Dubai’s Cultural and Scientific Association has become an important centre for culture and thought in the UAE and also other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. This centre, with its beautiful buildings that reflect the cultural urbanism in Gulf states, has become a byword for architectural heritage — authentic and beautiful art and refined taste.

In fact, the credit for this wonderful construction and its dazzling design goes to artist, writer and polymath Mohammad Al Murr (Abu Ahmad), who proposed the idea of the building and its design, and saw it through to completion and inauguration. This building has become a landmark that both Dubai and the UAE are proud to show to visitors interested in the country’s authentic, traditional construction features and buildings.

Not a week passes by without an important and prestigious cultural function at the association. The latest of these was the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature (March 3-7), which is the Middle East’s largest celebration of the written and spoken word. It brings people of all ages, nationalities and backgrounds, with authors from around the world promoting education, debate and, above all, a love of reading and writing, in a celebratory and interesting way.

The verses of Emirati poet Bin Qanbar ring true: “Dubai has become [the] destination for all those visiting the region.”

And since we are on the subject of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, it is my duty to commend Elizabeth Belhoul’s (Umm Mansour) quest to give this annual festival a special sheen, attracting people of different backgrounds. This is a result of her outstanding efforts in cultural convergence, away from all the ugly and uncivilised elements of sectarianism and racism.

It is also a fortunate coincidence that the Cultural and Scientific Association held in the same week a seminar on the culture of hate being promoted by extremists in the name of religion. Speakers at the seminar included Dr Abdul Hamid Al Ansari, who is well known in Arab and Gulf circles for his anti-hate advocacy, and his call to substitute the culture of hatred with that of love and peaceful coexistence. Al Ansari and his two other colleagues who spoke at the seminar — Dr Saeed Shahid from Morocco and Dr Amal Belhoul from the UAE — touched upon the topic concerning everyone today as a result of wars and terrorism and the necessity of standing together in the face of this challenge.

Hatred is not confined to religious extremists alone. Rather, there are issues that are no less dangerous.

The most important of these are speeches extolling social extremism, embodying tribalism, and involving some uncivilised community members in the Arabian Peninsula, Africa and in Arab countries such as Iraq, where factional tribalism and sectarianism play a social and political role. This has resulted in a tribal and factional cluster aligned against a religious cluster, represented by extremist religious groups.

There is also a lesson to be learnt in the fact that one country in the region tried to control the influence of liberal and national opposition by creating a religious and tribal opposition. It succeeded in excluding the former, however, the latter were given power and strength and soon became a thorn in the country’s side. Moreover, some of them defied that country’s police and authorities.

Hence, it is clear that Gulf communities must focus on civil speech, building the Gulf individual according to a civilian-national basis, and law and order must prevail, away from all tribal and factional aspects. Right-minded people do not substitute evil with another bad thing; they replace the bad with the good. We must create the appropriate circumstances to live under a system where equality and justice prevail; there is a fight against poverty; and the concepts of diversity and human rights are upheld.

We have to encourage all those who promote the culture of love and accepting ‘the other’ in the community. This is what makes the UAE an oasis of peace, safety and good living. The culture of hate in all its forms must be shunned. We have to make it clear to those who promote hate that they are wrong and will regret their actions.

Abdul Ghaffar Hussain is a UAE researcher and writer.