I have no doubt the majority of the world around us is almost linking Islam or Arabs with terrorism, and perhaps “Daesh” and “Al Qaeda” and other terrorist organizations are at the forefront of the names that jump to mind when Arabs or Islam or even the Middle East are mentioned.
Terrorist organizations are present in the Arab region. They are like viruses that invaded the body of the region and do not want to leave despite intensive efforts by regional and international powers. The reason lies not in the strength of these malicious organizations but because they have been active for years under the eyes of the world without intensive and rigorous international cooperation to eradicate them, because of the conflict of strategic interests in this vital region of the world.
The world almost reduces Arabs and the Muslim religion in Daesh and Al Qaida as a result of the brutal attacks of terrorism not only in Iraq, Syria and Libya only, but in France, Germany and Turkey, and before them the United States and other countries of the world.
Arabs and Muslims have also a bright face, a true face, which is represented by the cultural model of the United Arab Emirates and the ability of its leadership to employ resources for the benefit of the whole world, not only to the people of the United Arab Emirates, which is one of the happiest peoples in the world, but also to millions of residents from more than two hundred nationalities who enjoy the fruitful harvest of their work and their active participation in the process of development and construction in one of the greatest human experiences of nation building throughout history.
The Emirates is the true model of tolerant and moderate Islam, an applied model of the system of spiritual values of this great religion. the world should realize that the UAE is the true face of the Arabs and Islam, not Daesh and Al Qaeda, and it makes no sense at all to surrender to the idea of linking Islam and terrorism in the presence of strong reasons to deny this link, primarily the Emirates model of openness and humanism, which is closely linked to the values of the Islamic religion.
The UAE model is strongly embodied in many events. The latest was the World Government Summit held in mid-February. It involved lessons from the region and the world. The participants from around the world agreed on the idea of this pioneering summit. Their main concern was the future of creativity, innovation, excellence, opportunities and ambitions.
This summit summarized the UAE work philosophy. The whole focus was on the future and its challenges, opportunities, solutions, alternatives and non-conventional initiatives, targeting government performance support in various countries around the world, providing outside-the-box solutions for societal and developmental problems, which relates to the Emirates mission to bring happiness to mankind.
The Emirates cares for the world and always wants to lead it it to well-being and happiness. The United Arab Emirates always opens doors for all countries of the world to exchange views and ideas about the development and happiness of mankind. It believes in the unity of human destiny and that developing governance is the fundamental guarantor to achieve stability and peace within communities, said His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme commander of the armed forces.
This summit has become a real motor for human and government development in the world since its first session in 2013; it has become the world’s largest specialist conference for forward-looking governments. The main axes of the summit were forward-looking, policy development, technology, service delivery, and innovation, in an effort to gather public and private sectors and the civil society under one umbrella, in order to start a new era of responsibility, where governments should seek to provide better services to their people in more sustainable ways. This summit is one of the manifestations of the true face of the Arab and the Islamic world that is seeking to resume its civilization, said His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. The goal is to improve the lives of citizens around the world by empowering organizations with knowledge and innovation and by finding answers to the questions of tomorrow and by facing the challenges of the future on different levels. This summit is simply the Emirates gift to the world, and its contribution to development and knowledge.
This summit also is the embodiment of a message of the United Arab Emirates, best expressed by HH Sheikh Safi bin Zayed Al Nahyan, when he said “We will continue our humanitarian assistance to the needy in any place in the world and we will continue to defeat evil and do good and we will fight terrorism to the fullest extent.” This is the Emirates cultural and humanitarian message to the world, this is the true face of Islam, Arabs and the Middle East shining from the land of the UAE over the world.
