‘Stop hijacking our religion’

One of the most cherished traditions in the UAE is the Ramadan majlis (an assembly), in which, the leadership of the country meets the people during group iftars. Although almost all rulers have their majlis often throughout the year, it’s a bit different during Ramadan.

During Ramadan, almost all the people of the country, mainly Emiratis, along with expatriates, attend at least one iftar at the Ruler’s majlis. This year, I was invited — among other members of the media in the country — to the majlis, followed by iftar. The talk at the majlis by Dr Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, about the Yemen crisis and the decision by the UAE to go shoulder-to-shoulder with Saudi Arabia in the coalition to restore legitimacy, stirred media hype, which was clarified by Gargash later.

But the most important part of the evening was the brief talk delivered by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

A few days before that, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, hosted media figures for iftar. He stressed the role of the media in the fight against militancy and extremism. In a brief speech, Shaikh Mohammad focused on spreading tolerance and the means of happiness to combat dark thoughts, to propagate the true human core of our religion.

At the iftar, the talk was quiet, yet firm and above all you could easily feel how genuine it was. After noting the significance of the media and its role in safeguarding society, Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed asked journalists and media figures around him to “stop hijacking our religion”.

The Orlando shooting, in the United States, was still fresh in news and the American media had started implying a link to Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and therefore to Islam. The media’s role in fighting terrorism and extremism is pivotal, especially as those fanatics defaming Islam are using the same tools in the media to recruit members, spread their ideology and procure assistance — financial as well as logistical.

Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed mentioned three aspects for media endeavour in the fight against terrorism.

First, denying these groups geographical expansion by protecting areas of influence. Daesh is not only present in Iraq and Syria, but it could be next door or just around our street corners. Prevention is better than cure, there goes the saying, and so if we help stop the spread of these distorted ideas about religion and about humanity in general, we can deny fanatics geographical expansion.

Second, denying financial assistance to terrorists and extremist groups. People in the UAE, like those in the Gulf, Arab and Muslim countries, are generous in their donations to charities. Some of these donations find their way to terrorist and extremist groups. The media can play an important role by raising awareness among the people to donate only through recognised charities that are regulated by the authorities, in order to make sure that their contributions goes to those truly in need. The media can also expose the shady channels that bogus charities use to finance terrorism, thereby denying those groups a financial lifeline.

Third, deny extremist propagandists a platform by not letting the so-called ‘scholars’ who preach hate and violence to have their voices heard through the media.

Moreover, media ought to shed more light on those scholars and religious figures who preach the true spirit of religion: Tolerance, forgiveness, compassion and basic human virtues. Also, media can help in exposing the hypocrisy of propagandists — how the so-called scholars send their children to western universities, while convincing other children to kill themselves through suicide bombings.

These preventive measures can help avoid war. Of course, nobody wants war. But if sacrifices are inevitable, then one has no choice but to defend his or her country, people and their ways of life.

As Carl von Clausewitz said in his famous book On War, war is the continuation of policy by other means. In the war on terror and fanaticism, other means such as the three mentioned earlier in this article, can help avoid war. Media has a pivotal role in this preemptive effort and can actually be an effective ‘soft weapons’ in the battle for stability and development.

That’s the core message from the two UAE leaders to the media. Though it’s not a directive as such, yet it’s the basis of a strategy that journalists and media outlets need to think about and execute as part of their positive ‘social responsibility’.

Dr Ahmad Mustafa is an Abu Dhabi-based journalist.