special Envoy to Abu Dhabi
the fifth edition of The “Forum for promoting peace in muslim societies”, held from 5 to 7 December in Abu Dhabi, has enabled the united arab Emirates (uae) to propose a partition diplomatic somewhat different from those played by its ally saudi arabia and the opponent of qatar. This forum, founded in 2014, with Daech founded his caliphate on the territories, syrians and iraqis, who still intends to take a message to islamic tolerant, open to other religions. But this organization, hosted, funded and placed under the patronage of the ministry of foreign Affairs of Abu Dhabi, has since developed its ramifications, with the hope one day to compete with the weight of the ideology of salafism as one of the muslim brotherhood.
Around the sheikh Abdallah bin Bayyah, an islamic scholar respected native of Mauritania, some 700 muslims, jews and christians were brought together this week in Abu Dhabi for launching the “new alliance of the virtues”. In his youth, Muhammad participated in Mecca to a meeting between tribes, some jewish or christian, who had agreed on a charter of values, in order to put an end to their ongoing conflict. After the revelation, the prophet of islam confirmed that he remained faithful to this alliance of virtues” praising the harmony between the different religions.
“The spirits will explode before the bombs”
The sheikh Abadallah bin Bayyah intends to use the leverage of this new charter to strengthen the dialogue between the three religions of the Book, and beyond. The presence, in the midst of muslims from five continents, many jews wearing kippas, and many christians in vestments is always an event in an islamic country, even in Abu Dhabi where there are significant expatriate communities of non-muslims. In this emirate, which is pushing under the sun, fir trees and Christmas decorations, reigns a spirit of religious tolerance, that the next coming of the pope, who has just been announced, will further strengthen.
“The spirits will explode before the bombs,” said the sheikh Bayyah to our counterparts in religion, to say that the first struggle is of a spiritual order. To this end, the diplomacy of Abu Dhabi is based on the margin of the work conducted in this forum, about the one led by theologians, gathered around the grand imam of the mosque is the egyptian of al-Azhar, in the Council of Wise Muslims. Abu Dhabi is also home to the centre Hedayah, which brings together, under the patronage of the united nations, thirty-odd countries that are developing programs, including education, to combat extremism. In connection with its us counterpart, the ministry of foreign Affairs of the Uae hosts and funds, in addition to the centre Sawab, which aims to counter the propaganda of islamist on the internet. Finally, Abu Dhabi has recently mounted the world Council of muslim communities, which caters to muslims living in countries that are predominantly not.
again, the diplomacy of religious Abu Dhabi, inviting the believers to enforce their citizenship, confronts the theses salafists, inspired by the saudi kingdom, such as those of the muslim brotherhood, related to Qatar and Turkey. These two ideologies explain to the minorities in islamic that they must also comply with other laws than those of their country of residence, the name of the “true faith” that leads believers into fundamentalism.
Mutism diplomatic
At the forum of Abu Dhabi, among all the religious present, it was difficult to find an Iranian or Qatari, a proof that the discourse on the concorde religious also has its limits. Although this meeting will be devoted to peace, the participants were carefully passed over in silence the conflict in Yemen, which has claimed more than 10,000 deaths in which the united arab emirates are directly involved. The presence of many americans, starting with the ambassador for religious freedom, Sam Brownback, stressed a little more that the country is part of an alliance that opposed the axis of shiite iran. Saudi Arabia is at the heart of this alliance, but since the case of Khashoggi, the country is forced into a certain silence, diplomatic, and in all cases must be fled as soon as one speaks of tolerance and dialogue.
Qatar encourages the muslim brotherhood, is the other opponent of the Emirates. Between the two countries, the arms of iron stretched from the arab spring and the rise to power of fundamentalists in Tunisia and Egypt. In 2013, Sheikh Abdallah Bin Bayyah has resigned from the vice-presidency of the world Union of ulema, based in Doha and led by the preacher of the muslim brotherhood Youssef Al-Qaradawi, who is very present on the channel al Jazeera. Sheikh bin Bayyah, who lived in saudi Arabia, was installed in Abu Dhabi. A year later, the struggle for influence between the two emirates took another dimension.
