UAE: "A Huge Leap from Medieval Ways"

by Sara Al Nuaimi • October 14, 2015 at 5:00 am

The remarkable crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, donated land for the Hindu temple, to foster cultural and religious tolerance, and bring diversity to Abu Dhabi. The temple also fit newly passed UAE legislation establishing religious freedom.
As the prince explained, a "civilized, advanced" Abu Dhabi with sustainable development requires "concerted efforts from all sectors of the community" -- Hindus included.
"This is a huge leap from medieval ways of thinking. Humanity is against aggression and stopping others from practicing their faith." — Saleh Al Turigee of Saudi Arabia, who has 143,000 Twitter followers.
Positive voices from the UAE and elsewhere in the Middle East, especially Egypt, supported the temple. It shows that the non-extremist segment not only exists, but is ready to take on the extremists.
"Religion is for Allah only. All Imams agree that building temples for idol worshipping is a blasphemy." — Waseem Yousef, imam of the Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi. He quickly found his television show canceled.

"Idol worshipping never left Mecca. Mecca is the idol that you worship." — @azoozazeez1

A tweet by India's Prime Minister Modi on Aug. 16, during his visit to Abu Dhabi, prompted a unique cultural debate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Announcing to his 14.9 million followers that the UAE government had allotted land for a Hindu temple, he prompted a discussion on Twitter that generated over 25,000 tweets in the Arabic language alone (a very large number for public opinion in the UAE and other Arabian monarchies), coverage on the BBC, and more.