'Bahrain model for religious, cultural diversity'

Bahrain is a model of civilisational, religious and cultural diversity, and has made giant strides in ensuring the rights of religious minorities, Undersecretary for Islamic Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Fareed bin Yaqoob Al-Meftah said.

He was speaking at "the Rights of Religious Minorities in Predominantly Muslim Majority Communities: Legal Framework and a Call to Action" conference, held here on Monday at the patronage of King Mohammed VI of Morocco.

The event, organised by the government of Morocco and the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies, was concluded on Wednesday, January 27. 

Al-Meftah said that sedition, attacks on lives and holy sites and destruction of human civilisation, heritage and economy were the result of misunderstanding of Islam and the misinterpretation of its tolerant precepts to serve factional, sectarian and racial goals.

Extremism breeds hatred towards others an even leads to the attempts to eliminate them, which, he stressed, is contrary to universal laws and norms.

Allah the Almighty created people and made them different and diverse, and everyone should respect others and co-exist with them.

"And if your Lord had so willed, He would surely have made mankind one Ummah (nation or community), but they will not cease to disagree. Except him on whom your Lord has bestowed His mercy, and for that did He create them," Al-Meftah quoted the Holy as saying.

He stressed that scholars, wizards, preachers and intellectuals from followers of religions and cultures to shoulder their responsibilities and promote the culture of co-existence with others and mutual respect so as to spare humanity destructive wars.

He backed the initiative to produce a new declaration on the rights of religious minorities in Muslim countries, putting the 622 C.E. Charter of Medina -- the Muslim world's first constitution, which spelled out the rights of minorities in Islamic law -- within the context of contemporary views of human and religious rights as well as international treaties.

The undersecretary highlighted Bahrain’s leading role played by the kingdom in this regard, citing the Islamic-Christian Dialogue Conference in October, and the International Inter-faith Dialogue of Civilizations and Cultures, hosted by the Bahrain in October, 2002, and May, 2014, under the auspices of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

He expressed sincere thanks and appreciation to Morocco for serving Islam and Muslims.