When the new auditorium at the Pakistan Association Dubai opened this week, it was the culimination of 20 years of effort by some of the estimated 1.2 million Pakistanis living here. But this also represented much more than a 650-seat venue for entertainment, weddings, conferences and sporting events: it showed how the members of all the distinct nationalities who are helping build the modern UAE are encouraged to create strong and vibrant communities.
Whether it is a cultural centre such as this one or the Hindu temple for which land has been alloted in the capital, this tradition has been a consistent policy dating back to before the UAE existed. Sheikh Zayed, the founding father and first president, donated land in Abu Dhabi to construct Christian churches, while the British community was provided with a place to construct a recreation venue that remains highly popular more than 50 years later.
None of this detracts from our adherence to Islam or our traditional Emirati values. Instead it enhances our reputation for tolerance amid diversity, and also provides an important counterweight to examples of extremist groups in the region that misinterpret the message of Islam.
As the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr Anwar Gargash, told a UN Human Rights Council meeting this year, a “real fear of Muslim communities” is that ISIL and their ilk are creating false stereotypes about Islam in the minds of followers of other faiths and also in vulnerable young Muslims who do not have a deep grounding in their own religion.
Expatriates who have opted to work in the UAE – whether they are entrepreneurs building billion-dirham businesses right through to unskilled labourers using their modest wages to break their families’ cycle of poverty – are not here solely for money. A sense of community is also important to forging a successful new life in the Emirates, and by encouraging groups like the Pakistan Association Dubai and others to do that, our country will continue to attract the best and brightest workers.