This region must address its fears and concerns

We must recognise that there are latent issues of sectarianism throughout the region, says HA Hellyer

Sheikh Abdullah Bin Bayyah, president of the Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies forum. Christopher Pike / The National

In January, a large group of Muslim scholars, intellectuals and politicians gathered in Morocco to issue the Marrakech Declaration, which focused particularly on minority communities in the Muslim world. This past week, some of those same figures reconvened, in Abu Dhabi, led by the Mauritanian scholars' scholar, Abdullah bin Bayyah, to discuss a variety of issues under the theme of peace in Muslim societies. That earlier declaration figured prominently in a number of discussions – but a full understanding of the document has yet to be undertaken.

There are a few items of importance here. The first is that the Marrakech Declaration is incredibly important, and it is a good sign that subsequent high-level meetings, such as the one held in Abu Dhabi, used it for a platform for discussion.

The declaration crucially brought up the notion of citizenship as the building block of the modern nation state – a notion that many may take for granted, but which is hardly one that we ought to consider as a given. Indeed, it is not a given at all.

Radicals and extremists of all kinds have shown that. Whether we are talking about the genocide of Bosnian Muslims in the 1990s in Europe, the attacks on minorities in Syria and Iraq by ISIL or the disturbing rise of repellent populism in the West and Muslim minority countries, these are not issues to be ignored. Sectarianism is real. The repudiation of minority rights is real – and it is dangerous. Any effort that brings such issues to light is important. The second issue, however, concerns the ideas underpinning the notion of the Marrakech Declaration.

They accept the basic idea of the nation state, which is deeply linked to the idea of citizenship. However, in this region, the nation state is the result of a colonial and then postcolonial history – and the legacy of that history has not been without its damage and repercussions.

It's a modern phenomenon – and while there are undoubtedly good aspects to it, it also has its problems. The all encompassing state that restricts and constricts, to the point where a population is repressed and oppressed, is deeply counterproductive.

We ought not to separate that issue of wider citizenship and minority rights. In the final analysis, if all citizens are free, then no citizen is jailed.

But there is a very real sticking point here and it is that the modern nation state is, indeed, an implant within the Arab world. And often, one wonders if it is an implant of much use. Nevertheless, the reality is that trying to get rid of it would probably be a cause of great hardship and destruction for many in the region.

One therefore probably ought not to try, but it is the duty of society to see where the gaps are in these governing structures in the Arab world and to try to minimise them. If this conference in Abu Dhabi allows for that kind of discussion to deepen and widen, that alone will be of considerable benefit.

But there are also some uncomfortable choices to be made. Do we pick sectarianism and populism, where the forces of hatred and division are able to rip asunder societies from whatever unity these societies have? We must recognise that there are latent issues of sectarianism throughout the region, even if many would prefer to deny the suggestion.

Or we can take the choice that brought Srebrenica in Bosnia. That choice of bigotry and division is the same one that allowed radical extremists to see the Coptic Cathedral as a target rather than an Egyptian symbol, leading to the bloodshed from last week. That choice remains also, very clear – and there are quite a few who would be interested, indeed, to exploit, rather than celebrate, the diversity in our societies.

Societies can either find ways to forge collective identities for all their parts or they can choose to empower the forces that benefit from our division and our strife. It seems patently clear which is the more fruitful and human choice – but we do have to make it, and then take steps accordingly. Platitudes will not do: either we take seriously the need to build social contracts that can stand up to the challenges of bigotry or the forces of division will win by default.

Dr HA Hellyer is a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington and the Royal United Services Institute in London

On Twitter: @hahellyer