Bahrain’s religious, cultural diversity highlighted

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

He was speaking at “the Rights of Religious Minorities in Predominantly Muslim Majority Communities: Legal Framework and a Call to Action” conference, held in Rabat, Morocco on January 25 under 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 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. “Allah the Almighty created people and made them different and diverse, and everyone should respect others and co-exist with them.”

He stressed that scholars and intellectuals from followers of religions and cultures to shoulder their responsibilities and promote the culture of co-existence with others.

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.

Al-Meftah 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.