BOOKS
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About the Author: Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi is a leading international expert in countering extremism and education. He has spent more than thirty years in government, nongovernment, and private sector roles in the United Arab Emirates and abroad.
Diversity and Coexistence: Fostering Acceptance In A Diverse And Open Society
Modern states and societies promote a culture of coexistence, tolerance, and pluralism, and are striving to advance the thought, theory, and culture of a pluralistic society.
However, actual changes in human thought and culture—in values, customs, and traditions—remain limited. Such change is a complex process; it cannot be achieved simply by preaching or promoting change.
Racist crimes continue to occur and are often even more brutal than in the past. Many societies and countries still suffer from hatred of the “other”—particularly those who are different in terms of race or faith. The resulting instability, in turn, hinders economic development and prosperity.
In this book, the author presents a new vision for how to achieve coexistence in a diverse society. He explores why coexistence is so important in Islam and introduces a realistic model as to how it can be achieved among peoples of all types and backgrounds.
The model has already been achieved in the United Arab Emirates, which has made it possible for people of all nationalities, faiths, races, and languages—without exception—to coexist in peace and harmony.
National State: Imagining a World Without Narrow Nation States
The outcome of the author’s experience confirms that what our societies need is to institutionalize and instill the concept of the “National State”. We must carry out this process in a nuanced and unprecedented meaning, and move beyond the conventional idea of the nation-state as manifested in the West.
The National State is the “State of Citizenship”, the State of a legal or social contract between Man and the State; the State that serves its people and realizes their ambitions and aspirations regardless of their background and the State that rules by law.
It is the State where the law governs all its acts with the citizens and where all are equal before the law. It is the State that truly believes that pluralism is a source of strength and that coexistence is a source of inspiration to all who live on its soil. It is a State of neither a particular race, sect, cult nor an ethnic group. It is not a State of a given superior human race over others. As the State of Citizenship and rule of law, it is not at all the State of nationalistic and/ or racist people.