UAE foreign minister launches scathing attack on IS ideology

UAE foreign minister launches scathing attack on IS ideology
Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed has attacked IS' claims of patriotism being 'un-Islamic' with the #OurNation_OurPride campaign against the group.
2 min read
10 December, 2015
Sheikh Abdullah said IS had no respect for civilisation [AFP]

The UAE's minister of foreign affairs has criticised the Islamic State group's claims that patriotism is "un-Islamic", and called for the world to continue its fight against the "barbaric organisation".

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed's words coincided with the launch of a social media campaign to target extremist ideologies by reaffirming national values, reported the UAE's The National.

The #OurNation_OurPride initiative was launched on Twitter by the Sawab Centre in Abu Dhabi. It is run by the UAE and the US and seeks to counter propaganda from the IS group.

"Daesh and similar extremist groups that join it in spreading hatred are attempting to disrupt the Islamic affiliation and love of the homeland, in a desperate attempt to portray loving the homeland as a crime," Sheikh Abdullah said, using the Arabic acronym for the IS group.

He said that a hadith told of the Prophet Mohammed's love for Mecca, and his grief at having to leave the city.

     Today the whole world is witnessing the brutality of this extremist organisation's practices
- Sheikh Abdullah


The minister also said IS' destruction of heritage treasures amid claims they were un-Islamic shows it has no respect for civilisation.

In October 2015, IS and other militant groups were accused of "cultural cleansing" in Iraq and Syria by the head of the UN's heritage organisation, UNESCO. 

IS has destroyed archaeological sites in Syria and Iraq, including Nimrod, Hatra and Mosul, and parts of Palmyra in Syria.

"Today the whole world is witnessing the brutality of this extremist organisation's practices," Sheikh Abdullah said.

"For months, and with desperate attempts, the Daesh terrorist organisation has sought to obliterate everything related to civilisations that have emerged and settled in both Syria and Iraq, which represent the pride of mankind."

He said the group was not only destroying churches, monastries and historical monuments, but also many mosques and Islamic archaeological sites.

Masterpieces from these sites were then being taken out of the region and being sold to help finance the group's terrorist operations, he said.

Stopping Iraqi and Syrian artefacts being smuggled out of the region is critical, he said. Such treasures belong not to one state, but to the whole of humanity - and are therefore even more important, he argued.

The #OurNation_OurPride campaign aims to establish the role of citizenship and pride in the state as a way of building a sense of national identity to combat the ideology of extremism. It aims to show how IS destabilises a country's security before destroying its cultural and historical heritage.